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Lost luggage help


azsnowbird
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Arrived in Rome yesterday and our luggage didn't arrive. We are boarding our ship this afternoon. Airline is trying to trace, and all paperwork completed.

 

Has anyone experienced a quick way to get a temporary supply of medications in Rome? Will talk to Regent rep in morning, but need a few days supply before boarding ship. Most pharmacies in Canada &USA will provide emergency supply in such cases...hoping Italy is similar!

 

Guess we will be dining in our room until clothes arrive. Need to go shopping for basics before noon this morning...

 

Fingers crossed our bags show up! Not a relaxing start to a vacation.

Fortunately we booked concierge level, so Regent was there at airport to meet us and help us with paperwork...and transportation to hotel. The hotel provided combs/toothbrushes etc. so we are grateful!

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Arrived in Rome yesterday and our luggage didn't arrive. We are boarding our ship this afternoon. Airline is trying to trace, and all paperwork completed.

Has anyone experienced a quick way to get a temporary supply of medications in Rome? Will talk to Regent rep in morning, but need a few days supply before boarding ship. Most pharmacies in Canada &USA will provide emergency supply in such cases...hoping Italy is similar!

Fingers crossed our bags show up! Not a relaxing start to a vacation.

 

 

OK, this should be a lesson to everyone----never, never, never pack your med's in your suitcase. Always carry on with you. In fact if med's are something you have to have-have your partner carry and extra supply in their carry on, just in case one case gets taken or lost.

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You should be able to get a short term refill of your meds at a farmacia (the one with the red cross).

 

You need to know the generic name and dosage and why you're taking the med (for what condition are you taking it). It may be helpful to have Google translate available if any confusion on the names or medical conditions are encountered.

 

I checked to see if this had changed since last I was there and saw articles written June 2017 saying the same thing I wrote above.

 

Best wishes for a smooth process. Lost luggage is painful.

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Arrived in Rome yesterday and our luggage didn't arrive. We are boarding our ship this afternoon. Airline is trying to trace, and all paperwork completed.

 

Has anyone experienced a quick way to get a temporary supply of medications in Rome? Will talk to Regent rep in morning, but need a few days supply before boarding ship. Most pharmacies in Canada &USA will provide emergency supply in such cases...hoping Italy is similar!

 

Guess we will be dining in our room until clothes arrive. Need to go shopping for basics before noon this morning...

 

Fingers crossed our bags show up! Not a relaxing start to a vacation.

Fortunately we booked concierge level, so Regent was there at airport to meet us and help us with paperwork...and transportation to hotel. The hotel provided combs/toothbrushes etc. so we are grateful!

 

I can't speak for Rome, but I know in Germany, you'd need a prescription written by a local doctor unless it happened to be an over the counter medication. However, any local pharmacy should be able to point you towards a doctor who can convert your US prescription to an EU / local one without much trouble.

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Farmacia in Italy has a green cross not a red one in case you are still looking. Do not count on getting medication from the doctor on the ship unless you are willing to pay for a consultation fee. I once got bronchitis on a cruise (probably brought it with me from Switzerland!). My home doctor told me what to take and I should have had the antibiotics with me because he routinely suggests I take them with me when travelling...but I thought since I would be in Europe I would not have a problem! Doctor on ship refused to sell me the pills unless he checked me out first - for $500. I decided to stay ill until I got back home. So not a great cruise...

 

Italian farmacie are usually wonderful in emergencies. my problem was - I was at sea!

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Arrived in Rome yesterday and our luggage didn't arrive. We are boarding our ship this afternoon. Airline is trying to trace, and all paperwork completed.

 

Has anyone experienced a quick way to get a temporary supply of medications in Rome? Will talk to Regent rep in morning, but need a few days supply before boarding ship. Most pharmacies in Canada &USA will provide emergency supply in such cases...hoping Italy is similar!

 

Guess we will be dining in our room until clothes arrive. Need to go shopping for basics before noon this morning...

 

Fingers crossed our bags show up! Not a relaxing start to a vacation.

Fortunately we booked concierge level, so Regent was there at airport to meet us and help us with paperwork...and transportation to hotel. The hotel provided combs/toothbrushes etc. so we are grateful!

 

I feel your pain - I had one bag disappear on our last cruise (first time in 8 years we've had a bag miss sailing with us) and even though they had located the bag by the time we landed in CPH, for some reason they couldn't get it down from London (a 2-hour flight) in the two days we had in Copenhagen - so my bag and I weren't reunited for almost 5 days. Fortunately we'd had a missing bag scare a few years before - also in Copenhagen, coincidentally - so I was pretty good at 'splitting' my stuff in my suitcases...pretty good, but not great as it turned out. As to meds, though, I'd recommend getting with the Concierge on board as soon as you're on the ship - they can help quite a bit with tracking down your luggage and coordinating delivery, and I'm sure they'll be able to assist with the local pharmacies as well. Good luck.

 

You should be able to get a short term refill of your meds at a farmacia (the one with the red cross).

 

You need to know the generic name and dosage and why you're taking the med (for what condition are you taking it). It may be helpful to have Google translate available if any confusion on the names or medical conditions are encountered.

 

I checked to see if this had changed since last I was there and saw articles written June 2017 saying the same thing I wrote above.

 

Best wishes for a smooth process. Lost luggage is painful.

 

I believe it's a green cross in Italy if I'm not mistaken. Either way, hopefully the Concierge can assist.

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Hopefully your airline has located your bag via bar code and it soon will reach you. Since you do not have a rx or a bottle do not be shocked if you are required to obtain a re from a Roman MD. I understand about the ship consultation since the dr has to prescribe the medication for you..sometimes substituting what they carry in their formulary. That doesn't mean that I like the fee!

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Hopefully your airline has located your bag via bar code and it soon will reach you. Since you do not have a rx or a bottle do not be shocked if you are required to obtain a re from a Roman MD. I understand about the ship consultation since the dr has to prescribe the medication for you..sometimes substituting what they carry in their formulary. That doesn't mean that I like the fee!

 

If you happen to to use a pharmacy with online records, that can be amazingly helpful. When my husband forgot the needles for his insulin pen when flying to Europe, I was able to show the pharmacist in Germany exactly what he got in the US, and he had no problem at all finding a suitable substitute. And they were cheaper over the counter than what he was paying with insurance back in the US!

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Good responses on the meds, but I will add this... keep the receipts for all of your emergency purchases. If you bought travel insurance, you can make a claim. If you didn't buy a specific travel policy, your credit card may offer lost bag coverage.

 

Hope you are reunited with your luggage soon!

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When our luggage was lost for 10 days (along with 30 other passengers), we kept receipts as recommended in the last post. The airline refunded every penny that we had to spend (we didn't go crazy with buying stuff - just the essentials and a couple of outfits). Fortunately we had prescription meds with us but if we didn't we could have looked them up online as suggested by another poster.

 

Since losing our luggage twice (both times transiting Heathrow and flying BA), we now put as much as possible in our carry-on luggage including one change of clothes each and extra shoes. While we have few prescription meds we take tons of vitamins and make sure they are also in our carry-on. As a woman, the most difficult thing for me to replace was hair items (hot rollers, curling iron, etc.) so they, also go in our carry-on luggage as I don't want to use bobby pins to curl my hair for the rest of my life.

 

We recently purchased two IT (International Traveler) carry-on pieces that meet international airline standards and are extremely lightweight. They don't have compartments - just a cavity that allows you to put in lots of stuff.

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My primary physician has an up-to-date list of all my meds, including OTC, listing dosage, generic and registered names and any special instructions. She prints me a copy to take on cruises.

 

Any experienced traveler carries all prescriptions in carry-on luggage; it could be your life you save.:D

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  • 2 weeks later...

No problem with meds being provided at pharmacy!

 

Didn't get luggage until day 5. had to fill out paperwork with 3 different regent people for lost luggage. Once at airport, once at hotel and once onboard. I asked the Snarky girl at reception desk if we would be permitted anywhere onboard for dinner with no dress clothes, she told us if we wanted answers to questions or help, fill out the paperwork again or there was nothing she could do for us. Depending on our situation, MAYBE we would be allowed to have dress code waved and they would let us know after reviewing everything. She left after giving me the paperwork and didn't address any questions. I was not happy! Was eventually advised they would take care of laundering our one outfit each night and have it back by 7:00 am. At no cost. Discovered after getting home They charged our credit card $128. And we missed an excursion because no clothes.

Just arrived home on the 8th. Airline delayed the luggage coming home....told us there wasn't room for ours. Thanks Lufthansa!! So not impressed with business class and checking in at airport 3 hours early!

 

 

Must say (and will say it on a new link too)..... Regents service and overall experience has declined dramatically compared to our cruise last year. Won't be cruising with them again!

A disappointment from start to finish. Had to ask more than once for a bottle of wine for our room. We were concierge.....so should have had bar set up. Had two bottles of wine during the entire 10 day trip. Glasses were not regularly refilled at table, other than at prime 7. Asked for a different kind of wine twice....both times the waiter never returned....so No wine during lunch. Food was average quality, and never hot....other than at prime. Seafood was consistently over cooked.

 

I was too disgusted to fill out their feedback forms! Have done enough paperwork and paid close to $25K . Tried to phone re the credit card charge.....and got disconnected after being on hold and transferred after 10 minutes.

 

Definitely NOT 6 star experience!!

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Sorry to hear your outcome from cruise. You would have certainly hoped that onboard support for the luggage situation would have been better handled by the staff you mentioned.

Not good to hear of the onboard experience. Dissapointing for you and I am sure I would also feel the same. Thanks for getting back to us all. Jean.

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Arrived in Rome yesterday and our luggage didn't arrive. We are boarding our ship this afternoon. Airline is trying to trace, and all paperwork completed.

 

Has anyone experienced a quick way to get a temporary supply of medications in Rome? Will talk to Regent rep in morning, but need a few days supply before boarding ship. Most pharmacies in Canada &USA will provide emergency supply in such cases...hoping Italy is similar!

 

Guess we will be dining in our room until clothes arrive. Need to go shopping for basics before noon this morning...

 

Fingers crossed our bags show up! Not a relaxing start to a vacation.

Fortunately we booked concierge level, so Regent was there at airport to meet us and help us with paperwork...and transportation to hotel. The hotel provided combs/toothbrushes etc. so we are grateful!

 

Greetings from South Beach, azsnowbird;. As someone else has mentioned, never pack your medication in checked baggage. We also.keep lists of current medications, including relevant info on our smart phones, and hard copies in our toilet cases. In addition, always carry at least a simple change of clothes, including underwear, Otherwise, as you have just discovered, you are vulnerable to a multitude of inconveniences. If you don't want to use a carry on, get something that will hold the absolute essentials. I have a large leather case that looks like a handbag. It holds all of the above, and is beautiful, too. Every traveler needs to do this sort of thing. We do use carry ons, and the essential cases slide over the handles. When mine is isn't carrying necessities, I do use it as a handbag. It is such a fun thing.

 

Sorry your trip got off to such a spartan start. You are in Rome, after all. No shortage of gorgeous items there.

Mary

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I'm sorry to hear about your lost luggage. I was also on this cruise and met a woman that had the same problem, although she never did get her luggage. She had nothing but good things to say about Regent onboard support. They also did all of her laundry every day, as well as daily checking with airlines.

 

As for your other comments, I can only say that I had the completely opposite experience. I've been traveling Regent since 2001 (when it was Radisson) and this cruise was one of the best I've experienced. The crew were exceptional and I had no problems with the food or getting any alternative wines that I wanted. I'm sorry you didn't have a better experience

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No problem with meds being provided at pharmacy!

 

Didn't get luggage until day 5. had to fill out paperwork with 3 different regent people for lost luggage. Once at airport, once at hotel and once onboard. I asked the Snarky girl at reception desk if we would be permitted anywhere onboard for dinner with no dress clothes, she told us if we wanted answers to questions or help, fill out the paperwork again or there was nothing she could do for us. Depending on our situation, MAYBE we would be allowed to have dress code waved and they would let us know after reviewing everything. She left after giving me the paperwork and didn't address any questions. I was not happy! Was eventually advised they would take care of laundering our one outfit each night and have it back by 7:00 am. At no cost. Discovered after getting home They charged our credit card $128. And we missed an excursion because no clothes.

Just arrived home on the 8th. Airline delayed the luggage coming home....told us there wasn't room for ours. Thanks Lufthansa!! So not impressed with business class and checking in at airport 3 hours early!

 

 

Must say (and will say it on a new link too)..... Regents service and overall experience has declined dramatically compared to our cruise last year. Won't be cruising with them again!

A disappointment from start to finish. Had to ask more than once for a bottle of wine for our room. We were concierge.....so should have had bar set up. Had two bottles of wine during the entire 10 day trip. Glasses were not regularly refilled at table, other than at prime 7. Asked for a different kind of wine twice....both times the waiter never returned....so No wine during lunch. Food was average quality, and never hot....other than at prime. Seafood was consistently over cooked.

 

I was too disgusted to fill out their feedback forms! Have done enough paperwork and paid close to $25K . Tried to phone re the credit card charge.....and got disconnected after being on hold and transferred after 10 minutes.

 

Definitely NOT 6 star experience!!

AZ - sorry you didn't enjoy your recent cruise experience. Fortunately for us, we didn't experience any service issues like that on our two Explorer cruises earlier this year. We've had some service issues like that in the past, though, and we've found that a phone call or brief conversation with the F&B manager or maître d' usually fixes the problem. I was also sorry to hear that you didn't fill out the comment cards - if Regent isn't aware of the issues, they can't be expected to fix them.

 

Our only issue the last few years has been with excursions and/or Destination Services, but thankfully those problems weren't in evidence this year. I've read some other posters commenting on tepid and under or overcooked food lately. I hope that's not getting to be too common...but if it was, I wouldn't hesitate to bring it to someone's attention. As you said, these vacations aren't inexpensive and we all have certain expectations.

 

I hope you enjoy your next cruise more, whoever you choose to sail with...

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