Reporting of Theft on Princess

[silvercruiser]

I lost track of how many times I got my bottle of suntan lotion back on a long South America cruise. I'd put an address sticker on the side of the bottle with my name on it and whenever I forgot and left if by the pool I'd get a call from the purser's desk that it'd been turned in.

[GlobalGypsy]

You just have to be street smart

 

Too bad most people are only Sesame Street smart. :(

[robtulipe]

Because our slinky dresses don't have pockets in which will fit cruise cards and reading glasses and lipstick . . .

DW says that's why she brings me on her cruises. To use my pockets.:)

[Shogun]

Hi All

 

Since I started this thread I should add my bit,

 

can not recall how many times we have found cameras, phone, wallet,chain etc etc most found on deck 7, tour bus or theatre.

 

I recall the last stuff found on the tour bus got to the right person in that I kepted it and found the person on the ship

 

as to all the other items never signed anything to say where or what I found, just handed stuff in at the front desk.

 

 

My biggest loss was my bags but they never even made it to the ship

 

yours Shogun

[Stevesan]

Some people do the right thing

 

Most do.

[flamomo]

I lost track of how many times I got my bottle of suntan lotion back on a long South America cruise. I'd put an address sticker on the side of the bottle with my name on it and whenever I forgot and left if by the pool I'd get a call from the purser's desk that it'd been turned in.

 

 

Wow, silvercruiser! That is a great idea!

 

I write my initials and last name, and "If found, please take to the Purser's Desk on "name of the ship' on a sheet of paper,and take a photo of it each time I format my SD card after downloading the photos from it to my netbook.

Hopefully if I leave my digital camera sitting someplace on the ship, that info could help assure I get the camera back.

[Coral]

We have periodically lost jewelry in our cabin. This seems to happen more often then I want to admit. We always mention it to our room steward (and no one else) and phrase it that we misplaced it (which is true). The room steward usually comes through by finding it when he cleans the room. In each case, I have always believed we misplaced it and never thought that the room steward had anything to do with it. I guess now I know why they always come through and find it - they are probably afraid that we will report it higher and the room steward will be put under investigation.

[Loonbeam]

Rather than have my address floating around (which is a different kind of security risk), I use a service called ezfind.com. For a small fee you purchase a set of different size permanent labels, which you then register on line. If someone finds the item, all they have to do is call a toll free number or go on line and the service will connect us. There are no maintenance fees.

 

Note - if you do tag your luggage or other items with an address, make it your business address or another location close to your home. It's been known for baggage workers to make lists of addresses on outbound luggage to popular tourist destinations and provide them to burglars to check if the houses are empty. I use my business cards on luggage tags.

[COREYATMN]

Maybe the keelhauled him. :eek:

 

Aarrggghhh .... Walk the plank!:D

[MandD]

Because our slinky dresses don't have pockets in which will fit cruise cards and reading glasses and lipstick . . .

Thought that was what pockets on men's clothing was for.

 

BTW we used to have a 10% "LUXURY" tax on purses in the U.S. One of the strategies that helped end that tax was the congressional wives saying to their husbands, "if a purse is a luxury, I'll do without one. Here dear, put my things in your suit pockets." :)

[cdngrl]

Note - if you do tag your luggage or other items with an address, make it your business address or another location close to your home. It's been known for baggage workers to make lists of addresses on outbound luggage to popular tourist destinations and provide them to burglars to check if the houses are empty. I use my business cards on luggage tags.

this would never have occurred to me. i am obviously far too trusting. that's a great idea! thank you. if anything does get lost and ends up at my office i will eventually return. gotta keep working to pay for the next cruise!

 

as for purses--i have no husband's pockets to use, and can only stuff so much down my top! i usually only carry my cruise card. rdsqrl, no lipstick for me and when the time comes that i can't read the menu, i'll point to something and hope for the best!...or order last after everyone else so i know what's on the menu!

[rdsqrl]

Thought that was what pockets on men's clothing was for. . . .

Well, yeah, but I don't usually travel with men's clothing [ba da boom].

I've tried using random men's pockets onboard but they seem to all have a problem with that (their wives weren't too happy, either -- I guess I was taking up their lipsticks' space).

[debjo]

The story about the lost locket...found locket...and then "lost" again tears me apart. We, too, had something stolen, but it wasn't the item as much as the memories that item held. We were on the "original" PACIFIC PRINCESS in 2002 for celebrating our 25th Anniversary. My husband had bought a camcorder so that we could tape our cruise experiences and our Vow Renewal Ceremony that was to take place during our cruise. On the second sea day, we were in the Show Lounge after an entertaining game of the Not So Newlyweds, of which we took part. Some friends of ours had our camera and taped the antics for us. We rejoined them as the lounge emptied afterwards. We were about the last people to leave the area, and on our way to the Main Dining Room, we realized that we had left the camcorder on our seat. Immediately we went back to the lounge, only to find that the camera was gone. A couple of crew members were cleaning up the area around the bar and there was a kid leaving from the opposite side of the room when we returned. We asked the crew members if they found a camera..."no" was the answer. We then went to report our camera "missing" at the Passenger Service Desk...we were directed to the Chief of Security. (I can't remember if we filled out any paperwork.) We DID have our name and address label on the camera, just in case something like this would happen. We found the Cruise Director, who was one of the last people to leave the Lounge when we originally did...he wasn't aware of any camcorder being turned in.

In my mind, we were on a ship and it would be a couple days before we hit land again, so I was certain we'd have the camera before our Vow Renewal Ceremony. Afterall, where could the camera go...no one could get off the ship with it and pawn it or anything like that! I also thought some sort of "search" might take place, but to our knowledge, none did.

Every day of the cruise, we sent to the Chief of Security and the Passenger Services Desk to see if the camcorder had been turned in...everyday we were disappointed that it hadn't been. I must say that the staff and crew of the ship bent over backwards for us. It seemed that the "news" of our missing camcorder had spread fast. Upon returning to our cabin later, on the day that it was "stolen" from the Lounge, our Cabin Steward came to us and expressed his dismay saying that he'd do everything he could to get the camcorder back to us. On the remaining cruise days, we had several members of the staff and crew ask us if our camcorder had been returned...sadly we always had to reply "no...not yet".

The Cruise Director, realizing that we intended to "record" our Vow Renewal Ceremony, offered to have a member of his staff take care of that for us. So, when that time came around, we felt like we were part of some Hollywood production. But, it seemed that the "recording" of our ceremony was ill-fated, as the Cruise Director explained afterwards, the videotape that was in his cameraman's camera was defective in someway, and nothing got recorded. The Cruise Director was beside himself and presented us with all sorts of Princess Cruise Line Logo "goodies" along with an invitation from the Captain to visit the Bridge. Remember, this was 2002 (just after Sept 11, 2001) when all Bridge's were now closed to passengers. We felt very honored that the Captain was also willing to do his best to make our 25th Anniversary Cruise special, when we didn't have the camcorder capabilities to "record" the memories of the occasion and our special trip.

Not only did the staff & crew learn of our troubles, but many of the passengers would stop us in the hallway or out on deck and ask if we'd gotten our camcorder back. One very nice man from Canada (of India descent) was on a shore excursion with us. He had a camcorder similar to the one my husband had, but an older model. When he learned of our mishap, he said that he would later send us a copy of his video tape...at least some of his recorded "memories" would included things we also saw and experienced. We got that tape a couple months later.

To bring this long tale to a close, I will simply say that we never recovered our camcorder. Our trip insurance paid for a new one. And our "memories" will forever be etched into our minds. All in all, it was a great cruise, in spite of our loss. And we'll forever remember that lovely small ship from "Love Boat" fame.

 

Debjo

Edited August 20, 2011 by debjo

[Loonbeam]

I have been more than happy to play text-to-speech for someone at a table who has forgotten their glasses. Since I will walk into walls without them I always have mine...

 

this would never have occurred to me. i am obviously far too trusting. that's a great idea! thank you. if anything does get lost and ends up at my office i will eventually return. gotta keep working to pay for the next cruise!

 

as for purses--i have no husband's pockets to use, and can only stuff so much down my top! i usually only carry my cruise card. rdsqrl, no lipstick for me and when the time comes that i can't read the menu, i'll point to something and hope for the best!...or order last after everyone else so i know what's on the menu!

[cactusrose]

Agreed. We tried to do the right thing on one of our cruises on the Golden a couple of years ago and sadly it left me feeling very upset and jaded. My husband found a beautiful antique looking gold locket on the Promenade deck the evening of our sailaway. It had clearly probably broken off a chain around someone's neck and had fallen on the ground. I immediately took it to the Pursers Desk and asked if that is where I should turn in a lost item. There was just one gentleman that I spoke with at the edge of the desk where I walked up as it was later in the evening. He took the locket from me and said he would put it in their safe. As I walked away I got an uncomfortable feeling, thinking perhaps he should have logged it in somewhere or taken my name or something. But I told myself that's silly and went on about my cruise.

 

About day 10 of our 14 day cruise I happened to go into the game room to look for my son and I noticed a bulletin board where people were posting messages. One jumped out at me immediately as it had a hand drawn picture of a heart on it with scrolling decorations. I read it in amazement as it was a passenger searching for a gold antique locket that had been her mother's that she lost the day we left. I honestly couldn't believe what I was reading, but I was so excited thinking that I would be able to reunite this lady with her lost locket. So I immediately called her cabin and told her my story and she came right down to meet me at the Pursers deck. Imagine my shock when the same young man who I had handed the locket to just days before looked at me like a deer in the headlights, denied he had ever seen or spoken to me, denied ever receiving a locket and said there was no such item in lost and found. The manager was called in a pulled out a LOG where items are supposed to be recorded and of course there was no record.

 

The whole security process and investigation that followed is too much to discuss here, but suffice it to say that this poor woman never got her locket back despite every effort and I don't know if the employee in question was ever adequately disciplined as it ended up being my word against his. Sadly the end of the desk where I handed him the locket is outside of the range of cameras so there was no video evidence and searches of his cabin and work area turned up nothing.

 

I truly believe that most people, especially those working aboard Princess ships are honest, but there is always a few bad apples and unfortunately I ran into one. The locket did not have great monetary value, but incredible sentimental value to a woman who had just lost her dear mother months before the cruise and wore her locket as a means of comfort. I still feel sad about it to this day.

 

We once found a rather large diamond ear ring on the floor near the X-ray machine when you enter the ship. I took it to the pursers desk and noticed that the young woman who took it form me did not log it in, and like you I had a bad feeling about it, so I immediately asked for it back and told her to please make a note in the lost and found that I had found it and if someone asked about it to call my cabin. Sure enough by the time I got back to my cabin their was a message. The woman described it and came and got it. I don't think she would have gotten it back if I had turned it in instead of keeping it.

[karatemom2]

We once found a rather large diamond ear ring on the floor near the X-ray machine when you enter the ship. I took it to the pursers desk and noticed that the young woman who took it form me did not log it in, and like you I had a bad feeling about it, so I immediately asked for it back and told her to please make a note in the lost and found that I had found it and if someone asked about it to call my cabin. Sure enough by the time I got back to my cabin their was a message. The woman described it and came and got it. I don't think she would have gotten it back if I had turned it in instead of keeping it.

 

How I wish I had done that! The lady started going to the Purser's desk the same evening we found her locket and told me she checked back every day of the cruise. In desperation she posted notes around the ship, including the one I just happened to see in the game room. Had I kept it and just given my name to the Purser with a description of the item, she would have gotten the locket back right away. If I ever find something valuable in the future I will keep that option in mind.

 

Something I have also learned is to make sure you hand the item over under one of the cameras they have posted at intervals above the desk which are used to monitor cash transactions. Also, make sure it is logged, that they take your name and that you are provided something documenting you turned it in. And get the name of the person accepting the item. It seems sad to have to go to those lengths, but unfortunately is a necessary precaution to keep everything honest and aboveboard.

[t60]

I lost track of how many times I got my bottle of suntan lotion back on a long South America cruise. I'd put an address sticker on the side of the bottle with my name on it and whenever I forgot and left if by the pool I'd get a call from the purser's desk that it'd been turned in.

 

What a neat idea.

 

regarding handing ´found´items into the Purser´s desk , perhaps asking for a receipt for the item mightt be an idea.

 

Sandy in Spain

[KAWS]

I lost the original diamond from my engagement ring on the Sapphire. I think it fell out applauding one night in the Princess Theater. My friend and I combed that area the next day, to no avail. I like to hope that someone found it and realized what they had.

 

Sadly, it most likely got sucked up in a vaccuum instead of someone finding it. :(

[toberman]

Here's a tip I learned from fellow passengers......

 

We make up a label (sheet of paper) with our names, destination, ship, and cruise itinerary to be put in our luggage JIC the airlines 'misplace' said luggage on the way to port. If the bag is opened they know where to send it. Take a pic of this label and "lock it" so it can't be erased off your camera. Once onboard take a pic of your room # and "lock it".

We make an identical label for the trip home with home address, phone etc and place that in our luggage (for same reasons) for the trip back. Take a pic of this label and "lock it" so it can't be erased.

If you misplace your camera it's possible that someone will look thru the pics and seeing your data will attempt to get it back to you.

I've actually heard of people leaving their camera somewhere, and another passenger actually took the time to look thru the pics and found the owner on the same ship.

PS.. not worried about someone looking to steal from our house cause we have a live-in pet sitter.

[kenzie]

We had a pair of sandles stolen from sun bed.

[lovesublime]

Well, since the talk is all about theft on Princess ships-here is my story which I've told before. Panama Canal-Island Princess-late in the afternoon, I accidently leave my $200 Raybans on the table in the HC. They were pushed up against the wall next to the salt and pepper. Not more than five or ten minutes later, I realize I had left them and went back. Table had been cleared and no sign of my sunglasses. Keep in mind that there was literally no one in the HC. Every table was empty and clean. There were no pax in the buffet.

 

I went to both lost and found locations every day twice a day and my sunglasses were not turned in. Okay, fine, I blew it off, really my own fault. However, the fact that there were no other pax in the area at the time tells me that an employee swiped them.

[avalong]

We once found a rather large diamond ear ring on the floor near the X-ray machine when you enter the ship. I took it to the pursers desk and noticed that the young woman who took it form me did not log it in, and like you I had a bad feeling about it, so I immediately asked for it back and told her to please make a note in the lost and found that I had found it and if someone asked about it to call my cabin. Sure enough by the time I got back to my cabin their was a message. The woman described it and came and got it. I don't think she would have gotten it back if I had turned it in instead of keeping it.

 

It was probably the best friend/co-employee of the woman at the purser's desk. :D I know, my bad.

[chamima]

Once, when getting on a plane, I found a wallet with a lot of cash (memory says $3000 but memory is old and not so reliable :o ) I was worried about giving it to a stewardess because of all of the stories like those I've read here when things people turn in "disappear". So I waited until there were several stewardesses standing together and took it over to them. Later in the flight they said they had radioed the airport and the wallet belonged to a student coming to the US for the summer and the cash was all the money he had for the summer. So in the end I thought I had found a good solution but I like the idea of just leaving a note and having the person who lost the item call you even better!

[PrincessMelody]

These stories have made me reconsider how I will handle it next time I find something...I too found a large gemstone ring in the ladies room, and turned it in at passenger services...but like the other posters here, there was no record made of it. I wonder how many of these items turned in by honest people ever make it back to the owners?

[MHMarkL]

We once found a rather large diamond ear ring on the floor near the X-ray machine when you enter the ship. I took it to the pursers desk and noticed that the young woman who took it form me did not log it in, and like you I had a bad feeling about it, so I immediately asked for it back and told her to please make a note in the lost and found that I had found it and if someone asked about it to call my cabin. Sure enough by the time I got back to my cabin their was a message. The woman described it and came and got it. I don't think she would have gotten it back if I had turned it in instead of keeping it.

 

I think that is the way to go. If you find something valuable, let the Pursers Desk know you found it and to have anyone inquiring about it contact you directly. Leave out a few details that only the owner would know about, that way you will know if the person claiming it is really the person who lost it.

 

My mother found a big wad of cash on the Amtrak train once in the bathroom. She told the conductor she found some money and if anyone lost it to see her. When she was approached by an elderly lady who was able to describe the bills and how much was there, she returned the money to this woman and received a nice reward, not to mention a warm fuzzy feeling.