Luggage Gone!

[Prettygirl]

As we disembarked from Carnival Legend on November 7, 2010 one of our bags was missing and an unclaimed black bag similar to ours was the only bag left. We did buy the Carnival trip insurance but have never had to use it. :mad: We would like our bag back since our camera charger, extra battery, and chip as well as some of our favorite clothes were in it. Does anyone have any experience with filing a claim with Carnival or hope against hope that the person who took our bag will actually contact us or bring it back?:confused:

[Bookworm1971]

Was there any identification on the unclaimed bag? Surely Carnival could help match it up with the owner and contact them.

[okwriter]

Does anyone have any experience with filing a claim with Carnival or hope against hope that the person who took our bag will actually contact us or bring it back?:confused:

 

Was your contact information in the bag or on luggage tags?

Sorry this happened to you, but it's a good reminder for everyone to be sure their luggage has one of those two things.

 

How was your cruise otherwise? I'll be on the Legend in December.

[firefly333]

You say make a claim with Carnival .. did you buy Carnival insurance??

 

Sorry you had to learn the hard way why not to ever put anything electronic in checked luggage. Hopefully, the person who took yours will be honest.

[GRAMMYTAN]

On our last cruise this happened to my sister's black garment bag. All of their best clothes were inside. She did have her contact info inside. The passengers who picked it up drove all the way from Mobile to Arkansas before realizing what they had done. They were honest enough to return it to her at their expense.

This is why EVERY piece of my luggage including my carryon has contact info (name, cell number, ship and cabin number) inside and a brightly colored ribbon on every bag. The ribbon helps me find my bag in the terminal and keeps others from mistaking it for theirs.

Hope you get your bag back or at least get the insurance to cover it. Otherwise, hope your cruise was great. I would have contacted Carnival as well, even without their insuarnce. Anyone finding the bag would surely at least contact Carnival directly if they could not contact you.

[finoky]

We always decorate, mark, or however you want to say it something crazy colorful on our luggage to lessen the chances of someone else mistakenly thinking it is theirs.

[stewpapa]

Sorry this happened to you. Let us know how this works out. Hopefully you got the name on the unclaimed bag and called them. They probably want their stuff too. We always put unreplaceable stuff in my back pack and keep it close to us. Only clothes in checked bags.

[oldrailfan]

We had a nearly identical experience as the OP did on our first cruise. I mean, the bags were so look-alike we took theirs home without a second thought.

Both bags contained clothing and shoes, nothing of great value. Fortunately, both of us had put names addresses and phone numbers inside the bags. They lived closer to the port, so by the time we got home there was already a message on our Voicemail. The next morning, we mailed theirs, and two days later we received ours - no harm no foul.

Two points - never pack anything of value (electronics, medicine, CASH) in checked luggage. Take it in your carryons. 2) Figure out some way of distinctly marking your bags. Others have mentioned bright ribbons or other attachments; we now use bright duct tape, either wrapped around the bag or strips of it on both of the biggest sides.

[patseacruiser]

Just wondering if the OP got their luggage back?

[HeidiHo]

I have a bright orange ribbon attached to each piece of our lyggage, even the carry ons. I went one step further when I needed to purchage a new suitcase for an upcoming trip. I bought a brightly colored polka dot bag. I'll put an orange ribbon on it too but it should still be easy to pick out from the rest of the luggage.

[Tbay-eh]

I have a fail safe remedy - I bought an old barn red suitcase at a yard sale for $3.00 years ago - I remember the price because it is still in magic marker on the outside along with a wonky looking Canadian maple leaf. Who in their right mind would mistaken it for theirs. When I am at airports, cruise ports, etc I see an absolute sea of black suitcases - I can see how they can be mistakenly picked up. On our other suitcases I have bright coloured ties that can be seen for miles.

[<3 2 Cruise]

My daughter bought colorful bandanas and put on the handles (back when we used to put the luggage out the night before.)

 

The luggage made it to the pickup spot just fine. Someone stole the bandanas!

[blindrid]

We do ugly ribbons on the handles.

 

I always throw a few business cards in each piece. When I'm going down, I always throw a copy of by boarding pass inside (not sure if it helps but if an airline misplaces it . . . . .)

[law638]

Now that we are exposing our luggage secrets, I have blue EMPTY dog poop bags tied to my luggage. Since, I have purchased at a great price, houndstooth bags. Don't see many of those on the luggage carousel.

[scperk]

This has happened to us TWICE..Both times the porters grabbed the wrong bag and the passengers did not realize it til later...Once in San Diego our bag took a trip to LA and they shipped oiur bag to us in Tennessee...This past May as we got off the Elation a porter grabbed our bag which had a Bright yellow Pom-pom on the top..The other passsenger had a blue bag with a pom-pom on it but our bag was red...She realized she had the wrong bag when she arrived at the airport and sent it back to the cruise terminal..We reported it missing and left for the airport but contacted the passenger and she told us where our bag was with no apology..The Carnival rep at the airport got our bag out back on another bus to the airport and we finally got our bag back but NO calls at all from the Carnival reps at the cruise terminal.....Dennis

[gargoyle999]

Now that we are exposing our luggage secrets, I have blue EMPTY dog poop bags tied to my luggage.

 

I think I may use that one when we leave on Sunday. We have lots of poop bags for our two 115 lb furry babies! :)

[misguidedangel]

According to travel experts one should have a clearly marked luggage tag, and preferabbly something that is unique so that people will be able to see it and know it is not their bag. It could be a green happy face luggage ID tag, or in my case, a Canadian flag luggage tag. They also say to have a piece of paper INSIDE the suitcase with your name, address, phoine number, and flight information so if it an external personal ID tag is lost there is sometning on the inside for them to refer to..

 

I go an extra step, I even leave my packing list in the suitcase so I know what I packed....

 

God luck getting your luggage back.

[berkyvdr]

TWo weeks ago, we arrived in Montreal after a mediterranean cruise and my husband's suitcase was missing. A few suitcases were left, notably one the same color and manufacturer as my husband's but a larger size and labelled "Heavy". Our cases are identified with colored ribbon as well as our names.

 

We filled out the appropriate paperwork and drove the two hours home. The suitcase was delivered the next day. It was a day or two later we realized that our pacsafe backpack was missing. We had bought it just for this trip and used it daily but not as our carry on for the flight home as it is a bit too small for everything we put in carry on. Unfortunately it was not identified separately and we will never see it or any compensation.

 

Next time we fly we will stand by the carousel straight away rather than going to the bathroom!!

[CapeCodCruiser]

Another great reason for carry-on only. My bags never leave me - carry-on, carry-off - planes, trains or ships!

[LRene]

We use these itinerary tags from Magellans and I put a copy inside the luggage as well (when I remember). I have a Word document that I just change each trip that has our flight, hotel and cruise info on it. We also have some identifying kind of flag/ribbon on the outside of each suitcase.

 

You guys are cracking me up with the poop bags. :D

 

 

http://www.magellans.com/store/Luggage_Scales___Locks___Luggage_AccessoriesLA316?Args=&refchan=Search

[scperk]

We use these itinerary tags from Magellans and I put a copy inside the luggage as well (when I remember). I have a Word document that I just change each trip that has our flight, hotel and cruise info on it. We also have some identifying kind of flag/ribbon on the outside of each suitcase.

 

You guys are cracking me up with the poop bags. :D

 

 

http://www.magellans.com/store/Luggage_Scales___Locks___Luggage_AccessoriesLA316?Args=&refchan=Search

That is exacually why I made huge yellow yarn pom-poms to attatch to our luggage and it has still been picked up twice by an errant porter ..Dennis

[SheriNtexas]

My daughter bought colorful bandanas and put on the handles (back when we used to put the luggage out the night before.)

 

The luggage made it to the pickup spot just fine. Someone stole the bandanas!

 

 

A few years ago i took my then 4 year old grandson on a cruise...we went to Hobby Lobby and i let him pick out bandanas to tie on our luggage handles...he picked bright yellow Spongebob ones! 2 years later, they are still tied to my suitcase handles! :D:rolleyes:

[DGP1111]

On September 11, upon return from my back-to-back onboard Carnival Destiny, I had one small bag that never arrived on the luggage carousel in Port of Miami. When I was put outside my cabin door the evening of 12/10, it had two of the blue #1 tags on it (I learned that lesson a few years earlier on another CCL sailing).

 

I was one of the first four passenger to debark and head into the port area to collect luggage, and I stood at the first flapped opening for luggage to appear. I stook there for more than one hour, and it never appeared. Thankfully there was nothing in the bag that couldn't be easily replaced (or ordered online from the Key West store were purchased during the sailing). Carnival rep took all info, and gave me my copy of the missing luggage form. I made a few follow-up calls and there had been nothing found. An envelope postmarked 11/1 arrived containing a check for $50 to cover Carnival's liability. I expected nothing more, as I know the wording of the contract. The bag alone, minus contents, cost $50

 

Thankfully I insure each and every sailing through a third party agency, and all of my loses are totally covered. :) But before I could make the claim with them I had to have the final response from CCL. That took longer than I expected, but no big deal in the long run.

 

I still wonder what happened to that bag. :confused:

[tk22]

I usually tie ribbons on my baggage handle, but one time I forgot the ribbon. As I always grab Wal-Mart bags and I stuff in the outside zipper (for dirty/wet clothes), I just grabbed a Wal-Mart bag and tied one to each handle -- they sure stood out in the sea of black bags :).

[sjcruiser]

My current poop bags are black, but since my supply is running low, I may opt for the green, red or blue ones next time. Great tip, but I don't think I'd have the nerve to put them on knowing what I use them for!!! lol