Lost Luggage???

Has anyone not had their luggage make it to their stateroom or even on the ship because the porter had misplaced it?

I've had my luggage get sent to the wrong airport. I went through the airport and received a missing luggage claim.

Onboard I went to the "Help Desk" and gave them the info. They took care of getting my luggage to me and it arrived at our first port.

Nope--once, one bag took about 4 hours longer than the rest of my stuff, but I knew it was on the ship somewhere....it finally made it to the cabin around 10pm.

We "crosspack", just in case one bag does go missing...some of each of our clothes in every suitcase, so we will each have something!!!

My father got his luggage on the 8th day of a 14 day cruise.

Lots of people don't get their luggage when flying on the day of departure, but that is almost always due to airline delays and mis-routings. If your luggage is handed to the porter, it nearly always makes it to your room. But there have been the few odd mis-handlings; a couple have fallen into the water when being loaded onboard (!) and if you are upgraded at the last minute, your luggage may still be routed to your original canin assignment (and no, the people now in that room don't always notice a strange bag, particularly if they happen to be teenagers)

Has anyone not had their luggage make it to their stateroom or even on the ship because the porter had misplaced it?

I had a bag that ended up in a pile of unidentified luggage because the cruise line luggage tag was ripped off during handling. I called about my "missing" bag and they informed me where to go to look for it...

OMG I didn't think of this! Mabe we should cross pack just in case :confused:

I never lost luggage, but have had 1 bag arrive many hours later than the others.

Because we always have to fly, we always pack at least 1 change of clothes in our carry on, so if the airline or ship would lose it. We have something to wear while hand washing the other. Lucky never have had to do this so far. And always carry your important stuff in your carry on, don't ever check that even when you get to the ship. (Such as cell phones, ipads, prescription meds..) On carrib cruises, I will pack 2-3 swimsuits in my carry on, at least I can still enjoy the water if something happens. And they double as shorts if needed. You get 2 shirts and 3 Shorts/pants and you have a good 6 outfits.

On our first cruise, my daughters luggage didn't make it to the room with the rest of ours. After giving it a couple of hours to arrive, we finally decided to go check on it. On the way, we noticed a couple dozen bags in the stairs area. We spotted hers right away (it was bright green) and it had her luggage tag attached. We just grabbed it up and carried it to our room ourselves.:):)

Always pack your carryon as if your bag will never make it.

Put your formal outfit and shoes, bathing suit, underwear and makeup and 3 days worth of clothes in your carryon.

Worst case scenario, you will do laundry but still have enough clothes to get by.

if you are upgraded at the last minute, your luggage may still be routed to your original canin assignment (and no, the people now in that room don't always notice a strange bag, particularly if they happen to be teenagers)

This happened to me on the last sailing. I had my room changed twice. My luggage was finally located and delivered to my new room after dinner on the first night of the cruise.

We are just back from the HAL Veendam cruise to Bermuda and we had no problem receiving our luggage at the beginning of our cruise but after we disembarked, it was nowhere to be found in the terminal. After searching for over an hour, with no help from the port agents, except for them to say "this happens all the time", we had to fill out a claim form and leave to wait for our bus home. We had done our part by clearly marking our luggage with our name tags and the color coded tags we were instructed to use. We placed it outside our stateroom, as instructed the night before. I couldn't understand how they could have lost all three pieces and I was extremely upset to the point of crying. We had a long wait for our bus and during that wait, two of the ship's crewmembers, in civilian dress came to tell us that they had found our luggage amongst the departing crew's luggage. This whole incident had caused my husband and me unnecessary and undue stress. I will never trust any cruiseline with my luggage again. From now on, we will choose self-disembarkation.

Thanks for all of your stories. We are actually locals and will be driving over to Miami so I won't need to worry about the airlines misplacing it. I'm just concerned my bags won't make it from the dock to my room, but if I pack my carry-on accordingly I should be fine. Besides, from what it sounds like the majority of people do receive their bags. I'm just a little nervous and excited because this is our first cruise.

To avoid lost luggage here are some tips. I can't guarantee it won't happen.

Before departing: remove any old airport, and cruise luggage tags- so there's no mix up in destination.

Take a picture of your luggage on your phone-this will help locating the suitcase if the porters knows what it looks like.

If you have a black or red suitcase put ribbon, yarn or colorful tape luggage straps may get lost if TSA decides to search your bag. (My friend uses the most ugly Christmas ribbon) try not to use a red or yellow ribbon everyone uses those colors.

Put valuables, jewelry, medications, and what ever you need in your carry-on.

In case your luggage tags fall off-which can happen for whatever reason

Put your itinerary info flight, hotel, cruise ship, and your cell # in the front pocket in the suitcase. So if it gets lost they can contact you and deliver to its destination.

To avoid your tags from falling off wrap packing tape around buckle so its secure.

Also not lost luggage but related keep zippers pulls on top with TSA approved lock- more zippers get damaged under the wheels if on bottom of bag.

Alrana

Not getting onto the ship, but when we left my small duffel bag was no where to be found. We looked in all 120 sections. I was SOOOO upset, that is where all my meds and my jewerly was. And of course all the trinkets ect that I bought for my kids. We went through Customs and had to fill out forms claiming lost luggage. They asked if we had insurance (well NO). And then sent us on our way. My duffle bag showed up about 6 days later on my door step at home. No letter of explanation or anything. Next time we will self assist :)

On one cruise some of our luggage did not make it to the room. I went down to the guest relations desk and they took me to a room with a lot of luggage. I found all but one bag. I then decided to take a walk down the hallways and after walking two decks I found the missing luggage outside a stateroom. Luckily it was a smaller (~2400) ship. Other than that one experience our luggage has always arrived in a timely manner in the stateroom.

I have done 7 cruises and on each one, my bags arrived at my cabin by early evening. If you are concerned check one bag and take your smaller one as a carryon...but sometimes they do get lost. One Halloween trip one of the guys in our group gave his bags to the porter and 1 came up missing...and was NEVER found. The ship did everything they were allowed to do to compensate him on board and I had heard he had to contact their office after arriving back in port. However its the only time I have heard of a bag not making it to the cabin. On the days we disembark, I put 1 bag out for the porters to take and keep a smaller wheeled bag to use in the morning and to wheel off the ship. I hate packing everythng the night before and one trip I left my bags in the cabin, went to breakfast and came back at about 10:30..and my cabin was the only one that had yet to be cleaned or turned down as I left the do not disturb sign on my door. I wheeled my bags off the ship and was one of the last people to leave.

I use extra wide NEON shoelaces that I bought in the kid's section of Walmart. I just double them up, string them through and tie a double knot. I can always see that neon green from 50 feet away and they never fray.

They come in neon green, orange or pink and I always use green.

Crazy thing is this can really happen to people getting an extra suitcase in their cabin when friends are sharing. Each thinks the unopened suitcase belongs to the other. :rolleyes:

On a recent cruise it took two friends three days to realize the unopened suitcase belonged to neither of them. Naturally, they felt horrible about it. :o

I always worry more about luggage getting lost through the airports and transfers, than I do on the ship.

But then, like several others said, I always pack my carry-on as if it might be the only luggage I'll have -- anything of value goes into it (and this means when I'm coming home, anything I may have bought along the way that is not easily replaceable!), at least a change of underwear! :p, and stuff that I just would be devastated about if I lost it..and I'm good to go.

So far, luggage has always made it to my cabin. The latest was around 8 p.m., but it was there.

Always pack your carryon as if your bag will never make it.

 

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we have done this the last few cruises...if we take one carry-on for the 2 of us, we cross-pack too (all cases are cross-pack)...i always carry EVERYTHING essential to me in my carry-ons/personal bags--everything liquid/gel etc that i NEED goes in the ZIP.

i pack for dress-up nite/casual/sea & port days and essential underwear/lingere/shoes that way we are covered least for the first days.

we have had the luggage lost (airline) found just in time (ship waited for our bags and others) and had it delievered to wrong cabin so we take carry-ons now along with our checked bags.

I have black luggage, like 95% of other travelers. But I took acrylic paint and painted lime green dots and swirls on all sides. Nobody is going to mistakenly take mine, and I could spot it 300 feet away if someone took it on purpose.

I still take photos of the luggage while waiting in line to check it....

Not a porter problem, but the airline lost our Garment bag on our honeymoon (all our formal wear), and we had to wait until the 1st island to get it back. The cruise line was great. They called the airline for us and helped track it. We had put the cruise line tags on the bags before we flew out, and we are SO glad we did. The airlines knew which port to take our bag to, and we had it by the 1st port of call. We had to miss the 1st formal night, but it was okay, as we were exhausted from the wedding activity anyway!

We've never had any of ours lost, but friends lost theirs for entire cruise. No formal wear, etc.

I constantly worry about this so I pack all of my stuff in a carry on and carry my own stuff onto and off of the ship. It can be done and I'm not all stressed out. I wear a size 5 shoe and those are extremely hard to find.