Has the cruise line ever lost your bag?

[rocky55]

HI. I was just wondering if the cruise line ever misplaced your bag? (From when you give it to the porter outside the ship). On my last couple of cruises, there was a note in all cabins asking if we got a suitcase that wasn't ours. I am wondering how often this happens.

I know they say to put all money and medicine in your carryon, and I always do that. I am just wondering because I am traveling with my autistic son and there are things that are not mandatory, but make the cruise easier if I have them. I would have to bring a small rolling carryon to do all the stuff. I have brought him on another cruise, and put most of the stuff in the checked suitcase with the porter, but those letter about a missing bag made me nervous. I know it's not a big deal to bring on the carry-on, and I probably will, it is just a little pain. I was wondering for other people experiences with the cruise ever losing your luggage.

 

 

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[DMH15]

Never had a problem... Yet.

 

 

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[daffodiliaz]

We got that letter in our cabin a couple weeks ago--on a day 4 or 5 of the cruise, which seemed a little strange.

[kcwingwalker]

Our luggage has always been fine..........coming and going. But more than once have received the letter describing the "missing" luggage.

[roger001]

I do certainly tip the dock porter........not that it insures anything. But gives me better piece of mind that my bags will arrive at the room. About a year ago on the Sun, the deck 12 mini suites and full suites had not received their luggage by 5 pm or so. We were all becoming a bit worried. The deck 12 room stewards began a search. They located a large baggage cart with all of it that had been misplaced into another holding area.

[kmc86]

Yes...suitcase last seen when given to porter on dock and was found on the last day of seven day cruise to bermuda as we pulled into port. Letters had been sent to cabins and stewards searched but to no avail. Turns out it was in a nearby cabin but passengers never noticed??? Cabins arent that big.. Lol... The staff was fabulous in trying to help us out... Credit for some gift shop purchases, free laundry service every day, comped dinners and wine...and we did some shopping in bermuda... They made a bad situation into something to laugh about and we made some new lasting friendships with fantastic staff, crew and officers...

[rajones007]

I've personally never had any issues, although we got a similar letter about 2 missing pieces of luggage when we were on the Dawn in Apr 2013.

 

-On that same cruise I didn't get my suitcase until after ~7pm the first night. I was starting to get worried, so I mentioned it to the concierge and 20 minutes later the butler came strutting up the hallway with it. There was no explanation as to why it took so long. The butler just shrugged his shoulders when I asked. My Priority luggage tags were right there in plain sight, unmangled, properly attached, and our deck and cabin numbers still easily identifiable. It was still locked and nothing was out of place, so it's not like they searched it either.

 

-Also on that same cruise - the couple in the cabin next to us were avid cruisers and he was telling me how NCL lost his suitcase a few years prior. They kept promising him it would be at the first port. When they got there, nothing. Same promise for the next port. Nothing. Next port. Nothing. Apparently he never did get it back.

[Ilovesailing]

Our luggage has always been fine..........coming and going. But more than once have received the letter describing the "missing" luggage.

 

We have never had problems with NCL but on one and only Carnival cruisewe had a fork lift drive one of its forks through our brand new hard sided pc. of luggage.

It was our first cruise with them and its was the start of a trip we had problems with from start to finish, as a result would never sail Carnival again.

 

While I know it's not Carnival's responsibilty but rather the unionized dock worker we still held Carnival responsible.

[VonChap]

Yes, all of our checked bags went on a different cruise out of NYC. We were on a long repo cruise and NCL really took care of us and we had insurance. 5 days shopping in the gift shop before our bags found us.

[kmc86]

Just a suggestion... After having had a piece of luggage go missing... I now take a picture of all our luggage before we board so, in case it is lost, the cruise staff have a picture they can circulate in an attempt to find it...

[Siora7777]

Yes, on the Sky last year they took our bags to someone else's cabin way at the front of the ship. We were all the way in the back. My brother in law who was on the same floor saw them on his way to our cabin and grabbed them for us. Kind of defeats the purpose of having luggage tags. We didn't mention it, we were just glad they were found.

[dttampa]

One of my traveling companions lost a piece of luggage at the Port of Miami when we were disembarking. She almost missed her plane waiting for it. Almost a week later she got a call from a lady saying she found it in her trunk. She accidentally picked up my friends bag. She discovered she was missing a bag when the cruiseline called her, because they HAD her bag. They also asked her if she had my friend's bag, but she said no. Then a few days later she found it in her trunk. The cruiseline sent fedex to collect the bag and my friend got it two days later.

 

The moral of the story is, don't use a plain bag. Tie ribbons, flowers stick on tape, spray paint. SOMETHING so another person doesn't mistake your bag for theirs.

[LadyShiva]

Six or so cruises across three cruiselines, and not yet experienced bag loss. Just maybe took a while to get the bags.

[rhinomike]

Many moons ago on our first few cruises we left our luggage with a porter and left our luggage at or door the last night. We thought we had to do it this way.

 

Now we found how easy it is to carry our bags on and off the ship. When we board the ship we go to our room and drop our bags off. No risk of lost baggage.

 

Works for us. I know it's not for everyone.

[shealea]

We have a son that had issues. He's in his 30s now, and still has issues.

 

I can really understand how important it would be to have whatever it takes to make his cruise less stressful for you and him. So, just to be on the safe side, I would bring whatever he would require as a carry-on.

 

I don't think it happens too often, but it would be a shame if that suitcase with his things did get misplaced.

 

My dh and I always do our luggage carry-on. It's a bit more work, but really not that bad. We don't board the ship super early, so we've always been able to get right in our cabin to drop our suitcases off before we head off to get a bite to eat.

[HokiePoq]

We have never had a problem with NCL luggage service. However, we've observed some problems with our online agency groups over the years....not the fault of the agency. On a RCCL cruise a less than astute fellow cruiser took someone else's bag and caused a big problem at the airport for the person who was missing the luggage. Taker was oblivious and luggage was found only due to the effort of local agent who checked them all. Another time off the Jade in Barcelona a couple missed their luggage and it had not been found by the time the transfer left for the airport. As our bus left we saw a ramshackle truck loaded with pieces of luggage.

Since then we've tried to do the self carry off if at all possible.

[rocky55]

Thank you for all your replies!! For people who say they bring on all their bags I have a question. How do you go through security to get on the ship with them? I thought it had to fit in the X-ray machine. I am definitely going to bring a small wheeled one with me after reading people's responses. I will bring the things I couldn't buy on the ship my son needs.

 

 

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[Barb Nahoumi]

Just a suggestion... After having had a piece of luggage go missing... I now take a picture of all our luggage before we board so, in case it is lost, the cruise staff have a picture they can circulate in an attempt to find it...

 

That's a wonderful idea.

[NMLady]

Thank you for all your replies!! For people who say they bring on all their bags I have a question. How do you go through security to get on the ship with them? I thought it had to fit in the X-ray machine. I am definitely going to bring a small wheeled one with me after reading people's responses. I will bring the things I couldn't buy on the ship my son needs.

 

 

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Yes, the bags that you yourself bring on do have to fit through the X-Ray machines, same size as airport.

I'd say don't worry about lost luggage since even though it occasionally happens, it's a rare occurrence. But do have a carry-on, wheeled or backpack for easier handling, that contains valuables, meds, and some items to make the cruise easier for your son.

[dsu_2003]

I've had luggage bent on one cruise and our luggage delivered to the wrong cabin (free upgrade at check in). The funniest was one cruise we had a piece of luggage delivered to our cabin 3 or 4 times that didn't belong to us. We keep walking it back to guest services. And once at home we received a COD package from a cruise line which I returned to sender. It was someone's luggage. I think all but the free upgrade were with Carnival.

[space cowboy]

Three weeks ago, someone took one of our bags home with them, they claimed the porter grabbed it along with their bags. Thank goodness we lived near by so we were able to retrieve it a few hours later.

[luvtheships]

Thank you for all your replies!! For people who say they bring on all their bags I have a question. How do you go through security to get on the ship with them? I thought it had to fit in the X-ray machine. I am definitely going to bring a small wheeled one with me after reading people's responses. I will bring the things I couldn't buy on the ship my son needs.

 

 

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How do I do it?

 

Well since I only ever travel with 21 inch roll on and a tote

 

I coordinate outfits

 

Dress casually as much as possible

 

When dressing up the outfit is thin black silk slacks and a thin black sequined top all rolled and compact

 

Roll every single piece of clothing

 

Never bring bulky stuff

 

Cut back on shoes

 

Reuse outfits

 

 

 

 

I have done 21 days in Europe including a 12 day cruise this way

 

And when absolutely needed the 2/3/4/5 or 6 of us traveling will put bulky stuff line extra shoes/sweatshirt/ dh blazer and liquids in one 25 inch that we check on the plane if we are flying etc but there is never anything we can't live without in it

 

 

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[StephanieSo83]

Hi. That happened to us, we didn't get our suitcase back until the evening of the 3rd night. We had missed the first formal evening and half the toiletries were in it. When they found it they said it was sitting in the adjacent corridor, so someone must of had it in their room by mistake. When we go in Nov I am going to pack half and half so that we both have items of one goes missing.

[livitup311]

We just had a bit of a scare on our last cruise. One of my wife's bags hadn't shown up by 7PM or so (the other 3 bags made it by 3 or so) so we called down to guest services. The tag had gotten ripped off, so it had been held behind the reception desk. In the end all was well, but wife and daughter missed out on one day of pool and sundeck time since their suits were in the delayed bag. :(

[ClassyShots]

2010 one piece of luggage was several hours late. Found the Porter had swapped the numbers on the tag. My suggestion is to be sure YOU tag your bags with the correct cabin number. Dyslexia is a bad thing for a Porter.