Did anyone just watch 'A Current Affair' about the lost suitcase?

[arxcards]

20 hours ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

Or the baggage tag got torn off.

No tag would mean it doesn't make it to your cabin but would still be in a room to be accessed via guest services. An owner would soon be reunited with their missing bag once they enquired about it.

[Aus Traveller]

1 minute ago, arxcards said:

No tag would mean it doesn't make it to your cabin but would still be in a room to be accessed via guest services. An owner would soon be reunited with their missing bag once they enquired about it.

That is the puzzle. If the bag tag was torn off, once the passengers enquired about their bag, it would have been delivered to them. They claim it was on the ship the whole time. I wonder if it was delivered to the wrong cabin and the occupants of that cabin didn't bother to do anything about the bag that wasn't theirs. Although that scenario seems rather unlikely given the lack of space in cabins.

[Jean C]

I always use a strip or two of wide sellotape over the surface of my folded cruise luggage tag. I attach it to the suitcase handle with a stapler and also sellotape the edges for extra strength. The luggage tag becomes stronger and durable, even if it gets caught in a shower of rain 💦 

[clairebearinaus]

I can understand them feeling incredibly inconvenienced and annoyed.  

 

But it doesn't sound like she did very much to try to make the best of the situation.  As you say, there is clothing onboard and staying indoors because she couldn't find warm clothes in Christchurch is ridiculous - that's where Kathmandu headquarters is for starters, and every souvenir shop sells merino stuff.

[OzKiwiJJ]

16 hours ago, Aus Traveller said:

I wonder if the man you refer to actually had a bag on the luggage carousel. 🙂 Maybe he thought your bag looked so good, it must have expensive stuff inside.

I doubt it. It was a rather battered Samsonite two wheeled soft suitcase. It was years ago when Rolf was still working and doing a lot of overseas travel so our luggage tended to get a bit scruffy round the edges. 

[OzKiwiJJ]

2 hours ago, arxcards said:

No tag would mean it doesn't make it to your cabin but would still be in a room to be accessed via guest services. An owner would soon be reunited with their missing bag once they enquired about it.

Unless it had just got dumped in a corner and no-one advised Guest Services that there was a stray bag. 

[Yaya_in_Oz]

My luggage tag came off in Yokohama and despite having a name tag, I was told my surname was common so they did not have time to find the owner. They just left my case near the passenger services desk until some hours later I came looking for it. I then took it myself half way round the ship to my room to be sure it didn't go astray again.

[lissie]

On 3/30/2023 at 9:24 AM, lyndarra said:

Ever tried to use a GPS inside a ship. They don't work. Some of those tags may work if for e.g., they are locked to Iphone then a nearby Iphone may pick up a signal.

Having said that, tags are a good idea but not without limitations.

They work close enough to tell you the bag is on the sip or the wharf. That;s what ours did I checked from the bar when they were loading them. I coudlnt tell you if they had gone to the right cabin but I  knew the bags were on board 

[lissie]

5 hours ago, clairebearinaus said:

I can understand them feeling incredibly inconvenienced and annoyed.  

 

But it doesn't sound like she did very much to try to make the best of the situation.  As you say, there is clothing onboard and staying indoors because she couldn't find warm clothes in Christchurch is ridiculous - that's where Kathmandu headquarters is for starters, and every souvenir shop sells merino stuff.

Exactly this.  Plus who actually needs clothing washed every day on a cruise ship in a cool climate.  Can you not buy underwear on ship? You can certainly buy t-shirts and jackets.  And if they had insurance they would have been covered for those items. 

 

Plus once they got the christchurch why did they not get an uber to a mall - central Chc is desolate I agree - but its not that large a city -  an hour in  a mall is all I'd need to restock 

 

And next time cross pack your bags and use airtags! 

[cruiser3775]

I bought a cruise ship luggage tag holder on eBay, which offers little risk of  being torn off the handle of your suitcase. It's clear acrylic with a sturdy metal chain. Inexpensive and reusable.

 

[OzKiwiJJ]

1 hour ago, cruiser3775 said:

I bought a cruise ship luggage tag holder on eBay, which offers little risk of  being torn off the handle of your suitcase. It's clear acrylic with a sturdy metal chain. Inexpensive and reusable.

 

I bought some from Cruise Critic years ago, similar to these. 

They've been great. I also use them when flying - I just print out labels with destination addresses and contact phone and email. So far they've survived.

[losfp]

It's such a weird story. We've travelled enough that we know how to adapt and improvise when something goes wrong - let's face it, having to MacGuyver stuff on the fly is half of the fun of travelling. Why let a lost bag ruin your whole trip?  There's onboard shops so you can buy stuff to get by, plus if you had multiple bags that you've cross-packed into AND had a spare change of clothes in your carry-on, there's no reason why you can't cope.

[lissie]

41 minutes ago, losfp said:

It's such a weird story. We've travelled enough that we know how to adapt and improvise when something goes wrong - let's face it, having to MacGuyver stuff on the fly is half of the fun of travelling. Why let a lost bag ruin your whole trip?  There's onboard shops so you can buy stuff to get by, plus if you had multiple bags that you've cross-packed into AND had a spare change of clothes in your carry-on, there's no reason why you can't cope.

I'm HOPING that they are talking a story for the hope of compensation by taking their story to the media. If a lost suticase really ruined their holiday they probably need to stop travelling 

[Jean C]

I can sympathise with the couple, especially if they didn't have any hand luggage. I'm more than happy to wash underwear in the cabin every night (and I do, together with everything I'veworn that day)) but it would be interesting to know how much OBC they were given for "incidentals". If it was a paltry amount, it wouldn't go far purchasing toothpaste, toothbrushes, moisturizer, razors etc at cruise ship prices.  I'd definitely want a clothing allowance as I would at least need an oversize tee-shirt to use as a nightie. Did they have to forego formal night dining in the MDR for not having the right clothes? To add insult to injury, their suitcase was on the ship all along!

[oshungoer]

When my DW's suitcase hadn't arrived 2 hours after boarding I went on a search around the deck we were on and saw it sitting in a crew only area through an open door.  I wandered in and grabbed it then took it back to my grateful spouse who was starting to get very anxious.  It was correctly labelled etc. so I put it down to crew not being bothered to deliver it in a timely fashion.  This was in the days prior to Covid when ships were adequately crewed.  My sympathy goes out to the lady who had to wear her hubbies jocks and the same outfit over and over.    

[Jean C]

They possibly had an excess on their insurance, and although it's easy to say "shop and claim it on your insurance" that may or may not have been feasible if they had a high excess. It was a good number of days before they stopped at a port so even if she could have bought something decent on board to wear in the dining room, she possibly only had sneakers to wear with it. Considering it is only two people affected from a whole shipload of passengers, I can't see why the cruise company can't be generous.

 

We found ourselves in a situation where our cruise ship was stuck at sea and due to weather was unable to dock for two days for our boarding.  We were told to arrange our own accommodation etc and claim on our travel insurance. We were given the paltry sum of $50 OBC as compensation for "incidentals".  I hope in their circumstance Royal are more generous.

[OzKiwiJJ]

No-one is going to notice if you wear sneakers to dinner in the MDRs. I often see passengers with mobility issues wearing smart clothing with sneakers. In fact my new "shoe cheat" for nights when I don't feel like wearing my dressy shoes, or if the ship is bouncing around a bit, is a pair of black Skechers. I doubt anyone would notice me wearing them and even if they did so what? For all they know I might have a health issue that necessitates me wearing comfortable shoes.

 

Yes, a mistake was made by the cruise line and perhaps there is a need for extra checks when dropping off baggage - perhaps luggage receipt tags like airlines and hotels use when storing bags.

 

Yes, the passenger was inconvenienced but partly because of her own lack of forward planning. Whether you hand over your bags to an airline, a cruise line, or a hotel porter, there is always a risk that one will not be delivered. That's why it is always recommended that valuables and medications are put in carry-on bags, and sensible travellers also include a change of clothing - not only in case your luggage goes AWOL but in case of a mishap along the way that damages what you are wearing in some way or other. 

 

Also it's not a good idea to expect the airline/cruise line/hotel to replace missing or damaged items - that's what travel insurance is for. It's certainly nice when they do help out but it can't be taken for granted.

Edited April 1, 2023 by OzKiwiJJ

[Jean C]

So I guess the moral of the story is that if you don't want to be inconvenienced by a suitcase going missing on a cruise ship then you should schlep it on board yourself 😧

 

With respect though, the ship staff were entirely at fault and even though the lady shoulda/coulda/woulda, the fact is that she didn't and she was extremely inconvenienced and no doubt entirely embarrassed by the whole ordeal, while those responsible for her predicament shoulda/coulda done more to help her. It beggars belief that the suitcase was on board all along 😪

[OzKiwiJJ]

48 minutes ago, Jean C said:

So I guess the moral of the story is that if you don't want to be inconvenienced by a suitcase going missing on a cruise ship then you should schlep it on board yourself 😧

 

With respect though, the ship staff were entirely at fault and even though the lady shoulda/coulda/woulda, the fact is that she didn't and she was extremely inconvenienced and no doubt entirely embarrassed by the whole ordeal, while those responsible for her predicament shoulda/coulda done more to help her. It beggars belief that the suitcase was on board all along 😪

It is possible that a passenger had the missing suitcase in their cabin, delivered there by mistake, and couldn't be bothered doing anything about it. Someone posted on another forum that something similar had happened to her and her friends sharing a cabin. Each thought the suitcase belonged to one of the others and it took a couple of days before they realised it wasn't anyone's in that cabin.

 

But I still find it hard to believe that she couldn't find anything to wear in Christchurch, not even any new underwear.

[Aus Traveller]

27 minutes ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

It is possible that a passenger had the missing suitcase in their cabin, delivered there by mistake, and couldn't be bothered doing anything about it. Someone posted on another forum that something similar had happened to her and her friends sharing a cabin. Each thought the suitcase belonged to one of the others and it took a couple of days before they realised it wasn't anyone's in that cabin.

 

But I still find it hard to believe that she couldn't find anything to wear in Christchurch, not even any new underwear.

That was my theory Julie - that the suitcase was delivered to someone else's cabin and that they didn't do anything about it. At the end of the cruise, the cabin steward would have found it in the cabin after the occupants had left.

 

When the owners of the suitcase say that it was on the ship the whole time, I can't think of another explanation. It couldn't have been left in the luggage trolleys - it would have been seen immediately.

[JohnGc]

So do Insurance companies when claiming for clothes require receipts for the missing clothes?

[Jean C]

8 hours ago, JohnGc said:

So do Insurance companies when claiming for clothes require receipts for the missing clothes?

The way insurance companies try to wriggle out of claims, I wouldn't be surprised. Then they could try to "depreciate" the clothing for wear and tear and end up paying out nothing, hehehe

[Jean C]

13 hours ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

But I still find it hard to believe that she couldn't find anything to wear in Christchurch, not even any new underwear.

She could also have gone out on deck in Fiordland, using a pool towel around her shoulders against the cold. I've often seen people do that on deck when it"s unexpectedly cold.

[boeckli]

 

 

40 minutes ago, Jean C said:

She could also have gone out on deck in Fiordland, using a pool towel around her shoulders against the cold. I've often seen people do that on deck when it"s unexpectedly cold.

 

Edited April 1, 2023 by boeckli

[rkmw]

Going to current affairs and there’s hope they’ll get a free cruise or some large compensation