So do you really want to know what happens when you miss a ship? (Take II - sorry)

[Zam]

Last year we booked a week long trip on the Jade (30 years of wedded bliss) and we started planning (the cruise was from Rome, Italy to Venice, Italy). It should have been a great trip but sometimes things happen that prevent it from being a great trip and without going into too many details (okay I am going to give some details), we missed the ship! Please note, this was NOT NCL's fault, it was ours but I figured that maybe others could learn from our mistakes and not have the issues we did.

- Problem #1: Cancelled Flight - Our airline cancelled our flight and did not tell us. I had confirmed the flight about 30 days before hand but did not think to do it again until departure day. From now on I check on flights 2 or 3 days before departure date - I want NO surprises from the airlines the day we fly.

- Problem #2: Lost luggage - We were on a connection flight with a "partner" airline and that partner airline checked our bags from our departing city all the way to Rome. Because of the cancelled flight (see problem #1) our luggage was gone. We had the claim tickets given to us from the first flight but because they were trying to find our luggage at the second airport, they took our claim checks so they could search for the bags - guess what - they lost one of our claims tags. So NEVER, EVER give up those luggage claim tags to anyone - take a picture of them first - this becomes very important when you start trying to find your bags using the claim tag numbers - you need those numbers to find the bags. Side note, one of our bags actually went from New Jersey to Ghana and we departed from Los Angeles - go figure!

- Problem #3: Because our luggage was lost we had been wearing the same clothes for 4 days and we were about to board the Jade so we needed to go shopping for at least one change of clothes. Never shop in a foreign city! We tried not to look like total tourists in Rome but we only had an hour to get some shopping in and we were 2 hours from boarding the Jade. We were excited to finally have some clean clothes to put on (plus the fact we were about to head for the Jade) we let our guard down and one of our passports was stolen. We are usually very diligent about pick-pockets but we got hit. It was a Saturday so we could not get a replacement passport until Monday (fortunately there is a U.S. Embassy in Rome) and you CANNOT board a shop without a passport, so we missed the ship!

 

It was a very sad day and my wife and I cried together but what could we do? F'n pick-pockets! But this story does not end here, there is more that happened but I am running our of space and time so will add more in the next couple of days, and I will also tell you what we did to make the best of the trip - and what we did to catch up to the Jade a few days later.

[SissasMomE]

Ugh - that's horrible. Rome is NOTORIOUS for pick pockets!! I am so sorry that happened to you. I can't imagine how sad and disappointed you were :(

[Blondie008]

"Lucky white heather"?

 

(Sorry - bit of Scots humour which only fellow Scots will understand)

 

You were certainly in need of some! :eek:

[insidecabin]

Not getting a feel for the time line.

 

When did you land in Italy and when was the cruise departure?

[champagne123]

If this story was not SO very sad, it would be funny. HOLY COW :eek:

[LrgPizza]

I had no idea that there are still primitive airlines that don't scan checked bags. Any time I've had to search for a bag, the airline can scan the baggage receipt, or else look at my flight record which has electronic version of the receipt, and see exactly where the bag has gone since it was scanned in upon its arrival at whatever destination. It sucks that you has a different experience.

[dexddd]

I had no idea that there are still primitive airlines that don't scan checked bags. Any time I've had to search for a bag, the airline can scan the baggage receipt, or else look at my flight record which has electronic version of the receipt, and see exactly where the bag has gone since it was scanned in upon its arrival at whatever destination. It sucks that you has a different experience.

 

One would think. Not sure if you consider primitive but Delta lost each of our kids bags when we went on the BA in March. The Delta lady at EWR was nice enough and tried hard but when she was going through computer she said she couldn't find where they were at. We only had one connection so they should have been there. They did ultimately arrive on the later night flight.

[toyotaford]

I had no idea that there are still primitive airlines that don't scan checked bags. Any time I've had to search for a bag, the airline can scan the baggage receipt, or else look at my flight record which has electronic version of the receipt, and see exactly where the bag has gone since it was scanned in upon its arrival at whatever destination. It sucks that you has a different experience.

Traveled to Rome from Houston in January on United. Connected in Frankfurt and traveled on Luthansa. No one had a clue where my bags were for 5 days. I had my bag receipt but it didn't help at all.

[LrgPizza]

Traveled to Rome from Houston in January on United. Connected in Frankfurt and traveled on Luthansa. No one had a clue where my bags were for 5 days. I had my bag receipt but it didn't help at all.

I traveled from Venice to Frankfurt on Lufthansa with lost luggage, continuing on Air Canada to Toronto then to Indianapolis. My bags were "lost" the entire time, but thankfully they were always able to track them via bar code. They made it to my house, but they took a completely different route than I did!

[TrumpyNor]

Last year we booked a week long trip on the Jade (30 years of wedded bliss) and we started planning (the cruise was from Rome, Italy to Venice, Italy). It should have been a great trip but sometimes things happen that prevent it from being a great trip and without going into too many details (okay I am going to give some details), we missed the ship! Please note, this was NOT NCL's fault, it was ours but I figured that maybe others could learn from our mistakes and not have the issues we did.

- Problem #1: Cancelled Flight - Our airline cancelled our flight and did not tell us. I had confirmed the flight about 30 days before hand but did not think to do it again until departure day. From now on I check on flights 2 or 3 days before departure date - I want NO surprises from the airlines the day we fly.

- Problem #2: Lost luggage - We were on a connection flight with a "partner" airline and that partner airline checked our bags from our departing city all the way to Rome. Because of the cancelled flight (see problem #1) our luggage was gone. We had the claim tickets given to us from the first flight but because they were trying to find our luggage at the second airport, they took our claim checks so they could search for the bags - guess what - they lost one of our claims tags. So NEVER, EVER give up those luggage claim tags to anyone - take a picture of them first - this becomes very important when you start trying to find your bags using the claim tag numbers - you need those numbers to find the bags. Side note, one of our bags actually went from New Jersey to Ghana and we departed from Los Angeles - go figure!

- Problem #3: Because our luggage was lost we had been wearing the same clothes for 4 days and we were about to board the Jade so we needed to go shopping for at least one change of clothes. Never shop in a foreign city! We tried not to look like total tourists in Rome but we only had an hour to get some shopping in and we were 2 hours from boarding the Jade. We were excited to finally have some clean clothes to put on (plus the fact we were about to head for the Jade) we let our guard down and one of our passports was stolen. We are usually very diligent about pick-pockets but we got hit. It was a Saturday so we could not get a replacement passport until Monday (fortunately there is a U.S. Embassy in Rome) and you CANNOT board a shop without a passport, so we missed the ship!

 

It was a very sad day and my wife and I cried together but what could we do? F'n pick-pockets! But this story does not end here, there is more that happened but I am running our of space and time so will add more in the next couple of days, and I will also tell you what we did to make the best of the trip - and what we did to catch up to the Jade a few days later.

 

Wow - I feel sorry that you had to go through that, and I am actually impressed that you manage to stay so "neutral" about the unfortunate incidents and just present the facts. Probably because you have had a few months to let it all "sink in". And your story so far is actually proof of the saying: "Misfortunes never come singly". Now I want to know how the story ended - hopefully with some good things at the end!

 

Your story is also another example on the importance of travel insurance - hopefully many of the readers of your thread will understand that this could actually happen to anyone anywhere (at least parts of it)...

Edited May 20, 2014 by TrumpyNor

[Medtech2]

FWIW I was just in a local Goodwill store where I saw a suitcase for sale with an "Unclaimed Luggage" tag still attached! :eek: And it was a monogrammed bag, very pretty.

 

To the OP congratulations on your 30 years! That is probably what gave you the fortitude to greet each of these obstacles head on!

[nbsjcruiser]

ugh. What an awful start to what should have been a great vacation.

[jdvmd]

I am so sorry to hear this. Hope things got better....quickly.

[Kenlorz]

To the OP... I am SO dreadfully sorry this happened to you! We are about to celebrate our 25th anniversary by taking a cruise and can't even fathom going through what you went through. Thank you for sharing your story.

 

But this does bring up a question I have always wondered about in the back of my mind somewhere....

 

Before we travel, we scan ALL of our travel documents (airline tickets, passports, credit card info, drivers licenses, confirmations, etc.) and upload them to a secure web site so that we can access the info from the web from any available device if necessary. The BIG question.... if you were pick pocketed and have all your documents stolen before a cruise, (or if you missed the ship in a foreign port), would the cruiseline or airline accept the scanned documents in place of the stolen ones and allow you to board? If not, am I providing ANY service to myself by having this scanned documentation (other than some misplaced sense of security)?

[martinm]

Taggin along to see how this pans out....

[gooch47]

I worked for the old AT&T before I retired. We used to have to go to Rome occasionally and they warned us about the pickpockets stressing that CHILDREN were often the ones you really had to watch out for.

[peg013]

To the OP... I am SO dreadfully sorry this happened to you! We are about to celebrate our 25th anniversary by taking a cruise and can't even fathom going through what you went through. Thank you for sharing your story.

 

But this does bring up a question I have always wondered about in the back of my mind somewhere....

 

Before we travel, we scan ALL of our travel documents (airline tickets, passports, credit card info, drivers licenses, confirmations, etc.) and upload them to a secure web site so that we can access the info from the web from any available device if necessary. The BIG question.... if you were pick pocketed and have all your documents stolen before a cruise, (or if you missed the ship in a foreign port), would the cruiseline or airline accept the scanned documents in place of the stolen ones and allow you to board? If not, am I providing ANY service to myself by having this scanned documentation (other than some misplaced sense of security)?

 

Having a scanned copy will make it easier to replace the items (Passport # etc.) but will not allow you actually board AFAIK.

[Susie51]

This is horrible! Waiting to hear the rest of the story.

[kmurph22]

Kenlorz -

 

can you share what you software/ site you use to upload your info? I upload everything to an iPad and password protect the documents, but if the iPad is stolen, well we're still in trouble. Your idea sounds like a better one. Although I don't think a scanned passport will work at airports or on ships, it would certainly make the replacement process a bit easier I imagine.

 

OP - What a sad story. I am so sorry to hear. We would like to hear the rest... I hope there was some redemption in the trip! Good lessons to be learned. I also like the idea about taking a photo of your luggage receipt.... I like to think I'm going to stay organized, but I've lost those little slips of paper before. I guess I've been lucky up to now that nothing has happened to my bags!

 

(ok I know I just jinxed myself....)

[Kenlorz]

Kenlorz -

 

can you share what you software/ site you use to upload your info? I upload everything to an iPad and password protect the documents, but if the iPad is stolen, well we're still in trouble. Your idea sounds like a better one. Although I don't think a scanned passport will work at airports or on ships, it would certainly make the replacement process a bit easier I imagine.

 

That's a question for my husband :o

I just know we store our documents online. Not knowing which option he uses, I can't speak for certain on what we use. I imagine though that there are plenty of options (Dropbox, Cloud, even a separate specially created email account?). I seem to recall it's one that is advertised on tv for such a purpose... maybe google online secure document storage :confused:

Sorry that wasn't very helpful :o

[medicalma'am]

CC is a font of great info! I recently decided to insure our trip to Europe this summer for a wedding and travel after the wedding. We will be in trains, planes and automobiles on this trip. :p If my luggage is lost, I will HAVE to find something for the wedding. All else is easily replaceable.

 

I have a document scanner APP on my phone. I can take pics of a paper or credit card and use the APP to make it look like the original instead of a photo, which doesn't always look squared. I think I can then just upload them to my photo storage site and access from anywhere.

[Twiz]

Sorry this happened. I have learned to pack/cram 3 days ( I also make them mix/match for variety) worth of clothes into our carry ons they maybe heavy but at least I will have some clean things if our luggage gets lost.

[Medtech2]

Kenlorz -

 

can you share what you software/ site you use to upload your info? I upload everything to an iPad and password protect the documents, but if the iPad is stolen, well we're still in trouble. Your idea sounds like a better one. Although I don't think a scanned passport will work at airports or on ships, it would certainly make the replacement process a bit easier I imagine.

 

OP - What a sad story. I am so sorry to hear. We would like to hear the rest... I hope there was some redemption in the trip! Good lessons to be learned. I also like the idea about taking a photo of your luggage receipt.... I like to think I'm going to stay organized, but I've lost those little slips of paper before. I guess I've been lucky up to now that nothing has happened to my bags!

 

(ok I know I just jinxed myself....)

I email the scanned copies to myself. I would then just access my email on the web...

[GrabMyWrist]

Kenlorz -

 

can you share what you software/ site you use to upload your info? I upload everything to an iPad and password protect the documents, but if the iPad is stolen, well we're still in trouble. Your idea sounds like a better one. Although I don't think a scanned passport will work at airports or on ships, it would certainly make the replacement process a bit easier I imagine.

 

OP - What a sad story. I am so sorry to hear. We would like to hear the rest... I hope there was some redemption in the trip! Good lessons to be learned. I also like the idea about taking a photo of your luggage receipt.... I like to think I'm going to stay organized, but I've lost those little slips of paper before. I guess I've been lucky up to now that nothing has happened to my bags!

 

(ok I know I just jinxed myself....)

 

 

Google Drive and Microsoft OneDrive are both free and allow for this. I believe Google gives you 15GB of storage and Microsoft is 7GB. Accessible from anywhere in the world.

[cruisinsly]

WOW. So sorry this happened. Thanks for sharing the info.