Happy Endings Happen!

[telecruiser]

I just want to insert a little positive note to the forum. My wife and I completed our Alaska cruise on the Radiance on June 30th. We were travelling with another couple. We disembarked in Vancouver and we had luggage tags #1 for all four of our bags. We all exited the ship as soon as our number was called. In the chaos of soldiered suitcases and mobs of fellow travelers we quickly managed to retrieve three of the bags. The fourth, one of ours, was nowhere in sight. This has never happened to us before, even at an airport. All of the #1 bags were quickly cleared out. My wife stood with all of our carry on bags and the three suitcases we did have, and the three of us began scouring everything as it came off the ship. Some port assistance ladies saw we needed help and they all began looking as well. We kept checking the small area where they were putting bags that lost their paper tags.

 

Our plan was to share a cab with our companions. They had an earlier flight than us, so we eventually sent them on ahead to the airport. It was looking like we would have to hunker down for a bit and wait and see what happens. Eventually the place turned into a ghost town and our suitcase did not exist. The port ladies directed us to a RCI desk to fill out a Personal Property Report. I filled it out and we were directed to call the toll free number on it the next day to begin the follow up process. We got to the airport in plenty of time and flew home. The next day I called the number and that began an emailing process including itemized lists and receipts if possible. So what was in our bag? Some clean clothes and our shoes and all of our souvenirs including our Diamond pins. Oh yes, this was our first Diamond cruise. As we tallied up our estimated losses, I pictured all of those hard earned "free" happy hour drinks going down the drain. Mind you, we had no single item of great monetary value in the bag, but there was lots of stuff. It really adds up when you start to list it. I should mention we did purchase trip insurance, so we figured this would all get covered eventually.

 

So after a couple of days of emails back and forth, the RCI lost luggage dept. assures us they will investigate and to please give them a week. Today at noon, Fed Ex rings the doorbell and there he is with our suitcase looking good as new including the original green #1 tag. Everything was still in it, including the Diamond pins. The only paperwork was a customs declarations that the port people must have had to complete to ship it to us. They obviously went through the bag to list every single item and declare some sort of value. I immediately emailed the RCI rep I had been dealing with to let her know all is well.

 

Bottom line is I have no idea what happened, but it all worked out "this time." We usually do several days of post cruise stays at a port, but not this time. We might have needed that stuff. On our last cruise we did the self walk off for the first time to make an early connection and it was really quite easy. Maybe we should consider that for more cruises, especially if there will be a post cruise stay.

[Tee & Chilli]

Glad all turned out well.

[GTO-Girl]

I know that sometimes people mistakenly pick up the wrong suitcase, especially if it is the common black or gray color.

 

My little Southern Redneck self knows that duct tape can take care of all your problems....:D:D. So I bought a roll of the brightest lime green duct tape I could find and I put a strip of it on every side of my suitcase.

 

Now not only can I pick it out a mile away.....I figure if anyone takes my suitcase it's because they intended to all along.

 

 

But so far no one has wanted a large red suitcase with lime green stripes.....:'):'):')

[telecruiser]

I know that sometimes people mistakenly pick up the wrong suitcase, especially if it is the common black or gray color.

 

My little Southern Redneck self knows that duct tape can take care of all your problems....:D:D. So I bought a roll of the brightest lime green duct tape I could find and I put a strip of it on every side of my suitcase.

 

Now not only can I pick it out a mile away.....I figure if anyone takes my suitcase it's because they intended to all along.

 

But so far no one has wanted a large red suitcase with lime green stripes.....:'):'):')

 

That is what we were assuming. Also, we did have a pretty distinctive strap and luggage tag, both of which remained intact.

[rkkunk]

We carried our luggage off of the ship for the first time about 3 cruises ago. We loved it so much that that is the way we have done it since. We like not having to feel stressed about getting the luggage out in the hall way at a certain time and having to search for it when we get off of the ship.

So glad that you got your bag back and everything was okay!!

 

 

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[T&JCruisers]

We use lime green duct tape as well but we have initials written across the tape just in case.

[easyboy]

Glad you got your luggage back!

 

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[jaredsmom]

So glad to hear the happy ending and that everything was accounted for!!

[BecciBoo]

One set of luggage we used for a long time I just got slick paint in a tube and did lime, pink and turquoise initials all over them. Those wore out eventually and now we have a matched set of black with neon orange zippers and pulls and a

Pomchie on each piece.

https://www.amazon.com/Lewis-N-Clark-Pomchies-Size/dp/B002HK3FY4/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1499393220&sr=8-1&keywords=luggage+pom+poms

an identity pom pom on all of them

[Ocean Dancer]

When we went to South America several years ago, I bought penguin duct tape and stuck it all over in strips. Some of it remains..........turquoise and black, very cute.