Luggage lost (stolen?) on the Dawn

[lollyb99]

We stayed in a PH suite on the Dawn last December (2011) and upon disembarkation were advised to leave our luggage in the hall (as always) and that we would be able to pick it up on the dock. We were headed to a rental house where we were to spend another 2.5 weeks.

 

Once we arrived on the dock to collect our belongings, one of our bags was nowhere to be found. It happened to contain the belongings of my 5 year old and most of the costly items did not need to be replaced right away but could wait until we got home. It still cost us over $800 to replace the items in the luggage.

 

I filled out the lost luggage sheet and was assured that someone would be in touch. I followed up with NCL after 5 days and they advised they were still looking into it and that I needed to give them 30 days to search for the luggage. Now, I could make this story very long and I will save all of the details but after speaking with several staff, customer service, lost luggage, re-sending the lost luggage form 2x and being told to wait 30 days between each interaction for someone to get back to me - after 10 months of discussion I am still no further ahead than the day we left the ship. Bottom line is that NCL will not acknowledge any responsibility for the bags that they insist you hand over to them. I should have filed a police report in Miami as I have no reason to believe the luggage was not stolen. As far as I am concerned, I gave it to an NCL employee who walked off with it and this is why the bag was never returned to me. Who is to say they did not unpack it, take what they wanted and dispose of the rest once they were out of eyesight?

 

What are your other options? Can you take all of your luggage on and off the ship yourself?

 

I would like to go on another cruise but I don't trust the baggage handlers and clearly NCL doesn't either which is why they take no responsibility for the luggage they handle.

[SeaHunt]

Sorry this happened to you. Not on NCL, but the same thing happened to us once on Princess Cruises (Grand Princess). Now we do self disembarkation and lug our luggage off by ourselves on all our cruises.

 

Ugh, recalling that feeling - nothing like going to the crowded, hectic luggage claim room to get your luggage and it's not to be found, huh. :rolleyes: Even worse when you're trying to catch a plane out, and have to hang around and wait (and wait), for the luggage coordinator to help you.

 

Actually we almost lost two pieces that day. Our friends were standing with the rest of our luggage waiting for us while we searched, and my friend said a lady walked up and grabbed another piece of ours to walk off with it. Our friend said "HEY THAT"S NOT YOURS" and the lady just said "Oh, thought it was". Geeze. Makes you wonder how many problems cruise lines have with luggage each week.

 

We had generic black Samsonite luggage back then, but now have purple spinners that really stand out so hopefully no one will ever get confused if it's their luggage or not ever again LOL.

 

I remember filling the Princess forms out, but can't remember exactly how long Princess took in returning our $$$ (items we lost included my dressy clothes and my husbands complete tux regalia). But it certainly wasn't 10 months! I'd say more like 6 weeks. I really think you are going to have to turn into a squeaky wheel to move things along, i.e. start contacting them daily if you aren't already doing that now.

 

Good luck and hope you get it resolved soon!

[BadKitteh]

I don't pack excessively so I have a carry on sized suitcase and usually a backpack and carry off my own luggage. You are not required to have NCL take your bags off for you, but if you pack more than you can carry on your own there isn't much choice.

[emcelh]

Yes, you can carry your luggage off yourself. You would have received disembarkation information in your cabin on the last full day of the cruise with this information along with customs declaration forms, priority luggage tags (since you were in a suite).

 

I doubt one of the NCL crew members would have taken your belongings. I would think it would be difficult to do that without being noticed, especially considering the close quarters they live in. It's unlikely that passengers would pack valuables in their bags. Why would a crew member ship with very little storage space want someone's clothes. It's more likely another passenger picked up your bag, either accidently or on purpose. It happened to me once on an airport shuttle. Someone took my bag and left theirs.

[SuiteCruiser]

I agree, anyone could have taken it. I think about that at airports, where anyone could grab any suitcase and walk off with it. There's nothing stopping someone from walking in off of the street and up to a baggage carousel at the airport. Coming off of a ship is different, but every passenger that came before you has access to your luggage if you opt to put it out the night before.

 

I always take mine with me when I disembark, that way I don't have to worry about keeping everything I need for the morning either.

 

So sorry this happened, it absolutely sucks. I hope there wasn't anything irreplaceable in there. And this is WAY too long to have to wait, definitely need to ruffle some feathers over there!

[rajones007]

I agree, anyone could have taken it. I think about that at airports, where anyone could grab any suitcase and walk off with it. There's nothing stopping someone from walking in off of the street and up to a baggage carousel at the airport. Coming off of a ship is different, but every passenger that came before you has access to your luggage if you opt to put it out the night before.

 

I always take mine with me when I disembark, that way I don't have to worry about keeping everything I need for the morning either.

 

So sorry this happened, it absolutely sucks. I hope there wasn't anything irreplaceable in there. And this is WAY too long to have to wait, definitely need to ruffle some feathers over there!

Heh. Makes me think of the Trailer Park Boys. They made their living, for a time, by walking into the airport and stealing luggage.

 

Anyways, is there anything I need to know about carrying my own luggage off? Is there restrictions in place? Do I need to be off at a certain time? I always sail NCL in a suite, so would that make a difference?

 

To be perfectly honest, I've never been comfortable with the mad free-for-all frenzy in the luggage claim room after a cruise. Luggage theft must be common. We probably just don't hear about it.

[SuiteCruiser]

Heh. Makes me think of the Trailer Park Boys. They made their living, for a time, by walking into the airport and stealing luggage.

 

Anyways, is there anything I need to know about carrying my own luggage off? Is there restrictions in place? Do I need to be off at a certain time? I always sail NCL in a suite, so would that make a difference?

 

To be perfectly honest, I've never been comfortable with the mad free-for-all frenzy in the luggage claim room after a cruise. Luggage theft must be common. We probably just don't hear about it.

 

I don't think it happens very often at all, but the potential is definitely there.

 

You can leave when you like, you don't have to be off first, but you can be first behind the suites if you are in a hurry. We usually stay in a suite, but I've also cruised recently in other cabins, so it is the same for everyone. The last suite cruise I took, the concierge offered a couple of different times to meet up for priority disembarkation. We went to the later one, and left together.

 

A couple of weeks ago, I was on the Sky in an ocean view, and we left when we felt like it and walked off, no lines, no wait, quickest I've ever left the cabin and been in a cab out of all of our cruises.

 

The only restriction is that you need to be able to handle all of your luggage yourself.

 

Hope this helps!

[palmyrafan]

We stayed in a PH suite on the Dawn last December (2011) and upon disembarkation were advised to leave our luggage in the hall (as always) and that we would be able to pick it up on the dock. We were headed to a rental house where we were to spend another 2.5 weeks.

 

Once we arrived on the dock to collect our belongings, one of our bags was nowhere to be found. It happened to contain the belongings of my 5 year old and most of the costly items did not need to be replaced right away but could wait until we got home. It still cost us over $800 to replace the items in the luggage.

 

I filled out the lost luggage sheet and was assured that someone would be in touch. I followed up with NCL after 5 days and they advised they were still looking into it and that I needed to give them 30 days to search for the luggage. Now, I could make this story very long and I will save all of the details but after speaking with several staff, customer service, lost luggage, re-sending the lost luggage form 2x and being told to wait 30 days between each interaction for someone to get back to me - after 10 months of discussion I am still no further ahead than the day we left the ship. Bottom line is that NCL will not acknowledge any responsibility for the bags that they insist you hand over to them. I should have filed a police report in Miami as I have no reason to believe the luggage was not stolen. As far as I am concerned, I gave it to an NCL employee who walked off with it and this is why the bag was never returned to me. Who is to say they did not unpack it, take what they wanted and dispose of the rest once they were out of eyesight?

 

What are your other options? Can you take all of your luggage on and off the ship yourself?

 

I would like to go on another cruise but I don't trust the baggage handlers and clearly NCL doesn't either which is why they take no responsibility for the luggage they handle.

 

I am sorry this has happened to you, scary. Is it possible another passenger had the same type of luggage, didn't read the name and took it home? Possible they were afraid they would be accused of stealing it?

 

Another scenario. Did you check with the lost luggage terminal in your area? They usually have one for planes, trains and ships. If it is not recovered by the owner, it goes up for auction or to a luggage warehouse. This is possible too.

 

Could be the reason NCL has not gotten back to you is because they investigated the crew, found no wrongdoing and thought perhaps you were jerking their chain?

 

Again, I am sorry this has happened to you. A great reason to carry your own luggage.

[ColinIllinois]

Is that not covered under travel insurance??? :confused:

[emcelh]

Is that not covered under travel insurance??? :confused:

 

Should be, if they had it.

[bob brown]

The same problem occurs at airport baggage claim area's. Once upon a time, when you exited the claim area, an employee asked to see your matching stubs to the baggage checks, and then removed the checks and allowed you to proceed.

Nowadays, that is not done. You just grab your bag, and go. I once asked why they did away with the matching, and they replied that it was not cost effective.....that it was cheaper for them to pay a few phony missing baggage claims, then to hire enough help to match the checks for the large number of passengers. Incredible, no?:confused:

[GrandmaHofmann]

We were missing a suitcase once disembarking. I had ship insurance and they were very responsive the moment they found out that I had their insurance. They asked for a couple weeks in order to run a search before paying me for the case. But it turned out that a man had had a heart attack and had to be taken to a hospital on St. Thomas. He died there. He asked a friend who was traveling with him to get his luggage. The guy's name was Robert H-- and mine is Roberta H-- His friend picked up our luggage. Fortunately, a ten days or so later his widow unpacked the suitcase, found it was not her husband's, notified the cruise line, and sent our suitcase back to us. I think the process took a couple weeks at most.

[zqvol]

Too much happens to luggage after you leave it out to even think about pointing at NCL in this matter.

 

The luggage is collected and loaded into bins on the ship. The bins are then off loaded by dock workers, and as soon as they touch it, it becomes their responsibility, not NCL's.

 

The bags are then taken to customs, and then put out for passengers. At this point the port authority is still responsible.

 

Normally when a bag is lost like this a passenger has picked up the wrong bag, doesn't discover it until they get home, and simply throw it away.

 

If the bag were still on the ship NCL would have found it and as long as it had some identification either in it, or on it would have returned it.

 

After 10 months you can assume that it is gone and not coming back.

 

Next time, you can always carry your luggage off yourself.

[jdvmd]

$800 to replace the contents of a 5-year-old's suitcase??

 

Welcome to Cruise Critic BTW.

[HokiePoq]

$800 to replace the contents of a 5-year-old's suitcase??

 

Welcome to Cruise Critic BTW.

 

I was thinking I'd have to spend a lot more than that to replace the contents of my suitcase which would have most all of my wearable seasonable clothes, lol. I appreciate this info as we will be on the Dawn in January.

Only experience I've had with lost/stolen luggage was in Barcelona where a couple on our group bus could not find theirs in the terminal. As the bus left for the airport, we saw a parked truck which appeared to belong a gypsy group loaded with suitcases. Can't say for sure that's where the suitcases went, but it sure looked that way.

In San Diego we hauled our own off for the first time and I tore my meniscus rushing to make a flight (another story there). Hard to decide what to do next time!

I do think it is highly unlikely that an NCL employee is to blame. They would be risking their livelihood and it would be difficult to steal a suitcase without being seen on security cameras.

[mjkacmom]

I've been guilty of taking other's luggage, both times coming off of a cruise! Both times we used porters, and caught one mistake at the airport (immediately contacted the cruiseline), and one time the luggage made it to our home (we drove to and from the port - fortunately, the owner lived near us).

 

We have a rather large family, and just didn't notice the extra bag being put on the trolly.

[Zeno]

I am sorry that you lost your luggage but:

 

1. I am not sure I understand why anyone would leave valuable items in a suitcase that was going to be sitting in a public area where ANYONE could take it.

2. Of course (as long as you are capable) you can carry off your own luggage. NCL most certainly does not force you to leave it to be picked up. We take off our own luggage all the time.

3. Of all possible scenarios I would think that theft by an NCL employee is the least likely for all the good reasons stated by others (what on earth would a crew member in their ccramped quarters do with you stuff?)

4. Don't you have travel insurance. We always do and sure enough we once lost a piece of luggage (not on a cruise). The insurance covered it

5. Most likely someone pickup your suitcase by mistake and for some reason has not contacted NCL or perhaps someone deliberately took it.

6. Anywhere where luggage is left in a relatively public place - it is at risk. In Mexico we saw a scenario similar to the gypsies and a truck. Stack of luggage at main entrance to hotel right by curb - truck pulls up and starts to load it. Luckily an alert hotel employee thought something was funny and asked for some authorization or ID. Guys in truck took off.

 

Some good advice on this thread:

travel insurance

always keeping valuables with you

carrying off your own luggage if you can

[Karysa]

Post cruise in the Venice terminal in September, 2011 after extending our cruise to 3:30 we picked up our unique looking luggage in the terminal. There was very little luggage by this time. The only bag like mine had an interesting dent in it. Upon closer inspection, i found out that it was not my bag. I quickly looked around the terminal and saw a lady with the same bag. After convincing her to look at the luggage tag :rolleyes: we discovered that she indeed had my bag. We were from the same city in Ontario and purchased it at the same store.

Perhaps someone took your luggage by mistake and left with it only to get home and discover this.

 

Blaming the workers seems unfair when you have absolutely no proof.

[blindrid]

$800 to replace the contents of a 5-year-old's suitcase??

 

Welcome to Cruise Critic BTW.

 

Key word here is the word "to replace" not the current value of the suitcase and contents.

 

When I travel, I try to buy the ugliest luggage I can find. There are way too many blue / black suitcases as I too have more than once grabbed the wrong suitcase from a carousel. I do, though, always look at the name tag.

 

That and I try ribbons, decorative name tags, whatever it takes to make them "different". Why do you think the suitcases that come in large polka-dots are popular?

 

I'm not schlumping luggage off the ship, hopefully, I will have no issues as I haven't in the past.

[jdvmd]

Key word here is the word "to replace" not the current value of the suitcase and contents.

 

When I travel, I try to buy the ugliest luggage I can find. There are way too many blue / black suitcases as I too have more than once grabbed the wrong suitcase from a carousel. I do, though, always look at the name tag.

 

That and I try ribbons, decorative name tags, whatever it takes to make them "different". Why do you think the suitcases that come in large polka-dots are popular?

 

I'm not schlumping luggage off the ship, hopefully, I will have no issues as I haven't in the past.

 

Sorry I still don't think it would cost $800 to replace the contents of a 5-year-old.

[fergusonvt]

We always do self disembarkation and never put anything valuable in our suitcases.

[lollyb99]

$800 to replace the contents of a 5-year-old's suitcase??

 

Welcome to Cruise Critic BTW.

 

I know - It does sound kind of excessive, especially since you would not keep 'valuables' in a child's suitcase. In this particular situation we had my daughter's snowsuit (we are from Canada and we were traveling in December) which was ~ $200 + her prescription orthodics (not something I consider valuable in that others would not want them, but v. expensive to replace) at ~ $500 + assorted clothing probably worth more than $100 but it was mostly short/t-shirts.

 

Now I know better - on our next trip we will not have anyone handling the bags, whether airline or ship.

[lollyb99]

Should be, if they had it.

 

We have insurance but it wasn't covered - since NCL (or any ship) doesn't track bags the way airlines do there is no way to be sure that I actually gave the bag to anyone on the ship so the insurance (unless you buy specific ship insurance) does not cover loss of luggage in this case.

 

I didn't try putting it through my home insurance but that may be who would cover it. I probably have a 1K deductible so nothing would be covered anyway....

[lollyb99]

I am sorry that you lost your luggage but:

 

1. I am not sure I understand why anyone would leave valuable items in a suitcase that was going to be sitting in a public area where ANYONE could take it.

2. Of course (as long as you are capable) you can carry off your own luggage. NCL most certainly does not force you to leave it to be picked up. We take off our own luggage all the time.

3. Of all possible scenarios I would think that theft by an NCL employee is the least likely for all the good reasons stated by others (what on earth would a crew member in their ccramped quarters do with you stuff?)

4. Don't you have travel insurance. We always do and sure enough we once lost a piece of luggage (not on a cruise). The insurance covered it

5. Most likely someone pickup your suitcase by mistake and for some reason has not contacted NCL or perhaps someone deliberately took it.

6. Anywhere where luggage is left in a relatively public place - it is at risk. In Mexico we saw a scenario similar to the gypsies and a truck. Stack of luggage at main entrance to hotel right by curb - truck pulls up and starts to load it. Luckily an alert hotel employee thought something was funny and asked for some authorization or ID. Guys in truck took off.

 

Some good advice on this thread:

travel insurance

always keeping valuables with you

carrying off your own luggage if you can

 

I will take the advice that you and many others have offered and only take what we can carry on and off the ship. As I mentioned in another post, the items that were of 'value' were only of value to us. The main items that we lost that were costly are my daughter's snowsuit ($200) and her prescription orthotics ($500). Anything of real value such as watches, jewelery, cash, etc we always carry on us.

 

I don't know who took the bag but the last person that I am aware of who handled it was NCL which is where I feel they have some accountability. They do not feel the same way.

 

We are a family of 6 so managing everyone getting off the ship is crazy enough (passports and other travel docs, cash, ship cards, etc) without handling luggage but I'd rather carry it myself than try and sort things out through NCL again.

 

We had travel insurance but since the bags are not tracked by NCL (or any ship for that matter) the insurance does not cover luggage lost on a ship. If it had been lost by the airline it would have been totally covered. If I had purchased the NCL travel insurance it would have covered the bag. The fact that NCL sells insurance in case they lose your bags, rather than taking responsibility for the luggage they handle should have been my first clue. It kind if feels like a fox/hen house scenario.

[Starry Eyes]

I really do not feel it is a fox guarding the hen house...for all the luggage handled on ship's each year, few pieces go missing, not enough to think it is an insurance scam. As illustrated by stories here, when it does it is most often a passenger mistakenly loading the wrong bag. Of course a decent person who made that mistake would contact the cruiseline or the owner...sadly that did not happen for you.

Really, blaming a crew member is beyond the pale...what would a crew member want with a child's t shirts, shorts and snow suit, let alone her orthodics. the stuff wouldn't fit, they wouldn't have a place to store it, they know they are on camera, they often come from warm climes, they would be risking their jobs. Stop believing NCL crew took the bag; assuming that is beneath your dignity.

This is the first time I have heard of a lost luggage claim being denied by the travel insurance. I am very disappointed in your insurance company. Please post the name of your insurance company so we can all avoid using them.