Lost Baggage & Royal Caribbean's response

[Miata2004]

I do not normally post here, but I felt something should be mentioned about the experience my family just went through on our last R.C. cruise. We were booked on the Independence sailing Jan. 31st from Port Everglades. The cruise was great, as always, but the disembarkation was a disaster. Anyone who has been on a R.C. recently sailing out of Port Everglades is familiar with the status of the terminals that R.C.uses. They have makeshift tables to sign in, makeshift stations for customs on return... In all, the facility is not in good shape to handle the number of people they are moving through.

The problem we ran into was my daughter never received her luggage when we disembarked. We had signed up for a shore excursion in Ft. Lauderdale, so we were told to assemble in a different place than others with the same color scheme on their bags. When our color was called, we were told to wait until the excursion was ready to go as a group. This meant we waited 15 minutes after everyone else for our grouping.

When we were finally told to disemark the ship, we were the last group with our luggage color code to leave. When we got outside, we were herded into a room, where a few bags with our color code were laying on the floor. No one was around to check any tickets. Anyone could walk into the room. Once in the room, and were told to get our luggage, and go to the Customs lines. Unfortunately, since 400 other people had already rummaged through the luggage, someone had obviously taken one of our bags, because it wasn't there. When we asked what we could do, we were told to fill out a form. That was it. No checking. No investigation. Nothing. We were told to hurry because we were scheduled to go on the everglades excursion, and it was leaving soon.

When we got to customs, there was no one to check our bags. No Royal Caribbean employee. No customs person. No one. No one counted or verified that the bags we happened to have with us were actually ours. We could have walked out with ten bags, and no one from Royal would have known the difference. The sad part is it appeared that none of the employees cared. My daughter had lost her bag, and no one from the cruise line cared. They were more interested in getting us out of the terminal as quickly as possible. Luckily, my daughter did not have anything extremely valuable in the bag, but she did have two expensive formal dresses and an I-Pod Touch. In all, she lost about $1,000 worth of stuff due to the cruise lines negligence. After two weeks, Royal has said they have no idea what happened, and offered my daughter $300 to cover the loss. There is not much we can do about it, since this amount is listed as the limit of their liability for baggage in the paperwork you sign when boarding.

Next time, we will go on another line when we choose to cruise. We will also consider keeping our bags in our own posession since we can't trust them to Royal's crew.

[bluegirlum]

I'm sorry. That's really unfortunate. I would try contacting them one more time. I'm a "policy and regulations" person, but it can't hurt to try one more time. You probably will only get the amount it lists in the cruise contract, but it would be good customer service for them to try to help a little bit.

 

Next time, I would stay until the bag is found and/or forego the excursion and insist they do an investigation. We made the mistake of leaving before our bags got to us at O'Hare and we had to wait 3 days until they were flown to us. That led to ruined clothes and luggage, and no recompense from the airline. Had we simply waited we would've had our bags just fine.

 

I hope it works out.

Edited February 22, 2010 by bluegirlum

[pscruzinboyz]

Sorry and welcome to CC.

Like Cruise lines and Airports, they do not check baggage anymore when you leave the luggage area. When you try another Cruise Line, it will be the same thing. They just don't have the personnel to handle the amount of people and luggage in such a short time.

Good luck in the future. I never put Electronics in my Luggage, always a carry on!

 

Mike

[Schooner Bar Girl]

You can make a claim under your homeowners insurance to cover the loss.

[graf103]

First off, I'm horrified that one of your daughter's bags is missing/stolen/lost. I can only imagine if that had happened to me. Did you have trip insurance? I'm not even sure if that's something that would be covered, but it may be worth a shot if you had coverage.

[Sue L]

did you have insurance, most policies cover lost luggage.

[BruceMuzz]

ALL the cruise lines - and the airlines operate exactly in the same manner.

No matter where this had happened to you, the results would be the same.

 

Smart travelers get insurance. Did you?

 

I was about to ask what you were thinking when you left an ipod in an unlocked suitcase.

But it is obvious that you were NOT thinking.

 

You might consider this loss a "not paying attention tax".

Edited February 22, 2010 by BruceMuzz

[julianne74]

Smart travelers get insurance. Did you?

 

I was about to ask what you were thinking when you left an ipod in an unlocked suitcase.

But it is obvious that you were NOT thinking.

 

You might consider this loss a "not paying attention tax".

 

Wow. This was all really mean!! :(

[broberts]

I was about to ask what you were thinking when you left an ipod in an unlocked suitcase.

But it is obvious that you were NOT thinking.

 

You might consider this loss a "not paying attention tax".

 

And what "not paying attention tax" are you going to pay? Perhaps an apology to the OP is in order.

 

You obviously did not pay attention to the OP. The entire bag was missing. There is not a word in the OP about the bag being locked or unlocked and in any case that fact would be moot.

 

Next time, before you decide to criticize a poster, you might want to actually read the post.

[BananaAnna]

ALL the cruise lines - and the airlines operate exactly in the same manner.

No matter where this had happened to you, the results would be the same.

 

Smart travelers get insurance. Did you?

 

I was about to ask what you were thinking when you left an ipod in an unlocked suitcase.

But it is obvious that you were NOT thinking.

 

You might consider this loss a "not paying attention tax".

 

I don't see anything in the OP that indicates luggage was unlocked.

I agree - a "not paying attention tax" seems pretty crude. How about a "somebody stole my things" tax?

OP, I truly hope you get appropriate restitution. Getting ripped off is bad, getting ripped off twice is worse.

Edited February 22, 2010 by BananaAnna

[Badlands99]

ALL the cruise lines - and the airlines operate exactly in the same manner.

No matter where this had happened to you, the results would be the same.

 

Smart travelers get insurance. Did you?

 

I was about to ask what you were thinking when you left an ipod in an unlocked suitcase.

But it is obvious that you were NOT thinking.

 

You might consider this loss a "not paying attention tax".

 

I'd like to nominate BruceMuzz to be a Cruise Critic Ambassador.

He can officially welcome all new members with his charm and wit.

 

Jeez-o-Pete, it's no wonder people are hesitant to post around here.

[SecretSK]

Wow, I'm really sorry your daughter's bag was lost. I'm always afraid that sort of thing will happen - that someone would pick up one of our bags without checking the tag and just walk off with it. Unfortunately, it's a bit of a free-for-all. Unless it was placed in the wrong area, or lost its color tag, I'm not sure how RC would ever be able to find it. I've never had anyone confirm my baggage is mine before leaving the airport/cruise. Has that happened on cruises you've taken?

 

I agree with the suggestions - we never pack anything of particular value in our luggage, especially not an iPod. That's for a carry on, where it will be in my control the entire time.

 

I hope you're able to get your complaint satisfied, even if it isn't through RC directly.

[reeran]

ALL the cruise lines - and the airlines operate exactly in the same manner.

No matter where this had happened to you, the results would be the same.

 

Smart travelers get insurance. Did you?

 

I was about to ask what you were thinking when you left an ipod in an unlocked suitcase.

But it is obvious that you were NOT thinking.

 

You might consider this loss a "not paying attention tax".

 

 

Geeeze...I guess the old saying...if you can't say anything nice don't say anything at all would apply here...:rolleyes:

[silentbob007]

Unfortunately I would venture that another passenger walked away with the bag. That's been the way that debarkation has worked for every cruiseline I've been on ... there's no one checking tags when you leave ... the same as the airport. The only difference is the amount of time it takes to get bags out. Sorry you got burned but this does actually work out for most people and I doubt you would get a much different response from any other mass-market line.

[LoveSt.Thomas]

What bothers me the most is I dont remember Port Everglades being that horrible. It's only been a year since I've been there and it wasn't an issue at all, in face I thought of it as one of the better facilities.

 

I hope RCL does something more than give you $300, but if you're willing to take them again maybe you can get a cruise discount or something.

 

The other thing that bothers me is that if I had the wrong bag, I would at least try and find the owner, and if there was an address, I would send it to them, or something. I don't see how anyone could just take someone's else's luggage, I mean unless the clothes fit you, that's just pointless...

 

Maybe on your next cruise, you should look into luggage valet or express luggage, I'm not sure exactly which one it is, but it's where you can take your own luggage off the ship, that way no one can steal your luggage! :)

[mhww]

I am sorry you daughters bag was lost and I am sorry you didn't get the proper help from the port staff. My husbands hanging bag was missing when we returned to Galveston a couple of weeks ago and the port staff was very helpful. They helped us look, suggested that we look bags similar bag and they would call the owner to see if they had it. When we didn't find another black bag like ours but there was a dark green like it with no other bags for that passenger they decide to try that one and found our bag before it left the terminal. BTW, alway put you cell phone number on your bags in case you do loss one. I didn't but thankfully the person who had mistakenly taken our bag did.

[amybeth4]

What bothers me the most is I dont remember Port Everglades being that horrible. It's only been a year since I've been there and it wasn't an issue at all, in face I thought of it as one of the better facilities.

 

Same here. And what surprises ME the most is a bathroom being locked, which I've NEVER EVER seen on ANY cruise. Weird.

 

Maybe on your next cruise, you should look into luggage valet or express luggage, I'm not sure exactly which one it is, but it's where you can take your own luggage off the ship, that way no one can steal your luggage! :)

 

You're talking about express check out.

[LoveSt.Thomas]

Thanks. We've never had an issue with the cruise lines losing our luggage thankfully, and I was considering express check out that way we ensure our luggage stays with us. I'm accustomed to airlines losing our luggage, as it happens quite often, but it's always worked out in the end.

 

Though one time we had the worst flight experience ever, one of our bags got left at the airport, and the airline wasn't willing to help us, Celebrity was extremely helpful and our bag was one of the last on the ship with numerous "RUSH" tags and etc on it, and we later found out Celebrity's people picked up our bag from the airport for us.. :)

 

I wish you would have had a similar experience.

[Desert Cruizers]

I have thru other postings learned about putting contact # in your suitcase, and it helped friends of ours whose luggage was accidently picked up by another passenger. Realizing the error after they left, they called our friends and the luggage returned.

I still do not understand why one has to be rude to another person on these boards. If you can't be sympathetic to a persons misfortune, then do not post.

Edited February 22, 2010 by Desert Cruizers

[broberts]

You may want to check back with lost & found, perhaps a couple of times over the next few months. I recall reading a post some time back about someone who did just that with a good result.

[househunter]

While I think that it is awful that someone took the bag either intentionally or not, I'm not sure why you think it was RCI's fault or what you think they could have done about it. Theft happens everywhere, that is what insurance is for. If the bag was already gone when you got there, there was nothing that could have been done at that point.

 

I do agree with checking back often to see if it turns up. Maybe someone grabbed it by mistake because it looked like theirs? That happens often at airports and probably cruise terminals as well.

[broberts]

While I think that it is awful that someone took the bag either intentionally or not, I'm not sure why you think it was RCI's fault or what you think they could have done about it. Theft happens everywhere, that is what insurance is for. If the bag was already gone when you got there, there was nothing that could have been done at that point.. . .

 

Several people have made similar comments. Quite frankly I just don't understand them.

 

The cruise line takes possession of your luggage and places in a limited access area, (not open to the public or anyone not associated with your cruise ship), that the cruise line either owns or leases. Seems to me that they are the only one in a position to do anything to minimize problems of theft and improperly claimed luggage. And I can think of any number of things that the cruise line could do to minimize the risk of these sorts of things happening.

 

And the bit about "theft happens". Well theft does happen but does that mean that we should simply accept that it does? Does it mean that we should allow companies to evade any responsibility for operating their properties in a manner that minimizes the risk of theft?

Edited February 22, 2010 by broberts

[Ziggggypup]

This happened to my Mom. We couldn't find her bag in the color coded area that it was suppose to be. After everybody left, their was one bag that was left. It looked exactly like my Mom's bag, but it wasn't hers. We went over to one of the reps who was totally useless. All they wanted to do was give her a form. I told them that the one bag remaining looks exactly like hers, and that someone took the wrong back. I suggested that they go through the bag in a attempt to contact the owner and see if he/she has the wrong bag. They wouldn't do it. So I said the hell with them and went over to the remaining bag. The luggage tag had a name and and some phone numbers. So I went outside and called the number. The phone number turned out to be for a doctors office out in Arizona. I called the office and it turned out that this doctor was on a cruise out of Miami. What a shocker!!!

 

Anyway the receptionist took my number and said she would call him on his cell. About five minutes later the doctor called me on his cell. I told him to check his bag because I think you have my Mom's luggage. He checked, and in fact he had the wrong bag. He was at the airport and was just about to check the bag in. Him and his wife jumped into a cab and came back to the port and we exchanged bags.

 

This was a easy enough investiagtion to conduct, but RCCL could care less and left it up to me and my own devices.

 

At least we had a happy ending, but my Mom was freaking out the whole time. And the funny thing was that she just bought this piece of luggage because it was a unique size and color scheme. Except that the their was one other cruiser that had the same one.

Edited February 22, 2010 by Ziggggypup

[mgg42]

Smart travelers get insurance.

 

I have taken hundreds and hundreds of trips and I have never once taken insurance. Are you saying I'm not smart?

 

No, the reality is that everyone weights the risk and benefit and makes a decision. I have decided that if something happens, I can afford the hit. And in the long run, I'll probably save money by not paying for all that insurance.

 

Insurance is great if you decide it's worth it.

[cruise luvr]

I'm sorry that the bag was taken, hopefully, unintentionally by someone who thought it was their bag. I would like to hope that people aren't scrounging around for people dirty laundry. As for the IPOD, something that valuable should always be carried with you. even a locked suitcase is not cosidered locked and anyone can get into it. What was RCI to do, the bag was gone, I really don't see what else they could have done for you. Filling out a form and moving on would be the best thing. Standing there for hours on end wouldn't bring the luggage back. I think that $300 is a great gesture. Again, it sucks to lose luggage, but at least it was on the way home and they did offer some compensation.

 

I say job well done!!