what every cruiser needs to know about lost luggage

I recently completed a cruise on an RCCL ship in the Mediterranean and, though I tagged my largest suitcase, which contained anniversary gifts for my wife and well as ordinary items, and even include my flight back home on their tag(Airline, Flight number) suitcases was never put on bus to airport and never showed up. It was a Sunday and the local RCCL agent's office, as well as Miami Lost Luggage office were closed. None of the paperwork included a phone number for the ship(the Navigator), to which I had plenty of time to return if I could confirm my suitcase was there. In any event, I flew home to US and suitcase never showed up.

I called RCCL lost luggage office in Miami who had no information. My travel agent called and within 10 minutes, learned my suticase was in an office at the port that serves Rome. RCCL refused to ship it to me unless I paid the cost, About $600. I advised the Miami office, all the way to the superisor of the Lost Luggage office, that they were responsible for not delivering it to me and therefore I expected RCCL to ship to me. They have refused. The supervisor, who had no information of any kind regarding why ther suitcase was not made available to me when I disembarked, nonetheless said it was my negligence that caused the "loss", that I was responsible to pick up the suitcase after passing thru customs, and therefore RCCL was no responsible. Curious response, given that there are no customs at the port - customs no longer exist for people going from 1 EU country to another - and we were loaded on the bus to the airport right next to the boat. We did not go thru any terminal and their was no luggage on the dock when I was directed to get on the bus.(It appears the luggage had not yet been taken off the ship).

It became clear he gave a programmed response, i.e. deny responsibility and blame the passenger, without knowing anything about why the bag was not made available, or the applicable law.I suspect that what this indicates is that so many pieces of luggage get lost or misplaced that RCCL(and probably other cruiselines don't want to admit they are responsibility, because of the shipping costs).

As it happens, I am a lawyer and because of RCCL's reaction decided that not only would I make a claim but I would research the matter and, if my belief was correct, advise RCCL that it was acting contrary to established law. they were in my case and I suspect are in all cases like mine.

For those interested in their rights in this situation, under various legal doctrines, common carriers, which include cruiselines, who take possession of passengers luggage, become, in effect insurers in the sense that if it is not delivered over to the passenger on request and cannot be accounted for the carrier is automatically liable. Under this principle of law, the carrier is a type of bailee and its negligence is presumed, absent proof on its part that some Act of God or enemy attack made it impossible to return the luggage. There are quite a few cases going back to the 1800s directly on point.

The RCCL supervisor advised me that RCCL could be held liable only if it was negligent and, in essence, it was my burden to show it was negligent. That, in fact, turns the law on its head. Since they were the last to have exclusive possession of the bag - they picked it up outside my stateroom the night before I disembarked - they were required to return it to me the next day and, as noted above the burden was on them to show the bag was not turned over for one of the two reasons stated above. Though the cruise ticket contains a clause which provides that RCCL will be liable for lost luggage only if it is negligent, courts will not recognize or enforce such a clause. They deem such clauses to violate public policy and longstanding law applicable to common carriers.

Cruiselines are permitted to limit their liability as RCCL does in its contracts, and require an additional payment from the passenger to increase its liability limit. I thus included with my claim $50, to cover the specificied percentage of any amount over $300, the liability limit states in the cruise ticket.

I suspect every cruiseline takes the same posture RCCL did here. I have not yet received a formal response to my formal claim - they received it about 2 weeks ago. I also made a claim under my travel insurance I purchased with the ticket. Oddly, insurer may have to pay me $1200, even though RCCL could ship the bag to me for about $600. (I presume the insurer will contact RCCL and offer to pay that cost rather than pay me $1200, but also would hope that the insurer would demand that RCCL ship it, based on the applicable law recited above).

The bottom line, though, is that if RCCL or any other cruiseline, under similar circumstances, tries to stick you with the shipping charge, advise them that, under the law, they must ship it at their own cost. And if that doesn't work and you don't have insurance, check to see if where you live has a Consumer Affairs office that can get involved. Since RCCL obviously sells cruises where you live, even though through an agent or over the internet, a local Consumer Affairs office may have jurisdiction to pursue your claim.

I've always been responsible for picking up my own luggage and brining it to the bus myself when I purchased a cruise line transfer. I guess I would have waited for my suitcase before boarding the bus.

Hmmm,it is standard for the guest to claim each and every piece of luggage at the pier. How sad that you misunderstood.

if the lugage was not visable, might you have disembarked before your luggage tag number or color was called?

there are sometimes special programs (for an extra fee above and beyond airline bag fees) at selected cruiseports and airport combo where the cruiseline transfers the bag to the airline, and the cruisers sees the bag at their final destination. unless you were offered and applied for and were accepted into such a program, it is indeed the cruisers job to claim their luggage, take it to their ground transport, and check it in at the airline desk. Live and learn. And do not pack valuables in your checked luggage, anytime, anywhere.

Thanks for the info rdeluxe.

Hmmm,it is standard for the guest to claim each and every piece of luggage at the pier. How sad that you misunderstood.

 

Live and learn. And do not pack valuables in your checked luggage, anytime, anywhere.

This.

And customs or not, you are responsible for claiming your own luggage.

Your title is misleading. Your luggage was not "lost" it was "abandoned" by you at the terminal.

I do not think the cruise line has any responsibility to you whatsoever in this case. By your own admission, you did not try to find your luggage in the terminal "building" (it's really more like a big tent on Civi :rolleyes: ).

It would be similar to if you walked off of an airplane, took a shuttle to your cruise and then were surprised that the airline had not placed your bag on the bus with you, even though you never went looking for your bag at baggage claim the airport.

I cannot image that NO luggage was off the ship yet. Surely other passengers retrieved their luggage, and I have always seen bags going off before people are cleared to do so in that port (we're weird and like to watch these things from our balcony).

All of the luggage IS off to the right as you exit and if you were very tired an hyper focused on getting out to the bus I suppose you cold miss it if you never looked sideways--but that is not really anyone's fault but your own. Especially given that all the disembarkation paperwork tells you to claim your luggage in the terminal building.

Essentially, YOU screwed up and now you have to decide if that contents of that luggage are worth the shipping cost to you, or not.

After docking in SF after a round trip to Hawaii our bag could not be found. Reported it to a Princess rep dockside, told us not to miss our flight. Two days later our bag was deliveded to our home in Fla.

Several years ago bag also misplaced by RCL and again after several days the bag was delivered to our home. :):)

If I remember correctly, when we booked our first ever cruise in 2007, we also booked transport from airport to ship and back via RCI. When we checked our luggage at the airport, we were told we would not see it again until it reached our cabin. I think it was similar for the return journey - I think we handed them over after customs and didn't see them again until we arrived back at the airport in our home city.

Maybe this poster had a similar arrangement.

Thanks rdeluxe. Interesting post.

Sorry about some of the posters here. Blind faith has ruined civilisations.......

If I remember correctly, when we booked our first ever cruise in 2007, we also booked transport from airport to ship and back via RCI. When we checked our luggage at the airport, we were told we would not see it again until it reached our cabin. I think it was similar for the return journey - I think we handed them over after customs and didn't see them again until we arrived back at the airport in our home city.

 

Maybe this poster had a similar arrangement.

We had a similar arrangement when we first cruised in 2009.

However all our subsequent cruises have required us to collect our own baggage and put it on the bus. I presume it is something to do with security but the paperwork does make it clear what you have to do.

After docking in SF after a round trip to Hawaii our bag could not be found. Reported it to a Princess rep dockside, told us not to miss our flight. Two days later our bag was deliveded to our home in Fla.

Several years ago bag also misplaced by RCL and again after several days the bag was delivered to our home. :):)

You reported the missing bag at the dock though, this is the key issue in the case. If OP had done so, I suspect there would be no problem.

If I remember correctly, when we booked our first ever cruise in 2007, we also booked transport from airport to ship and back via RCI. When we checked our luggage at the airport, we were told we would not see it again until it reached our cabin. I think it was similar for the return journey - I think we handed them over after customs and didn't see them again until we arrived back at the airport in our home city.

 

Maybe this poster had a similar arrangement.

It is possible--but doubtful. I have never seen such offered out of the port this poster was from (though I fully admit that I could easily miss something like this being offered--we drive to that port) --and I am taking everything the poster says with a grain of salt because I have gone through this port often in the past four years, including twice this summer, and even though the terminal building is small and is more like a permanent tent that a typical building you do HAVE to walk through it to get to the buses. I have never, ever seen a bus allowed onto the dock side of that building, and it is clearly blocked off for such.

I am thinking the poster walked right through and did not think of it as a building or terminal and was not thinking to look for bags, and then got on the bus (and, it IS close to the ship--but still through a little building), but I have a hard time believing that he was on the one cruise in which suddenly all normal rules about baggage and where the buses can park were changed.

A wordy post, but I think it's possible the OP did have the "Direct Transfer" of whatever that option is called for RCI to take your luggage the night before and then directly check it in with the airline. I've never done this option though, so I don't know how it works. Is it supposed to be once you leave your bags outside you don't see them again until you arrive at your home destination? Who checks your bags in for you? Is it automatic? How do you get the baggage claim receipts from the airline agent?

If the OP didn't have this luggage transfer service and simply walked on to the shuttle bus without loading his luggage himself, well then that's just inexperience and stupidity.

After having had some baggage snafus, we always self-disembark now and carry our own luggage off. It's just one suitcase for each of us usually, so I'd rather do it myself and make sure that it goes with me.

Until my last cruise they didn't start disembarking until the baggage was in the hall. Off FOS we waited at airport style conveyors. I imagine the OP was expecting the case to be delivered directly to the plane..... can someone explain how luggage valet works as I've never used it.

Until my last cruise they didn't start disembarking until the baggage was in the hall. Off FOS we waited at airport style conveyors. I imagine the OP was expecting the case to be delivered directly to the plane..... can someone explain how luggage valet works as I've never used it.

When using certain ports and certain airlines, your bags are taken to the airport and check-in for you. In other words, you put them outside your stateroom the last night of the cruise, and you don't see them until you arrive at your final destination. Royal also obtains airline boarding passes for you.

Some ports require you to claim the bags off the ship, go through customs, and then hand the bags over to a 3rd party who will take them to the airport.

In the Med. we have sailed many times in and out of Barcelona, a couple of times out of Venice and Civitavecchia. I have only ever seen luggage valet offered out of American ports but I could be wrong.

Last year we did our first ever RCI flight/ transfer/ cruise package round trip out of Civitavecchia , where the OP's cruise originated I think , as we had free flights and it was one of the best organised trips we ever did with regards leaving the ship, picking up the luggage and getting on the bus.

The colour coded tag was actually the bus number we would be getting on, we met in a designated lounge, left the ship, walked through one side of the tent hanger where all the luggage was and then directed by shoreside staff through to the buses on the outside of the tent

( Civitavecchia cannot be called a 'terminal building':D).

I can only imagine the OP is not a seasoned cruiser like the majority on this board and the fact people around him were collecting luggage before joining the queue to get to the buses did not trigger a clue to do the same or at least make enquiries.

Whenever we travel to an unknown airport/area one of the things I do is ask travellers around me what procedures are even if I might have a basic idea. I also offer advice to others if I see others who look a little lost , hubby calls it interfering , but that's me.:)

Based on his post there is no way to know for sure whether or not luggage transfer to the airport or beyond was supposed be occur. Without knowing that there is little point in commenting on it:rolleyes:

This is the first sentence of the post:

I recently completed a cruise on an RCCL ship in the Mediterranean and, though I tagged my largest suitcase, which contained anniversary gifts for my wife and well as ordinary items, and even include my flight back home on their tag(Airline, Flight number) suitcases was never put on bus to airport and never showed up.

It sounds like the OP just wrote in the flight info on a tag and assumed it would be take to the airport and put on his plane. We always carry our bags off ourselves so I'm not sure what the normal process is.

During our cruise, we had some souvenirs confiscated when getting back on the ship in Cozumel. We were told we would have to pick them back up after customs in Ft. Lauderdale.

We got through customs and went right to the airport shuttle. We totally forgot about the souvenirs, didn't see any kind of table/sign directing us to "confiscated items" (which would hopefully have jogged our memory). We didn't remember until a couple hours into our trip.

I contacted RCI and we ended up paying to have the items shipped to us. OP, are you saying RCI should have paid for shipping? I'm specifically asking the OP because he's the one who's claiming RCI has the burden of returning items to passengers.

Personally I had no problem paying for the shipping because (IMO) it was our responsibility to pick the bag back up. We neglected to.

It's really no different than getting off an airplane and not bothering to claim your bag off the carousel. Unless you have made prior arrangements, you are responsible for claiming your luggage.

If you don't, the airlines sure as heck won't deliver that bag to you...for free, anyways.

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For those interested in their rights in this situation, under various legal doctrines, common carriers, which include cruiselines, who take possession of passengers luggage, become, in effect insurers in the sense that if it is not delivered over to the passenger on request and cannot be accounted for the carrier is automatically liable. Under this principle of law, the carrier is a type of bailee and its negligence is presumed, absent proof on its part that some Act of God or enemy attack made it impossible to return the luggage. There are quite a few cases going back to the 1800s directly on point.

 

I'll be fascinated to see what case law you have that suggests the 'on request' clause includes not recovering luggage at the designated point, flying several thousand miles and then expecting the common carrier to have liability. Go on, please. And it certainly seems that they have 'accounted for' your luggage.

rdeluxe, that was an interesting post, but I have a follow-up question.

Are you quoting US law or EU law regarding common carriers? Or is this matter covered by another jurisdiction?

I would assume US law doesn't apply in the EU, but I'm not an attorney.

Can you or someone else with legal expertise clarify that for us, please?

With that being said, Thank you for this information!! It is always better to know the laws then to be told something that is just not true..

And of course now that some unknown person on the internet has had their say you now know the laws.......:rolleyes:

In the Med. we have sailed many times in and out of Barcelona, a couple of times out of Venice and Civitavecchia. I have only ever seen luggage valet offered out of American ports but I could be wrong.

 

Last year we did our first ever RCI flight/ transfer/ cruise package round trip out of Civitavecchia , where the OP's cruise originated I think , as we had free flights and it was one of the best organised trips we ever did with regards leaving the ship, picking up the luggage and getting on the bus.

The colour coded tag was actually the bus number we would be getting on, we met in a designated lounge, left the ship, walked through one side of the tent hanger where all the luggage was and then directed by shoreside staff through to the buses on the outside of the tent

( Civitavecchia cannot be called a 'terminal building':D).

I can only imagine the OP is not a seasoned cruiser like the majority on this board and the fact people around him were collecting luggage before joining the queue to get to the buses did not trigger a clue to do the same or at least make enquiries.

Whenever we travel to an unknown airport/area one of the things I do is ask travellers around me what procedures are even if I might have a basic idea. I also offer advice to others if I see others who look a little lost , hubby calls it interfering , but that's me.:)

I have never heard of it being offered in Europe, or for international flights that are leaving from the US either for that matter.

I believe there are too many safety issues with not having the actual passenger answer questions about luggage safety, etc and that regulations do not allow it here--but, again, I could be wrong.

Situations like this are why we each own one suitcase: A rolling carry-on.

With careful packing, it can easily hold a weeks' worth of clothing: Fold carefully, turn the stacks sideways in the suitcase, and even my husband has no trouble fitting in half a dozen man-sized cargo-short/tee outfits PLUS plenty of swimsuits/extra tees PLUS dinner wear. Yes, even formal wear and shoes will fit -- if you pack carefully. Toiletries, snorkels, and other gotta-haves travel in a tote bag or small backpack, and we never let go of anything.

Benefits:

- If we fly (which we don't for cruises) we don't pay extra fees.

- We never have to waste time waiting to be reunited with our luggage.

- We do not have to worry that a stranger might take our luggage either accidentally or on purpose.

- Our luggage isn't beat up by airport staff or overworked cruise staff as it's moved from place to place.

- Our room isn't cluttered with excessive stuff that we wouldn't use anyway.

- We don't have to put our luggage out in the hall on the last night of a cruise.

- We are able to use self-disembark, and we don't even have to wait for the elevators because a rolling carry-on can be carried down the stairs.

- The chances of our luggage being lost are essentially zero.

Packing lightly has no downside.

According to RCI's website, Luggage Valet is only available out of 5 (all US) ports. Therefore, I think we can safely assume that the OP did not book such a service. Thus, the fault lies with him. Sorry OP. It was a costly mistake.

http://www.royalcaribbean.com/contentWithHero.do?pagename=luggage_valet_service