Do you use the stateroom safe?

Getting ready to go on my first cruise in November, and I've been reading anything I can get my fingers on re: in room safes and if they are really safe. I've read everything from ... the in room safes are not very safe, and placing your valuables in the suitcase under your bed, or ... using the purser to store your valuables, ...to carting around all your precious paperwork, etc. What do you do to keep your valuables safe while on shore or enjoying the ship?

Thanking you in advance for your insights

We use the stateroom safe all the time.

Yea we do

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Woah....slow down. Not sure what you are reading, but paranoia has taken over many sites and some people's minds. We have been cruising for about forty years (well over 100 cruises all over the world) and always use room safes with no issues. Yes, they can be opened (in the case of emergency or malfunction) by a few limited staff (usually from the pursers office). But that is true about ever hotel/cruise safe in the world. Your valuables will be quite fine in your cabin safe.

As to taking things off the ship in ports, our best advice is to only take what you need and leave everything else locked securely in your cabin safe.

Just to add some amusement, we assume you are pretty young, taking your first cruise (likely on Carnival) and worry about everything :). There are some older folks (we are certainly in that category) who take very long cruises (sometimes over 6 months long) who will lock 10s of thousands of dollars worth of cash and valuables in their safe's.....without any hesitation.

Hank

Woah....slow down. Not sure what you are reading, but paranoia has taken over many sites and some people's minds. We have been cruising for about forty years (well over 100 cruises all over the world) and always use room safes with no issues. Yes, they can be opened (in the case of emergency or malfunction) by a few limited staff (usually from the pursers office). But that is true about ever hotel/cruise safe in the world. Your valuables will be quite fine in your cabin safe.

 

As to taking things off the ship in ports, our best advice is to only take what you need and leave everything else locked securely in your cabin safe.

 

Just to add some amusement, we assume you are pretty young, taking your first cruise (likely on Carnival) and worry about everything :). There are some older folks (we are certainly in that category) who take very long cruises (sometimes over 6 months long) who will lock 10s of thousands of dollars worth of cash and valuables in their safe's.....without any hesitation.

 

Hank

As always, Hank, you are the one with the right opinion ;)

I'm up there in years, too. I always use the available safe, be on a cruise or in a hotel. I have yet to have any kind of incident of theft. I will put everything that will fit in there. But, when I traveled with a luggable PC or a laptop, I always carried a PC lock and locked it to something - sometimes the plumbing pipes.

Don't worry about it.

Use the safe. It also ensures you know where your passports, wallets, cash, and electronics are when you’re not using them.

No reason to take your passport off the ship unless a port requires them. But this is a debated topic. I’d guess many more people have their passports damaged or stolen than miss the ship and need them. No way to miss the ship and not be taken care of if you’re on a ship excursion.

I have never, and will never, use the safe.

We always store valuables in the safe and have never had an issue. I really don't think the average room steward has a master key pass to open the safe.

Certainly better than leaving items out, in drawers, or in the suitcase under the bed (everyone knows that trick).

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My last cruise .... May 2017 ... I used the safe. And, there on the inside of the closet door ... were the instructions for resetting the code. IF you forgot the code or the safe wasn't 'taking' the code ... there were the how to's ... step by step to clear existing passcode and setting new one. But .... I had no problems then or ever using a cruise line safe. Just FYI.

We've been using a safe since 2009. I have never seen the instructions on resetting the password on a safe.

Getting ready to go on my first cruise in November, and I've been reading anything I can get my fingers on re: in room safes and if they are really safe. I've read everything from ... the in room safes are not very safe, and placing your valuables in the suitcase under your bed, or ... using the purser to store your valuables, ...to carting around all your precious paperwork, etc. What do you do to keep your valuables safe while on shore or enjoying the ship?

Thanking you in advance for your insights

We always use the safe and don't think twice about it. We've never had anything go missing. One time we had a ton of cash in the safe and hubby forgot to close and lock it, but still nothing was touched.

One advantage to using the safe is that if you get delayed in port due to an accident or unforseen circumstance and miss the ship's sailing your passport, etc can be retrieved by the purser's staff and given to the port agent to limit the collateral issues you'll face in catching up with the ship or making it home. If you hide the passports somewhere creative it reduces the chances they'll be able to fund them in the limited time available before casting off all lines.

They are safe....safer than "hiding" your stuff! That's why they're called "safes"! Yes, they can be opened by the head of security, if need be...but unless you miss the ship, that won't happen. No worries!

We use the cabin safes.

We always use the safe in the cabin. No reason not to.

Why wouldn't you use the safe? That's what it's there for and we always use it.

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Yep

Phone and wallet, straight in.

But then I’ve also got back from shore and dumped a wad of cash on the desk without locking it up. Never had anything touched.

We always use the stateroom safe and feel very good about it.

Keith

I feel the safest place for my valuables like passport, phone, tablet and credit card is the safe. To tell the truth my phone isn't the latest model, and my tablet is a cheap model, but they contain valuable identification and information.

I never bring expensive personal items like jewelry with me - I've no need to risk it being lost or stolen.

Yes, we always use the safe - passports, cell phone (unlike many, we don't use it onboard), cash, jewelry, etc., plus a spare copy of all our emergency contact information (family, insurance phone #, credit card & bank numbers, etc.).

We once had a problem where we couldn't unlock the safe - we must have been off one digit when we entered our usual code. In order to get it opened, the purser's desk said they'd send security to our room. It turned out to be 2 employees - they said they were required to have 2 people when opening safes. It seems to me that the safes are only 'unsafe' if you forget to close them.

Yes, of course, why wouldn't I use the safe? We put our passports in there, plus my jewelry (some of which is very expensive), my expensive dive computer, two Judith Lieber purses, and wallets. Never had a problem, and don't expect to have one.

I also use my stateroom's (or hotel's room) safe and am confident in doing so. I have also used the Purser's (aka Front Office) safe deposit option, particularly during a long cruise and did not want nor need to have everything I wanted to safeguard in my stateroom's safe. At least on the ships where I have used that safe, one receives a key to use to open the box. Where do I put the key to prevent mis-placing it? In my stateroom's safe.

Unless required at some ports, there is no need to take one's Passport with one off the ship unless one intends to visit a local bank to cash traveler's checks. (Yes, I do still have some, just in case, an ATM decides "it's lunch time and I will eat your ATM card.) Carrying a laminated copy of the first couple of pages of your Passport is also a good idea.

I have read that if someone misses the ship, it's only the safe which is searched and contents handed over to the port agent to give you. Anything else of value left in the cabin won't be in that bag.

:rolleyes:

Another "older" long-time cruiser here -- ALWAYS use the safe!

I have never, and will never, use the safe.

Please explain why you have never used the safe - and why, after even after you lose something (probably at least in part because you did not put it in the safe) you think you will still refuse to take such a common sense approach-- are you truly ineducable?