Has anyone ever been without a change of clothes for 5 days of a 9 day cruise?

[SewMuch]

I guess it all comes down to attitude. You can sit in your room and pout and assume all the other snappy dressers on board are pointing at you and laughing. Or you can buy a few items to get by, and assume the other passengers are sympathetic to your dilemma. It can even be a conversation starter.

[Karysa]

We fly direct for this reason and others if at all possible especially when going on a cruise.

[Tapi]

We fly direct for this reason and others if at all possible especially when going on a cruise.

 

 

We flew nonstop from Atlanta to Seattle when we had the bag issue that I mentioned on my previous post. Not only did Southwest loose our bag, but they lost it permanently, never to be found again. How an airline looses a bag flying nonstop between two cities and it's never found is something that still baffles me, even after all these years.

 

 

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Edited September 2, 2017 by Tapi

[zqvol]

We fly direct for this reason and others if at all possible especially when going on a cruise.

 

While this might work it is not 100% fool proof. Sometimes your bags get left because they need something more important or that weighs less on the plane. This is true even on non stop flights. Sometimes your bags get left at your original airport, sometimes at a connection, sometimes they are miss directed. We find that it is rare that our bags miss a connection. If there is a problem they get miss directed at our point of origin or left there.

[Blondilu]

We flew nonstop from Atlanta to Seattle when we had the bag issue that I mentioned on my previous post. Not only did Southwest loose our bag, but they lost it permanently, never to be found again. How an airline looses a bag flying nonstop between two cities and it's never found is something that still baffles me, even after all these years.

 

 

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Maybe it wasn't lost. Maybe someone took it off the carousel and didn't know it wasn't their's until they got home. And before you say why didn't they return it or call the airlines, have you ever seen the lost and found at an airport? I have and it's unbelievable what gets left and never claimed. There is even a place that stuff gets sent to eventually and they sell it. Anyway if so many people won't even come back for their own stuff then you know there is someone out there who wouldn't be bothered to return a lost suitcase.

 

In addition to all the other advice I would add, if you can't do just carry-on then be at the carousel as soon as you can. I try to be there before the bags start coming. Especially after I had someone try to walk off with my bag, which looked just like hers. She was going to fight with me until I got her to look at the luggage tag.

 

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[crystalspin]

lessons learned ...

- I now travel with just a carryon and a personal item. My luggage stays with me.

.

We ALSO pack spare undies and socks in the "personal item" (daypacks), and cross-pack at least a full outfit in each other's carryon-sized suitcase, in case of gate-checking or other separation.

 

When we got off the plane in Dublin, and our suitcases didn't, and I realized we'd be fine with just what was in our carryons... our travelling lives were changed.

[flamomo]

The potential for this happening is exactly the reason that I always fly to a cruise with a carry-on suitcase, with certain necessities and a few changes of clothes, sleepwear, and an extra pair of shoes, in addition to my checked bag. It's a PITA to have to schlep a carry-on thru airports, but worth the effort, IMO. I cannot envision having to get by with just the clothing I wore to travel, or having to try to find something else to wear from the onboard shops or in a port.

[flamomo]

Maybe it wasn't lost. Maybe someone took it off the carousel and didn't know it wasn't their's until they got home. And before you say why didn't they return it or call the airlines, have you ever seen the lost and found at an airport? I have and it's unbelievable what gets left and never claimed. There is even a place that stuff gets sent to eventually and they sell it. Anyway if so many people won't even come back for their own stuff then you know there is someone out there who wouldn't be bothered to return a lost suitcase.

 

In addition to all the other advice I would add, if you can't do just carry-on then be at the carousel as soon as you can. I try to be there before the bags start coming. Especially after I had someone try to walk off with my bag, which looked just like hers. She was going to fight with me until I got her to look at the luggage tag.

 

 

I always take a photo of my suitcases just before leaving home, using my cell phone. That way, should there be an issue with a mix-up, or my bag(s) not arriving, I can provide visual proof of the color and exactly what they look like.

 

I type up and place the details of my exact itinerary, hotel, ship, etc. in the outside pocket of each piece of luggage, and instead of my name on my personal luggage tag, I write "see itinerary in outside pocket". Hopefully that could improve the chances of my luggage and me reconnecting.

[mrs. mcgillicuddy]

Our luggage was lost for the first 5 days of our western Mediterranean cruise on the carnival breeze several years ago. There were a few agonizing moments but we laugh about it now and it definitely made for great memories. A few special things I remember:

Carnival was amazing. They let me call the airline for free, were actively tracking our luggage and kindly tolerated my daily visit to the desk to inquire, increasingly frustrated as the days went on, about my luggage. They provided one free laundry service and toiletries. Apparently several passengers were "in the same boat" (pun intended) and we could spot eachother in our free carnival cruise t shirts, and gave each other moral support. The cruise director (john Heald) spotted us out and about in our carnival t shirts and sent champagne and strawberries to our cabin. Our first port was marseille so we went out and bought "slim fitting" European clothes. We are not large people but had to find the largest sizes they had. We got a good laugh from that and how different we looked in our European clothes. I have pictures of me hugging my luggage when it finally arrived in our cabin covered in tags from its travels. It had followed us from port to port and finally caught up. I believe I did keep my receipts and was reimbursed a fair amount by the airline.

[moopig]

What a great story (and great attitude!) Ms. McGillicutty!

 

And I forgot who mentioned taking a pic of the luggage--thanks! I usually fly direct to the port but later this month we are sailing from PR and there are no direct flights so I get nervous about my checked luggage but I will be sure to take pics of it, just in case (we are flying in the day before so hopefully our luggage will be with us when we board).

[MJSailors]

Lots of good advice here. Totally agree with packing changes of clothes in carry-ones, packing important items (i.e. medication,passports) in carryons or tote bags, cross packing with DH's clothes in checked bags and flying in a day or two before. a cruise.

I am not certain if OP is an experienced traveler.

He/she could gain some good tips if they return to this thread.

Also, not sure if this has been previously noted, but when we book our air travel with our preferred credit card,we are given baggage protection for a minimal fee.

"We don't leave home without it !"

[LAJax]

Back in the day before I wised up and began arriving at remote cruiseports a day early, I went on a Mediterranean cruise out of Barcelona for 11 nights with a group - 12 in all.

 

One couple had traveled to Barcelona ahead of time but because they were using miles to fly, they had a crazy itinerary that involved several changes of not only planes but airlines. When they arrived in Barcelona, their luggage did not. They had two days in Spain before the cruise but their bags didn't arrive until six days later - four days into the cruise.

 

A group flying from one city, consisting of three couples and one solo (my cabinmate) were to change planes in NYC. Unfortunately it was the anniversary of 9-11 that day and the POTUS was en route to a ceremony there. As Air Force One was landing, the airspace around JFK was closed so their aircraft had to circle for a long time. Unfortunately during that closure, their connecting flight was allowed to board and taxi to the runway to wait for their late takeoff. They missed their scheduled flight and had to be rerouted to Barcelona on a different airline. Of the seven people on that flight, one person never saw her bag again. The other six received theirs at various points from day 3 to day 6.

 

I was in a party of three with one couple and as we had only one layover of several hours in which we only changed planes (not airlines) we were the only ones in our large party to receive our bags. The affected people were immediately in contact with their travel agencies and insurers to submit claims and find out what to do - they all got the OK to purchase necessities on board or in our first port, which was Villefranche.

 

The cruise line customer service desk people were also extremely helpful. There was actually a meeting on board for all the parties without luggage - a large number of passengers were without their cases not only due to the airspace closure in NYC but because of a baggage handlers' strike in Barcelona - and one pair of young ladies spent the next week diligently tracking down bags. My roommate got daily updates via phone messages left in our cabin. Every passenger was given a cruise line t-shirt and provided free laundry/cleaning service until all their bags were delivered. My cabinmate was given a map of Nice, France, with the locations of a number of shops marked.

 

We had a private tour booked for Nice so part of it was spent in clothing shops and a pharmacy. All receipts were saved for the insurance companies (save for one unfortunate couple who had only purchased medical/evac insurance and nothing that included baggage delay or loss.)

 

Over the first few days of the cruise, before bags began to dribble in, the three of us with luggage provided those without it as much as we could. Every morning and evening I would lay out my wardrobe and the three ladies who were nearest my size would select what they'd like to wear. I also had far more jewelry than I'd ever wear in two weeks so that all saw more action than it would have otherwise. The other two ladies were dressed from the my flightmate's suitcase. The one man with a bag did his best to help the three gentlemen that were sans suitcases, but he was by far the thinnest of the four so he could only share socks and toiletries!

 

One entertaining thing was that the cruise line offered rental formalwear for formal nights - and provided those items to our party gratis. Due to the large demand, however, sizing was a bit of an issue. Everyone was swimming in their tuxes and palazzo pants. We took photos.

 

I suppose since I was not one of those left without my bags for nearly a week I may look back on this experience differently than those of us that were, but I'd like to think that we all made the best of a bad situation. We all enjoyed our cruise.

 

It was terrible that our one companion never did receive her bag - she was compensated by the airline and by her insurer, although she lost some irreplaceable items in the debacle. We all learned a great lesson over that, sadly. It makes me wonder what sort of insurance the OP had that wouldn't allow them to purchase items for their cruise - he said that the company had no interest "in the fact that our cruise was for the most partseverely [sic] corrupted for 5 of the 9 days" - but while an insurer doesn't care about pain and suffering, they do care about reimbursing one's financial losses. I'm surprised they did not go out and purchase what they needed. Those in our party (who had proper insurance) were reimbursed between $200 - $500 per person for their clothing and toiletries purchases. If the OP and his wife chose to martyr themselves and live in the one outfit each of them had and bought nothing then there was no financial loss to compensate. I think we are missing part of the insurance story - either they didn't have the needed insurance or they chose not to incur any expenditures that would allow reimbursement.

 

 

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[LHT28]

As pointed out it may not be a matter of what the insurance or airline would pay but the stubbornness of the passengers to purchase something

Most CC's now do have some sort of baggage loss/delay coverage

Most cruise lines will also have laundry service for those effected & pick up items at night & return them by morning

Having a logo shirt is better than wearing the same shirt daily even if washed daily

Even if I did not have any insurance coverage I WOULD buy at least 1 outfit or more so I could change clothes

JMO

YMMV

[DaKa2002]

We have always cross-packed - half of each other's clothing in each suitcase and all essentials in our carryons. Never thought both suitcases would be lost in a trip to Europe!

So we learned the hard way; always carry at least one complete second set of clothing in a carryon (usually both in my backpack!).

Both suitcases were "lost" for the first 5 days of a 12 day trip. Each night the crew did our laundry between 10 PM and 11 PM while we hid in our room, comfortable in the big plush bathrobes. First port day was a holiday over there and no regular stores were open. Second port day we bought a few essentials - had to convert US sizes in inches to Metric measurements with the help of sales personnel in the stores!

One suitcase showed up on the 6th day. Nice new clothes that evening got us a real warm welcome at dinner!

The second suitcase showed up at our house exactly 30 days after the start of the trip; it had been caught in a European customs. Everything inside was counted and documented on an official stamped form; they counted every pair of underwear, pair of socks, shirt, etc., even counted every vitamin pill and aspirin in their containers! We were just really happy to get it back.

We filled out forms, and forms, and more forms. With each receipt, we were fully compensated for the items and services we bought until the one suitcase showed up. Documentation was key.

Yes, it was stressful; occasionally we will laugh at the experience and what it taught us. As always, we made the best of a not so good situation!

[lisiamc]

I'm just now packing for our cruise, and I'm being careful to put a small selection of things into my carry on and to cross pack with my DH, so I'll at least have a couple of outfits no matter what!

[Cruisercl]

Thanks OP for starting the thread and telling your story and no it wasn't too long or difficult to read.

 

It appears to have inspired others to share their similar stories. It also generated posts with really good advice to help others. Appreciate it all.

 

I have started packing more clothing type things in my carry-on just in case. This just affirms what some others (not here) thought was unnecessary.

 

Safe cruising all! :cool:

[champagne123]

Thanks OP for starting the thread and telling your story and no it wasn't too long or difficult to read.

 

It appears to have inspired others to share their similar stories. It also generated posts with really good advice to help others. Appreciate it all.

 

I have started packing more clothing type things in my carry-on just in case. This just affirms what some others (not here) thought was unnecessary.

 

Safe cruising all! :cool:

Great post. :)

[SRF]

If you have to buy clothes in a country with different measurement systems, go online and find a conversion chart.

 

Here is one site (took about 2 seconds to find) - http://www.sizeguide.net/womens-clothing-sizes-international-conversion-chart.html

[6rugrats]

If you have to buy clothes in a country with different measurement systems, go online and find a conversion chart.

 

Here is one site (took about 2 seconds to find) - http://www.sizeguide.net/womens-clothing-sizes-international-conversion-chart.html

Or just try them on.

Some posters on this thread had great attitudes when stuck in this situation. This is why I try to travel only with carry ons. Realize this isn't possible for some people.

[procter]

Having read OPs other posts I cannot believe that this is other than a wind-up.well done OP

 

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[BlueRiband]

The OP hasn't been back. A look at his posting history shows that he is no newbie but even offered advice to those visiting ports he had recently traveled to. Apparently he bought a cruise package that included flights and transfers and didn't plan on the possibility of there being any other expenses. If they were on land tours they surely could have asked the tour guide if there was a reasonably priced clothing store in the area. There's got to be the equivalent of a Kmart or Walmart over there. Their stuff isn't exactly Brooks Brothers quality but it would have been better than spending five days of doing bathroom wash basin laundry.

[visibilityunlimited]

Thought it might be time to check in and read the rejoining ripples of my inquiry. As I suspected the genre of responses ranged from reprimands of "act like an adult, just get some clothes for crying-out-loud" to notes of commensuration "yea, it's like what happened to me when . . ."

 

WARNING: For those who approve of only twitter-length correspondence stop reading now. Others may proceed.

 

A little history. We've been to Europe several times both DIY land journeys and cruises (as some on the thread noted). The cruises have varied from superb to "if I only knew then what I know now". So lost luggage for us wasn't , in the scheme of life, the end of the world. However, I left out of the earlier post some of the bits and pieces that converged into the "perfect storm" of a conundrum that I thought worthy of posting.

 

While not newbies to international travel; we're getting older. With each year there is more medications and medical-related paraphernalia--to the point where just this stuff could fill a small backpack, not counting the dreaded CPAP machines which we both have. We were on a cruise earlier this year where we thought we'd be "smart" and take only carry-on luggage. We each had a wheeled carry-on, plus one of the new "mini-under-the-seat" things, plus a CPAP and, the allowed personal item (for my wife a handbag, for me a small backpack). We fought the darned luggage every time we had to move them and fully experienced the etymology of the word "luggage" [1590s, from lug (v.) "to drag"]. My wife and I agreed "never again".

 

This time, for the cruise described in the earlier post, we thought we'd be "smart" (again) by checking our luggage through from our home airport to Nice; specifically to avoid lugging luggage for the 12 hour layover we had at Boston. By the way, the 12 hour layover was not our choice, the airline canceled our booked flight that would have resulted in a reasonable layover but nothing even close to the 12 hours we actually experienced. A less than perfect beginning.

 

Now, permit me to offer some background to our seeming "bull-headedness" of not taking the "bull by the horns" (pardon the pun), and simply go out and buy clothes (like everyone knows you should do). Recall that we were told by both the airline representatives (both in Nice and the US) and the "reception" staff at the desk on the ship, our luggage would all but certain be on the ship before we sailed. When the discovery of no luggage was made at the Nice airport and for at least the next 5 hours, we continued to receive these assurances. Should we have ignored the experts?

 

It also bears mentioning that my wife is barely-5-feet-tall and I am an out-of-shape "pensioner" who purchases clothing from the limited "big and tall" selections even when at home. With this in mind, it was not quite the cake-walk of just sauntering to town and picking up a few things before we sailed. We were in Monte Carlo; not near the typical US suburban mall. I must admit that at this early "unfolding" of the saga, I was just a little skeptical of the assurances we were getting and I went on line to see what might be available in the way of basic clothing stores. I did several searches on "where to buy clothing in Monte Carlo" and several other variants of the inquiry. This is more-or-less typical of what I found http://www.10best.com/destinations/monaco/monte-carlo/shopping/clothing-stores/ or maybe this http://www.montecarlosbm.com/luxury-trip-monaco/visit-monaco/shopping/ or http://www.montecarloshopping.com/. After looking into this, I realized we probably weren't even dressed well enough to gain admittance to the shops, let alone purchase something. And if we could get in, we would have likely dropped a couple thousand dollars for two changes of clothing for the two of us. I could only imagine what the battle would have been with the airline to get compensation for such purchases.

 

But that was only one day, a pragmatists might argue, what about the following day? The next day we docked at Ajaccio. My wife spent until around 11:00 am on the telephone, internet, and face-to-face discussions with the ship's staff inquiring where our luggage was and, if anyone knew where it was, when we might get it. etc.The responses in so many words were "we're working on it". Before departing the ship to purchase clothing, I again searched the internet for where we might purchase some clothing with a similar search phrase I used in Monte Carlo except I changed the name to Ajaccio. A sample of what I found: https://www.corsica.co.uk/shopping-and-markets , https://www.zazzle.com.au/corsica+clothing. (Apropos for a 70-something?) I then tried "clothing stores Ajaccio Corsica" and got https://www.yelp.co.uk/search?cflt=shopping&find_loc=Ajaccio%2C+Corse-du-Sud. "Finally some addresses", I thought, so my wife and I walked around Ajaccio for the next 2 hours up Rue des Marie to Cours Napoleon where we hit pay dirt (we thought). We were able to purchase some replacement medical/hygiene supplies (that were in the lost luggage); we were directed by the pharmacist to the Monoprix. It was a good recommendation and my wife found a few "one-size-fits-all" items as well as socks, underwear and a hat. I was not so fortunate. The men's department was a small back corner of the store. I did get socks and underwear, however, the selection of basic shirts and slacks was very limited in numbers and more limited in sizes (no "big and tall" here). As we walked further, stores were closing for siesta so we returned to the ship to get a bite to eat (the ship's buffet was closed by the way). I went back out after lunch and continued my search for clothing, walking Quai Napoleon to Bd. Danielle Casanova to Rue Bonaparte to Rue Fresch back to Cours Napoleon to Place Abatucci then back to the ship. Most stores were closed during my second search, and those open were of the "souvenier" variety.

 

By now it was nearing dinner-time and the ship's boutiques were closed until we left port. As we were not dressed for the specialty restaurant we had reservations for, we again went to the buffet, we were becoming regulars. That evening when the ship's stores opened we headed there to select some casual wear for me from the "bounty of items" available. At the risk of sounding sarcastic, I quickly realized the term "bounty" is a relative one and, as I was expecting, no "big and tall" here. In the earlier post I mentioned the $80 golf shirt. I didn't buy one of those and settled for a "markdown" at $70 and a belt (mine had broken during the day). Neither slacks nor button-down casual shirts were available in my sizes. I'd have settled for a pair of "jogging pants" but these were not to be found. End of second day.

 

A critic might say "that was only 2 days, did you give up and decide to just feel sorry for yourself"? On the contrary, on the third day we planned to again spend the day shopping for clothes, but only after taking the first 2 or 3 hours telephoning, emailing, and talking face-to-face with the ship staff to continue to try to track down our luggage. We received no information from the ship staff or from any airline; we had to initiate everything. During these morning hours we began to pick-up some mixed signals from the ship's Concierge, the airlines and the airline "apps" my wife had on her phone. Permit me to give examples of the mixed signals/messages. Our luggage had been found and it was in Boston, Paris CDG and Nice all pretty much at the same time. The Concierge said we might get our luggage the next day, or the day after that, but certainly the day after that. Good news, huh? So we headed ashore to buy clothes in Olbia, Sardinia. We soon learned it was Ferragosto (Assumption of the Blessed Virgin) and everything was closed except for the eateries and some extraordinarily tacky souvenir shops. Back to the ship. . .again.

 

At the end of this, the third day, we were pretty disgusted. We had also come to a clothing "fork in the road", so to speak. We had booked private tours for the fourth and fifth days. We had 3 choices: 1) forego the tours and shop for clothes, 2) go on the tours and ask the tour guide (and the two other couples) to drop us off to go shopping and come back and pick us up to resume the tour, or 3) go on the tour as-is (for me, wearing the slacks and shoes I was wearing when I left home). We went with "3". The tour was great, but walking around Rome for most of the day in mid 90 degree heat resulted in some pretty mephitic clothing at the end of the tour. Before dinner on this, the fourth day of the cruise, my wife headed to the laundry so I had something "fresh" to wear for another visit to the buffet.

 

The fifth day was much like the fourth. The tour of sites, this time in Campania, was remarkable, and our guide was the best ever. I must admit, it completely took my mind off clothing--or lack thereof. The heat and humidity bordered on unbearable and we returned to the ship exhausted. When we walked into the room there were the two, long lost, pieces of luggage. Dirty, missing some hardware, a rip, a missing strap, etc. etc, and tags galore. But they had clothing in them. So end the Tale of Two Pieces of Luggage.

 

Before closing it bears commenting on the notion that some who joined the thread thought we were in some way suggesting the cruise line should do something for us. Some who posted seemed to think we were expecting some kind of "hitting a fiscal jackpot" with the cruise line as the payor. We didn't and don't have any thought of this. But, on the other hand, we didn't experience the cruise line's advertisement spin about unmatched or other superlatives to describe their service to guests. What we would expect is that this cruise line (and other cruise lines as well) might initiate a system to truly coordinate lost luggage with the airlines--perhaps even issuing to cruise guests some type luggage tag (made of metal or other durable material) to attach to the luggage before leaving home. The tag would include an itinerary of the ship and contact phone numbers, email address, etc, etc. so that lost luggage can reach a ship one-the-move. While on the matter of role of the cruise line in all this, I forgot to mention in the first post there were a number of other couples who were in the same boat (sorry for the pun) we were: lost luggage. The scene at the ship's reservation desk was ugly with a lot of shouting, pointing of fingers, shaking of fists and other confrontational goings on. It was tempting to enter the ruckus, but my wife persuaded me to remain calm(ish). I think she believed I might have a stroke, then she'd have had that to deal with too.

 

So, no thought of "hitting a jackpot" and our thought in making the post was to inquire about how to get the attention of someone who could make something positive come of this event; maybe as simple as "a new genre of luggage tag". If a cruise line was the first to do something like this, it could be used in marketing, at least until others caught on.

 

What did we learn from all this? Basically "luggage and airlines don't play well together" and when coupled with a cruise it becomes serious. If we have to fly to board a cruise in the future, which is likely as we don't live on the coast, we're both thinking of wearing quick-dry tops, bottoms, underwear, and socks for all flights and another two changes of the same things (maybe in different colors) in a backpack. Then when luggage is lost we can do laundry every three days. Moreover, upon arrival at the ship, sans luggage, immediately head out to buy clothes spending money like a "drunken sailor" (a figure of speech, not intended as anything derogatory to any seaman/seawoman) and getting sworn affidavits from all clothing sales clerks confirming our purchases were not extravagant. We'd also keep copious notes, record conversations and take photographs in preparation for the plethora of paperwork for the airline (or the travel insurance) to recover the cost of purchased clothing.

 

That's all folks.

[Cruise Junky]

There's a Carrefour in the Fontvieille shopping mall. It's where I bought all of my supplies, t-shirts, bras, other essentials. It's where the locals shop not at Monaco Prices.

[BlueRiband]

You asked if you should have ignored assurances that your luggage was on its way. By day 2 yes. Since you were in contact with the concierge and a tour guide one of them, who are more familiar with the local culture, could have guided you to a store that had clothes that fit your size without having to pay bespoke prices. As you mentioned other passengers were in the same proverbial boat.

[LHT28]

You can always include your itinerary in the front pocket of your suit case as well as inside your case

Attach luggage tags with your name & email address so if found you can be contacted

If you cannot find sturdy tags straps use some electrical ties cheap & plentiful

There are products out there where you can attach them to your bags

https://www.rumeid.com/id-decals.php

 

Make sure all other trip tags are removed so as not to confuse the airlines

Never put the cruise tags on until you are heading to the dock

 

Maybe for your next trip consider some of these ideas