Advice Re Lost Luggage

[lbw]

Just back from a wonderful Solstice cruise. A young couple in our party lost one of their bags. They checked it in at the pier but it never made it to the stateroom. The shipboard staff gave them a voucher for a small amount to purchase clothes on board, but at cruise shop prices, it did not begin to replace all the lost items.

 

The bag never did turn up, and now that they are back at home, they would like to write to Celebrity and describe their loss. I believe they are entitled to some compensation beyond the meager amount they received on board. They did NOT receive the contract limit of $300 per person. Any suggestions of whom to contact or what strategy would be most effective would be really appreciated.

[Giorgi-one]

They should also contact their Travel Insurance. Their bad if they did not have insurance.

[Happy Cruiser 6143]

I believe their homeowners' insurance covers this as well.

And people are not bad if they do not purchase travel insurance. Some prefer to be self insured. Some have other coverage available to them.

[Lsimon]

One other place to check for possible coverage is the credit card of the company that they charged the cruise on. Many credit cards have some limited trip insurance on them covering cancellation, interruption and luggage.

[lbw]

Thanks for the suggestions. These two are young inexperienced cruisers who never even thought about the possibility of their luggage being lost by the cruiseline or baggage handlers. They certainly know better now. I'll pass the suggestions along to them.

[philnpen]

My congratulations to you for helping a younger and more inexperienced cruiser for a resolution to their problems.

 

Phil

[Giorgi-one]

I believe their homeowners' insurance covers this as well.

And people are not bad if they do not purchase travel insurance. Some prefer to be self insured. Some have other coverage available to them.

 

I did not say they were bad. That is an expession which means their mistake. You cannot really self insure everythihng. First of all, if you have a medical emergency, foreign hospitals and doctors will not accept your US Blue Cross card. You will have to pay up front which most people cannot cover. Also, if you require emergency evacuation, it could easily cost you up to $100,000. Never travel outisde the US without travel insurance.

[CathyCruises]

Never heard of the phrase "my bad"???

[tuggers]

And never give up on that bag. My friend had one returned almost a month after the cruise. She had done all the work of itemizing and getting receipts together for her travel insurance when the bag arrived at her home. It may show up yet!

[billie5]

Never travel outisde the US without travel insurance.

 

With all your cruise experience, I am sure you must know that there are all sorts of good reasons for traveling without travel insurance (ie., self insuring). In fact, there have been hundreds of threads on this topic, all the time on all the different boards. The only accurate use of the word "never" I can think of is to never say "Never travel without travel insurance." Forgive me if I do not rehash yet once again the reasons it makes sense for some people to self-insure.

 

Bill

[lbw]

And never give up on that bag. My friend had one returned almost a month after the cruise. She had done all the work of itemizing and getting receipts together for her travel insurance when the bag arrived at her home. It may show up yet!

 

YOU WERE RIGHT!!! I just found out that the young couple whose bag was lost at boarding for Solstice, were recently contacted by Carnival. Their bag had been found, apparently having been sent to a Carnival ship instead of Solstice. The bag was shipped to their home near Houston, and they said all the contents were still there. So, a happy ending. They didn't let the lost bag spoil their cruise and they got their things back, too.

[Giorgi-one]

With all your cruise experience, I am sure you must know that there are all sorts of good reasons for traveling without travel insurance (ie., self insuring). In fact, there have been hundreds of threads on this topic, all the time on all the different boards. The only accurate use of the word "never" I can think of is to never say "Never travel without travel insurance." Forgive me if I do not rehash yet once again the reasons it makes sense for some people to self-insure.

 

Bill

 

Never travel outside the US without travel insurance!

 

Never fly to cruise port on Embarkation Day!

 

Never sail on Carnival!

[Giorgi-one]

Never heard of the phrase "my bad"???

 

See link below.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_bad

[lbw]

[quote=Giorgi-one;26905055

 

Never sail on Carnival!

 

They did not sail on Carnival. As I stated, they were sailing on Solstice, but somehow their bag made it to Carnival. Their second bag went to Solstice. Our best guess is that the porter carelessly put the errant bag on the wrong luggage trolley. Being a Sunday, it was a very busy scene at Port Everglades. They learned a valuable lesson. Don't check anything you can't replace, and get insurance for the rest if you don't want to pay for replacing it yourself. You can't rely on the cruiseline to make you whole.

Personally, I have decided that I am going to double label my bags, get the name/number of the porter who takes them, and be extra sure to tip him well.

[CelebrityMan]

IBW,

 

...and the last time we were in FLL on a busy, busy port day, I stood off at a few paces and made sure the luggage porter put our bags on the right trolley before we went on into the terminal.

 

 

 

CM

[sharkwl]

I would agree with always having travel insurance! I my opinion, you are a 'fool' if you travel outside of North America without it! It is cheap and if you travel alot, one day you will need it!! Our baggage was lost on an RCI cruise 2 years ago, and they gave us a free tuxedo & accessories, evening gown, free internet, and free drycleaning! Incredible! Luckily, our bag arrived in the next port! Once home, Delta Airlines also re-imbursed us the $600 in clothing costs we spent in Puerto Rico before boarding! So, never think it won't happen to you!! Be prepared and get the best insurance you can afford! :)

[Redtravel]

I bought an expensive policy. I had an accident while traveling. It took 2 days for a doctor to see me...and the xrays showed no break. Upon returning home, I was in so much pain that I went to see a doctor. The xrays showed a major break. It has taken me 5 months to recover from the break. I still am fighting with the travel ins. to pay my expenses. The foreign doctors diagnosis is what the ins. co. wants to believe. My broken foot has been a major problem and I haven't received anything from the travel ins. co. Th policy cost me over $800 and it was worthless.

[tuggers]

ibw, so glad there was a good result for your friends!

redtravel, sorry your experience was not good. I have not used my travel insurance much but once there did seem like there might be a problem. My ta did a three-way phone call with them and I had a check, in full, within 3 days.

[unfdoug]

Im not trying to be smart but how does a cruise line lose your luggage from the pier to the ship? They are so close. What can happen to it that it gets lost?

[fleckle]

Im not trying to be smart but how does a cruise line lose your luggage from the pier to the ship? They are so close. What can happen to it that it gets lost?

Luggage is loaded into open cages that are hoisted and swung across the water when loading them on or off the ship. There have been some instances where luggage has fallen off into the water. Someone on one of the message boards (sorry, don't remember which board) posted about seeing a suitcase fall off just recently.

 

Also, as lbw posted, it is not uncommon for more than one ship to be loading at the same pier at the same time. So if your bag gets put on the wrong luggage cart, it may go to the wrong ship. That is why it is a good idea to verify which ship you want with the porter who takes your bags, and yes, we are among those who always tip the porter whether or not it is necessary or suggested.

 

I have often thought that it would be nice if they would give you a claim check with a unique identifying number for each piece of luggage you check, the way they do at airports. At the cruise port, you have nothing to show that you even checked any bag at all. It is a good idea to pack all essentials and valuables in your carry-ons.

[billie5]

I work for an organization which has no fire insurance on its buildings or contents. It owns hundreds of millions of dollars worth of buildings, not even considering the valuable contents. As others have pointed out, sooner or later there is going to be a big fire and it is going to suffer big losses. Therefore, it must be a very STUPID organization. Actually, it has been around for nearly 140 years, so it has had a lot of time to be stupid.

 

I have written in threads before about the pros and cons of "self-insuring" and it is really not worth doing this every time someone comes up with the canard about "never" traveling without insurance. It is probably true that most people should not travel without insurance, but since the insurance company makes money - lots of it - by selling the insurance, it stands to reason that some individuals can save money over the long haul by not listening to the "never" nuts. The trick is to know if you are one of those for whom self-insurance makes sense.:)

 

Bill