airline loosing luggage before cruise?

My luggage was lost for the entire 7 day cruise. My Husband's bag arrived at the ship just fine. I did have insurance and was able to buy a few things to wear. It wasn't that I didn't have money to buy things but there was nothing decent to buy! My carry on bag had some extra shoes and most of my accessories and my jewelry. Some of the shops and crew members lent me things.

We were on a direct flight and supposed to fly in two days in advance. Because of weather the flight was cancelled and we arrived at the port the day of the cruise. All during the cruise we couldn't get any info about the location of my bags. The night before we disembarked I was told that my bags would be at the port when we got there. As I was walking down down gangway there were my 2 bags actually leaning up against the gangway! They still had the correct tags for the ship and voyage number and date etc. on them but someone had put a handwritten tag on each of them redirecting them to a port that I wasn't even visiting.

I just had an awful thought. What if the airline looses our luggage and we don't get it back before we board for our cruise? Has this happened to any one of you? This will be our first time traveling by air to a cruise.

If the airline loses your luggage, then you go to the ship's shop and buy the minimum of replacement clothes. Dressing up rules will be relaxed for formal nights if necessary. When you get back, you claim on your insurance for the replacement clothes, unless the airline's policy gives you compensation.

You also have the option of running around in a panic. It doesn't help. ;)

And yes, it has happened to me, when the whole family's luggage didn't make a very tight connection on a rescheduled flight. We got our cases two days later.

Flying to FLL for my last cruise one of my suitcases did not make the change of flights in Atlanta. The airline did a great job of finding and getting the bag to me at 1:30 am. Always fly in at least a day before your cruise!

How does the airline know where to forward your luggage ?

You put all that information on a piece of paper inside your suitcase.

DON

How does the airline know where to forward your luggage ?

I was about to ask that very question (and saw the answer below). It makes sense -- I thought I'd need to apprise the airlines of the itinerary BEFORE my flight and BEFORE they lost the luggage, but obviously that information is readily available anytime to provide them SHOULD the unthinkable happen.

But what are the chances, really, like maybe 1 in 50 at most? And sooner or later (in a couple of days), they'll marry you up with your luggage. In the whole sheme of things a minor inconvenience at most and good story to tell later.

^^^ Outstanding screen name!

This happened to a woman on our Star Clippers cruise.

The cruise line was really nice in trying to find her stuff and gave her clothing from the gift shop.

The only time we have lost a bag, we filed a claim with the airline, stating where we would be for the next several days, and the bag was delivered to our hotel in less than 24 hours.

Of course that doesn't work well if you are getting on a ship that same day. It is, of course, yet another good reason to fly in the day before, to allow a possible missing bag to catch up with you.

Many times have seen a small stack of bags at the first port after sailing, as bags have caught up with ship.

Everything is scanned electronically now so the airline should know EXACTLY where every piece of luggage is. Makes me wonder how they lose it.

Because humans are involved, and very few of us are perfect. And I believe the current lost bags rate is about 1%, industry wide.

On my last cruise a passenger at our table had her luggage lost. I don't know if they booked through Royal Caribbean the flights or not but the cruise line couldn't have been nicer. They upgraded their cabin, gave her free tshirts, free laundry service for what they did have in carry on. The suitcase was found but never made it to the cruise.

What I do is cross pack. I don't have a large carryon but the essentials will be in there, namely bathing suit and a change of clothes.

Southwest lost our luggage several years ago flying into San Diego for a cruise. We filled out the forms and they delivered it to us on our second port on a 7 day Mexican Cruise. We were on RCCL and they gave us free Formal wear for the evenings. We did purchase several T shirts and shorts to wear from the gift shop. This was the first time we had purchased travel insurance for the Cruise, so we ended being reimbursed for all of our clothing purchases.:)

Has not happened to us thankfully but I went super mental in case by doing these things (this was on a TA flight from the UK to Florida for a 13 day Panama Canal cruise:

1) Chose the brighest/unusual patterned suitcase and took a photo of it on hubby's phone and its contents.

2) Taped our entire itinerary and timings with telephone numbers and addresses of where we were and our own address at the end of the itinerary to the underside of the inside of the case as well as out numbers and families numbers.

3)Locked with approved lock

4) Flew in 2 days in advance

5) Packed tight a small wheely suitcase the biggest I was allowed in carry on with accessories,straightners,trousers, sandals,bikinis, a formal dress,formal shoes, knickers,make up and 3 days worth of clothing.

Extreme maybe but I didn't want to take the risk. :D

Yep, this happened to us also on our Alaskan cruise a couple of years ago. And also with ummm south..... We fortunately stay 2 evenings in Seattle, but the first evening we spent in the airport hounding Southwest to check on our bag. They did know of it's whereabouts, it went to Tacoma. But they promised it to us in the afternoon, by evening I started to panic and we headed to the airport. Being the person that I am, I asked them all kinds of questions. They told me that for cruise customers they treat it a little differently. If the bag was not recovered they would give us X amount of dollars (I can't remember the amount) to cover the cost for clothes. I told them I just wanted the luggage back, especially since they knew where it was and insisted they call Tacoma and make sure it was on the flight to Seattle. It kept not showing up and I would go back and make them call again, this time in my presence. They did and guess what, it finally showed up. Anyway, it was my husband bag and he insisted on not cross-packing, I however cross-packed myself and my son, but I think after that incident he's now a believer in cross-packing, especially for cruises.

We just had a bag lost, not by the airlines but at the cruise terminal. The last we saw our bags were when we put them on the curb when we got out of the cab. We stood there for five minutes without the porters even acknowledging us, so we just put them close together and left. It was so hot and humid that my wife was not feeling well. I had the tip money out but since no one helped us, I just kept it.

Everything came but one bag. We also received a bag from a different cabin and didn't give it much thought since we figured our bag went to another cabin and would be delivered later.

To make a long story short, I reported it to the desk and they said all the luggage was delivered so it must still be at the terminal and it would be delivered to the first port. Well, we were unable to dock and this was a ta so they said the chances of getting the bag returned was slim. They asked what was in the bag and I told them the best I could remember. Wouldn't you know this is the first cruise that my wife did not take a picture of ll the contents before she packed them. Two formals for my wife were in it and the desk said she could go to the store and they would find something for her to wear. She came back shaking her head. Their formal wear was a pair of black slacks and a black shell. My wife had those in her other bag.

No one contacted us again until my wife went to the desk one of the last nights. They asked if we had insurance and told her to file a claim. We always take insurance but since this was the fault of the cruise terminal, I really don't want to file a claim. I also have to file for a doctor visit after a fall on this cruise. On our last cruise, a couple months ago, the flight was late and I had to file a claim. The cruise before that, my wife had to visit the doctor so I really hate to file this along with the doctor visit. They may not insure us again.

So will the cruise line do anything or does everything have to go through our travel insurance? I also have lost luggage insurance through our credit card or do they also ask if we have travel insurance - like this medical claim - I file medicare first even though we know they don't cover it, then I have to file with my secondary before filing with the insurance we purchased through our TA.

We just had a bag lost, not by the airlines but at the cruise terminal. The last we saw our bags were when we put them on the curb when we got out of the cab. We stood there for five minutes without the porters even acknowledging us, so we just put them close together and left. It was so hot and humid that my wife was not feeling well. I had the tip money out but since no one helped us, I just kept it.

 

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So will the cruise line do anything or does everything have to go through our travel insurance? I also have lost luggage insurance through our credit card or do they also ask if we have travel insurance - like this medical claim - I file medicare first even though we know they don't cover it, then I have to file with my secondary before filing with the insurance we purchased through our TA.

The cruise line's view may be that if you left your bags on the pavement outside the terminal, it wasn't their fault. Have you any proof that your missing bag even made it into the terminal?

The cruise line's view may be that if you left your bags on the pavement outside the terminal, it wasn't their fault. Have you any proof that your missing bag even made it into the terminal?

Last we saw them, they were all together by the cages right next to four porters

This has never happened to us, but I did overhear a woman in the laundry room saying she finally got her luggage. By then we had already been to Oslo, Gdansk, Stockholm, Talinn, and two days in St. Petersburg.

We just had a bag lost, not by the airlines but at the cruise terminal. The last we saw our bags were when we put them on the curb ...

 

So will the cruise line do anything ...

The cruise line will not do anything because somewhere in the fine print on your cruise contract it mentions that those porters are not cruise line employees.

The man in the cabin next to us on the Celebrity Eclipse med cruise NEVER got his luggage. He also didn't go to the men's store onboard which had a lot of merchandise to buy a few things or take the opportunity of any of the Med ports to go shopping. It was almost like he wanted to be miserable. So everyday for 2 weeks, there he was wearing the same T-shirt and shorts. On the second to last day, he happened to see into our 2-bedroom Family Verandah cabin. "How did you get that?" he asked (We paid for it.) He said "This just makes this cruise even worse."

Had it been me, I would have gotten on the internet at the embarkation port and found a store to go to, called a taxi and headed there immediately, bought enough to get by and then never thought twice about if they could find my luggage or not. If they found it, great, if not, so what?

most of my cruise travel is solo, and i worry about a suitcase getting lost.

even if i could cut down on packing to just 1 suitcase, i won't, because then i'd have nothing.

i always travel with 2 suitcases and pack 1/2 of everything in each suitcase.

hopefully i would never loose both suitcases on the same trip.

i have had a bag that was a flight behind me, but luckily i flew in very early that day, and just hung around the airport for a couple hours before going to the ship.

We always fly into the departure port at least one day early. We also work on getting the "most" direct flights we can this helps to avoid problems. We try to avoid multi airline tickets, i.e., (code share flights) stay with one carrier all the way through.

We carry our most important clothes in our carry on, i.e., our dress clothes, just in case.

Have been lucky had a case delayed between Paris and Rome, arrived the next day and we were able to pick up before heading to the ship. We generally stay at a hotel near the airport which makes collecting late luggage easier.

We put inside our checked luggage a complete itinerary - including contact information through out the trip.

Last we saw them, they were all together by the cages right next to four porters

Another thing we don't just drop off our luggage, we stay and watch that it get loaded for delivery to the ship and tip the porters well to insure good service. We usually hang around til we see the fork lift come and get the gage to take it to the security area.

This is also a good idea if you have more than one ship in port close to each other... a few years back, there were issues when two Princess ships were in the same port, i.e., San Francisco, some luggage got loaded on the wrong ship.

Lots of great tips in this thread. I thought I’d recap them in a list here (let me know if I missed any):

• Cross pack in multiple suitcases.

• Include a copy of your itinerary on an 8 ½ x 11 sheet of paper, including your pre-cruise hotel inside each suitcase with your name & contact info & phone number while you are traveling. I even print our itinerary on a color sheet of paper so it’s easy to see.

• Purchase trip insurance. Given the price you are paying for your cruise, the cost of trip insurance is well worth it.

• Never pack things like jewelry or electronics in checked luggage.

• Travel to your departure port at least a day in advance.

• Take a photo of the contents of your luggage prior to packing.

• Take a photo of your luggage after packing and before leaving home.

• Pack several days of clothing in a carry on suitcase.

• Wait to ensure porters have placed your luggage on a cart heading for the ship.

Happened to us last summer. Luggage lost for the whole three days pre-cruise in Brussels. It seems our luggage enjoyed the time in Philadelphia.

Finally got our luggage delivered to our hotel the morning we were headed to the train station for the trip to Paris to board our river cruise.

British Air covered replacement items.

Note to self - Even if they beg and plead ever so nicely, do not volunteer to have your roll-aboard gate checked to your final destination.

Another thing we don't just drop off our luggage, we stay and watch that it get loaded for delivery to the ship and tip the porters well to insure good service. We usually hang around til we see the fork lift come and get the gage to take it to the security area.

We did walk away, as I said my wife wasn't feeling the best because of the weather but after she got in line (not far away), I did walk part of the way back and saw that they were putting them into the cage. I did, as we always do, wait to make sure they all were picked up. DId they get on the ship - have no idea.

I guess what bothers me: no one takes responsibility any more. You have to purchase insurance.