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Sharp warning to leave your luggage


Pelle
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We travelled with MS Riviera in the Mediterranean in April and arrived at Barcelona April 21. Wonderful cruise, but memories are darkened by the disembarcation process, when we lost a suitcase. Even though the suitcase had a red belt and labeled with our name, another passenger made a mistake and took it. It contained souvenirs from the trip, exclusive shoes and clothes, glasses and prescription drugs etc. In Barcelona we wrote a report to Oceania and were promised a copy sent to our home address which has not happened. We were delayed by a couple of hours. At home we were contacted by the woman in US who took our suitcase, and were told that the suitcase had been left at LA airport to be sent to us. It was wrong, the bag is still in Los Angeles.

We also contacted our TA in Stockholm who has helped us with contacting Oceania. Today they got this response which made me furious: "I have spoken to our Guest Relations department and unfortunately as the luggage was taken by another guest and not lost during our handling we are not able to assist in calling the airport. They also said the airport might just have to verify what is in the bag and this needs to be done by the person who sends it and unfortunately cannot be done by us."

No proposal for a solution, no help at all. Today we were informed by SAS in Copenhagen that the suitcase can not be sent to Stockholm without accompanying passenger.

We have not done anything wrong, no airline has done anything wrong and the responsibility lies with Oceania who was responsible for the suitcases until the right passengers regained it. It seems we will not get our things back and we are very disappointed. Next time I will refuse to put our suitcases in the corridor in the middle of the night without getting a receipt. I hope all passengers will be aware of the risks of leaving their bags. Needless to say, just like in a hotel when you leave your luggage waiting for your room, you should receive a receipt. It must be the responsibility of the cruise company that everyone gets his luggage. After this, I am more hesitant to cruise at all, especially with an Oceania cruise.

Edited by Pelle
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Oh dear, that is terrible! I feel so sorry for you.

 

I wonder why the case was left at Los Angeles airport though? I suppose that was when she realised she had the wrong case. But surely she should have taken it home and then contacted Oceania about it? Then they could have arranged to get it sent to you. Just abandoning it at the airport wasn’t very sensible!

 

 

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Question for folks, not snide, I honestly do not know....in the USA, once your luggage is off the ship, it is under control of the port authority, not Oceania...who is responsible in Barcelona (Port Authority, or some other entity? ). If it is Oceania, they should be responsible for getting it back to you...if it is port authority, I am unsure who you contact.

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people should check they have THEIR bags before leaving the terminal

Some people pick up a bag that might look like theirs but never check the luggage tag

We had that happen at FLL someone took our bag ..we wasted 30 mins looking for it then DH noticed some guy slip a bag under the roped off area ..it was our bag

 

The woman who stole the bag is responsible for returning it to you

it was her fault that you are without your bag

 

JMO

contact Lost luggage & make arrangement to have it sent to your address hopefully on the bag then send the bill to the thief

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Question for folks, not snide, I honestly do not know....in the USA, once your luggage is off the ship, it is under control of the port authority, not Oceania...who is responsible in Barcelona (Port Authority, or some other entity? ). If it is Oceania, they should be responsible for getting it back to you...if it is port authority, I am unsure who you contact.

 

 

 

I believe it is the cruise line not the port, because we once forgot one of our bags and left it behind in the terminal. We spoke to the cruise line and (upon payment as it was our fault), they arranged to send it to us. And it was the cruise line who did this not the terminal authorities, even though it was left there.

 

 

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Oh dear, that is terrible! I feel so sorry for you.

 

I wonder why the case was left at Los Angeles airport though? I suppose that was when she realised she had the wrong case. But surely she should have taken it home and then contacted Oceania about it? Then they could have arranged to get it sent to you. Just abandoning it at the airport wasn’t very sensible!

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

 

 

 

Sorry that OP had this problem of lost/"stolen" luggage.

 

That said, this is not the fault of the cruise line which collected OP's bag and deposited it in the terminal space assigned for that purpose.

If anyone is at fault, it is the individual who took your bag (along with contributory negligence from the terminal operator who does not match bag tags to owner's ID before departing the terminal [not uncommon]).

That the "thief" left it at the airport in L.A. makes some reasonable sense in terms of best opportunity for retrieval by OP (airline/airport is used to this dilemma). But, the "thief" should've made the arrangements for rerouting the bag right then (even if on a different airline).

Of course, this all assume that the bag has (should have) the cruise line's disembarkation tag on it and/or owner's ID and contact info on luggage tags on the outside of the bag (and, hopefully, on a prominently located sheet of paper inside the bag). In this way, OP can contact the "thief's" airline's baggage claim department at the airport in LA (I assume LAX?), identify the bag, contents, etc AND work out how to get the bag delivered to OP's own airport - probably at an additional cost, which SHOULD be reimbursed by the "thief."

Certainly, it would have been nice for Oceania to try to intercede. But, all that really would do would be to introduce yet another factor into an already complicated situation.

So, bottom line for OP is to contact airline baggage claim that has it in their possession (or whoever "thief" identified as recipient of the bag); identify it and arrange for transfer; and get "thief" to reimburse any shipping costs.

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Why were we asked to write a lost bag notification if it was not Oceania's responsibility?

maybe because they thought it was left in the hold of the ship or in the terminal

 

I do not understand why you think that it is the cruiseline's fault when someone stole it then had the audacity to contact you after they deposited it half way around the world

 

The person who took it should have paid to have it sent back to you

 

The cruise line did not send it to LAX

Edited by LHT28
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A Cruiselines’ Lost luggage form is usually required in those instances where the item is lost onboard ship or whereabouts that the cruise line can return it to you. Unfortunately, most cruiselines have this in their contracts now:

Carrier is not responsible for the loss of or damage to Guests’ luggage. Baggage insurance is recommended. Luggage and personal belongings will be taken off the Ship upon Guest debarkation. Under no circumstances will luggage be kept on board without the owner of such luggage being on the Ship. Guests may bring a reasonable amount of luggage on board Our Ships. No baggage or items heavier than 70 lbs. will be loaded onto or offloaded from Our Ships.

 

You will need to make arrangements with the airport direct (if they say you have to be in person, then it is between you and them). It is absolutely horrid what she did to you, however, Oceania or any other cruiseline is not responsible. This could happen at any airport worldwide, not just off of a cruise.

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so my big question is

If this woman took your bag where is her bag or did she just decide she needed to take an extra bag home?

Surely she would have noticed when checking the bag at BCN that it was not HER bag

 

Too bad they do not check names/baggage claim tickets so they match anymore :(

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maybe because they thought it was left in the hold of the ship or in the terminal

 

I do not understand why you think that it is the cruiseline's fault when someone stole it then had the audacity to contact you after they deposited it half way around the world

 

 

The person who took it should have paid to have it sent back to you

 

The cruise line did not send it to LAX

 

Of course it is the cruise line´s responsibility to get it right!

The old woman is not a thief, she made a mistake. The procedure must be better, you must get a receipt when you leave your luggage just like in a hotel !

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Of course it is the cruise line´s responsibility to get it right!

The old woman is not a thief, she made a mistake. The procedure must be better, you must get a receipt when you leave your luggage just like in a hotel !

so you want the crew to knock on your door at 10Pm to give you a receipt

 

I am sure they would appreciate the extra work :rolleyes:

 

It is the passenger responsibility to make sure they are picking up the RIGHT bag before they leave the terminal

 

YES SHE made a mistake at your expense she should have paid to have it returned to you

 

she & she alone checked the bag & took it to LA

 

If I had done something like that I would have paid to have the bag returned to the owner that is the responsible thing to do

 

not to blame someone else

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Still trying to figure out how the woman who took the bag in error didn't notice she had an extra bag ... strange.

Exactly my thought

or maybe her bag is still in Barcelona at the port & Oceania will have it sent to her ..N/C :evilsmile:

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I wonder why the case was left at Los Angeles airport though? I suppose that was when she realised she had the wrong case. But surely she should have taken it home and then contacted Oceania about it? Then they could have arranged to get it sent to you. Just abandoning it at the airport wasn’t very sensible!

 

It's possible that she reported the problem when she discovered it (after passport control but before customs) and was told that it would be returned under the mis-routed baggage rules. (If the airline mis-routed your bag but always had possession of it, they'll send it along unaccompanied, but only under those circumstances.)

 

It seems strange that she'd go to the effort of contacting the owner if she didn't believe that the bag would be returned.

 

As to taking it home to return it personally, that would require clearing the bag through customs. I'd be willing to go a long way to make this sort of thing right, but not that.

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Well, "O" should step in and get the bag to the right owner. Even if the lady took it, it's just good customer service (good will). I also think "O" should bill the lady, if they maybe people would look a little harder.

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Sorry, but no: The woman who took your bag was entirely at fault. We put a special ribbon on each bag to minimize this happening...at least by accident.

 

What Imdo not understand is why she would then just leave the bag rather than shipping it to you at her expense.

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Wow, what a mess. But in all the cruises that we have taken I have never seen anyone checking baggage tags when we get off the ship. We just pick up our bags, get a porter and go outside to our transport from the terminal. Always the same everywhere.

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Doesn't anyone (other than us) want to comment in a positive way about the fact that the woman actually *called* to say the bag was "accounted for"?

 

Someone else, having made the same mistake, upon realizing it was the wrong bag, might have just walked away.

 

Also, why would *anyone* put prescription meds in *checked* luggage!??

That is a big "no no".

Always put meds in carry-on.

 

Has the bag returned "home" yet?

Is it possible that the "red belt" (or whatever) became detached prior to reaching the terminal?

 

We now put similar day-glow velcro'd "handle wrappers" (for lack of better terminology) along with conspicuous tape on all of our bags.

But our main goal in the future is to get "oddly colored/patterned" bags, to make it as easy as possible for 1) someone else NOT to mistakenly grab our bag, and 2) us to *notice* if someone else starts to walk off with one of ours (mistakenly or otherwise).

 

Given the utter lack of security these days in terms of some way to show 'this bag belongs to me' (like in the old days when someone would check the receipt and tag on the bag, at the narrowed exit from baggage claim), we feel lucky this hasn't happened to us.

 

The only time something like this did happen was about 10 years ago, when DH brought home his small foldover after a business trip. We didn't open it until the next day, and UH OH... the contents were not his.

But there was some ID info, so we finally tracked down the out-of-state owner, who was at a conference about an hour from us. So we drove it over, and exchanged. The guy had not yet realized he had the wrong bag. [DH had other clothing/possessions at home; what was the other guy using/wearing at the conference, two days later!? :confused:]

 

GC

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we have a black bag just like everyone else :eek:

we put red duct tape on the side & back so easier to spot on the belt coming off the airplane

some people were putting bright ribbons on the handles then everyone thought it was a good idea so no way to spot yours now

 

My question do people not know what their bag looks like & just double check the tag to be sure it is theirs ??

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Doesn't anyone (other than us) want to comment in a positive way about the fact that the woman actually *called* to say the bag was "accounted for"?

 

yes that was very thoughtful of her but did she offer to pay to have sent back to the owner ? seems not

would have been better if she took a minute & made sure it was her bag first

 

Too bad for OP the bag is in LA & she is in Sweden

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Of course it is the cruise line´s responsibility to get it right!

 

The old woman is not a thief, she made a mistake. The procedure must be better, you must get a receipt when you leave your luggage just like in a hotel !

 

 

 

You're missing the point. The terminal is operated by someone other than Oceania. O crew transferred the bags to terminal employees - longshoremen/stevedores. In essence, the tags supplied by Oceania are your "claim checks" to collect your bags from the terminal employees.

You are correct that the terminal employees should check your ID against the Oceania disembarkation tags on your luggage before letting people leave. But, like many airports, seldom do you see that check happening anymore.

O didn't fail you. The terminal operator and the "thief" did. And, intentional or otherwise, the person who took your bag is ultimately responsible. They took your bag without your permission. That is "stealing."

Find out exactly who at LAX she gave your bag to and contact them since it's probably waiting to be claimed.

Last resort: file a claim with your travel insurance company or the credit card company whose card you used to purchase your cruise/air tix etc (since they may have some travel insurance benefits built into the CC).

Trying to get Oceania to do this for you is a nice idea but, ultimately, it is a useless exercise. O DID NOT LOSE OR STEAL YOUR BAG. O delivered the bag to the exact place it said it would and, had someone not stolen it (intentional or otherwise), you'd already have it.

Edited by Flatbush Flyer
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.. and the "thief" did. And, intentional or otherwise...

I wish people would look up definitions before labeling people wrong repeatably.

 

Thief: One that steals especially stealthily or secretly

Steal: Take and carry away (something that belongs to another person) without permission and with the intention of keeping

 

OP posted person took it by mistake and called to return it (don't understand leaving it at airport but that isn't a thief stealing). Personally, I made mistakes in my life. Glad someone didn't try to continually call me a thief.

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