Wedding Bands either Accidentally Thrown Away or Stolen by Room Steward - Help

[RocketMan275]

I have never ever taken my wedding ring off- why did your son and new daughter- in - law they take theirs off?

Is it a new custom?

 

Wearing a ring of any kind can be a safety hazard, particularly if you work with your hands. When I ran a maintenance shop, no one, not even the person answering the phone was allowed to wear a ring. You stepped on site, the rings came off. Visitors too. Too many lost fingers. I haven't worn one for years now.

[boscobeans]

Rings on or off, in the shower or at a job site, makes no difference. The point is if you have valuables don't tempt fate, don't leave your keys in the car, your doors unlocked or your rings out in the open.

 

bosco

[Lsimon]

I find it hard to imagine that someone would never take off a ring, even if only for reasons of sanitation, to wash and dry one's hands and to clean the ring. ...

 

I don't find that hard to believe at all. I take my wedding ring off very infrequently sometimes not for many months at a time. It is a basic gold band and not very wide. Doesn't interfere with hand washing or sanitation at all

 

It is extremely unlikely the room attendant took their rings. The consequences to the steward and the livelihood of that stewards family are just to great.

You're very naive. In my many years in business management I've seen cases where managers, even VP's, with good salaries and positions and years of tenure throw away their careers to steal amounts of money or merchandise that were inconsequential in relation to the impact on their career and lives.

 

There is no reason to believe that cabin stewards as a class of workers are any less honest than those in any other profession. But the fact is that people who commit crimes don't consider the the consequences of their actions the same way that us honest people do so it is illogical to presume that they'd think through things the same way you or I would.

Edited October 24, 2015 by Lsimon

[FengShui@Sea]

When we sailed on the Infinity in August we were invited to dine at the Captain's table and one of the officers at the table was a woman in charge of Environmental Management (waste). I asked her why they don't have paper recycle bins in the cabins and she said because there isn't enough room. So then I asked her if there is a system in place to recycle all the paper that we throw away and she said that the cabin stewards sift through the garbage and remove any recyclable materials.

 

This explained why when I threw non-standard garbage away (clothing items I decided not to bring home, etc.) the cabin steward often removed the item from the garbage and left it in the cabin. When I threw it away for the second time they would then take it away. If a pair of perfectly good sunglasses were found in the garbage (regardless of the perceived value) the steward should have left them in the cabin.

Edited October 24, 2015 by FengShui@Sea

[debandbruce]

Went on the Eclipse with my in-laws a few years ago. My FIL is one of those old school trust no one kind of guys. He was sure someone would steal his handicap placard out of the car if we forgot to lock it, couldn't wait to lock up his prescriptions on the ship because "those people" would love to get their hands on them.

I tired of his attitude because the majority of cruise personal are hard working people who are just trying to make a living and would not risk their jobs by stealing, especially his back pills. I got angry at him and told him to knock it off!

About a year, yes a year after the cruise my MIL let it slip that her wedding rings went missing on the ship. My FIL would not let her say anything to us, but you know, she said where could they of gone I put them somewhere safe. We could not understand why she did not say anything so we could of called Celebrity to see if they were found. I asked if she double checked the safe when leaving but she said they weren't in the safe. WHAT!!! The pills were but not the jewelry, good grief.

As it turns out she had tucked them in kleenex and put them in an old pill bottle in her purse. She put the purse away after the cruise and when she was cleaning out her closet almost 2 years after the cruise she found the rings in the bottle. We told them they silently owed the room steward an apology as they thought he took them. They were huffy about it but we were right. My hubby told his Mom to keep her rings on her hands or at home next time. There hasn't been a next time.

[wwcruisers]

This explained why when I threw non-standard garbage away (clothing items I decided not to bring home, etc.) the cabin steward often removed the item from the garbage and left it in the cabin. When I threw it away for the second time they would then take it away.

 

LOL, Holly -- sounds like my magically-reappearing bathing suit story! ;) On one of my cruises, I quickly realized that one of the bathing suits I had packed was completely shot, so I tossed it into the cabin trash can. That night, it was neatly laid out on the bed. Tried again the next day, same thing happened. We had a great cabin crew, but we didn't run into them in the hall very often. Finally, I pinned a note to the bathing suit that read :"Please discard" -- and, that worked! :D

[USVI-4-me]

At a hotel recently, I found a valuable multi-diamond gold wedding band in the front corner of our safe. The ring apparently slid into the narrow space between felt & metal.

 

I went to the reception desk and waited to see the hotel manager. I gave him the ring in front of the desk clerks. Oddly, nobody had reported the ring missing. Hopefully, the owner was eventually found.

 

-Marisa

[DirtyDawg]

Not sure why so many posters are questioning why the rings were removed, I've removed mine many times when having a shower and forgot to put it back on. The op was simply asking if there was anything they could do now it's happened. I'm not sure they need a lecture on ring removal.

 

Like this one?

 

Seems odd that both of them would lose their rings.

 

For the life of me I can't understand why anyone would care why they removed their rings, or why knowing the reason is somehow relevant to the OP's question.

[yorkyred]

I don't find that hard to believe at all. I take my wedding ring off very infrequently sometimes not for many months at a time. It is a basic gold band and not very wide. Doesn't interfere with hand washing or sanitation at all

 

 

You're very naive. In my many years in business management I've seen cases where managers, even VP's, with good salaries and positions and years of tenure throw away their careers to steal amounts of money or merchandise that were inconsequential in relation to the impact on their career and lives.

 

There is no reason to believe that cabin stewards as a class of workers are any less honest than those in any other profession. But the fact is that people who commit crimes don't consider the the consequences of their actions the same way that us honest people do so it is illogical to presume that they'd think through things the same way you or I would.

 

I'm afraid I agree with this 100%. While not making any judgement on how the rings went missing my wife has worked in banking for many years and there have been a good few examples of long standing staff been sacked for theft both from the bank, and fellow employees. There appeared to be no thought of the consequences of their actions to both them and at times their families. I would find it amazing if Celebrity had never had any form of incident involving one of their staff over the years the same way any other international company would.

[Cindy]

 

For the life of me I can't understand why anyone would care why they removed their rings, or why knowing the reason is somehow relevant to the OP's question.

 

Because this is Cruise Critic! Therefore, it's only natural for a post about losing wedding rings/having rings stolen to turn into a debate about the proper ring wearing habits for all married people worldwide.:rolleyes:

Edited October 24, 2015 by Cindy

[JVilleGal]

Ok this thread has gotten long and is going nowhere. The OP will likely never know what really happened to her kids wedding bands. I am betting that her kids in thinking back likely have a pretty good idea ;)

[yorkyred]

Because this is Cruise Critic! Therefore, it's only natural for a post about losing wedding rings/having rings stolen to turn into a debate about the proper ring wearing habits for all married people worldwide.:rolleyes:

 

There does often appear to be a pattern in these things. A simple question ends turning into some form of blame game.

[perditax]

There does often appear to be a pattern in these things. A simple question ends turning into some form of blame game.

 

 

Bingo. Judging people online is the new national pastime.

[andymattmom]

On our honeymoon cruise when we went on a couple of excursions I took my wedding ring off and had the ship put it in the safe (this was 22 years ago and I honestly don't think there was an in room safe at the time). I am one who takes my rings off at night as my fingers swell at night (also the same during exercise). Anymore when we go on vacation I have a QVC diamonique ring that I wear so if something happens to it there no biggie. I also don't take expensive jewelry with me.

 

With the rings being on the counter could they also have gotten knocked on the floor into clothes or wet towels that were on there and been tossed in the wash?

[BubMunkeyBles]

Some excursions don't allow jewelry especially dolphin swims etc which are popular. I've locked my jewelry in the safe numerous times in these cases. Also in places where I just didn't want to display my huge rock after hearing of people chopping fingers off to get expensive rings... but I also locked it up in those cases. Can't imagine leaving expensive items out. Even laptops get put away while we are gone and locked into a suitcase.

 

I don't think people should steal obviously but also think people should be proactive so it doesn't occur in the first place. I do hope their rings show up. I have almost left a couple items in the safe and they were in corners. And I truly hope their items weren't stolen.

[BosoxI]

My wife has some very nice jewelry most of which is not insured due to the extremely high cost of doing so. I once questioned her about the wisdom of taking high value items on vacation. She replied why have them, if I can't wear them. Good point. This applies to any expensive item. Being careful with them is crucial and DW travels overseas regularly. So I do sweat a bit We do leave computers out and there have been a number of times when each of us thought the other had locked the safe. The OP has given us reason to be extra careful when we're rushing out of the cabin. A serious loss is a terrible way to ruin a good cruise

[DYKWIA]

Cruise workers are not the same as retail or fast food workers. If they are put off the ship for cause they pay their own expensive way home, and their shipboard career is over. I.

 

Do people who murder one another around the world in their hundreds and thousands daily not realise that if caught they go to prison, will be possibly be executed, and may lose their job? :D

 

Yes of course they do, in the vast majority of cases it doesn't stop them.

 

There's plenty of crime science research that suggests the deciding factor behind committing many offences is not the punishment IF you are caught, but the likelihood of being caught. If people don't perceive there is a realistic prospect of being caught, many wont worry too much about the consequences if they are caught.

 

It comes down to risk and reward. As long as someone believes the rewards outweigh the risks crime will happen, even on a cruise ship

Edited October 24, 2015 by DYKWIA

[Host Walt]

No, it is not common knowledge because it isn't true. Why are you fabricating such claims? :confused::rolleyes:

 

Just another naive statement here.

Having worked for many retail organizations over the past 30 yrs I can tell you that it is a very true statement. If a store has a very high shrink percent the first place they look is to the employees. All it takes is one employee to get caught and then they rat out the others. I lost 80% of my staff once during an investigation. Employees have easy access and know the ins and outs of the business. The organization that I work for now monitors the stores from their lap top at home. One busy Saturday asked an associate to fill in the gloves. It was snowing outside and the store was busy with unprepared consumers looking for winter goods. I got a call from my district manager who was a home monitoring the stores asking why I had an employee doing stock work on a busy Saturday. I ripped into him like a monkey on a banana. Basically called him an idiot for trying to obstruct my sales for the day. Never had a problem with him again.

__________________

Mike

 

I was a Vice President in a very large retailer and had Loss Prevention as one of my departments. Our stats on known theft (where we were successful in apprehensions) was that employee theft typically ran much higher - as much as 5 times greater than guest theft. Reason? Most employee theft occurred before store opening and after store closing when the Loss Prevention staff was not on the selling floor. We also classified collaborative theft, such as intentional underrings by cashiers for friends and relatives, as employee theft.

 

I assure you that employee theft is far worse than guest theft. Mike's comment is also accurate, unfortunately, because we had to establish a separate team to deal with preventing inside theft by Loss Prevention staff.

 

That said, we were dealing with a different employment situation than a cruise line would. The circumstances on a ship are more analogous to those a hotel would be addressing than a retail store. Further, a technique we used in retail was setting traps using cctv setups. I have no knowledge whether cctv traps are set up by cruise lines (they should be) but Marriott, Hilton and other hotel chains use such techniques.

 

We learned that the biggest deterrent to employee theft is the fear of being caught and the motivation to steal was simply the easy pickings aspect much more than any effort to evaluate the risk/reward elements.

Edited October 25, 2015 by Host Walt

[Got2Cruise]

Is a claim the same as a security report? It doesn't add up that Celebrity wouldn't be interested in theft my one of their staff members.

[Fouremco]

The room steward either accidentally threw away or took their wedding bands.

 

Is a claim the same as a security report? It doesn't add up that Celebrity wouldn't be interested in theft my one of their staff members.

Both the OP and other contributors have pointed out that there were possibilities other than theft by an employee.

Edited October 25, 2015 by Fouremco

[kitty9]

Any number of things could have happened. Unless they were in a large suite, we all know counter space is very limited in the bathrooms. If they had put a towel on top of the rings after showering, they could have been scooped up by the steward accidentally. If they brushed the counter with anything when they got out of the shower, they could have knocked them into the sink. Or they could have been taken. But this was a lesson to never take your rings off in a cruise ship bathroom.

[cruisead]

Just a question: once they were done showering and I assume they got dressed to go out for the evening, why did neither of them realize that they didn't have their rings? Seems to me this couple bears most of the responsibility for losing their rings.

[varoo]

Just a question: once they were done showering and I assume they got dressed to go out for the evening, why did neither of them realize that they didn't have their rings?.......

Because they are only human and got distracted.

 

Those of us who have misplaced something or forgotten something ourselves from time to time can easily understand why.

 

[Fouremco]

Because they are only human and got distracted.

 

Those of us who have misplaced something or forgotten something ourselves from time to time can easily understand why.

 

What, newlyweds just out of the shower getting distracted??? :o

[DavyJoneses]

Why were they not wearing them? If they were valuable (price or sentiment) and they were not wearing them - they should have been placed in the safe.

 

Were they left in a place where they could have been "accidentally" thrown out?

 

Unless they have proof that the cabin steward took them, there is no case.

 

Were they diamond bands that had monetary value? I can't see a cabin steward risking their job on the theft of a band. A gold band is just a few hundred dollars. If the bands were worth thousands, then the happy couple should not have left them around.

 

I get that they were important but:

a) they should have taken steps to make sure they were kept in a safe place

b) everything is replaceable. If they were of value; they can put in a claim with their homeowner's policy - assuming they had coverage for the rings. If the rings were not valuable enough to have them listed on an insurance policy; then they should just chalk this up to a valuable lesson.

 

I join those who lament the loss, but I think your points are right on target.