Pay attention to the name of the Company dropping you at port!

[missdebi]

What is one of the worst feelings you can have upon arriving at the cruise port? Watching the taxi leave with your purse containing your passports drive away!!! This happened our last cruise. You know the scenario - excited to see the ship, taking pictures, put purse down beside seat, taxi pulls up to port you get out have backpack, gather luggage and forget purse. We had stayed the night before at a Embassy Suites and they had booked the taxi so I immediately called them so they could contact the driver because I did not have a clue who to call. It was a very tense few minutes and 2 more phones call to the hotel to get confirmation that they were on it and he comes back!!! I needed a DOD for sure! My nerves were shot but it all turned out okay. Just a heads up!

[kcwingwalker]

What is one of the worst feelings you can have upon arriving at the cruise port? Watching the taxi leave with your purse containing your passports drive away!!! This happened our last cruise. You know the scenario - excited to see the ship, taking pictures, put purse down beside seat, taxi pulls up to port you get out have backpack, gather luggage and forget purse. We had stayed the night before at a Embassy Suites and they had booked the taxi so I immediately called them so they could contact the driver because I did not have a clue who to call. It was a very tense few minutes and 2 more phones call to the hotel to get confirmation that they were on it and he comes back!!! I needed a DOD for sure! My nerves were shot but it all turned out okay. Just a heads up!

 

A good reminder for everyone and thanks for sharing!

 

So glad everything worked out for you and enjoy that DOD:)

[arush5268d]

That's like the first rule of safety - know your surroundings. I would never get into an unkown vehicle without doing a quick check on it mentally.

[Colorado Kat]

Yes, and pay attention to taxi numbers when you hire one in port.

 

Four of us headed out and grabbed a cab in Marseille. One person popped his backpack in the rear area. Getting out of the cab he forgot it.

 

After 5 min, when it was noticed, we could not find the driver.

 

Luckily, it was just things, and not passports/id etc.

[kona_wahine]

The night before our last cruise we left Walmart on our way to a restaurant. I wanted DH to put his change in my wallet so I took it out and laid it between our seats. I completely forgot and we ate dinner and when it was time to pay I went to pull my wallet out and AAHHHH!! I couldn't figure out what I had done with it. I knew I had it at Walmart but forgot about laying it between the seats. Luckily I had cash in an envelope in my purse but my license and all credit cards were in the wallet. I never felt such relief as when we got to the car and it was there.

[winddawn]

What is one of the worst feelings you can have upon arriving at the cruise port? Watching the taxi leave with your purse containing your passports drive away!!! This happened our last cruise. You know the scenario - excited to see the ship, taking pictures, put purse down beside seat, taxi pulls up to port you get out have backpack, gather luggage and forget purse. We had stayed the night before at a Embassy Suites and they had booked the taxi so I immediately called them so they could contact the driver because I did not have a clue who to call. It was a very tense few minutes and 2 more phones call to the hotel to get confirmation that they were on it and he comes back!!! I needed a DOD for sure! My nerves were shot but it all turned out okay. Just a heads up!

Great advice. Thanks for sharing your experiences with us. I'm glad it turned out well for you.

[crusinpsychRN]

What a terrible thing to happen! Glad you got your stuff back OP!

[erkevin]

I have a similar story- also with a happy ending. In Puerto Vallarta on vacation a few years back, I went to the taxi booth in the airport to arrange transportation. Digging through my travel documents to find money, I placed my wife's and my passprt on the booth counter. Apparently the booth counter was black and US passports dark blue, so I never noticed to pick them back up (duh!). Off to the taxi and hotel we went. A few minutes outside of the airport our taxi pulled over at the request of a taxi behind us (via cellphone, if i remember correctly. The driver from behind rushes up to our taxi and hands me our passports.

I nearly passed out!

 

P.S. when people ask why we vacation in Mexico so often, I relate this and other stories

Edited November 13, 2013 by erkevin

[Keith1010]

Very good advice.

 

Keith

Edited November 14, 2013 by Keith1010

[BaumD]

Someone suggested you always take a photo of the cab (showing the name and cab #) or take a photo of the driver's cabbie permit. If you forget something or have an issue with the fare or the cabbie, you have their info.

[wwcruisers]

Someone suggested you always take a photo of the cab (showing the name and cab #) or take a photo of the driver's cabbie permit. If you forget something or have an issue with the fare or the cabbie, you have their info.

 

Excellent advice! Thanks -- will file that away for future reference! :cool:

[Allis154]

That's like the first rule of safety - know your surroundings. I would never get into an unkown vehicle without doing a quick check on it mentally.

 

Normally..this is our first rule.

 

In May, we got off the ship and caught a cab to the rental car place in Santa Barbara...you know the rules, got to take the first one...Saddest vehicle for a cab! No interior door handles! I was never so glad to get out of a cab in my life! I don't think I would have cared what neighborhood I was in, I just wanted out!

[missdebi]

Someone suggested you always take a photo of the cab (showing the name and cab #) or take a photo of the driver's cabbie permit. If you forget something or have an issue with the fare or the cabbie, you have their info.

 

Thanks great advice!

[sail7seas]

Some good reminders here.

Thank you.

 

[Colorado Kat]

Someone suggested you always take a photo of the cab (showing the name and cab #) or take a photo of the driver's cabbie permit. If you forget something or have an issue with the fare or the cabbie, you have their info.

 

That is excellant advice. I wish we had done that.

[Patti22]

One more bit of caution. We stayed at an airport hotel near Denver International Airport for a very early departure. We boarded the shuttle at about 5:30 a.m. with another couple. We put our luggage in the back of the shuttle van and off to the airport. The other couple was dropped off first. When we got to our airline, our luggage was missing. They took ours, with passports. Fortunately, I had chatted up the other couple and knew where they were headed and DH ran to their gate and they did not even know they had our bags. Never, ever put passports and cruise docs in the back of shuttle vans.

[oncruisecontrol]

Another bit of advice: We never pay the driver until we have made a count and have visibly confirmed that we have every piece of luggage, bag and or purse out of the vehicle and with our person or on the ground next to us. On the rare occasion that we have used a shuttle carrying more than just our party: We always look out of the window or one of us actually gets out of the vehicle and watches as other passenger's luggage is unloaded to make absolutely certain that our luggage is not unloaded by mistake. We also travel light as it is easier to keep track of fewer pieces of luggage.

[John Bull]

Sounds like this was an occasion when the OP had to carry passports.

 

But when that's not necessary, that single most important document isn't going to be lost if it's tucked-up in the cabin safe rather than carried around ashore. ;)

At one port-of-call, a fellow-passenger we met on a public bus left their bag - passports & all - on the bus.

Fortunately the same happy outcome, but it caused them great consternation.

 

I know there's pros & cons with taking passports ashore, but that sort of scenario is far more frequent than missing a sailing.

 

Glad it worked out for the OP

 

JB :).

[Allis154]

On one shuttle trip (and I truly don't remember where in FL it was), we saw the luggage loaded into the back, then got on. Waited for another couple that never showed, then left. Part way there, a guy on a bike yells at the driver..."Hey Buddy!!!! Your back door is open!!!"...worried the rest of the way to the cruise if you luggage was still on board!

 

Umm...more details coming back on that trip. Booked the hotel through last minute travel...and arrived at midnight...hotel over booked, and were sent to another hotel. Finally in our room at 3am...then had to shuttle back to original hotel (this is where the door was left open), only to temporarily store our luggage and pick up supplies, before boarding yet another shuttle to the port. This was in Fort Lauderdale, the original hotel was a Hyatt, we were sent to Boca Raton. It happened in 2012, according to our pictures.

[reedl]

Whenever I travel and I put luggage into someplace that I cannot see it at all times, I make a mental note about how many items I had there. That way when I get it all I know I need to get three items.

 

The reason I do this is because years ago we went to the airport and we forgot the camcorder bag on the shuttle bus. We had five bags go in, but only remembered four. Luckily the shuttle bus driver was making another trip around and found the bag before making a pickup trip so he had it for me.

 

Also my wife and I keep our important documents in a single bag each that we carry with us and never let out of our sight (or in most cases out of our hands). For example my wife has a purse, but she puts it into her larger carry on bag so she has one thing to carry.

 

I have a small rolling carryon that I put all of our documents, electronics, etc. I never give that to any driver or even put it into a cab's trunk. It is always with me when moving from destination to destination.

[missdebi]

Really appreciating all the travel tips! Putting them in my cruise notebook so on our next cruise I can reread them! But I hope I learned my lesson!

[GTO-Girl]

My favorite luggage story is there were 12 of us who came off a cruise in San Juan. The van guy had a huge 15 passenger van and the kept pushing and shoving all the luggage until he got in there.

 

Well we are flying down the expressway on the way to the airport and the back doors burst open and luggage starts falling out on the expressway........:eek:

 

That was bad enough, but he stops right in the middle of the interstate, gets out and proceeds to go pick up luggage.......while traffic is flying by us........:eek:. I just knew we were going to get rear ended at any moment!!

 

Us and all of our luggage did make it to the airport, but wow!!!!

[pris993]

Good stories, really need to stay focused on what one is doing when travelling. My story is a bit different, checking in at Air France in San Francisco, on first leg of a international flights gave check in staff our two passports and ticket reservation #. Staff tagged and weighed our luggage for check in, gave us a boarding passes with no passports. I told the lady we need our passports, she insisted she have given them to us already... I knew she had not and insisted she look for them, the counter was so high I could not see her side... she finally found them and returned them to us. I was thinking no passport this trip is over before it starts. :eek:

[wwcruisers]

My favorite luggage story is there were 12 of us who came off a cruise in San Juan. The van guy had a huge 15 passenger van and the kept pushing and shoving all the luggage until he got in there.

 

Well we are flying down the expressway on the way to the airport and the back doors burst open and luggage starts falling out on the expressway........:eek:

 

That was bad enough, but he stops right in the middle of the interstate, gets out and proceeds to go pick up luggage.......while traffic is flying by us........:eek:. I just knew we were going to get rear ended at any moment!!

 

Us and all of our luggage did make it to the airport, but wow!!!!

 

LOL :D! One of those stories that's fun to tell now, but, at the time....:eek:!

[maureencruiser]

Whenever I travel and I put luggage into someplace that I cannot see it at all times, I make a mental note about how many items I had there. That way when I get it all I know I need to get three items.

e.

 

I started doing this last year with my MOM. She was in a wheelchair and I was pushing her through the airport. I was also pulling her walker which had our two big carryons on the seat and she had our 2 purses in her lap. Everytime we came out of a bathroom or restaurant, I'd say I have 2 and she'd say I have 2 and off we would go.

 

My coworker and I also did this this year. We each had 1 big suitcase and 2 small carryons. Every time we moved, we;d say, I have 3, I have 3...I have 4 , I have 2.