Don't leave anything behind on Celebrity!

[LuvCelebrity]

Hi all,

 

I sailed on the Constellation recently and left an expensive jacket in my cabin onboard the ship. I called Lost and Found to report the lost. I was told by a very rude person that it is Celebrity Cruises' policy to discard, or donate to charity, any items left behind on any of their ships! They don't even bother to call you to tell you!

 

As much as I love Celebrity and their ships, I think this policy is terrible. I would love to give to charity but I think it should be my choice to do so and not a huge corporation's. Has anyone else heard about this policy or had a similar experience with Celebrity?

 

Thanks,

David

[ocngypz]

WHAT!

 

No, they are sent to the lost property office in Miami.

[tomatopa]

wonder if that is what happen to my suitcase if it was left on the ship some where and they gave it to charity without trying to get it back to me....maybe i should call them again...Judy

[keela1eva2]

Some 9 years ago I spent a week on Enchantment of the Seas. I did not even notice my Walkman was missing until a package arrived containing it. It had been mailed to me from Iceland and the ship was now doing a T/A and I realised that I had been listening to it and somehow it had been left on the bed.

My cabin Steward must have handed it to the Purser who then then forwarded it to me.

 

Sue

[jukeboxy]

When you stop and think about it this policy make good sense. Many people take things they no longer want on a cruise and leave it rather than pack it and take it home. This includes underwear and make-up and other things I cannot begin to imagine.

To call everyone that leaves something to determine if it is of value would be costly and time comsuming. I feel sorry that you lost something of value but I understand the position of X.

I would be curious about some of the things people abandon after their cruise. I bet people will start posting the things they leave behind.

[mctrekkie]

Or perhaps the items could be packed up and sent C.O.D., at least the valuable items would get back to their owners.

[soonercruisers]

It's quite obvious that David (LuvCelebrity) has an email address and surely this was included in his Celebrity passenger profile along with his address, phone number, etc.

 

A kind and just email note from Celebrity at virtually minimum cost to David advising him about the item left behind and his options to retrieve it or donate it to charity is GOOD CUSTOMER SERVICE!..

 

It's his decision, not Celebrity. They would surely find a way to bill him if he removed one of their items from the cabin.

 

There are no excuses for not making an effort.

 

Frank

[ldparker]

Why would you leave an expensive jacket behind in the first place? What am I missing here?

[Ericknow32]

Not to sound rude but why should Celebrity take more care of an object then the owner of that object.

 

People accidentally leave things behind all the time. Celebrity can not be held responsible for returning every single object. It would have to go through the Miami office. The Miami office has to handle 28 ships. With a low estimated average of 2000 people per ship, that is 56,000 people per week. Lets say ten people from every ship forget something. Thats 280 objects to return per week.

 

We should all take responsibility for our own belongings and our own actions.

[tuggers]

I often leave behind things I would rather not take home. I am always careful to either put them in the trash or tell the CS that I am leaving those things behind so that they do not HAVE to be sent to Lost and Found.

 

I once left over a $1000 in the safe on a ship. It was removed by the purser, held till they returned to port and a check was sent to me from the office.

 

As to why someone would leave an expensive jacket behind, obviously he made a mistake. Mistakes happen everyday. No big mystery!:)

[LuvCelebrity]

Not to sound rude but why should Celebrity take more care of an object then the owner of that object.

 

People accidentally leave things behind all the time. Celebrity can not be held responsible for returning every single object. It would have to go through the Miami office. The Miami office has to handle 28 ships. With a low estimated average of 2000 people per ship, that is 56,000 people per week. Lets say ten people from every ship forget something. Thats 280 objects to return per week.

 

We should all take responsibility for our own belongings and our own actions.

 

I left the jacket behind by mistake. I didn't do it on purpose. I am not holding Celebrity responsible for my mistake. But, I think they should have the courtesy to at least check with me to see if I had intended to leave the jacket before giving it away to charity or throwing it away!

 

There may be lots of incidents of lost items. But, that's why they have a lost and found department, isn't it? It would have been good Customer Service to have reported the item to lost and found. In this case, Celebrity didn't know what Customer Service meant. That's my opinion.

 

David

[lysolqn]

Your subject line, "Don't leave anything behind on Celebrity" should more appropriately read "Don't leave anything behind anywhere!." No matter where you lose something, the odds of getting it back are slim to none.

 

If you report something lost to Guest Relations on X, it's posted in a log and you're told that if it is found, it will be sent to Miami and you can follow-up there. Nevertheless, it seems to me it's the passengers' responsibility to protect their possessions and not X's to find and return them to their rightful owners. Sorry you lost your jacket but YOU lost it, not X and your post sounds like just another case of someone transferring blame to someone else for his/her own mistake.

[LuvCelebrity]

Your subject line, "Don't leave anything behind on Celebrity" should more appropriately read "Don't leave anything behind anywhere!." No matter where you lose something, the odds of getting it back are slim to none.

 

If you report something lost to Guest Relations on X, it's posted in a log and you're told that if it is found, it will be sent to Miami and you can follow-up there. Nevertheless, it seems to me it's the passengers' responsibility to protect their possessions and not X's to find and return them to their rightful owners. Sorry you lost your jacket but YOU lost it, not X and your post sounds like just another case of someone transferring blame to someone else for his/her own mistake.

 

Actually, that's not true at all. I have a friend who sailed on Princess and she left some items on her cruise. Princess called her to tell her they had been found and even sent the items back to her at their expense. Good customer service!

 

As I've said before, I am not blaming Celebrity Cruises. It was my fault to leave the jacket behind. I made a mistake, I assume you've made mistakes in your life? But, it would have been good Customer Service for Celebrity to contact me when they found the jacket and offer to send it back. I would have even paid for the cost of shipment. I've been told that the item was found, reported to Guest Relations, and then it was either thrown away or donated to charity! They won't even tell me which!

 

The title of my subject line is to make people aware of Celebrity Cruises' policy of not returning lost items. I was not blaming them for my mistake.

 

David

[Susan-M]

David ... I agree that an effort could have been made to return your jacket. What is the point of having a "Lost and Found" Department otherwise?

 

This is from Celebrity's website: If item/luggage is lost during the cruise contact Celebrity at:

Miami (National). . . . . . . 800-256-6649 (it doesn't actually say call "lost and found" .... so perhaps it is the number you call so that they can tell you, "sorry, your loss is someone else's gain".)

[C 2 C]

This is the same treatment they gave to the person that went missing on Mercury. All of her belongings were left behind including her wallet. They did not even attempt to call relatives and just discarded all her belongings.

[dkjretired]

WHAT!

 

No, they are sent to the lost property office in Miami.

 

If there is one person on this board that I would listen to it would be OCNGYPZ and is she says the property goes to Miami, I am sure if it was found it would be sent to Miami. Don't listen to someone in customer service, check it out further.

[LuvCelebrity]

If there is one person on this board that I would listen to it would be OCNGYPZ and is she says the property goes to Miami, I am sure if it was found it would be sent to Miami. Don't listen to someone in customer service, check it out further.

 

I asked to speak to the head of the Lost and Found department. I was told by him very definitely that this is now Celebrity Cruises' policy and that the item was found and then either discarded or donated to charity. He refused to tell me which! I do intend to write a letter to Customer Service and an email to someone I know on the ship.

[Susan-M]

Please keep us posted .... lucky for Tuggers this policy was not in place when she left her $1000 in the safe!

[RickandAnne]

I asked to speak to the head of the Lost and Found department. I was told by him very definitely that this is now Celebrity Cruises' policy and that the item was found and then either discarded or donated to charity. He refused to tell me which! I do intend to write a letter to Customer Service and an email to someone I know on the ship.

I guess, like dkjretired, I'm not sold yet. I also put a lot of credence on anything ocngypz says since she's in the business. I also don't doubt what you were told by Customer Service and finally I don't doubt any of the others that have had items of value returned. Clearly something is missing in the story. Maybe it is the type of valuable that was left (clothing vs jewelery for instance). Maybe it depends on who has found it. If Celebrity just donates everything left behind to charity, then why do they need a Lost and Found Department??

 

Inquiring minds want to know.

 

Rick

[Gypsea]

Ocngypz is well informed about many things. However, on this I think her information is a thing of the past.

 

As C2C points out, even in the case of Miariam Carver the total contents of her cabin was packed up and donated to charity. I have to fault Celebrity here for taking their "policy" a bit too far in this case.

 

Also, it is pretty obvious which items are valuable and which are not. Let's be realistic, temptation might be resposnsible for some of these things being charitable contributions to staff in many cases. I had a nice dress go this way once and it wasn't on Celebrity(one of the rare times I had a female cabin attendant). I just hope she enjoys it because I know they make little money for what they do.

 

I since learned that it is very important to take responsibility for your things but I don't think it is unreasonable to hope our forgotten items might be returnable if reported within a reasonable time frame.

 

Sorry about your jacket, David. I know just how you feel.

[Gypsea]

about the title..my initial reaction that I couldn't edit without losing the whole message!

[lysolqn]

Are you sure that the person with whom you spoke at Lost and Found knew for certain that YOUR jacket in particular was found and forwarded to Miami? That's a pretty big leap of faith unless there's some kind of log that Miami keeps to show what comes in, when it arrives, which cruise it was retrieved from and where it was found. If nothing is logged, there's no way to know what makes its way to corporate.

Sounds to me like whomever you spoke with was just spewing info re X's supposed lost and found policy. If X does donate or disgard lost items, I'm pretty sure it does so only after a certain amount of time passes during which no one has made an inquiry. By the way, the airlines do pretty much the same thing, but they "sell" the items to a company that sells them to the public!

[Danno]

What we need here a "board" lawyer...lawyers make a living blaming other people for errors of their clients.

 

If the jacket is gone...sorry for your loss...however I'm sure if X charged a handling fee for returned goods, we could look forward to a thread like this

 

X makes money on cabin cleaning!! by NEVERTOBLAME

I left my tierra in my cabin by mistake. Not my fault, I had so much duty free booze to carry...I didn't notice it until the next day when I was unpacking. Now it's in Maimi and the want $20 to FEDEX it to me...I am mad!! I want compensation. Who do I write to?? Can I sue?? MY lawyer says I have a good case!!

Weenie

[Fang]

Several years ago, my wife left her diamond neckless in the safe on the Century.

 

When we returned home and unpacked, she found out that she did leave the neckless. She called Celebrity and got the Centuries direct phone number, called that number and talked to guest relations.

 

The person she talked to forwarded her telephone call to butler that we had and he went to the cabin (while still on the phone with my wife) and found that the neckless was still in the safe and took it down to guest relations (again all with my wife and the butler talking on the phone).

 

It took three weeks to get the neckless back, but Celebrity was fantastic.

 

I bet my wife that there was no way she was going to get her neckless back. It would not of been Celebritys fault for us leaving something behind it was ours.

 

We could not have been happier with the way we were treated, regarding the neckless.

[Susan-M]

Danno .... what's with you:confused:

The OP forgot his expensive jacket and is looking for intelligent suggestions on how to get it back, or what other people's experiences have been when they've left things behind.