Mailing Postcards etc. from ship

[cruisequeen10]

I was on the Veendam Sep 27/09 from Vancouver cruising the Sea of Cortez (Mexico) for 10 glorious days. I mailed a number of postcards being mailed to Canada from the ship while we were in Topolombompo. To this date, nobody has received them. I had to pay $1.00 U.S. postage for each postcard. Has anyone else had this problem.

[Toley]

The same thing happened to me in 2007 on a Panama Canal cruise. We were in Mexico at the time and I paid a lot for postage on the Zuiderdam. The post cards were never received. After spending the time writing and the cost, I was not happy. :mad:

[Aussie Gal]

I too had this problem just a few weeks ago when we were on the Prinsendam. I gave the Staff at Reception two post cards two days before we disembarked in Ft. Lauderdale in November to be posted home to my son and Mother. I paid the full price for the postage and after we left the ship on the 25th November, we did a two week trip to New Orleans, Las Vegas and Honolulu before arriving home on the 8th December.

 

To this day those postcards have not arrived and yet the 26 that I posted from Almeira in Spain all arrived here within a week of us posting them. I am upset and dismayed to think that postcards I thought would arrive home safely within a few days are still out there somewhere or else the Reception Staff have just forgotten to send them.

 

Jennie

[Razorback Cruiser]

I too had this problem just a few weeks ago when we were on the Prinsendam. I gave the Staff at Reception two post cards two days before we disembarked in Ft. Lauderdale in November to be posted home to my son and Mother. I paid the full price for the postage and after we left the ship on the 25th November, we did a two week trip to New Orleans, Las Vegas and Honolulu before arriving home on the 8th December.

 

To this day those postcards have not arrived and yet the 26 that I posted from Almeira in Spain all arrived here within a week of us posting them. I am upset and dismayed to think that postcards I thought would arrive home safely within a few days are still out there somewhere or else the Reception Staff have just forgotten to send them.

 

Jennie

 

 

 

Same here, I guess it was about two or three months before they were accounted for.

[catl331]

Has anyone else had this problem.

Yes. We will no longer mail anything from the Front Desk. :(

[gentlemancruiser]

I was on the Veendam Sep 27/09 from Vancouver cruising the Sea of Cortez (Mexico) for 10 glorious days. I mailed a number of postcards being mailed to Canada from the ship while we were in Topolombompo. To this date, nobody has received them. I had to pay $1.00 U.S. postage for each postcard. Has anyone else had this problem.

 

Last April I mailed 8 postcards from the Statendam when we stopped in Puerto Chiapas, to date none of mine were ever received. I was sold the stamps at the Front Office and was told I could leave them, and they would mail them for me that day while we were in port.

[pris993]

I don't do this anymore because I had the experience of them holding the cards til we reach the end of the cruise and then mailing them all at once. Consequently, they all arrived at the same time.

[Aussie Gal]

I don't do this anymore because I had the experience of them holding the cards til we reach the end of the cruise and then mailing them all at once. Consequently, they all arrived at the same time.

 

At least yours arrived!

 

Jennie

[mudscraper]

We mailed postcards from Hell (Grand Cayman?) in the 1980s.

They have yet to arrive. I contact the Postmaster General on a monthly basis. They`re working on it.

 

 

Rich

[pipedreams62]

We mailed postcards from Hell (Grand Cayman?) in the 1980s.

They have yet to arrive. I contact the Postmaster General on a monthly basis. They`re working on it.

 

 

Rich

 

 

I've tracked them down for you

 

[RVRCLC]

This may be the problem.

When we send mail to friends in Canada, or Australia, it must have special stamps.

Ask your post office for advice before you leave home.

[suse]

Oh yeah. This reminds me of the woman who totally wigged out over her priceless and expensive pcards that went mia. Remember? She was never, ever going to sail with the Signature of Excellence ever again. It was entertaining after awhile. I wonder what happened to her?:confused:

[sevenseasnomad]

Pipedreams, that's too funny! Welcome back. We missed your sense of humor.

[Randyk47]

We too have gone to the front desk to mail postcards from the Caribbean. I don't recall the island but we paid for the cards to be mailed and the front desk assured us they'd be turned over to the HAL agent for mailing. Nothing expensive and we just thought it would be a fun thing for my sister-in-law to get a card or two. Some of the cards made it several weeks later some were ever received and that was to a US address.

[Pete Jackson]

When we left postcards at the front desk, it took several months for them to arrive at their destinations. If they don't get them out on that day, before the ship leaves dock, they won't be able to get them out until ship reaches that country again because the stamps belong to that country.

 

When you think about it, they have to have some way of getting the mail to the local post office before the ship leaves the pier. Probably it is too big a nuisance and falls through the cracks quite often.

 

So, the best answer is DIY (Do it yourself). It gives exercise and adds a touch of human labor to your kindness in sending the cards out. Still can be a problem getting stamps if the front office can't sell them to you, and it's a holiday in town.

 

Hmmm. I wonder if there is a business opportunity whereby you could mail local postcards for each port with suitable stamps to people about to go on a cruise. For an additional fee, procrastinators could fill them out after they get home and then return them to the business for remailing from each country. The fee would have to be substantial, but it could save hours of precious vacation time (at $50 an hour or so).:p

[Aussie Gal]

Only in our case, we were posting from a U.S. port, Ft. Lauderdale. I made sure that they were using U.S. stamps and that the correct amount was being put on them, at least we were charged that amount.

 

I know the cards were being sent back here to Australia but the lass looked up the cost of the postage and charged us accordingly. Since then, the ship has been to the Amazon and back so even if they were in foreign ports for 2 weeks or so, the ship has since returned back to Ft. Lauderdale so there is no excuse for us not receiving those two cards in the 6 weeks since we left the ship.

 

It is so frustrating, especially as I could have posted them in one of the three cities we visited after we left the ship and before we came home.

 

Jennie

[pris993]

We usually mail postcards from a hotel, as we often stay pre and post cruise somewhere. That seems to work out well.

[Typhoon1]

I don't do this anymore because I had the experience of them holding the cards til we reach the end of the cruise and then mailing them all at once. Consequently, they all arrived at the same time.

 

At least they arrived. It is better than not getting mailed at all.

[RMLincoln]

The first week in Dec I mailed post cards to our grandkids in the US. The front desk sold me the Mexican stamps and took the cards from me assuring me that they would be posted before we left port that day in Puert Chiapas.

 

We then went to the Panama Canal and other countries in between, stopped back in Mexico at Mazatlan before we disembarked in LA. I should have mailed them in LA at the airport but I wanted the kids to have the Mexican stamps.

 

Still no cards have arrived a month later. Last time I do this, especially after hearing all your stories here! The stamps were over a dollar a piece, not that that mattered a lot but it's frustrating and disappointing.

 

I have in previous years mailed all my Christmas cards from the front desk on Princess and Norwegian while at a US port and never had a problem. Is it Mexico or is it HAL? Your experiences tell me it's HAL, sadly.

[RVRCLC]

I do not sent them to anyone!

The last time I sent postcards, to anyone, was from the Galapagos Islands.

I mailed them to my office in July, they arrived in late October.

But they did arrive.

[luvcruisn']

This may be the problem.

When we send mail to friends in Canada, or Australia, it must have special stamps.

Ask your post office for advice before you leave home.

 

I have mailed postcards to Canada from the ships before, but never had a problem. This time, my postcards from the Amazon haven't arrived yet. There's still hope they may arrive, as it's only been a month since they should have been mailed from the ship in Brazil.

[momatibm]

Not just a ship issue. I got off the ship in Aruba -- went to the post office -- mailed 'Air Mail' letters to the US -- took more than 3 weeks to arrive. As much as we complain about our PO ---

[gentlemancruiser]

Not just a ship issue. I got off the ship in Aruba -- went to the post office -- mailed 'Air Mail' letters to the US -- took more than 3 weeks to arrive. As much as we complain about our PO ---

 

Be happy your letters arrived. I paid over $14.00us for 8 postcards and stamps from HAL and they never arrived. I stupid and purchased the cards from the shops on board, then bought stamps from the front office. The charges for the postcards from the onboard shop and the cash for the stamps were on my stateroom bill, so I wrote to HAL's guest relations dept. last September to see what they would do and the response I got was pretty much, sorry not our problem, maybe the Mexican post office.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Years ago I used to send a lot of postcards from the ships -- they always made it to their destinations.

 

But in recent years I send only one or two maybe in 2 years -- never thought about asking the people I sent them if they got them.

 

Guess I won't bother sending any more.

 

Thanks for the information everyone on what is happeing.