how does luggage get on board

[mommybunny21]

Silly question,however I'm trying to figure out which bags to check and which to carry on...

[Krazy Kruizers]

When you arrive at the pier, there will be men there who will take your luggage. It goes inside the terminal - a different section from you enter. It is then exrayed - just like they do at the airports. After that they are pilled into big metal bins and moved outside towards the ship. Another group of men use special lifts to place the luggage into the ship. The bins are then unloaded and the luggage slowly begins to be moved by the crew to the various decks. Sometimes you luck out and get your luggage within an hour or so -- sometimes you don't get it until after lifeboat drill -- that has happened to us quite a few times.

[nikkin]

Has anyone actually ever had luggage lost on cruise? I once had one piece arrive and the other was in limbo. I asked the room service guy and he was like don't worry it will come.. yea right. I went up and down the halls and low and behold it was at someone's room., outside. Thankfully I had it in my hands..

[nikkin]

That was a Carnival cruise btw

[dakrewser]

Depending on what time you board, your cabin may not be available. While there'll be a place to check your carryon, you'll probably what to minimize the amount of stuff you're carrying ...

[bankerbabe]

Has anyone actually ever had luggage lost on cruise? I once had one piece arrive and the other was in limbo. I asked the room service guy and he was like don't worry it will come.. yea right. I went up and down the halls and low and behold it was at someone's room., outside. Thankfully I had it in my hands..

 

I haven't lost my luggage yet, but I have found it outside the wrong room - on NCL. I just happened to be walking down the hall and saw it sitting in front of someone else's cabin. I always pack whatever I'm going to need the first night in my carry-on, so that I don't have to worry about when my luggage will arrive. I've always gotten it in a reasonable amount of time.

[bankerbabe]

It is then exrayed - just like they do at the airports.

 

We watched them x-ray the luggage on our NCL cruise, since for whatever reason they were doing it outside where we were waiting. They ran it through the machine, just like at the airports, but no one was watching the screen. We could have slipped anything through! Then, to make matters worse, when it was done going through the machine they let it fall off the end of the conveyor belt into a giant pile.

[Ephraim]

The luggage fairy. He's sometimes known as stevedore.

[Juanita462]

Be wary of luggage going through the system at Canada Place pier. First time they took the wheels off one suitcase, second time they took the wheels off the other suitcase, third time they sprung the hinges on both suitcases, fourth time they smashed the large suitcase - two gashes right through a hard sided case.

 

We would roll our own cases onboard but they wouldn't fit through the security x-ray machines so we are at the mercy of the baggage handlers.

It isn't just the stevedores either - Dh has seen the staff on the ship throwing the suitcases 10 or 15 feet to land on the floor.

[jtl513]

Be wary of luggage going through the system at Canada Place pier.

 

We would roll our own cases onboard but ...

Is it just as bad coming off? I just got a new suitcase for Christmas. :(

[SusieCruisie]

On my first cruise, which was on Celebrity, I could not believe, as we were watching the luggage process, they were literally tossing the luggage down the flight of stairs! From then on, I keep anything fragile in my carry-on, and even checked items like shampoo, lotion etc....I zip-lock bag them.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Yes, it is just as bad for the luggage going off the ship.

 

We have had more pieces of luggage wrecked by the ship's crew than by the airlines.

 

They really do throw the pieces around!!

[gizmo]

Anyone remember seeing a TV show that showed how the luggage was handled on cruise ships ? LOL it was a real eye opener. Yes, they do throw it.:eek:

 

Remember the luggage that landed in the water instead of the ship in San Diego ? I think this was just a couple of years ago.

[Sailorgirlseattle]

I haven't had a problem on board -- yet. But this thread reinforces my resolve to bring a variety of items in a carryon with me.

 

Our first cruise was our honeymoon, and while we landed safely in LA to transfer to the ship, my main bag went on to Baltimore. The airline gave me 100 dollars to "replace" items, but we had no time to shop and went straight to the ship. We were doing the MR and our first stop was Puerto Vallarta, several DAYS away. That 100 dollars (plus some of our own) bought me: One bikini, one pair of ugly shorts and one T-shirt ... that I had to live in until my bag arrived on the ship AFTER our port day in PV.

 

The bag that DID stay with us and make it onboard? Nothing but formal wear and lingerie :D

 

Now, I'm bringing WITH ME, a swimsuit, a day outfit and I dunno what else, but SOMETHING. :cool:

[CrazyforCruisin]

Anyone remember seeing a TV show that showed how the luggage was handled on cruise ships ? LOL it was a real eye opener. Yes, they do throw it.:eek:

 

Remember the luggage that landed in the water instead of the ship in San Diego ? I think this was just a couple of years ago.

 

My DH and I were on that cruise to Mexico 2 years ago where the luggage landed in the drink in San Diego. The containers with the luggage were being hauled up the side of the ship in big wire nets and one of the cables broke! Fortunately our luggage was not in that batch. The ship did not leave port until 7:30pm as they were trying to retrieve as much as they could and even sent divers down. All items retrieved that had been in that nasty oliy water were brought on board and washed and dried. The passengers were called by cabin number I think and had to go and pick out their clothes from racks and racks of ruined clothing. I believe they were all vouchered $250-$300 at the gift shop for replacement clothing, etc, if they could find anything.Quite a few people lost medicine, jewelry and important documents. I could not believe that! I carry anything important with me in a carry on and also have my wheeled carry on with an outfit for both of us, toiletries and swim suits.

I never did hear the outcome of how everyone was compensated. Someone said HAL was going to compensate their passengers and then go after the Port of San Diego.

Bottomline, anything important, take it with you! Which I will be doing this week. Is it Saturday yet?

[bepsf]

I cannot emphasise how important it is to mark your luggage properly!

At the end of the 1/6 Noordam cruise, Scotty and I were packing to disembark the ship - I had already placed my luggage in the corridor before dinner and had returned to the stateroom after post-dinner cocktails while he was putting his out.

In the middle of the stateroom sat another bag, so I asked him if he was going to put that one out too. He looked at me and said, "No, that's yours". Well, of course it wasn't - my luggage was already out in the corridor...

...turns out that this was someone else's suitcase that had been delivered to our stateroom at the beginning of the cruise by mistake! We looked at this suitcase and saw that there was a lone Noordam luggage tag with only the name "Parker" written on it - no other identifying information: no stateroom number, no address, no first name - no nothing!

What we figured happened is that since we had flown into NYC separately and had stayed in different hotel rooms, then had ridden to the pier w/ 2 other passengers and their luggage, we really weren't paying attention to what was where and what belonged to whom - our bellhop threw all the luggage into the limo, and the limo driver threw all the luggage out of the back of the limo onto the porter's cart - so we really didn't know how much or what the other had brought.

Later, after we'd received our luggage in the stateroom and unpacked, Scotty had left his empty luggage in the middle of the room and the steward simply cleared the floorspace, putting his bags away in the alcove with the extra one - since we're both heavy packers, neither one of us had any indication or reason to question that this didn't belong to the other.

Being well after 1am, all we could do was put this bag in the corridor and hope that the person it belonged to would find it on the pier the next morning...

[Juanita462]

On one cruise I went to put a suitcase under the bed and found another suitcase already there. It was so heavy that I could only drag it out. It had the pax name and address on the label and I called the front desk to send someone to come and get it - the young fellow that came had to drag that case across the floor - I wonder what on earth was in it.

 

So, if anyone on these boards is from Pomona, California and left his suitcase on the Statendam - let me know if you got it all right!

[waiting2retire]

"It was so heavy that I could only drag it out."

 

Juanita, let's hope your's wasn't one of those cruises with people who mysteriously disappear from the ship :eek: :eek: :eek:

[Sailorgirlseattle]

LOL! That was my thought too! It was a BODY! :eek: :D

 

You didn't find any weird stains on the carpet, did ya? :D

[RuthC]

Being well after 1am, all we could do was put this bag in the corridor and hope that the person it belonged to would find it on the pier the next morning...

You mean you had more "cousins" on this cruise? ;)

It couldn't have belonged to Susan or John, could it? We'd have heard if they had missing luggage, wouldn't we? Wouldn't we!!!

Sunshine? :confused:

[sail7seas]

I feel bad for whoever went without their luggage for the whole 11 days. Of course, they should have filled out the tag more completely but it probably wouldn't have made a difference. I'm sure their cruise was less than perfect without their suitcase.

 

[bepsf]

You mean you had more "cousins" on this cruise? ;)

 

It couldn't have belonged to Susan or John, could it? We'd have heard if they had missing luggage, wouldn't we? Wouldn't we!!!

Sunshine? :confused:

 

Definately not - Susan and John would have said something...

...and they're smart/experienced enough to put all their info, incl. stateroom number on their luggage tags.

The only other thing that this person put on the tag was "VH" - I guess they had a guarantee and didn't know the specific stateroom. Someone else had written in "8086" on the tag w/ a Sharpie and I guess that's how it came to my stateroom.

I feel bad that whoever it was that didn't have their things for the cruise, and I'm sure that even if it didn't have a HAL luggage tag that it wouldn't have been mis-directed if they'd simply put a luggage tag w/ some personal info on it - like their full name, address, etc. so that a staff person could have looked it up and seen who it really belonged to...

...but IMHO, whoever it was was pretty dumb for assuming that without any ID, their bag would get to their stateroom.

[sail7seas]

Yes, Brian......of course it wasn't very clever of them. But I still feel sorry they didn't have their suitcase the whole cruise.

 

Some of us sometimes do really dumb things. I know I do. They paid a high price for their carelessness IMO It would put a huge damper on my enjoyment to not have my luggage. What a shame you didn't notice the 'foreign' suitcase but understandable.