Damaged suitcase

[matucha]

The Princess Cruises damaged my suitcase. I was on the Ruby Princess which arrived at Port Everglades, FL and when I collected my suitcase I noticed that the bottom part of the suitcase was crushed in - which cracked the suitcase. I filled a missing & damaged luggage

report at the port, I have also been to a luggage repair shop for an

evaluation. The evaluation form cost £20. Unfortunately the suitcase can't be repaired. This was all submitted within the 15 days after the cruise which the princess cruises required. They refused to pay £170 which was the evaluation cost for the suitcase and the expenses for the evaluation letter. They only offered me £50 for damage and they said I need to claim the damaged suitcase through my travel insurance. Is The Princess Cruises not responsible for a luggage that it gets back to me safe and not damaged from the ship to the collection point? Shouldn't they take full responsibility for your handling services?

Has anybody have a similar experience? Thank you for your responses.

 

 

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[flamomo]

The Princess Cruises damaged my suitcase. I was on the Ruby Princess which arrived at Port Everglades, FL and when I collected my suitcase I noticed that the bottom part of the suitcase was crushed in - which cracked the suitcase. I filled a missing & damaged luggage

report at the port, I have also been to a luggage repair shop for an

evaluation. The evaluation form cost £20. Unfortunately the suitcase can't be repaired. This was all submitted within the 15 days after the cruise which the princess cruises required. They refused to pay £170 which was the evaluation cost for the suitcase and the expenses for the evaluation letter. They only offered me £50 for damage and they said I need to claim the damaged suitcase through my travel insurance. Is The Princess Cruises not responsible for a luggage that it gets back to me safe and not damaged from the ship to the collection point? Shouldn't they take full responsibility for your handling services?

Has anybody have a similar experience? Thank you for your responses.

 

The damage just as easily, and is probably more likely, to have been caused by the port workers who unload the luggage from the baskets after they are lowered to the pier.

The fact that Princess offered to partially reimburse you is pretty generous, IMO. You need to file an insurance claim for the remainder of the supposed value. Good luck!!

[Kamloops50]

If you read your cruise contract . There probably is a clause that specifics the maximum amount that they will pay . The airlines have a a similar clause for the payment of loss or damaged luggage.

[JF - retired RRT]

Our suitcases fell into the harbor during loading and sank (sunk?) to the bottom. ALL of our clothes were soaked, the suitcases feel greasy and smell and several items that were in the suitcases were damaged beyond repair. Our insurance said to send a claim to Princess...got an email from Princess yesterday that they are not responsible for suitcases during loading and have forwarded our claim to the company that hires the dock workers. I am expecting to receive a denial from them to send our claim to our insurance:rolleyes:.

So far, all we have received is a $100 OBC and free laundry. It took 3 days for our clothes to return from the laundry:eek:. Luckily it was a 15 day cruise and not a 3 day cruise.

[-Lew-]

 

If you read your cruise contract . There probably is a clause that specifics the maximum amount that they will pay . The airlines have a a similar clause for the payment of loss or damaged luggage.

The Passage Contract limits Princess' liability to $250US per bag.

 

Lew

 

 

13. BAGGAGE AND PERSONAL EFFECTS, LIABILITY LIMITATIONS, INSPECTION.

You agree that Carrier's liability for loss or damage to baggage or personal property is limited to U.S. $250 per bag or up to US. $1,500 if covered by Princess Vacation Protection, or up to U.S. $3,000 if covered by Princess Platinum Vacation Protection. In no event shall Carrier be liable for normal wear or tear of Your property or baggage.

[geoherb]

The passage contract says, "Carrier recommends that You obtain Your own insurance and/or travel protection against loss or damage to baggage and personal effects...."

 

In a later section, it says, "You agree that Carrier's liability for loss or damage to baggage or personal property is limited to U.S. $250 per bag or up to US. $1,500 if covered by Princess Vacation Protection, or up to U.S. $3,000 if covered by Princess Platinum Vacation Protection. In no event shall Carrier be liable for normal wear or tear of Your property or baggage."

 

Princess may see the crack as "normal wear or tear." Was the bag brand new or had you used it several times? Princess is probably basing its offer on what a used bag is worth, not the replacement value to buy a brand new one.

 

I once had a wheel on a suitcase chopped in pieces by an airline. The representative at baggage claim pointed out that the airline was not responsible for wheels. Following through with a letter to the airline got me $25, which was the cost of having the wheel replaced. The airline also sent me a voucher for $100 off another flight.

[Colo Cruiser]

More then a fair offer, take it.

[RDC1]

Unless they told you to get an evaluation the cost for that was your choice not theirs.

 

Insurance usually pays current value, not replacement cost. So for a used suitcase the offer of 50 is not bad.

 

If you have travel insurance then do what they indicated and send the information to them. You still probably will not get the cost of having the evaluation conducted back.

 

Best to just send a picture of the damage and the current cost of the same suitcase and hope the insurance policy will pay replacement, and not depreciated cost.

[cb at sea]

Just get a new suitcase! It will be faster and easier in the long run...and if it was an older piece of luggage, a new one will be much lighter, too!

[silvercruiser]

If you go to the front desk and tell them your luggage needs repair it is taken to their luggage repair, fixed and returned to you at no charge. They don't advertise this service, but I've had to use it on two different Princess ships.

[CruisinChris]

In my experience, cruising is very hard on luggage - way harder than flying. The way the bags are handled and loaded into the cages often with many bags on top of them is very tough on them. I expect wear and tear on any bag that gets checked - regardless of where, but especially with cruising. I personally wouldn't repair any suitcase damaged beyond usability. And while I don't use the cheapest bags when I cruise, I also don't use "investment" luggage either. Luggage protection is another great reason for insurance (I mean the contents not the bag itself).

[Pam in CA]

One of the reasons why I love my Eagle Creek luggage is that it's 100% guaranteed, no questions asked. They will either repair or replace your bag. When I disembarked a HAL cruise a few years ago, I discovered that the expanding handle was ripped out and hanging on by a thread. Got home, paid to ship the bag to Eagle Creek and 10 days later, my bag was back, repaired and cleaned. My only cost was to ship the bag (it was shipped overnight back to me by Eagle Creek) and a lot less hassle. No dealing with insurance claims. The bag was as good as new. Maybe better.

 

 

:) Pam

[Coveguy4]

On a recent cruise one of our bags never made it to our cabin. Went to the pursers desk and spotted it without an attached handle and the cabin info missing. After unpacking, they picked it up and took to their repair shop onboard. Got it back the next day as good as new.

[Grumpy69]

Our suitcases fell into the harbor during loading and sank (sunk?) to the bottom. ALL of our clothes were soaked, the suitcases feel greasy and smell and several items that were in the suitcases were damaged beyond repair. Our insurance said to send a claim to Princess...got an email from Princess yesterday that they are not responsible for suitcases during loading and have forwarded our claim to the company that hires the dock workers. I am expecting to receive a denial from them to send our claim to our insurance:rolleyes:.

So far, all we have received is a $100 OBC and free laundry. It took 3 days for our clothes to return from the laundry:eek:. Luckily it was a 15 day cruise and not a 3 day cruise.

 

 

Let me guess you had an SFO departure?

 

 

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[Loonbeam]

Lands end.. Same reason..

 

Sadly a good non zipper hardshell is hard to find anymore...

 

One of the reasons why I love my Eagle Creek luggage is that it's 100% guaranteed, no questions asked. They will either repair or replace your bag. When I disembarked a HAL cruise a few years ago, I discovered that the expanding handle was ripped out and hanging on by a thread. Got home, paid to ship the bag to Eagle Creek and 10 days later, my bag was back, repaired and cleaned. My only cost was to ship the bag (it was shipped overnight back to me by Eagle Creek) and a lot less hassle. No dealing with insurance claims. The bag was as good as new. Maybe better.

 

 

:) Pam

[sbflcruiser]

Issue #1, we took a land tour after an Alaskan cruise, where they take your luggage and it meets you in the final hotel. When we got to the Hotel the bag was badly damaged and several items were missing from the inside. Talked to the Princess Rep at the Hotel who started a claim for us. However, we were advised via letter that Princess was not responsible as they hire others to transport the luggage and I had no way of knowing when or by whom it was damaged.

 

Issue#2, Upon boarding the Regal for the maiden voyage one of our bags was damaged, it was torn at the seam all the way around the zipper. Reported it on the ship was told it nothing really to be done, would give us some duck tape to hold it closed when disembarking...

 

So we did not have any luck. We did have insurance the 2nd time but the bag was a couple of years old and just decided to replace it rather deal with it.

[CI66774]

As others already have said, Princess is liable up to the stated amount - no more. Submit the rest through your insurance. If you don't have insurance, I'm afraid you're SOL for the remainder.

[pablo222]

As others already have said, Princess is liable up to the stated amount - no more.

 

The original poster was offered much less than the 'stated amount'

by Princess.

[Hlitner]

The reality of travel these days is that luggage is often mistreated and too often sustains damage. The airlines and cruise lines certainly do not treat luggage well. We travel an awful lot (7 months last year) and now just assume that our luggage will only survive a few trips. Our best solution is to simply purchase relatively low cost well designed luggage (we prefer Travelpro luggage which we can buy online for a large discount. Another reason to avoid high-end (expensive) luggage is that luggage thieves will generally target expensive luggage since they assume that anyone who owns expensive luggage is more likely to have valuable items packed inside.

 

Insurance can sure help, but then one must often pay inflated rates for insurance which might even have a deductible. And the insurance companies can be a royal pain when they start demanding written repair estimates, original receipts for the luggage purchase, etc. Sometimes it just sucks to be a consumer :(

 

Hank

[RetiredNTraveling]

Just get a new suitcase! It will be faster and easier in the long run...and if it was an older piece of luggage, a new one will be much lighter, too!

 

This sounds like good advice! We use to have a matching 7 pieces set of luggage! It was great, however, when we started flying more and then cruising, we changed to simple black softside Cheap luggage! You know, "throw away" because Air Lines and Cruise Lines are notorious for poor/sloppy handling! :eek:

[matucha]

Thank you very much to all of you for advise! I declined to offer to accept £50 for my damaged suitcase. I wrote them back a long email about their customer service and responsibility. They reconsidered my claim and they offered me £150.00 cheque to cover the cost of my suitcase. I am very happy about. I'm glad I didn't need to claim it through my travel insurance and they took a responsibility for my damaged suitcase. Thank you again for your advise! Xx

 

 

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[EddieCruzer]

Lands end.. Same reason..

 

Sadly a good non zipper hardshell is hard to find anymore...

 

The Delsey Helium Colours Luggage is the best we have found. Comes in a variety of sizes. Clam shell closure, hard sided. Cleans-up easily with some Fantastic. Still looks like new! With the bright colors, it is easy to spot on the luggage carousel.

 

http://www.ebags.com/product/delsey/helium-colours-26-4-wheel-trolley/223383?productid=10251859

[AZbeachboy]

Some good advice here.

[JF - retired RRT]

Let me guess you had an SFO departure?

 

 

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Nope...LA

[Putterdude]

Thank you very much to all of you for advise! I declined to offer to accept £50 for my damaged suitcase. I wrote them back a long email about their customer service and responsibility. They reconsidered my claim and they offered me £150.00 cheque to cover the cost of my suitcase. I am very happy about. I'm glad I didn't need to claim it through my travel insurance and they took a responsibility for my damaged suitcase. Thank you again for your advise! Xx

 

 

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Good on you. While I have not had luggage damaged by a cruise line I have recently had a piece of quality hard sided damaged by SWA who initially declined to pay but by remaining rational with them they not only wrote me a check for the full value of the bag they gave two duffle bags to get my stuff home in.