A cautionary tale for Royal Caribbean cruisers...

[cello56]

Thank you for the reminder to be cautious while on the beach. ANY beach.

 

Thank you to the posters who suggested a vacation safe! I just ordered a Masterlock one from Amazon for $19! Crimes like this are almost always a crime of opportunity. The thief did not target YOU specifically, they just looked for the easiest item to steal. While a vacation safe locked to a lounge chair could most certainly be broken in to - most thieves would be deterred by the time it would take and the noise it would make, and move on to someone else.

 

I am thinking that this safe might also be a valuable tool while sitting at the pool or hot tub back on the ship since we almost always have our iphones with us while on board.

[JAYV1]

It amazes me that someone leaves a post about their misfortune, in an effort to help others not suffer the same type of incident and a few have to take jabs at them. I really don't get it. :confused:

[CaribbeanCrush]

Thanks for sharing! I think we all get a little more at ease when on vacation. Who thinks that something like this will happen, but it does. We were on a cruise once were a guy lost his Seapass card. Several hundred dollars in drinks were charged to him before he realized what had happened. Glad you got the pictures back and the phone!

[hawlcruiser]

Anyone who has ever lost something of value should feel your pain! I DO! Several years ago my parents home burned and I had left my wedding pictures in the attic! I know the feeling of horror in losing photos with special meaning. Sure, we should have put the pics in a safer place, but who expects a fire!

 

So glad you got your phone back and got out of the bad situation quickly. No need to beat you up about it, you did that from the getgo... Let those who have never done a similar thing cast the first stone. Sorry for the tacky comments. You deserve better.

[Serial Tequila]

Thanks for posting this here, sorry you have had some negative posts, we have all done silly things, no one is perfect. I was just going to add that if you use your phone to take photos that it may be worth backing the photos up to a laptop or internet cloud if possible once in a while so if the worst does happen the lovely memories are not all lost

[AliceJ]

will sit next to me! I make the assumption that for the 1000 honest people around, the 1 dishonest person will sit next to me. That way, I keep all my belongings on me. Many years ago I had a small backpack stolen from me while I was travelling in Europe - it was literally resting on top of my feet against a counter! It had my camera, walkman, and my passport:eek:.

[gfd_2]

From a water proof and shock resistant perspective i would highly recommend a Pelican 1015 case. They also make a water proof soft case.

 

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk 2

[19Ladybird67]

Thank you for posting about your experience. I'm sorry so many people have to be rude. I'm a newbie cruiser and I appreciate the warning. I am thankful to learn how others back up their photos or use different cards each day. I also didn't know about the waterproof cases or the vacation vault and will be looking into one or both of those for our upcoming cruise.

[mollanjake]

Thanks for posting this wake up call. Will be on the independence in March. I have been wondering what to do while on port beaches, but likely would have been more careless on Labadee. Will be looking into products mentioned here.

 

So glad you got your phone and pictures back!

[cathykb]

Thanks for sharing your experience - we can all learn from it.

 

Cathy

[amster65]

A few quick notes:

 

1. Never leave anything out that you can't loose. At some time, everyone gets something stolen, than learns the lesson.

 

2. Police and security very seldom will bother with a police report for small items. They will never be found, and they will never put effort into finding it. So remember, when they do a report, it gets filed and forgotten. Better to know up front they won't bother than having false hopes.

 

3. For all the islands. Theft happens! Don't even let anyone take your picture! Don't let go of the camera. Keep your ID, Credit Cards etc in your pocket. Females, just have your husband hold them. Buy a swim suit with pockets!

 

4. Ladies, don't carry purses or items in back pockets. Carry what you need only.

 

My Brother in Law had a swim suit with pockets. Dove in his pool twice with an IPhone in his pocket. :mad:

[sandravb79]

I use a different memory card every day. This way if something happens I only lose that days worth of pictures.

 

We bought a netbook just to take with us on vacation. Each night, we download the pictures to the netbook (+ a copy on USB-stick).

If the camera gets lost/ stolen, the most we lose is 1 day worth of pictures.

Camera, netbook and USB-stick go in separate bags when we travel back home.

 

Once, we dropped a camera in NYC. camera just popped open, no way to make it work again. TG memory card was still fine! Had this happened with "old school" film, it would have been overexposed to light, and pictures gone too.

 

 

 

Also, I always travel with my mom. She never ever goes into the water (or on wild rides at Disney parks), so i always have someone to watch my "stuff". Nevertheless, one should always, always be careful.

[dwjoe]

Thanks for posting this incident, it is a pleasant surprise that your property was recovered.

 

RCCL's actions were unimpressive, especially the photographer who shrugged his shoulders. However, my local police department might be equally uncaring if I reported a disappearance of unattended belongings. I commend you for reporting it though, it is always good to report b/c it helps establish a pattern and may deter future thefts.

 

It's impossible to know exactly what happened, but I think it's likely that your reporting it to the local security guy helped, as well as the RCCL lady in charge of Labadee. It's possible one or both of them shook things up behind the scenes.

[JulieRose]

 

The takeaway for me is to back up my pics from my phone everyday..

 

I don't understand. If the photos were that important why weren't they being backed up daily? Don't get me wrong. The idea that the phone was stolen on RCI property is abhorrent at best but how about a little personal responsibility? I take my laptop with me and back my photos up onto the laptop hard drive and my iPod daily so that if something like this happens, all that is lost is the hardware. No big thing, really. In the end, it was pure luck that the phone was "found" but in the future, I hope that OP will back up those photos so that they don't end up with another "ruined" day in paradise.

[WetToes]

 

 

 

 

 

Nevertheless, one should always, always be careful.

 

 

And if you can't be careful, be perfect. :rolleyes:

[The Big Booper]

I have not real all the posts on this thread.

 

In a way, with no other passengers sitting around you, your stuff was more vulnerable.

 

When we hit the beach on a stop, the fact that surrounding chairs are occupied reduces the risk of someone rifling thru a beach bag. We never leave anything out in plain sight when we hit the water. We do wear hard shell neck wallets and a Lumix waterproof camera when we go in the water. Books and towels sit in a beach bag.

[johneeo]

I don't understand. If the photos were that important why weren't they being backed up daily?

 

Really?

 

I am in IT. Not a week goes by where one of my users loses important data because they have no clue how to save a file.

[JulieRose]

Really?

 

I am in IT. Not a week goes by where one of my users loses important data because they have no clue how to save a file.

 

Did you try turning it off and back on again?

[johneeo]

Did you try turning it off and back on again?

 

CTL ALT DELETE is our preferred method of data recovery.;)

[cjdixon4]

The whole point of this thread was that the OP wanted to give people the heads-up of her ordeal to maybe keep one of us from experiencing the same thing. She is simply trying to help. She was not here trying to find sympathy so I don't really know why people feel the need to be critical. She already knows that she should have been more careful.

 

OceanBoy - I so agree with you on this one. Most of the folks in here would never allude to the idiot moves that they've made in their OWN lives. We've all had moments where our minds were temporarily "on break." I, for one, am thankful for the OP's reminder that you can never be too careful on vacation.

[JulieRose]

CTL ALT DELETE is our preferred method of data recovery.;)

 

Crap... I think I broke my retractable cup holder...

[19Ladybird67]

I don't understand. If the photos were that important why weren't they being backed up daily? Don't get me wrong. The idea that the phone was stolen on RCI property is abhorrent at best but how about a little personal responsibility? I take my laptop with me and back my photos up onto the laptop hard drive and my iPod daily so that if something like this happens, all that is lost is the hardware. No big thing, really. In the end, it was pure luck that the phone was "found" but in the future, I hope that OP will back up those photos so that they don't end up with another "ruined" day in paradise.

 

I use a digital camera, not my phone for photos. I don't have a laptop or an ipod. I suspect I'm not the only one that doesn't own these devices. Is there some other way those of us who don't own ipods or ipads can back up photos while on vacation?

[queenschick9b]

I use a digital camera, not my phone for photos. I don't have a laptop or an ipod. I suspect I'm not the only one that doesn't own these devices. Is there some other way those of us who don't own ipods or ipads can back up photos while on vacation?

 

I am with you. I do own a laptop, but I do not carry it with me on vacation. I have no method of backing up my vacation photos while on the trip. I just try to be careful with my camera (waterproof) and be aware of my surroundings.

[JulieRose]

Is there some other way those of us who don't own ipods or ipads can back up photos while on vacation?

 

Sure, get a USB memory stick and transfer them using RCI's computers. If you're not using the internet, there is no charge to use the computer.

 

I am with you. I do own a laptop, but I do not carry it with me on vacation. I have no method of backing up my vacation photos while on the trip.

 

Of course you do. See above. These things are super cheap these days so there's no reason you couldn't back up your photos if you wanted to.

[NorbertsNiece]

Sure, get a USB memory stick and transfer them using RCI's computers. If you're not using the internet, there is no charge to use the computer.

 

 

 

Of course you do. See above. These things are super cheap these days so there's no reason you couldn't back up your photos if you wanted to.

 

USB ports on RCI computers are disabled. AFAIK.