What have you ever forgotten?

[dbookman1]

My Mom, traveling with a group, left her suitcase at the hotel. The ship staff was great! They gave her a voucher for the stores (not much but enough for a couple of outfits) and on formal nights they brought her formal dresses. She was able to get the rest at the first port. She was always a nut about packing and lists and making sure she had everything but after this she has calmed down. She realized that even with nothing it was still better being on the cruise than at work!

[linnealee]

When I went to Alaska this past August, I forgot to bring binoculars. I could have used them many times, but then it would have cut into to all the pictures I took with two cameras & the video time with the video camera.

[BuckGuy]

I live on one coast and was taking a cruise which embarked on the opposite coast. As I was waiting for my shuttle bus from my home airport's economy parking lot, that sinking feeling came to my stomach. I had forgotten my passport, and was going to foreign ports of call. I got to the airport's ticket counter and explained that I had to drive back home an hour away, that I had to get to the opposite coast for a cruise beginning 27 hours from then......the man at the ticket counter said "OK, no problem we can get you on another plane 6 hours from now and connecting thru Atlanta, arrive at your ship with 6 hours to spare." And no fees or penalty for the change of flight times! Thank God.

 

I lost the cost of the night's hotel stay, because cancel time had already lapsed, but things worked out ok. All's well that ends well.

 

(I havent read every post on this thread, I wonder if anyone has ever forgotten their cruise ticket book. )

[DandyCandy]

we just got off our first cruise(Sun Princess 09/29-10/09). We drove from upstate NY all the way to ft. lauderdale and it wasn't until the morning that we were packing up our stuff from staying the night in a hotel that we realized we left our suitcase full of our shoes and some other items we needed in NY!! We only had 2 hours before we had ot be onboard so we went in search of a show store nearby and c ould only find a payless, needless to say we ended up buying replacement shoes there and luckily they had some cute dressy sandals and things.

But stuff happens, so just be ready to deal with it.

[earthfarie]

My sister and I forgot our suitcase with our formal clothes and shoes for us and our kids!!! We left it in the car at the pier! It was awful. My mom and dad were all dressed up, it is my mom's favorite part of the cruise and they were celebrating their anniversary so we had to go. I was sooo... embarrased!!! Luckily I had a skirt, but it was far from formal. I felt like explaining to everyone what had happened! We didn't realize the suitcase was missing until we started to get ready that evening.:rolleyes:

[TSCOTT]

When we did Hawaii a few years ago, my hubby forgot all of his shorts....and I do mean all. We had a two day pre-cruise stay at the Hilton and when he looked for a change of clothing after we got settled in our room, he realized his mistake. Of course, it somehow became my mistake. We had a rental car and ended up purchasing about 8 pair of shorts at a local TJ Max. When we returned home, we found all of his shorts laid out on the bed in our guest bedroom. I'm still not sure how we overlooked them. Go figure.

[Missilecop]

I was going on my first cruise. GF bugged me and bugged me to give her my birth certificate months in advance so I did. To make a long story short she grabbed hers and her moms and left mine at her house. Now we live 5 hours from the port. Lucky for us I was looking at the paper work for the cruise on our bus ride to Miami and noticed the mistake. Her mom had to drive 5 hours to bring my birth certificate. Not a good way to start your first cruise.

[ESH1]

The only thing my husband asked that I make sure I packed were his beloved sandles. I assured him that somewhere in our six pieces of luggage (for a 7 day cruise) I had them packed and ready for him as soon as we hit warm weather. You guessed it. I remember my 13 pairs of shoes, but his sandles were still at home. (He packs for himself now.)

[hateswaterloves2cruise]

I do all the packing. All I ask is that DH pack his "ditty" bag. First long cruise tour to Alaska I have clothes and suitcases all over the living room. Morning we leave he brings his ditty bag in and sets it on the TV. Many hours later we arrive in Fairbanks (flying from the east coast). Settle into our room. DH goes to use his eyedrops (needed for glacoma) and NO DITTY BAG!! It's still on the tv at home. I lay awake all night waiting for it to be the right time to call home. Of course, it's Memorial Day too. Daughter goes to house, gets bag and has to wait til Tuesday to ship it. We finally catch up with it in Anchorage several days later. On trip to Hawaii this past March we tender to Kona. Despite all the reminders to bring your ship card AND photo ID, DH brings only ship card, which we do not realize until we are heading back on a hot day. Very nice people at security let me vouch for him to get him on tender and back to ship. Heading to Caribbean (10 day Dawn), can't wait to see what we miss this time.:(

[cruisin_cutie]

Just thought I'd throw in my 2 cents on this funny post...

On my honeymoon, i was trying really hard not to overpack, and i didnt. I forgot a few things! Silly things, but meaningful none the less. I forgot to bring mascara, (like i said, silly, but i love my mascara! the women know what i'm talking about) and i forgot my black pants. these were instrumental in my cruise dinner dressing, i was going to wear them for at least 3 of the nites! I had to wear very casual sundresses with long sleeved tops over them. not cute.

[clogs1228]

It is funny to read what everyone has forgotten. My mom once forgot her underwear, she packed it but the grandkids were playing with her suitcase and those got taken out somehow! She had to wash them every night since we were no where near anywhere to buy new ones.

 

Me, I forgot my makeup TWICE on one trip! I left it at home and realized after we picked up the last person. We stopped at a CVS on the way to the port and I got some new stuff. We got little lost getting to the port and were late and flustered. Got to the cabin and realized I had forgotten my new stuff in the car!! I just borrowed my friends even though she was a bit darker then me I managed.

 

The biggest thing I forgot was not on a cruise but on a trip to Tahiti. The people on the tour with me said I should lock my passport in the hotel safe at the front desk so I did. Well... on the way back on the ferry to the main island I remembered it. I had to get back on the next ferry and get a taxi to the hotel and then rush back to get the last ferry back. At least I didn't have to pay for a plane back which I didn't have money for!

 

Carla

[RickandAnne]

You know the phrase....if you forgot it you can always get another one when we get there.

 

Well DW and I had not even broken out a suitcase 7 hours before our flight to Miami. It's midnight but we'd certainly given a lot of thought to what we were going to take. Even so, it takes a while to pack and you're not quite sure you've remembered it all. (You just don't think well at that time of night.)

 

Soooo, I assure her........."If you've forgotten it we can replace it when you get there!!"

 

We go to bed, get a couple of hours sleep and get up to go to the plane. On the plane....halfway to Miami....she suddenly grabs my arm and yells, "MY JEWELRY!!!". That's when you begin to try to find ways to back out of the promise "to replace it when we get there." By the Wednesday formal night, she had finally goaded me into just walking into the on-board jewelry store with her "to look at a couple of things". When we walked in and they addressed her, "Hello, Mrs Kubach, this must be your husband.", I knew it was all over.

 

The moral of this story. I don't care if you forget your underware, shaving creme or toothbrush, just make sure she's got her jewelry. It'll be a far less expensive and more enjoyable vacation.

Rick

[tangerinebunny]

just bumping

[bjdamascus]

LOL! My mother in law STILL gets all hot under the collar when she talks about a family trip they took over 25 years ago to somewhere out west. Father in law kept snapping away with the camera, and never changed the film - turns out that there wasn't any film in the camera to begin with! Mother in law says that she kept telling him that he would have to turn the car around and go back so that they could take pictures!

 

That reminds me of the story of my future father in law on the family trip to Disney World. He kept pressing the "off" button every time he wanted to turn the camera "on", and vice versa, so the only footage they have of Disney World is the ground, shot when he thought the camera was "off"!

[bjdamascus]

So glad to hear that I'm not the only one forgetting the underwear! Actually, about a week before our last cruise, I spent quite a bit of time putting together all the papework and personal kit stuff - medications, makeup, etc. I also put aside as much of the underwear, bras and socks that I could (still had to go to work for the next week and don't have that many extras!). Anyway, when I actually packed, I didn't bother to count that I had enough panties - didn't realize it until we were unpacking on the ship. Luckily I brought laundry detergent (which, ironically, I was almost NOT going to bring this time!) and ended up washing in the bathroom sink every night the few pairs that I did have! It all worked out, but next trip I will make sure that I do COUNT out what I'm packing!

[SA Cruiser]

We went ot Alaska 2 years ago. I thought I was doing such a great job of packing for myself. Usually I bring too much, but this time I had plenty of room left. That should have been my first clue. I had carefully packed for formal nights, pretty blouses for semi formal nights, and for dinners for every night of the cruise. I even had a chart made up telling me how many of each type of dining we were going to have. I don't know why I was so fixated on this for this particular cruise but I was. Anyway, when were getting dressed the second DAY I realized that I had not brought any tops to wear for daytime sightseeing! Luckly I had a tan and black jacket and one black shell that went with a formal blouse that looked Ok together. All of our pictures look like it was the same day for me because I have on the same outfit. Now I have added 'day time clothes' to my packing list.

 

By the way, I keep a 'living' packing list in my computer WORD file and just print it out for each trip. Sure saves having to think of everything each time

[GlassBeagles]

As I was reading these posts I kept thinking hmm maybe I should make a spreadsheet with everything we are going to need. But you beat me to the punch SA Cruiser!!:rolleyes: Both pairs of shoes that I have for formal nights are high heels that are murder on the feet without nylons, so what do I always forget....nylons.:eek:

[karen&roy]

This is what I forgot LEAVING the ship. I was on the Carnival Glory last May. I had my good jewelery including diamonds in the safe and had opened it and put my rings on and the rest took out. Anyway, as I was running around packing they seemed to get in the way so I took off the rings and put ALL my jewelery back into the safe leaving it open. You guessed it....Left the ship without all my jewelery. Not until the next morning waking up at home in Indiana did I realize what I did!!! I called the cruise line and they said most things are turned in and it would be a quite few days before they could see if it was turned in. They said they have had 20K rings turned in !!!!!! I never expected to see it again but 2 weeks later it arrived at my front door UPS. If only I had tipped that cabin steward more !! He deserved it for being so honest!! :o

[Lisae74]

Our first cruise was October 2004 and it took in Halloween. We were sailing the Caribbean with Princess and over half the passengers on board were American. We didn't know how seriously mad about Halloween Americans are!!!! It's not that big over here in the UK so we never gave it a second thought. Halloween came and that night we were the only two muppets NOT dressed up. We stood out like sore thumbs. I have to ask one question though......how the hang do you pack all those costumes? There was a sumo suit and a panto horse!!!!!

 

Lisa

[dancing lady]

I couldn't believe it when I was unpacking on our last cruise to the Baltic and my lipstick and panty hose were nowhere to be found. :mad: I bought lipstick onboard but they didn't have any panty hose that were just right so I made it through the whole 10 days with none! :D

[cctn]

One of my comfy shoes that I use for traveling - a slip on type - stayed at a hotel the night before so we can park our car and was in a hurry packing for that one night's stay that I forgot my favorite shoes - good thing I packed an extra in my hand carry cuz my other luggages were already strapped, etc. I also forgot a hairbrush once and bought one on board -- paid 4 times more ! Corkey

[1 Part Sand 1 Part Sea]

Bumping and old but fun thread!

[griffy116]

Formal night and we are about to leave our cabin when my Mom calls to say my Dad has a problem and they can't go to dinner. Dad had bought a suit before leaving and left it in the garment bag. When he put it on, Mom discovered that the honking big security thing is attached. It spreads ink and fortunately, it had been attached EXACTLY in the seam. I had a small sewing kit with a seam ripper. We had to open the seam, get the security thing removed and then hand stitch it back. On another cruise, my daughter calls to say that my son-in-law has forgotten any socks. Fortunately, we were able to convince him to borrow a pair from my Dad just before he was ready to use a black magic marker on his ankles, since my daughter didn't want him showing up in the MDR sockless.

[Gunner22aa]

Actually left it at the gas station I filled up at prior to the drive to the airport to catch our flight to Beijing. Wasn't a big deal as DW had hers and they are linked to the same account. Called the CC company from the airport and had it cancelled. Card was waiting for me at the gas station when I returned and there was a replacement in the mail.

Edited September 5, 2013 by Gunner22aa
spelling

[vent1020]

Kind of a sad story and not necessarily a "forgotten" item, but a mess up with an item.

 

My mother spent 9 months in Afghanistan as a civilian worker for the government. Needless to say, she made a ton of money while there. When she got back she wanted to take all her kids and their families on a cruise and pay for it all.(She booked balcony's for all of us) This included my wife, myself and our 6 year old DS and 1 year old DD, My brother, his wife and their 17 year old DS and my other brother, his wife and their 11 year old DS.

 

This was going to be a family trip of a lifetime. My Mom had been on 1 cruise before, but neither myself, my brothers or our wives had been on one.

 

My Mom, my one brother and myself all live in Utah. My other brother lives in Indiana. We were flying into Miami for a 7 day Eastern Caribbean cruise in Feb. 2012. We all stayed over the night before.

 

Well, we get to the cruise terminal the next day(ALL OF US EXCITED and happy as can be) We go to check in and low and behold, by brother that has the 11 year old, had brought the 11 year old's WRONG birth certificate.(It wasn't the original like you need to have) My Mom was devastated as was everyone else.

 

Long story short, the family vacation of a lifetime was short one son(brother) his wife and child. They ended up staying in Florida for the week, going to Disney world and other places. It obviously kind of put a damper on our cruise. We still had fun(how can you not on a cruise) but the constant reminder of not having one family there really sucked.

 

But, I have now learned I LOVE cruising. I got with all the family back in March(2013) and came up with the idea to plan for us to try the "ultimate family cruise" again. Everyone liked the idea, so we are ALL going to do a 7 day Western Caribbean in November 2014. We are all each paying our own ways this time and because we booked a year and a half out, we are all getting SUITES this time.

 

Like I said, I loved the first cruise so much, I couldn't wait a whole year and a half from the time we booked the next one, so I booked a short 4 day for just the wife and I for THIS November. :D

 

That's my story. Sorry if it was too long.