Money stolen from room safe.

Problem on the ship:

My biggest problem was that somebody got into my cabin safe and stole $200.

I have been on 37 cruises and never had this happen before. I took $2,000 in cash on the trip. Some people would say that's a lot to take, but I would rather buy with cash at the ports than charge.

I had $1,400 in hundred dollar bills tied with a rubber band, and left in the safe as soon as we boarded about 1PM.

I went to the buffet for lunch and then back to the cabin where I was greeted by my cabin steward who said to me he "took the liberty" to put my luggage in the room.

It's now about 5 PM and I'm changing for dinner and opened the safe to put my cell phone in it. I counted the money and to my surprise only had $1,300.

I told my wife and the other couples that traveled with us. They all said maybe I miscounted, or something to make me feel better. I work with money all day. I never miscount or make errors with cash, but I wasn't going to allow this to ruin my vacation. I counted the money as I spent it and kept tabs on the amounts.

On Friday night before dinner I had $1,200 in $100 bills in the safe. I marked the bills.

After dinner we began packing. We were walkoffs at the dock so I didn't need to pack and leave the luggage outside. I went to the safe, counted the money and to my surprise only $1,100.

Another $100 bill was taken. I called security. They came to my room and took a report. I filled out a loss form that was signed by the pursers office. Now I have to call Miami and fight to get my money back.

They checked the lock and the only people to enter my room was my wife and I and the cabin steward.

When we arrived in NY I wanted NYPD or PA police. I was told that the cruise line would handle the investigation and that the steward would be questioned as well as searched. I do not know the outcome to this.

In the future I will only bring travelers checks.

I'm still trying to figure out how he got the pin number. It's a 4 digit number and he had plenty of time when we were out on excursions or at port.

I foolishly did not change the pin after I suspected the first loss.

I have never has this happen. I travel to Vegas, Atlantic City, really everywhere, and I always use the room safe and never questeded it's safety until now.

I don't want any lectures on "why did I bring so much in cash." Like I stated, I had my personal reasons.

If however anybody has any constructive answers to get results from the cruise line, I would be thankful.

Thanks,

Al

Sorry to hear you had moneystolen from the safe.

In 20 cruises, fortunately we have never had a problem.

Problem on the ship:

 

 

My biggest problem was that somebody got into my cabin safe and stole $200.

I have been on 37 cruises and never had this happen before. I took $2,000 in cash on the trip. Some people would say that's a lot to take, but I would rather buy with cash at the ports than charge.

 

I had $1,400 in hundred dollar bills tied with a rubber band, and left in the safe as soon as we boarded about 1PM.

 

I went to the buffet for lunch and then back to the cabin where I was greeted by my cabin steward who said to me he "took the liberty" to put my luggage in the room.

 

It's now about 5 PM and I'm changing for dinner and opened the safe to put my cell phone in it. I counted the money and to my surprise only had $1,300.

 

I told my wife and the other couples that traveled with us. They all said maybe I miscounted, or something to make me feel better. I work with money all day. I never miscount or make errors with cash, but I wasn't going to allow this to ruin my vacation. I counted the money as I spent it and kept tabs on the amounts.

 

On Friday night before dinner I had $1,200 in $100 bills in the safe. I marked the bills.

 

After dinner we began packing. We were walkoffs at the dock so I didn't need to pack and leave the luggage outside. I went to the safe, counted the money and to my surprise only $1,100.

 

Another $100 bill was taken. I called security. They came to my room and took a report. I filled out a loss form that was signed by the pursers office. Now I have to call Miami and fight to get my money back.

 

They checked the lock and the only people to enter my room was my wife and I and the cabin steward.

 

When we arrived in NY I wanted NYPD or PA police. I was told that the cruise line would handle the investigation and that the steward would be questioned as well as searched. I do not know the outcome to this.

 

In the future I will only bring travelers checks.

I'm still trying to figure out how he got the pin number. It's a 4 digit number and he had plenty of time when we were out on excursions or at port.

I foolishly did not change the pin after I suspected the first loss.

I have never has this happen. I travel to Vegas, Atlantic City, really everywhere, and I always use the room safe and never questeded it's safety until now.

 

I don't want any lectures on "why did I bring so much in cash." Like I stated, I had my personal reasons.

 

If however anybody has any constructive answers to get results from the cruise line, I would be thankful.

Thanks,

Al

Interesting......

How could a cabin steward open your safe? They can't....period.

Security can open it, the hotel manager can open it, some bridge officers can open it.....they have passcodes....but, cabin steward, nope.

Something entirely different went on in this situation.

Problem on the ship:

 

 

My biggest problem was that somebody got into my cabin safe and stole $200.

I have been on 37 cruises and never had this happen before. I took $2,000 in cash on the trip. Some people would say that's a lot to take, but I would rather buy with cash at the ports than charge.

 

I had $1,400 in hundred dollar bills tied with a rubber band, and left in the safe as soon as we boarded about 1PM.

 

I went to the buffet for lunch and then back to the cabin where I was greeted by my cabin steward who said to me he "took the liberty" to put my luggage in the room.

 

It's now about 5 PM and I'm changing for dinner and opened the safe to put my cell phone in it. I counted the money and to my surprise only had $1,300.

 

I told my wife and the other couples that traveled with us. They all said maybe I miscounted, or something to make me feel better. I work with money all day. I never miscount or make errors with cash, but I wasn't going to allow this to ruin my vacation. I counted the money as I spent it and kept tabs on the amounts.

 

On Friday night before dinner I had $1,200 in $100 bills in the safe. I marked the bills.

 

After dinner we began packing. We were walkoffs at the dock so I didn't need to pack and leave the luggage outside. I went to the safe, counted the money and to my surprise only $1,100.

 

Another $100 bill was taken. I called security. They came to my room and took a report. I filled out a loss form that was signed by the pursers office. Now I have to call Miami and fight to get my money back.

 

They checked the lock and the only people to enter my room was my wife and I and the cabin steward.

 

When we arrived in NY I wanted NYPD or PA police. I was told that the cruise line would handle the investigation and that the steward would be questioned as well as searched. I do not know the outcome to this.

 

In the future I will only bring travelers checks.

I'm still trying to figure out how he got the pin number. It's a 4 digit number and he had plenty of time when we were out on excursions or at port.

I foolishly did not change the pin after I suspected the first loss.

I have never has this happen. I travel to Vegas, Atlantic City, really everywhere, and I always use the room safe and never questeded it's safety until now.

 

I don't want any lectures on "why did I bring so much in cash." Like I stated, I had my personal reasons.

 

If however anybody has any constructive answers to get results from the cruise line, I would be thankful.

Thanks,

Al

Too bad your room steward might lose his job over $ 200.00

We took ten times more than you did, but because we were on 82 days cruise. There were many days I forgot to lock the safe. I guess we had an honest steward.

M

It takes two people (one being a security employee) to open a safe. Really hope someone isn't losing their job over this. It just did not happen. There must be a miscalculation on your part regarding the amount left in the safe.

Just playing devil's advocate here, but; why would a thief only take $100 on two separate occasions? Why wouldn't a thief take it all the first time?

Interesting......

 

How could a cabin steward open your safe? They can't....period.

 

Security can open it' date=' the hotel manager can open it, some bridge officers can open it.....they have passcodes....but, cabin steward, nope.

 

Something entirely different went on in this situation.[/quote']

 

 

After thinking about it, it's not that hard.

Here's what I think he did.

Fact=Most people use a birthday as a code...

four digits most starting with 0.

Example Jan 1st to Jan 31st= 0101 to 0131. That's all the codes for Jan

0201-0228 for feb

and so on and so forth

Answer is that even though there are 10,000 numbers in a four digit code, only 365 are really ever used.

How long would it take him to figure out the code?

Less than 1 hour......

It takes two people (one being a security employee) to open a safe. Really hope someone isn't losing their job over this. It just did not happen. There must be a miscalculation on your part regarding the amount left in the safe.

trust me, it happened....

Maybe there is some way. Maybe a fine substance could be put on all the safe keys. Then when a flashlight is shone on the keys, the ones that were pushed will glow or some such thing as that. Or perhaps there is now an electronic device that can somehow "read" pin numbers on these safes.

The other thing is maybe the safe wasn't securedly closed. Maybe someone who can enter your room is in the habit of checking safe doors to see if they are securely closed.

One tough nut to crack will be if no guest has ever complained before that this same steward took something from their safe or from their room. Then the ship security will wonder why just your safe was violated.

Please don't get me wrong. I am in no way saying that what you said didn't happen just the way you said it happened. I hope you will be able to get to the bottom of this situation.

How long would it take him to figure out the code?

Less than 1 hour......

Yep, that's about right. At least that's the max it took me to open my luggage lock after I inadvertently changed the 4-digit code on the lock.

Just playing devil's advocate here, but; why would a thief only take $100 on two separate occasions? Why wouldn't a thief take it all the first time?

The theif played it correctly.

taking $100 the first night would put doubt in my mind of whether or not I counted correctly. Taking it the last night gives me no time to do anything about it.

Taking the entire batch would be suicide for him. He would get caught. Taking a little at a time gets him rich very quickly.

Please read my thread about birthday codes.

365 codes vs 10,000

Thats how he did it I'm certain.

Sorry to hear about this! I remember when we went on our cruise on Golden Princess, I left some money in front of the safe and left it opened (stupid me!!). Our cabin steward was so nice and honest...he must have noticed it when he cleaned the cabin when we were gone. He pointed it out to me that I left some money there (it was a few hundred Euros) and told me to please make sure to lock them up. We were fortunate to have a honest steward and of course all my money were still there and we did not miss a penny. Could not imagine what might have happened if we had a dishonest steward....

no body reimburse lost cash like this. There is another thread on the Princess boards where a person claimed cash was taken from their deposit at a bank. When the tape was reviewed it showed that the person left the cash on the table before sealing the envelope and made the deposit without the cash in the envelope at all-although they swore it was in the envelope. The next person in the bank just took it and left. I am sorry it happened but the police wouldn't investigate a $200 theft either. Its written up as a petty theft and the matter is closed....doesn't even make the stats...

If the person was going to steal a second time why wouldn't they take it all?

PS did you reduce the service charge?

I'm so glad we don't use common numbers like that! We chose our pins for all of our cards and one is a completely random number, another one I used to use was an exfiance's last 4 of his phone number. Considering I've been married for over 2 years and moved 1400 miles away, nobody would ever make a connection there! And I called that number so many times in 5 years that I will never forget it, lol

If the person was going to steal a second time why wouldn't they take it all?

PS did you reduce the service charge?

As I stated above, the obvious reason why.

I was on a cruise ship that used the 4 number code to lock/unlock the room safe. I forgot the code and could not open the safe so I called for help. A security guy came to see what the problem was. After signing a form that I was asking him to open the safe, he opened it with a special code! I reset my code and closed the safe. To believe that only a few know the master code to open the safe is a bit foolish. It would appear that your room steward found out the master code and enriched himself.

Last cruise we were leaving Cozumel to sail back to Galveston. A young couple did not return to the ship in time and missed it. I later learned that a ship's officer went to their state room, opened their safe and took out their money, credit cards and passports. Just before departing he gave them to the ship's port agent to give to the young couple so that they could fly back to Houston. They met the ship when it returned two days later.

All room safes whether it be in a hotel, cruise ship stateroom, or anywhere else has a master code/key of some type. The new room safes that use the magnetic strip on the back of a credit card are no different except now they are using a special card with a master magnetic strip. This is certainly more secure than a four digit master code that can be easily stolen. Safes are not safe!

Some ships have a safety deposit box at the Purser's desk. If I were carrying a lot of cash, I would look into using this if it was available.

Sorry to hear about your loss.

I was on a cruise ship that used the 4 number code to lock/unlock the room safe. I forgot the code and could not open the safe so I called for help. A security guy came to see what the problem was. After signing a form that I was asking him to open the safe, he opened it with a special code! I reset my code and closed the safe. To believe that only a few know the master code to open the safe is a bit foolish. It would appear that your room steward found out the master code and enriched himself.

 

Last cruise we were leaving Cozumel to sail back to Galveston. A young couple did not return to the ship in time and missed it. I later learned that a ship's officer went to their state room, opened their safe and took out their money, credit cards and passports. Just before departing he gave them to the ship's port agent to give to the young couple so that they could fly back to Houston. They met the ship when it returned two days later.

 

All room safes whether it be in a hotel, cruise ship stateroom, or anywhere else has a master code/key of some type. The new room safes that use the magnetic strip on the back of a credit card are no different except now they are using a special card with a master magnetic strip. This is certainly more secure than a four digit master code that can be easily stolen. Safes are not safe!

 

Some ships have a safety deposit box at the Purser's desk. If I were carrying a lot of cash, I would look into using this if it was available.

 

Sorry to hear about your loss.

You my friend are 100 correct.

Also as I stated before.

After thinking about it, it's not that hard.

Here's what I think he did.

Fact=Most people use a birthday as a code...

Four digits most starting with 0.

Example Jan 1st to Jan 31st= 0101 to 0131. That's all the codes for Jan

0201-0228 for feb

and so on and so forth

Answer is that even though there are 10,000 numbers in a four digit code, only 365 are really ever used.

How long would it take him to figure out the code?

Less than 1 hour......

...................

Last cruise we were leaving Cozumel to sail back to Galveston. A young couple did not return to the ship in time and missed it. I later learned that a ship's officer went to their state room, opened their safe and took out their money, credit cards and passports. Just before departing he gave them to the ship's port agent to give to the young couple so that they could fly back to Houston. They met the ship when it returned two days later. .................

 

THANK YOU! We were on the same cruise and when I mentioned this is another post I basically was told that I did not know what I was talking about.

Problem on the ship:

 

 

My biggest problem was that somebody got into my cabin safe and stole $200.

I have been on 37 cruises and never had this happen before. I took $2,000 in cash on the trip. Some people would say that's a lot to take, but I would rather buy with cash at the ports than charge.

 

I had $1,400 in hundred dollar bills tied with a rubber band, and left in the safe as soon as we boarded about 1PM.

 

I went to the buffet for lunch and then back to the cabin where I was greeted by my cabin steward who said to me he "took the liberty" to put my luggage in the room.

 

It's now about 5 PM and I'm changing for dinner and opened the safe to put my cell phone in it. I counted the money and to my surprise only had $1,300.

 

I told my wife and the other couples that traveled with us. They all said maybe I miscounted, or something to make me feel better. I work with money all day. I never miscount or make errors with cash, but I wasn't going to allow this to ruin my vacation. I counted the money as I spent it and kept tabs on the amounts.

 

On Friday night before dinner I had $1,200 in $100 bills in the safe. I marked the bills.

 

After dinner we began packing. We were walkoffs at the dock so I didn't need to pack and leave the luggage outside. I went to the safe, counted the money and to my surprise only $1,100.

 

Another $100 bill was taken. I called security. They came to my room and took a report. I filled out a loss form that was signed by the pursers office. Now I have to call Miami and fight to get my money back.

 

They checked the lock and the only people to enter my room was my wife and I and the cabin steward.

 

When we arrived in NY I wanted NYPD or PA police. I was told that the cruise line would handle the investigation and that the steward would be questioned as well as searched. I do not know the outcome to this.

 

In the future I will only bring travelers checks.

I'm still trying to figure out how he got the pin number. It's a 4 digit number and he had plenty of time when we were out on excursions or at port.

I foolishly did not change the pin after I suspected the first loss.

I have never has this happen. I travel to Vegas, Atlantic City, really everywhere, and I always use the room safe and never questeded it's safety until now.

 

I don't want any lectures on "why did I bring so much in cash." Like I stated, I had my personal reasons.

 

If however anybody has any constructive answers to get results from the cruise line, I would be thankful.

Thanks,

Al

Once I accidentally used the wrong pin number when I closed our safe-which meant it was set up with anew number. we could not figure out what number I did- so we called the purser's desk and the head steward had no prooblem opening our safe so we could recode it. I imagine if he can do this-perhaps the other stewards can also?

The theif played it correctly.

taking $100 the first night would put doubt in my mind of whether or not I counted correctly. Taking it the last night gives me no time to do anything about it.

Taking the entire batch would be suicide for him. He would get caught. Taking a little at a time gets him rich very quickly.

Please read my thread about birthday codes.

365 codes vs 10,000

Thats how he did it I'm certain.

I imagine though if he plays that game too often it will be figured out and he will be fired. Sad thing though, is no one will get their money back.

All I know that we had a large amount of cash and more importantly my wifes jewelry that was more valuable in the safe left open by mistake(I mean wide open) and to find nothing missing. Having two people accessing the safe sometimes the other thinks that the partner needs to get in and does a favor by leaving it open. Maybe a partner needed to buy a surprize present for the other and needed some cash. Statistacly most "crime" is commited by a relative. Just quoting national crime stats in the U.S. You never know.:rolleyes:

Its probably very useful that you reported it. It may be part of a clear pattern of a few hundred dollars disappearing here and there throughout the ship that might eventually lead to Security becoming suspicious. Maybe the thief/ves are relying on people not bothering to report a missing couple of hundred dollars. People would make a big fuss if thousands of dollars or valuable jewellery went missing.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1002723

similar(not identical) report(I was going to say story but that might be misconstrued)

Just playing devil's advocate here, but; why would a thief only take $100 on two separate occasions? Why wouldn't a thief take it all the first time?

Yes, I'd take all 1400 in first go itself.

Fact=Most people use a birthday as a code.

Really? I'd think more people would use an ATM PIN, or the last four digits of a phone number or SSN. (All are risky, but at least not as obvious as a birthday.)

Caro