Found an Item in my Star stateroom

[msmayor]

His intentions were to return the item, yes? If they weren't I would assume he wouldn't make any of this known here at CC. So for the benefit of all, please explain why it's wrong?

 

Because if passengers started taking it upon themselves to be keepers of lost items, imagine how disorganized it can get for NCL to have to 'keep track' of which past passenger has which item. Imagine phone calls being made to NCL by those past passengers looking for their lost items, and NCL having to say "Well, you'll have to wait because we have to check our list of other people holding 'found' items across the country and see who might have what you are looking for.

 

The fact of the matter is that dishonest people are everywhere, both on cruise ships and on land and anyone with their hands in a Lost and Found could end up taking what doesn't belong to them. Does this mean that no one should EVER turn anything in anywhere? Of course not.

 

Most every retailer, hotel, airline or business that deals with customer traffic has a "Lost and Found". People who lose track of their belongings are naturally going to contact the last establishment they think they left it in, and work backwards. Therefore it just makes the most sense to leave the item in the care of that 'last establishment' and be content that you did the right thing by NOT keeping it, but turning it in.

[Medtech2]

Perhaps dishonest person would have taken from the cart carelessly left behind and you would have had to cancel anyway after the put gas in there car and quickly went shopping with your cards. You are the one who left it in the cart. Oh well

Well, aren't you a peach.

 

My point was that this smug woman who thought she did me a favor by distrusting "those people" at WalMart did more harm than good by her "act of kindness." If she had turned the purse in right when she found it I would have had it five minutes later.

 

FYI I recently went into a fast food restaurant bathroom and found a wallet with cash literally hanging out. I immediately went to the counter. The owner was right there. Now, according to you I should have taken it, gone home, then bothered to try and find the owner, while she would have been sick to death with worry...

[Jessicalou]

Oh this is such a lovely story, makes me feel all fuzzy inside :)

 

Well done OP, you obviously appreciated the value (monetary and emotionally) of this item.

[Shelli]

I'm surprised nobody else said this: Let this be a lesson to all of us married folk out there-- NEVER take off your wedding ring!! :)

 

(Hooray for you for doing a good deed, OP.)

[che5904]

OP although I did not flame or accuse you of anything, and I think your intentions were good. I still think it was handled wrong.

 

I'm glad it turned out well and the item will be reunited with it's owner.

 

I do applaud you for your honesty, but I have noticed that not one person that has come back to give you kudos gave NCL credit at all. NCL's lost and found department (that some chose to put down) did have a hand in this item being returned.

[crewser1]

I misunderstood. I thought you were saying the OP and his group were specifically wrong taking it upon themselves to return a high value item to a NCL patron. But I believe you are generalizing, referring to ALL passengers taking this route to return ANY lost item, as it would cause chaos with the cruise line. Assuming this is what you meant, I agree.

 

However, I really don't believe this would ever be an issue as I think common sense would prevail in these types of situations. I have no idea what items are the most common ones left behind, but I'm sure folks aren't going to take an article of clothing or toothbrush and do what the OP did. I really can't place a $$ amount on what a "high value" item might be, but I'll guess there really aren't many $x,xxx+ items left on a ship and even fewer that have both high value and sentimental value like a diamond ring. Again, commons sense should prevail.

 

But for the few instances where a passenger finds a diamond ring, Rolex watch, or other high-end item I don't think any cruise line would be overwhelmed. FWIW, I have no problem with the OP's method for returning this item. His group could have just said the heck with it and gave it to NCL and not worry about it. But, they took ownership and responsibility to do the right thing. That my friend seems to be a lost/forgotten trait in our "not my problem" world.

 

 

 

Because if passengers started taking it upon themselves to be keepers of lost items, imagine how disorganized it can get for NCL to have to 'keep track' of which past passenger has which item. Imagine phone calls being made to NCL by those past passengers looking for their lost items, and NCL having to say "Well, you'll have to wait because we have to check our list of other people holding 'found' items across the country and see who might have what you are looking for.

 

The fact of the matter is that dishonest people are everywhere, both on cruise ships and on land and anyone with their hands in a Lost and Found could end up taking what doesn't belong to them. Does this mean that no one should EVER turn anything in anywhere? Of course not.

 

Most every retailer, hotel, airline or business that deals with customer traffic has a "Lost and Found". People who lose track of their belongings are naturally going to contact the last establishment they think they left it in, and work backwards. Therefore it just makes the most sense to leave the item in the care of that 'last establishment' and be content that you did the right thing by NOT keeping it, but turning it in.

[family cruisers]

:-)

 

 

I got a call from the owner of the item -

 

The owner called NCL explaining they lost it and NCL gave them my number. :D:D

 

 

All is well! Now I know for sure the wedding ring will go back in the hands of the rightful owner.

 

 

Happy sailing!

[family cruisers]

I have a nice diamond band that I never wear to the beach, I always take it off but always put it back on afterwards. I also never leave it in the safe on the bottom. It has it's own hiding place in the safe.:)

I'm surprised nobody else said this: Let this be a lesson to all of us married folk out there-- NEVER take off your wedding ring!! :)

 

(Hooray for you for doing a good deed, OP.)

[family cruisers]

I doubt they'd even throw the wallet in the trash.

 

I was with the OP the entire time and even posted in their favor. So happy to hear the outcome.

 

Think about your statement, I was there and I know that the OP is a very honest person and has all intentions of returning the item to the proper owner.

 

I also believe that some of you that are beating down the OP are probably the ones who would find a wallet, take the money and dump the wallet in the trash.

[thebooler]

Anybody ever wondered what happens to all the unclaimed items from Lost & Found? :cool:

[JDKMunch]

I have a question...

 

You said you took the item home because you did not trust the NCL employees. If that is true, then:

 

How do you know that the person who called is really the owner and not some untrustworthy employee pretending to be the owner?

 

They described what the ring looked like

[JDKMunch]

But, they took ownership and responsibility to do the right thing. That my friend seems to be a lost/forgotten trait in our "not my problem" world.

 

I love this quote

 

Don't get me wrong - I think that 99% of the time NCL, RCCL whatever line you like would in fact do the right thing and return the ring.

 

It would have been much easier for me to drop it off at guest services and go on about my vacation, and life and never think of it again.

 

I now have the satisfaction that ring is returned. To me a wedding ring is worth more than any $$ value it has.

 

And it cost me $10 to mail it insured to TX. :eek:

[buzz2400]

I can't believe how mean some of you are on these boards. I frequent another website board where the people are so nice.

 

maybe the op felt that since it was a sentimental item, it would be better that he/she try to find the owner of the ring. Maybe the OP called lost and found numerous times to see if anyone called looking for the ring.

 

Let's see, I found a phone in a parking lot, picked it up, called a number on it and told the person that I just found the phone and to let the person know that I am dropping it off at the customer service dept. My father found a wallet on a busy street (no stores around) brought it home and I had to try and find the owner. It was a teenager who only had a debit card. Looked on internet for phone numbers, called each one, no one knew the person. One phone number no one answered so I actually drove 1/2 hour out of my way and sure enough it belonged to person. Mother wanted to give me money and I said no, just pay it forward. Found a purse at a mall, brought it to customer service and we looked in purse together (so if customer service person thought of stealing the money, she would think twice because I knew how much was there). Don't know if purse was reunited. Saw a young boy who lost his wallet backtrack and find his empty wallet. Boy was devastated that someone took out the few dollars and then just drop the wallet back on ground. My son lost his wallet on the beach. Immediately called credit card companies. Next day police called and said they had the wallet. It was a hassle to cancel the credit card but at least he got his driver's license back.

 

So my point is sometimes people make decisions that are good and sometimes bad. You can't judge someone who is trying to do the right thing. Maybe in your mind it is not the right way to do it but everyone has their own way of reasoning. Because it took me so long to find the owner of the wallet, I immediately just hand whatever I find to the nearest employee. I don't even go to customer service anymore.

 

OP, Kudos for you for trying to do the right thing.

[cruisegal98]

I recently moved to Long Island from Brooklyn. I was on my way home from my dad in Brooklyn and I stopped at an ATM bank with my husband and we parked in the parking lot and I got out, end spot near a tree. I looked down and saw a wallet, I assumed automatically it was empty and someone had been robbed and left an empty wallet. I picked it up and looked at it and it had at least 10 credit cards a license and about 40-50 $100 dollar bills in it. I went inside bank and was about to leave with security but I had second thoughts. I went in and security guard said to leave with me and I will take care of. I said no and went to branch manager and said does this person have an account here? They looked her up and said yes and they would handle, I said call the person and tell them I have her wallet in front of me and they did. She was crying and saying she lost her wallet and could not talk it was a week before Christmas and she took the money for gifts, she was going to call her dad to come get it immediately. I then left the wallet with the manager and when I went to parking lot an older man came running into the bank and I know he was picking it up.

 

I felt I had to know that the wallet was going to be returned before I left it there, it was not for any reward because I never told anyone my name. I was in a hurry and I needed to go to back home that day and could not wait to meet up with the person or I would have searched myself for the person but I felt bad if I took the wallet to Long Island.

 

Everyone has to do what THEY think is best and hopefully the results will be like the original poster.

[SeaShark]

The OP never said what the item was, so If I wanted to lie and say it was mine, I could call in, but my plan would fail due to the fact that I would not be able to name nor give a description of the ring!

 

GEEZ...Why on EARTH are some people so determined to BASH the person who is responsible for making someone's nightmare disappear! I sure wish the OP was the one sitting on the plane after me. Then maybe I wouldn't be stuck dealing with guest services for an airline that couldn't give a flying frog about returning my ipad to me. Maybe he/she would have called Apple and harassed them into contacting me. I am SO HAPPY for the person who lost the ring, and I am sure they will be eternally grateful to the OP!

 

Before you go off on your "geez" rant, perhaps you should re-read the post. I was talking about the untrustworthy employee that the OP assumed worked for NCL. While the OP did not post HERE what was lost, he did tell NCL and any untrustworthy employee could access that information and make the call themselves and they would know what the item was.

[rubytue]

I'm another one who will not be apologizing for saying that the right thing to do would have been to contact NCL. In the very first post, nothing was said about contacting NCL. It wasn't until after the OP has a few people taking him to task that he said that he had contacted NCL. As I alluded to on page one, if the OP had said "I have contacted NCL and I'm reaching out here, too" or something similar, I think the flaming would have been less.

 

I'm glad the OP found the rightful owner, but I stand by my opinion that turning it in was the right thing to do.

 

Oh, and for the person who claimed that those of us flaming would keep a wallet. Really?! FTR, I've driven a found wallet to someone's house before. My mailman use to deliver some medications to my house when they were addressed to a completely different address (one row under mine in the sorting facility, about 2 miles away in reality), and I would drive them over the day they were delivered so the receiver wouldn't have to wait days for the post office to resort them.

[Hikini]

I'm thankful to you and to NCL that this precious item is on its way back to its owner. Good job!

[Suzieanna]

Many years ago I worked in a nightclub and would regularly find purses / wallets/iphones. They would be put in the "safe". But I personally know of more than one person who phoned to be told that nothing had been handed in. I know it had, because I handed it in myself.... Not long after the person who worked in the office was fired, but nobody was told why(?)

 

My husband was in a casino and he left without his jacket. His friend put this jacket in the lost and found because he was flying out the next day and would not get chance to see my husband for about another year. Phoned the casino, no jacket had been handed in that night?

 

I have also in the past handed in things to shops and Police, and the police in particular always take up far too much time with their questions and make you feel guilty of something yourself!

 

Kudos to the OP.

[Arzeena]

I can't believe how mean some of you are on these boards. I frequent another website board where the people are so nice.

 

maybe the op felt that since it was a sentimental item, it would be better that he/she try to find the owner of the ring. Maybe the OP called lost and found numerous times to see if anyone called looking for the ring.

 

Let's see, I found a phone in a parking lot, picked it up, called a number on it and told the person that I just found the phone and to let the person know that I am dropping it off at the customer service dept. My father found a wallet on a busy street (no stores around) brought it home and I had to try and find the owner. It was a teenager who only had a debit card. Looked on internet for phone numbers, called each one, no one knew the person. One phone number no one answered so I actually drove 1/2 hour out of my way and sure enough it belonged to person. Mother wanted to give me money and I said no, just pay it forward. Found a purse at a mall, brought it to customer service and we looked in purse together (so if customer service person thought of stealing the money, she would think twice because I knew how much was there). Don't know if purse was reunited. Saw a young boy who lost his wallet backtrack and find his empty wallet. Boy was devastated that someone took out the few dollars and then just drop the wallet back on ground. My son lost his wallet on the beach. Immediately called credit card companies. Next day police called and said they had the wallet. It was a hassle to cancel the credit card but at least he got his driver's license back.

 

So my point is sometimes people make decisions that are good and sometimes bad. You can't judge someone who is trying to do the right thing. Maybe in your mind it is not the right way to do it but everyone has their own way of reasoning. Because it took me so long to find the owner of the wallet, I immediately just hand whatever I find to the nearest employee. I don't even go to customer service anymore.

 

OP, Kudos for you for trying to do the right thing.

 

I agree with you a 100% !!!!!!

I think that the OP did nothing wrong! Kudos for trying to find the owner and hope you are successful!

On one of cruises DH found a wp camera while snorkeling onthe ship's private island. We brought it to the front desk who asked us to keep it with us till someone reports it lost. We have witnesses so before someone can make a mean remark, think twice! We opened the camera to see if there were pictures and if we can locate the owner. There was a picture with our ship (NCL Jewel) AND the picture had a date...the date of our sailing...so we figured that the owner was on board. We looked at other pictures on the camera, went down to the photo deck to see if we can come up with a match. Nothing! We kept our eyes open to see if we run across the owner, but in a ship with over 2000 people it was very difficult. We went to the front desk again to see if someone had reported it lost. They said no. Then the guy at the front desk showd us a box full of unclaimed cameras and cell phones.....he told us that it will end up here in the end. He again told us to keep it with us till they can locate the owner. No luck!

Then one day we get a message from the front desk that someone a lost camera similar to what we found and that they have given the owner our cabin # and the owner will be contacting us. Confusing right??? Well the owner called and we arranged that we will meet at the front desk and give her the camera and if there were any lost and found formalities to be filled out we will do that as well. We united the camera with the owner. She was really very happy. We were happy for her and all ended well. DH and the owner did have to sign some papers with the lost and found.

[Arzeena]

I once left my purse in a WalMart shopping cart while getting a cranky child in the car. I drove home before I realized it and immediately went back. The cart was where I left it, but empty. I ran into the store but no one had turned it in. I WAS SICK WITH WORRY! I called and cancelled credit cards, called the bank about my checkbook etc.

 

FOUR HOURS LATER a woman called saying she had my purse. (This was before cell phones were everywhere). She had taken it home saying she "didn't trust THOSE people at WalMart." I was furious. I had cancelled everything for nothing. Her excuse for not calling me immediately was "she had to take care of her child." If she had just turned the purse in everything would have been fine! The nerve! And she could not understand why I was not thankful. Perhaps if she had called me right away.

 

The point is she had good intentions AND called you to return the item FOUR HRS LATER, not 4 years later! How ungrateful of you to be reacting in this way instead of being thankful that you got it back! Just as you were tending to your baby, she was tending to hers....perhaps her waiting for 4 hrs was due to a more urgent need with her child. Did you ever consider that? I think it is shameful that people react like this to someone who helped them! You got it back within 4 hours all intact! You may never have gotten it back! Count your blessings lady!

[che5904]

The point is she had good intentions AND called you to return the item FOUR HRS LATER, not 4 years later! How ungrateful of you to be reacting in this way instead of being thankful that you got it back! Just as you were tending to your baby, she was tending to hers....perhaps her waiting for 4 hrs was due to a more urgent need with her child. Did you ever consider that? I think it is shameful that people react like this to someone who helped them! You got it back within 4 hours all intact! You may never have gotten it back! Count your blessings lady!

 

Although I can see some wording in medtech's post that would bring on this reaction of yours. I think the point to the post was, had the lady did what she should have did in the first place and took it to customer service at the store she found it. There would have been no reason for 4 hours of worry and cancelling things.

 

You state that "I think it is shameful that people react like this to someone who helped them!". But unless she had something special in her purse, cash or her purse was expensive, getting the purse back full of useless cancelled cards would really not be something to be thankful for and would not have "helped" her. So I guess really she could applaud the lady for her honesty and good intentions.

[swedish weave]

A valuable lesson is to be learned here. DON'T POST ANYTHING ON CC UNLESS YOU ARE THICK SKINNED AND CAN HANDLE THE FLAMES!!!!

[crewser1]

I don't believe "the few people taking him to task":rolleyes: will "make his day" by apologizing and he probably could care less. Although I thought most of the comments were positive in nature and some even offered quality advice there were a few directed towards the OP that appeared to be less than supportive and condescending.

 

But, is it just me or is the last paragraph of your comment contradictory to the comments you made over the past few days? Just like the OP, you made a decision to take the responsibility to return something you felt was of great importance directly to the owner instead of relying on someone else.

 

Kudos to you for doing what YOU believed was the right thing based on the situation but at the same time I believe "the few people taking the OP to task" should have perhaps given the him the benefit of doubt he was making a sound decision based on his unique situation.

 

Anyhow, this thread's run its course. Glad it worked out and the lost item was returned:)

 

I'm another one who will not be apologizing for saying that the right thing to do would have been to contact NCL. In the very first post, nothing was said about contacting NCL. It wasn't until after the OP has a few people taking him to task that he said that he had contacted NCL. As I alluded to on page one, if the OP had said "I have contacted NCL and I'm reaching out here, too" or something similar, I think the flaming would have been less.

 

I'm glad the OP found the rightful owner, but I stand by my opinion that turning it in was the right thing to do.

 

Oh, and for the person who claimed that those of us flaming would keep a wallet. Really?! FTR, I've driven a found wallet to someone's house before. My mailman use to deliver some medications to my house when they were addressed to a completely different address (one row under mine in the sorting facility, about 2 miles away in reality), and I would drive them over the day they were delivered so the receiver wouldn't have to wait days for the post office to resort them.

[crewser1]

Do flame throwers add any real value to any forum? :confused:

I never really quite understood that part of any discussion forum.

 

A valuable lesson is to be learned here. DON'T POST ANYTHING ON CC UNLESS YOU ARE THICK SKINNED AND CAN HANDLE THE FLAMES!!!!

[tonyrocks922]

I wonder how many of the Flamers will come back and give an apology to the OP? Hopefully most. But I am sure some will just pretend it never happened.

 

OP is not owed an apology. The ring should have been turned in to NCL. Just because the right outcome happened doesn't mean he was right.