Probably jinxing myself, but....

[Lefty888]

Has anyone had the airlines lose luggage before a cruise? How long did it take to get? I am worried now after a friend travelled in the fall and AA lost her luggage and returned it after 5 days..her vaca was pretty much over!!:eek:

[RAH]

Last May we arrived in Anchorage without our luggage. Alaska Airlines delivered 3 bags to our hotel about 6 hours later (11 PM), and the 4th bag arrived early the next morning. We spent 2 days in Anchorage before the cruise, so it was not a problem for us.

 

Our luggage did not make the plane change in Seattle. While there was plenty of time, there was a "security incident" at the Seattle airport that delayed our bags.

 

There was another couple on the same flight who were leaving on a ship that day. They were understandably upset as there luggage would not arrive until after their ship sailed. They were told their luggage would catch up with them at the first port.

[tinmanswife]

It happened to a friend of mine and her suitcase didn't catch up to her until their last port. That's why I always take at least one change of clothes and all my necessities (make-up included!) in my carry on and cross pack with my DH... if one suitcase gets lost, at least you have enough to get by--and someone else suffers with you!

[jdfloyd]

On our Ecstacy cruise out of Long Beach. We made the flight at the Atlanta airport but our luggage didn't. We always arrive a day before the cruise. Our luggage finally arrived at our hotel at 9 in the morning, after MANY phone calls and a sleepless night. We were tired but still enjoyed the cruise. Had we to do it over again...we would have waited for the next flight so our luggage could have been with us. As another poster stated...carry a change of clothes with you just in case.

[cuyahoga11]

In November, AA lost i piece of out luggage, was delivered 3 days later at 1st port (was a direct flight from Cleveland to Miami)

[TracersQQ]

Yes! It happened to us in January - there were 4 of us. We purposely flew into Miami a day early, in case there were any problems. Our biggest worry was a snow storm in January - not lost luggage. We were to fly out on United, they had electrical issues with the plane, so it was delayed. Then I watched them load our luggage onto the plane and they started boarding. Now, if the plane would leave now, we would have 10 minutes to reach our connection. Well, the electrical problem was back and they canceled our flight. They had to find different flights for 200 people. They put us on a US air flight and told us to fill out a luggage claim with US Air when we arrived in Miami. I told this to the people in my party and they said that it didn't sound right and asked again what to do about our luggage - again we were told fill out a claim with US Air in Miami. We ended up not getting to Miami until midnight (we were originally scheduled to arrive at 5:PM.) We went straight to the US Air baggage claim and was told that we needed to go to the United baggage claim which was closed! so the lady, reluctantly, made a claim - it took her 45 minutes to fill out info for 1 of us and she quit and they closed at AM. By this time there was a very long line and she told everyone that she could not help anyone else because they closed in 15 minutes. She told us that our luggage would be delivered to our hotel, in the morning, but just in case took down our ship info. At AM we called to check on the status of our luggage and it had arrived in Miami and was to be delivered to the hotel by AM. At 10:AM we called, again, and was told that US Air did not have our luggage. But they said they would find it and have it to the ship by PM. Well PM came and went and no luggage. We informed the Pursers to see if there was anyway they could help and they tracked our luggage down by PM. It was, indeed, at Miami airport, but it was in the United baggage claim office. US Air was going to retrieve it and ship it to our first port of call. Unfortunately our first port was Costa Maya and all parties involved agreed that it was too risky to send it there, so we had to wait until Grand Cayman. This was Thursday - we hadn't seen our luggage since 11:AM on Saturday! 3 of us received our luggage, in Grand Cayman, however, My Mother's never did arrive. The port agent did get a message saying my Mother's was due to arrive on a later (1:30) flight. We set sail at PM and she didn't have here luggage. The purser tracked it down and it was in DENVER! Friday morning, I had a message, on my cell phone, that her luggage was in Miami. She eventually got here luggage at our home airport. Anyway, we all had a change of clothes, but that was it. No makeup, at least the ship had soap and shampoo and toothpaste. I have skin allergies and have to use special creams, shampoos, soaps, etc. Due to airport security, you have to check all of that stuff, no liquids. This was my first cruise - everyone else had cruised before. I loved cruising and am planning another cruise, for this fall - but I couldn't totally enjoy myself without my luggage. I didn't have a bathing suit, I had to wash clothes everyday, and I wore the same thing. We did have a change, but they were the running suits, that we all traveled in - much to warm for the Caribbean. It was depressing that everyone looked so cleaned up, in the dining room and we just never felt cleaned up. Formal night was really depressing - everyone all in their pretty formals and all I could do was think about my 2 brand new gowns, in my luggage.

 

My advice is to pack a bathing suit, 1 pair of sandals, 1 pair of slacks and 2 tops in your carry on. Just remember no liquids on the plane. And don't forget your medication! My Mom didn't put hers in her carry on and didn't have medication for 9 days, everyone else had theirs. It has always been a worry about airlines losing luggage and canceled flights, but things seem to have gotten a lot worse. I know a lot has to do with all of the restrictions. In my case, I feel like neither airline wanted to take responsibility. The only other time my luggage was lost was 20 years ago, we went to Hawaii and United (again United) lost our luggage, but it was at our room before we even woke up, the next morning. Sorry this is so long, but I'm still pretty frustrated over the whole incidence. Good luck!

[henepup]

Lost luggage usually catches up at the first port of call. AA lost our luggage on our honeymoon to Naussa, they never recovered it. They only had to pay us $9 per pound max weight (at that time) 70 lbs. That flight to Naussa was considered international. Had it been a domestic flight they would have to pay $2500. You can check with each airlines for luggage insurance.

 

We always pack a couple of changes of clothes and cross pack to avoid this problem. Make sure to carry all jewelry and meds with you at all times when in flight. Don't forget to pack a swimsuit in your carry-on, they get expensive.

 

Hope that helps

[Mikel1733]

One piece of our luggage which happened to have our son's clothes in it was lost and we didn't receive it until the fourth day of the cruise in San Juan. We bought some clothes onboard so he could have clothing to go to the dining room and the Captains party. He borrowed a swimsuit from another boy he met. We had insurance and I submitted the clothing we had purchased and had a royal battle with them, but they eventually paid.

[caribbean dreams]

On our last cruise, some people with a very small baby did not get their luggage, they went ahead and boarded without it, took 3 days to get it, besides not having any clothes, they also had no formula or diapers for the baby.

 

I have no idea why the did not go buy extra diapers & formula before they boarded the ship, knowing they had no luggage and may not receive it that day.

[nimbex1970]

we are the proud owners of many "ship shape" RCL shirts. Our party of 10 whent 3 days without luggage, one member had it returned home instead of the port:eek: .

 

as mentioned before we always take a carry on of a bathing suit, change of clothes, meds, camera and essentials.... I just don't ever want to have to dip into the bag for several days, ever again:p

[curiousl8y]

Has anyone had the airlines lose luggage before a cruise? How long did it take to get? I am worried now after a friend travelled in the fall and AA lost her luggage and returned it after 5 days..her vaca was pretty much over!!:eek:

 

Yup. On our first Alaskan cruise, we didn't know any better, and believed what the cruiseline said about it being ok to fly in the day of the cruise....

 

We made it to Seattle but our luggage was back on the tarmac in SoCal. We waited for it until the last shuttle to Vancouver, then we had to leave.

 

NCL was pretty wonderful about it - we went to the purser's desk right away and told them the problem. They tracked the luggage and it caught up with us several days later in Juneau. When we got back to our cabin after our shore excursion, our luggage was waiting for us! We had fun unpacking all the stuff we forgot we had!

 

We had our meds and some underwear and the essentials with us, and the ship loaned us some clothes, and we bought some stuff in the ship store, so we did fine.

 

I kept saying, "Better that we're on the ship without our luggage than the other way around!"

 

Heck, I was on a cruise to Alaska! How unhappy can one possibly be?

 

So, moral of the story: pack underwear! pack meds! fly in the day before if you possibly can! and... you REALLY don't need all that stuff to have a good time!

 

Linda

[kimberlys]

The airlines have lost our luggage a few times, but we always got it back later that day.:)

[TennisLover]

I met a woman on my last cruise (RCI) whose luggage didn't make it from Chicago. She was in her low 20's and traveling with her mother. Neither of them had their luggage. This woman had the most amazing attitude-- she was commited to not letting this ruin her vacation. She bought a few things and borrowed a few things from table mates and RCI did her laundry for free (I don't remember if she said RCI arranged her air for her or not). Of course, she was about a size 6 -- if she needed XLs, it probably wouldn't have been that easy. But she was having a great time and had totally gotten over it by the time we met her.

 

We had one piece of luggage that didn't make it to Miami with us one year (it had all our toiletries in it). Fortunately, we were staying in the Keys for a couple of days before the cruise and the bag finally caught up with us. Of course, this was the one time I took American Airlines to Florida -- because of a credit I had. There are only a hundred flights a day from JFK to Miami - so I was pretty sure the bag would make it. The luggage arrived about 30 hours after we did, but it was still the night before the cruise so we were ok. Now, I always fly in 2 days early (and avoid American as much as I can!).

[phinfan63]

Oh yea - the "naked" cruise is what we dubbed that one :) We were suppose to fly out of Memphis on American but they had problems so we were switched to Delta. We arrived in Miami at 3:15 and they rushed us to the ship with assurances that they would get out luggage. Two girls with no luggage for 5 days!

 

Our luggage was finally located back in Memphis midweek and our husbands picked it up. The only saving grace is for the first time, we bought insurance since our cruise the month before had been cancelled due to Katrina. Insurance, Insurance, Insurance - I can't stress that enough. We ended up spending somewhere in the neighborhood of $800 and insurance covered every penny. It definitely put a damper on the cruise because they kept telling us it should arrive "today" so we spent more time worrying over what to wear instead of enjoying the cruise.

 

As others have said - pack a carryon with a few essentials. We only had what we were wearing, a bathing suit each and I did have all my toiletries. However, no underwear :D and the cruise ship is very limited on things like that!

[CARIBBEANBLUESKY]

On my very first cruise on the fabulous Conquest, my luggage was lost. I never got it back. I guess it is in luggage heaven;) . It was a real challenge to get through seven days with the little I had in my carry-on.