What happens if you check your bag at curbside, but you’ve left your passport inside?

[kay1864]

Your luggage is easily already on a cart, and on its way inside the ship. Obviously you don’t make it past the first person at the door to the terminal, but at that point… How can you get to your luggage to retrieve your passport?
 

Got to wondering about this one while explaining to someone the process of getting from the airport to boarding the ship. Anyone seen this, or heard about it? I know the baggage guys always ask you, but I’m sure there’s people who have forgotten.

[sparks1093]

Unless they have another document that would allow them to board (for instance, a passport card, presuming a cruise out of the US) they will have to chill their heels while someone tries to locate the bag for them. I have read of this happening a time or two and worse case scenario is the passenger isn't allowed to board (heard of that happening to an older couple).

[1025cruise]

You sit there waiting hoping they can find your bag in time. Otherwise you get a great picture of the ship sailing away.

[cgladin]

I have no idea. Almost every porter who has ever taken bags from me will specifically ask if we have our passport and travel documents with us and that we haven’t left them in those checked bags.

[hapytobehr]

11 minutes ago, 1025cruise said:

You sit there waiting hoping they can find your bag in time. Otherwise you get a great picture of the ship sailing away.

WIth your luggage!! 😆

[kay1864]

This is like a sad-ending cruise runner story… Only worse.

[Crusin Karen]

31 minutes ago, cgladin said:

I have no idea. Almost every porter who has ever taken bags from me will specifically ask if we have our passport and travel documents with us and that we haven’t left them in those checked bags.

Wow! That’s going above and beyond IMO. I’d give him a nice tip! 👏👍

[Crusin Karen]

30 minutes ago, hapytobehr said:

WIth your luggage!! 😆

😵‍💫😳😟😣😡😠🥲🤬😭😩

[tree.critter]

It was about 2012, industry group cruise and I shared cabin with another.  We checked our bags, went to check in for the ship and her documents were in the bag. Oh no! They let me on the ship, said they’d make an effort to find her bag but she wasn’t getting on without her docs. She was lucky to be able to call home and get copy of BC sent to her. They found her bag just about the same time as she finally got on, barely a half hour before departure. She was stuck in the terminal for about 5 hours…,,and flew across country for the cruise. They were sticklers about it then. 

[sparks1093]

1 minute ago, Crusin Karen said:

Wow! That’s going above and beyond IMO. I’d give him a nice tip! 👏👍

They are trained to ask the question because it does happen.

[Crusin Karen]

1 minute ago, tree.critter said:

It was about 2012, industry group cruise and I shared cabin with another.  We checked our bags, went to check in for the ship and her documents were in the bag. Oh no! They let me on the ship, said they’d make an effort to find her bag but she wasn’t getting on without her docs. She was lucky to be able to call home and get copy of BC sent to her. They found her bag just about the same time as she finally got on, barely a half hour before departure. She was stuck in the terminal for about 5 hours…,,and flew across country for the cruise. They were sticklers about it then. 

As my wise mom used to say: You learn from your mistakes! 

[ManyMore]

The staff will take the luggage information and give it to the porters. They will search for it but if it's already on the ship, the ship will generally have staff check the room to see if had been delivered.

[Mike45LC]

Every cruise, the porter asks the question, and every cruise, I show him our passports in my hand.  What a nightmare that would be for the porters, trying to track down one bag with passports in it!!  Out of thousands of bags.

[sgttami]

I really can't believe that people do this.  Then again, Yes, I can!

 

I guess you can get the STOOPID Trophy🏆😃

[ontheweb]

23 minutes ago, sgttami said:

I really can't believe that people do this.  Then again, Yes, I can!

 

I guess you can get the STOOPID Trophy🏆😃

Or the 🤦‍♂️ trophy.

[Ferry_Watcher]

This happens every day at Seattle's Pier 91.

I know that some passengers become irritated when pier-side staff are asking to see boarding passes and passports before passengers even enter the terminal.  Travel/citizenship documents left in luggage is one the reasons why passengers are asked to show documents early on in the process..  

 

When it comes to missing, or misplaced documents, even minute matters.  If Longshore is on top of their game, those checked bags are whisked into the luggage embarkation area and are readied to be sent thru the security scanner, then placed in a cage and hoisted on to the ship.  Bags are divided by quadrants - Forward, Mid, Aft / Starboard and Port.  Thousand of bags are delivered to the various stateroom decks, then delivered to the room.  Whoever said that it can take hours to retrieve a bag is correct.  Sometimes it does come down to minutes before the the gangway is pulled before a bag is reunited with its owner.  The people looking for the missing bags can include - Longshore, a Pier Supervisor (with a Twic Card to access the secured luggage area - this is why passengers can't enter this area to help look/identify their luggage).  Also assisting in the search - ship workers, ship housekeeping staff, and the room attendant.  And remember, all these people are very busy doing their regular jobs in addition to trying to find yet another black suitcase. Then, when the bag is found, it is Longshore who has to retrieve it from the gangway, and it is then delivered to the passengers who is waiting in the Document area, just praying that their bag is found in time.

 

As someone mentioned, sometimes it is faster to call home to have a photo of a birth certificate sent to the pier, rather than waiting for the luggage to show up.  At least this is usually an option for closed loop US cruises (and only for US born citizens).

 

So please - keep your travel documents on your person.  Think twice if you are tempted to hand over your carry-on bag to the porter.

[BlerkOne]

It didn't contain my passport, but one time I gave my bag to a porter for the wrong ship. How they didn't notice the Carnival tag is a who knows. It did take a supervisor or two, but they did locate my bag and a porter for the correct ship hoofed the bag on down in time for sail away.

[Doctorsbaby]

A couple cruises ago, we got to hear the persons traveling companions running up and down the halls, trying to find that persons bag so they could get on the ship. 

[NurseDave]

On 7/12/2024 at 7:46 PM, BlerkOne said:

It didn't contain my passport, but one time I gave my bag to a porter for the wrong ship. How they didn't notice the Carnival tag is a who knows. It did take a supervisor or two, but they did locate my bag and a porter for the correct ship hoofed the bag on down in time for sail away.

That had to be stressful!  Lucky they found it and hats off to them! 

[K32682]

Passengers who are so clueless that they don't carry their passports on their person when in transit and leave them in checked baggage should be left at the pier. No refunds, no compensation, no apologies and their names should be made public for the purposes of open ridicule. 

 

 

Edited July 16 by K32682

[zqvol]

On 7/12/2024 at 12:39 PM, kay1864 said:

Your luggage is easily already on a cart, and on its way inside the ship. Obviously you don’t make it past the first person at the door to the terminal, but at that point… How can you get to your luggage to retrieve your passport?
 

Got to wondering about this one while explaining to someone the process of getting from the airport to boarding the ship. Anyone seen this, or heard about it? I know the baggage guys always ask you, but I’m sure there’s people who have forgotten.

The best answer is don’t do it. The next best answer is they MIGHT find your back before boarding closes. The reality is that there is a good chance that you wave goodbye as the ship sails without you. 

[ontheweb]

14 minutes ago, zqvol said:

The best answer is don’t do it. The next best answer is they MIGHT find your back before boarding closes. The reality is that there is a good chance that you wave goodbye as the ship sails without you. 

And your passport is sailing away which is going to make that airplane flight home a huge problem.

[zqvol]

Just now, ontheweb said:

And your passport is sailing away which is going to make that airplane flight home a huge problem.

Not if it’s domestic and you have a DL, at least until the RealID law takes effect. 🤗

[donaldsc]

1 hour ago, zqvol said:

Not if it’s domestic and you have a DL, at least until the RealID law takes effect. 🤗

 

The RealID law was supposed to be required by 2008.  Does anyone really that it will not be extended again.

 

DON