Lost Suitcase In NOLA

[pe4all]

17 hours ago, wms99 said:

I bought some real gaudy duct tape that had a "minion" print all over it. Our suitcases have stripes and wraps of this stuff all over. There is no mistaking it. Think Eddie Van Halen's guitar.

Check the duct tape display at your local box store and get something fun.

 

 

We have leopard print duct tape on our suitcases.  Really sticks out on our red bags.  Also, I put giant letter "E" all over (for our last name.). I also take a picture of our suitcases just in case they get misplaced somewhere.  As they say - "a picture is worth a thousand words."

[LHARTWICK]

23 hours ago, staceyglow said:

Don't think I want to paint my brand new soft-sided Travelpro luggage. 😁  I am a fan of fun, colorful tags.  Here's what's on mine:

True, but we've had tags lost/torn off/removed.  The paint stays in place.  I was just offering another option, and I see another poster has done the same.  Hope the OP gets their belongings returned for sure.  

[simplynewt]

The next cruise I am going on, I think I will throw a tile (RFID Tag) in there and that way I will always know where my luggage is at. Is there anything that will not allow me to do this?

 

https://www.thetileapp.com/en-us/mate-products?utm_campaign=13538568903

 

 

Edited November 20, 2021 by simplynewt
Reasoning

[csm5986142]

Sorry this happened to you.  In 16 cruises, we have only had a problem once, and it was different (bag was damaged being loaded onto the ship - 1 wheel torn off and a 3 inch tear in the bag).  So now we only carry our luggage on/off.

[shipgeeks]

Simplynewt,  I'm sorry this happened to you.  I hope there will be a happy ending before long.  And I hope it won't put you off letting crew handle your bags when you arrive and depart.  It can be a pain lugging the big stuff around.  We've done over 40 cruises, and have never had a problem.

As many have suggested, the key seems to be making your luggage look unique and individual, the bigger the better, as it is more likely that another passenger mistakenly picked it up, rather than theft or loss by crew.

I do have a question for you.  Do I understand correctly that you still had your "arrival" tags on the bag when you departed?  I wonder if the bag was taken back onboard and delivered to what was your cabin?

[canes20]

19 minutes ago, shipgeeks said:

I do have a question for you.  Do I understand correctly that you still had your "arrival" tags on the bag when you departed?  I wonder if the bag was taken back onboard and delivered to what was your cabin?

 

That is what I asked early in the thread and never saw an answer to that question. I wondered if the suitcase went back onboard.

Edited November 20, 2021 by canes20

[simplynewt]

On 11/20/2021 at 3:46 PM, shipgeeks said:

Simplynewt,  I'm sorry this happened to you.  I hope there will be a happy ending before long.  And I hope it won't put you off letting crew handle your bags when you arrive and depart.  It can be a pain lugging the big stuff around.  We've done over 40 cruises, and have never had a problem.

As many have suggested, the key seems to be making your luggage look unique and individual, the bigger the better, as it is more likely that another passenger mistakenly picked it up, rather than theft or loss by crew.

I do have a question for you.  Do I understand correctly that you still had your "arrival" tags on the bag when you departed?  I wonder if the bag was taken back onboard and delivered to what was your cabin?

That may be but the tag was not specific as to being an Arrival Tag. It was what CCL had us print out. I would think they would have discovered it by now if that was the case. Thanks for the thought though.

[shipgeeks]

Please let us know if/when this is resolved/solved!

[FTLCruiseGal]

9 hours ago, simplynewt said:

That may be but the tag was not specific as to being an Arrival Tag. It was what CCL had us print out. I would think they would have discovered it by now if that was the case. Thanks for the thought though.

What Carnival has you print out is the luggage tag to identify which cabin you are in.  As others have stated, it may have gone back on to the ship, and be either at the room or in their lost & found.  The lost & found is unloaded in the home port once the cruise is over.

 

You are told to take off the luggage tag prior to placing on your debarkation zone tag exactly for this reason.  I remove mine even before I start unpacking on embarkation day.  It sucks that this is happening to you, but I am sure you will get it back.

[Essiesmom]

Buttt...  The luggage presumably made it to the departure hall where it should have been picked up.  The luggage going onto the ship does not enter this area, so why/how would it have been loaded back onto the ship?  EM

[simplynewt]

FTL, my suitcase made it out just fine. It was sitting right next to my wifes and had the same tag hanging on it as my wifes did. Not seeing why my wifes would have ended up back on the ship whilst mine made it through for my pickup. 

[DPTexas]

On 11/15/2021 at 10:47 AM, cyclist_guy1 said:

im surprised no one has suggested this...yet.

 

i saw a tip a few years ago about adding additional luggage tags on the inside of your bag. that way if the outside tags get lost eventually someone will know who the bag belongs to once its opened. and will hopefully call the owner.

This is exactly what we do whenever we cruise or travel by air.  We always place an extra copy of the boarding pass inside each suitcase with our contact info - just in case.  Plus, using a good quality plastic tag and steel cable on the outside for the boarding pass works great, too.   

[CruisingAgain]

On 11/22/2021 at 5:57 PM, Essiesmom said:

Buttt...  The luggage presumably made it to the departure hall where it should have been picked up.  The luggage going onto the ship does not enter this area, so why/how would it have been loaded back onto the ship?  EM

Seems logical that if the suitcases were together they would arrive in the same place. But that is not always the case. We flew from Newark to Seattle (direct flight) and out bags went onto the conveyer belt right next to each other.  Mine arrived in Seattle on our flight. My husbands arrived a day later. Fortunately we were in Seattle a few days before our crusie.

[sprint180]

On 11/15/2021 at 12:54 PM, ZoeyVictoria said:

We can see these luggage straps from a distance in the terminal, a porter has gone into the back area of the conveyer belt and easily located them, and they add strength to our lightweight luggage,  

Mine disappeared the first flight I took.  Not wasting money on those again.  Glad they work for you

[Joanne G.]

1 hour ago, sprint180 said:

Mine disappeared the first flight I took.  Not wasting money on those again.  Glad they work for you

 Same thing happened to me.  I bought a set with my first name woven into the strap.   They were gone after the first flight.   Ribbons, pom-poms, giant luggage tags or other things attached to the handle have been more durable.  

[Missymo]

I purchased electronic tag finders years ago..  One part I keep on my key ring and the other is attached to the luggage.  Now when I go to fetch my luggage, at the baggage area, among all the other black luggage,   I press a button, and a loud enough noise goes off and I know exactly where my luggage is. 

[Ilovesailaway]

I work at an airport. I recommend not checking a bag whenever possible. I could give a hundred stories why from intentional criminal acts to simple oversights by the handlers. One that I will never forget is when all the checked bags went on the wrong plane. That's 2 plane loads of passengers standing at baggage carousels in 2 in separate arrival cities completely confused and quite upset I'm sure. If a bag must be checked make it distinguishable, ID tags inside and out, and an approved TSA lock.

Even with carryon bags make sure it has ID tags inside and out and make it look different enough that  someone doesn't mistake it. Also, make sure someone can't easily reach inside it while you are distracted. We have seen opportunist criminals who apparently can't resist that wallet or other small item of value when the owner isn't paying attention.

[crewsweeper]

On the Mardi Gras this past week, we were in Zone 3.  3 bags.  My bag was right up front.  25 minutes later found DW's #1, that she miss tagged as Zone 2.   15 minutes later as bags got cleared, found #3 in Zone 1 with a Zone 3 tag.

By then there were no porters available and even terminal employees couldn't get them.  So we were off the ship at 7:45 but not out f the parking garage until 9:05. 

[DrSea]

@simplynewt What about simply disembarking with all of your luggage in hand? What are your thoughts on that?

[ZoeyVictoria]

11 hours ago, sprint180 said:

Mine disappeared the first flight I took.  Not wasting money on those again.  Glad they work for you

This brand has a second clasp; you have to push a button at the same time you squeeze the sides together to open the straps.  There is no way those two actions can happen accidentally.  

[bigrednole]

15 hours ago, DrSea said:

@simplynewt What about simply disembarking with all of your luggage in hand? What are your thoughts on that?

Because of timing, we did this very thing. It was stupid simple. We had 3 people and 4 suitcases (snorkel gear takes up space and weight). All of our suitcases have wheels. We rolled them off with us easily and no issues. Walked through customs and everything straight to the car. We plan to do this every cruise we go on. All of our luggage was brand new and all of dings, dents, scuffs from being handled by the porters and loaded on the ship. I don't really care because Amazon had them cheap and the 5 year no questions asked protection was worth it for $5.

[Schoifmom]

@simplynewt, it's been a couple of weeks now.  Did you ever recover the suitcase?

[DrSea]

3 hours ago, bigrednole said:

Because of timing, we did this very thing. It was stupid simple. We had 3 people and 4 suitcases (snorkel gear takes up space and weight). All of our suitcases have wheels. We rolled them off with us easily and no issues. Walked through customs and everything straight to the car. We plan to do this every cruise we go on. All of our luggage was brand new and all of dings, dents, scuffs from being handled by the porters and loaded on the ship. I don't really care because Amazon had them cheap and the 5 year no questions asked protection was worth it for $5.

We are physically able to walk with luggage. But not everyone is able to.

 

All the damage and potentially lost luggage is why I refuse to give my luggage to anyone. Many of the cruise lines are not responsible if it gets lost or falls in the ocean, which can literally happen. So I personally don't see the reason why I would take a chance.

 

tldr: embarking and disembarking with my luggage is very simple for me.

[LHARTWICK]

On 12/6/2021 at 7:08 AM, sprint180 said:

Mine disappeared the first flight I took.  Not wasting money on those again.  Glad they work for you

Same here - those straps just come off way too easily and can be removed easily as well by handlers.  Guess they work for someone though.  We also have neon colored bandanas tied to the handles - have never lost those - along with more than one luggage tag.

[icft]

On 12/6/2021 at 1:19 PM, DrSea said:

@simplynewt What about simply disembarking with all of your luggage in hand? What are your thoughts on that?

When you are on deck 10 and have to go down stairs to deck 3, since the elevators are being used by the crew for luggage, it isn't that easy to do. If it were just me it would not be a problem. But my wife packs like she will never return home and will only have what she takes for the rest of her life.