Laptop theft from outside cabin

[valdab]

ging466 I absolutely take on board the overwhelming feeling here that I am at fault, but in all honesty I really don't encounter signs everywhere saying guard your valuables. Yes, I live in a tiny village in the country, but I do journey up to London once a week, often with £7000-worth of camera equipment slung around my neck. And, yes, I travel fairly frequently although I am fortunate enough to be able to travel Club Class; maybe these signs aren't so abundant in airport lounges? Perhaps I'm existing in some sort of parallel universe. It could explain a lot I suppose.

 

Duct Tape - Yes in hindsight it was foolish, but the cases were put out only 15 minutes before the deadline; they weren't actually in the 'hall', we had the Grand Suite and they were placed outside our room in a sort vestibule off the main corridor - not visible from the corridor (which, along with the rest of the ship, was only 50% occupied). It did cross my mind to wonder if my laptop would be OK but I was naive enough to assume if Silversea had had prior experience of goods being stolen then they might have suggested that valuables be kept inside the cabin. They certainly warned us of the dangers of theft when we arrived in Antigua. Am I the first person this has happened to? Or just the stupidest perhaps? Clearly some poor passenger is missing an orange jumper , a pair of sandals and a hairbrush. Unless they belonged to the thief, of course.

 

It's been a very interesting discussion, certainly, regrettably at my expense. Nobody said experience comes cheap.

[Bon.Vivant]

Valdab, I also think that you are being a little too hard on yourself. It would have been foolish to leave your case sitting on the pier all day, but was it foolish to set your luggage outside your cabin on the last night, as cruise ships want us to do? We have a right to assume that they are safeguarding our possessions when they demand we give it up to them. It’s hard to imagine SS employees rifling through baggage on the last night looking for loot. But, if the ship can’t guarantee secure collection and storage, then they should not be asking passengers to give them their baggage on the last night, or they should warn passengers that they do so at their own risk. If the theft happened ashore, well, I don’t think you were foolish in believing that SS would look after your luggage while you took their tour, if this is what they led you to think. I would have believed them too, having a positive regard for their competence and honesty. If someone doesn’t deliver what they say they will, they ought to make amends. And, not offer what they can’t deliver. Just MHO.

[valdab]

Bon Vivant - it's funny; when I posted the details of my situation, it didn't for one nanosecond occur to me that the replies would be anything other than overwhelmingly on my side. I've found it a bit of a shock to realise how deluded I've been and I've had to rapidly reassess the situation.

 

I wouldn't, for example, have left the bag unattended in the Virgin Upper Class lounge on the way out because I am aware that there is no sort of security in place. I suppose I was simply lulled into a false sense of security by Silversea's professionalism. Perhaps the intelligent approach would have been to have asked about valuables when I made the enquiry about the tour and the luggage problem. However the fact remains that there is no way I could have taken that bag with all my camera gear and my laptop on the tour bus. There simply wasn't the room.

Having said that, of course I have no idea where the theft took place. Maybe the taking of the tour was incidental to the theft. We'll never know I guess......

[Bon.Vivant]

Valdab: I, too, was surprised by the 'blame the victim' tone of some posts. It seemed to me that it was reasonable to expect that your valuables would be safe onboard even when not in your possession, and that they would be safe when you were on tour because a reputable company led you to think so. In the end, I think you have to deal with this situation as you think is right, regardless of other peoples’ opinions. All the best with it!

[Jade13]

Bon Vivant - it's funny; when I posted the details of my situation, it didn't for one nanosecond occur to me that the replies would be anything other than overwhelmingly on my side. I've found it a bit of a shock to realise how deluded I've been and I've had to rapidly reassess the situation.

 

I wouldn't, for example, have left the bag unattended in the Virgin Upper Class lounge on the way out because I am aware that there is no sort of security in place. I suppose I was simply lulled into a false sense of security by Silversea's professionalism. Perhaps the intelligent approach would have been to have asked about valuables when I made the enquiry about the tour and the luggage problem. However the fact remains that there is no way I could have taken that bag with all my camera gear and my laptop on the tour bus. There simply wasn't the room.

Having said that, of course I have no idea where the theft took place. Maybe the taking of the tour was incidental to the theft. We'll never know I guess......

 

I guess one question you may want to consider is if you really need all of this camera Equipment while on vacation? I am an avid photographer and just got back from Asia. I only took three lenses and ended up using a 10-24mm 95% of the time as one example. I never did use the 70-300mm I carried along as another example. I did however use that 70-300 over 90% of the time while in the Arctic with SilverSea. What I bring can be carried in a small camera back-pack/Slingback. I have my DH carry the Netbook computer in his back-pack. These will all fit under a seat on a bus.

[valdab]

Jade - well I took three lenses, one of which is a 70-200mm f/2.8 which weighs a ton and is pretty big but I wouldn't be without it. My 5d2 is large and heavy and together with spare batteries, filters, hard-drives and adaptors, it fairly fills the bag. My laptop is a 17-inch - I don't know if I could find a rucksack big enough for it to fit in.

I'm sure you must know how it is - the excitement of going away with nothing more pressing than new things to photograph always gets to me and I find myself bunging in all sorts of extra stuff 'just in case' . Bit like the clothes situation I guess - always end up taking too much! Photography is my all-consuming passion and I do get carried away I suppose.

I'm going to Asia in November - desperately excited about that. Did you get some good images?

[ging466]

Why is it when someone does something stupid and everything goes pear shaped (like the stolen laptop) that they want to blame someone else, in this case SS?

 

Would u have left your camera in an unlocked bag...no, so why leave the laptop?

 

U have been very unfortunate and it's been a costly lesson.

 

I believe everyone needs to be fiercely protective of their possessions.

 

Cheers

Jennifer (ging466)

[valdab]

Well I suppose that's exactly what has been debated here. Whether what I did was stupid or not. I didn't believe it was; the overwhelming majority here disagree with me.

[whylion]

I don't think you were stupid, Valdab! I think that Silversea represented that it would keep your luggage safe for the excursion, and that their failure to do so means they're responsible. They don't give any warning about leaving valuable items - although I think they ask you to lock the luggage.

Don't take the responses on this board too seriously. Anything even mildly critical of Silversea is generally discredited and then blamed on the either the inexperience of bad taste of the poster.

[valdab]

Don't take the responses on this board too seriously. Anything even mildly critical of Silversea is generally discredited and then blamed on the either the inexperience of bad taste of the poster.

 

Whylion - well that is something I hadn't considered. This is my first visit here. Although I was very upset when I penned my first question, I really am trying to be objective about the incident and I have acknowledged my own carelessness.

 

I do now see that for Silversea to start paying out on 'lost' luggage would leave them wide open to fraudulent claims, so maybe total reimbursement is unreasonable. Some communication from them, however, would be nice.

 

The more I think about it, the more I think the theft must have taken place where there were not too many people around. My case is of a design that necessitates it being completely unzipped in order to undo the compartment where the laptop (a large 17" laptop at that) was. Then another pocket needed to be unzipped to remove the two hard drives. The mouse was further down again, as were the two leads to the hard drives. Then the thief found time to take the afore-mentioned items from someone else's bag and place them in mine. Certainly a few minutes work. I really don't like to think of the theft taking place in the hold on the boat, but I am starting to wonder. If I hadn't been taking the tour, I would have reclaimed my bag when disembarking the ship - maybe the theft had already taken place by then. Maybe not.

 

What worries me now is there are indisputably dishonest people somewhere in the chain of command. Someone, somewhere has been going through bags that were left unlocked. Next time I will keep my laptop on me, but what if a whole case goes astray? Somebody else's did. I guess it's no different to traveling on an airline where baggage handlers are involved, yet somehow on Silversea, where everybody knows your name, the security issues don't seem so apparent.

 

Does anyone know if it is possible to be responsible for one's own luggage at the end of the cruise, ie not put any cases outside the cabin? I understand they don't want people scuffing up the lift with suitcases but I'm more than capable of lugging my bags down the stairs.

[unfathomable]

Does anyone know if it is possible to be responsible for one's own luggage at the end of the cruise, ie not put any cases outside the cabin? I understand they don't want people scuffing up the lift with suitcases but I'm more than capable of lugging my bags down the stairs.

We have disembarked from SS cruises in Barbados three or four times. Because of the timing of flights, this usually involves a tour before going to the airport. We have always left our hold baggage out, locked, the night before, and carried electronics and jewellery in hand baggage, including taking it on tour in the smallish buses that are the norm in Barbados. On occasion, we have left the hand baggage in the bus during a stop, having been assured that the driver was staying with the bus. This has never been a problem but YMMV.

[NJ Cruiserman]

I don't think you were stupid, Valdab! I think that Silversea represented that it would keep your luggage safe for the excursion, that their failure to do so means they're responsible. They don't give any warning about leaving valuable items - although I think they ask you to lock the luggage.

Don't take the responses on this board too seriously. Anything even mildly critical of Silversea is generally discredited and then blamed on the either the inexperience of bad taste of the poster.

 

Although you think Silversea "represented" they would keep Valdab's luggage safe, reading the terms and conditions on their website and the Contract of Carriage would suggest otherwise. They bear no responsibility, which is why I will buy baggage insurance, and carry my valuables with me.

[fayruz]

The responses here have convinced me that I am being unreasonable to expect Silversea to bail me out. I will, however be bitterly disappointed if I don't get a letter at least. And yes, a few onboard credits wouldn't go amiss. Word of mouth is so important and a sympathetic response from Silversea will obviously inform our opinion of the company in the future.

 

Best regards to all.

 

No, you are not being unreasonable, I too would expect honesty still to be a value. It is easy to think that your pc got stolen before you boarded the ship, in the airport area, and spare parts can be bought on ebay all around the world.

Had a similar problem on Costa in Dubai area : a small bag went missing because - surely - another passenger took it. I should say stole it, since there was no other similar bag left behind to make me think of a mistake.

Costa compensated me with a 200 euro to spend on the next cruise, more than the euros I was glad that someone was sympathetic.

[billcrooz]

No, you are not being unreasonable, I too would expect honesty still to be a value. It is easy to think that your pc got stolen before you boarded the ship, in the airport area, and spare parts can be bought on ebay all around the world.

Had a similar problem on Costa in Dubai area : a small bag went missing because - surely - another passenger took it. I should say stole it, since there was no other similar bag left behind to make me think of a mistake.

Costa compensated me with a 200 euro to spend on the next cruise, more than the euros I was glad that someone was sympathetic.

 

there's your answer; next time book Costa !(good toga parties !):D

[fayruz]

there's your answer; next time book Costa !(good toga parties !):D

 

nope, this time I booked HAL :) (great food, I've been told)

Costa is booked for next march, doing the Dubai/Savona again :)

Loooooove Toga nights!

[billcrooz]

nope, this time i booked hal :) (great food, i've been told)

costa is booked for next march, doing the dubai/savona again :)

loooooove toga nights!

 

 

toga ! Toga! Toga!:d