Don't leave anything behind on Celebrity!

[OceanCruise]

It seems that anything found should be tagged and after 14 days after the cruise can be donated if there are no claims. When we were on the Enchantment, my MIL left her jacket in the windjammer and when we returned 5 minutes later it was already at the lost and found-the waiter had turned it in.

[Eleris]

To lighten this thread a bit let me tell you one of my embarrassing moments. Family of 4 on a 10 day cruise for Spring break a few years ago. We drove from CT to Baltimore to catch the Galaxy. It was rainy and snowy so we put our suitcases in big glad bags in the back of our crew cab F150 truck. After 10 blissful days in our Sky Suite with our butler pampering us we had no working brain cells left. I asked my hubbie to get the suitcases under the bed so I could pack all our stuff. I packed our four suitcases and couldn't understand why things seemed so tight. I had this nagging feeling I was forgetting something. We get back to the truck and guess what --- there are 6 bags waiting for 6 suitcases! Remember I only packed 4. We went back to the terminal and they called up to our room staff and brought the 2 suitcases under the bed down to us. The cruise was about 7k the suitcases were worth about 100 the look on the customs officials face when he opened empty suitcases PRICELESS! I shook my head and said we had an EXCELLENT TRIP!:D

[surfklutz]

For all of those who lost - and didn't get back things on Celebrity.....did it make you feel like a celebrity? I think X is missing something there.

[Happy ks]

I'm sorry to read of your loss.

 

We tend to make a donation on every cruise we take. We have lost contact lenses, CD cases filled with CDs, a fanny pack with cash, our formal portraits (hated losing those!) a brand new top, numerous hats. Our last little cruise, I lost my reading glasses. I went to the lost and found and went through a box of lost glasses, didn't find mine, but did find some pretty nice ones, have to say I was tempted for a moment :o .

 

No matter how careful we are, we just always seem to lose something. With the exception of the pictures, all of it is replaceable, we don't much like it, but have come to the conclusion that something will always go missing.

 

Nothing has ever been found, each instance was a different cruise line.

[ocngypz]

David, I do appreciate your posting to warn us of Celebrity's policy. It is good to know this, especially since other cruise lines don't have this policy. I agree that it doesn't make sense, especially for items left in the stateroom, where cruise staff would know to whom it belonged.

 

I watched with great interest the coverage on the missing passenger on the Alaska cruise and one of the aspects I was most appalled about was that the ship personnel packed up all of these lady's things, including her wallet, and gave them to charity. All during this time, I had assumed that was mishandling on the part of the ship personnel. I had not idea that this was done pursuant to Celebrity policy. This certainly lowers my opinion of Celebrity. :(

 

No solo cruises for me on Celebrity. :eek:

 

It is not Celebrity's standard operating policy. I've read the manual.

 

First, two staff members inventory every item in the cabin and prepare a written list. Then the items are packed. The inventory sheets are signed. If, in the case of passenger who is traveling with another party, the inventory sheet is vetted by the second party. Either staff member then releases the luggage to the second party. If no second party, then the emergency contact person is notified.

 

In the case of the missing passenger, it was the cabin attendant's supervisor who DID NOT notify his superiors about the missing passenger. One of the staff members who frequently was called upon to inventory and pack was the social hostess, she being summoned by her supervisor.. the hotel manager.

 

When Standard Operating procedures are not followed. &*^* happens.

The offending crew member was terminated.

 

In this particular case, the missing woman did not tell her family where she was going. And that speaks volumes!

[C 2 C]

 

In this particular case, the missing woman did not tell her family where she was going. And that speaks volumes!

 

Celebrity did not notify the authorities... oops we think we lost a passenger... we have no record of her getting off... and by the way here are her belongings. She might have gone on the cruise to commit suicide. It is Celebrity's policy of ignoring everything that gets left behind that upsets me. It is not just one crew member responsible here. It's the system.

[Gypsea]

according to Primetime live anyway, the steward kept telling his boss that she had not turned up. I assume the boss thought he would be commended for keeping it hush hush. I bet he wasn't the one who was let go, it was the poor room steward who took the rap.

 

As C2C says considering the circumstances it was down right WRONG (I really don't care what anyone says) for them to pack up her stuff like everything was hunky dory. I am not saying Celebrity is accountable simply that they had a duty to report this immediately instead of hoping she was alone in the world and no one would ever know. Well, it came back and bit them in the a$$ and I bet they remember it next time.

 

I feel better now. Let the flames begin!!

[C 2 C]

I feel better now. Let the flames begin!!

 

As one author stated it:

 

"Losing your temper must be sinful because it feels so good":D

[Ericknow32]

Can someone please tell me how a thread about a forgotten coat turned into a thread about a missing person. Someone at Celebrity did something wrong with regards to the missing person. We all must admit that. But what relevance does it have to a missing coat.

[Ericknow32]

Any respectable hotel in the country has a lost and found department. Why should Celebrity have anything less? Things happen - people forget things and a good service oriented business makes contingencies for that type of thing. It IS a service business. I would be just as angry as the original poster.

A cruise line is not a hotel chain. A hotel from a hotel chain will hold the object at that site. A cruise ship would have to ship every missing item to the Miami main office.

 

What I am getting from your post is that all Celebrity ships (and RCI for that matter) should ship all forgotten items to the Miami head office. If an item is obviously of high value, yes they should ship it to Miami. But there is no way of evaluating the value of clothing. Imagine all of the clothing Miami would have to go through. 28 ships, on average over over 2000 passengers per ship per week, thats about 56,000 people per week. That can add up to a lot of forgotten clothing. It would cost Celebrity to ship the clothing to Miami. I don't want my cruise fare to go up so people can get their forgotten sock back.

 

I do think that if this is Celebrity's policy, they need to make it official and put it in their cruise contract.

[montgomeryfamily]

While it was clear from the media coverage that the cabin steward's supervisor had failed to notify his supervisors of the passenger being missing during the cruise, I never saw it explained who packed up or how the lady's possessions were packed up and given away to charity, although RCI stated in their response that her possessions were donated to charity. So, Ocngypz, are you saying that the cabin steward's supervisor did this, or that it was done by the ship's hostess and hotel manager?

 

Also, what is Celebrity's standard operating procedure in their manual for donating the items left onboard the ship to charity?

 

It doesn't seem likely that an Asst. Housekeeper or lower Celebrity employee would have the knowledge and authority as to how to donate the possessions to charity--who to call, the procedure involved, etc. I would think that if Celebrity's policy is to donate items left to charity, there would be a procedure and also a central person in authority on the ship such as the hotel manager through whom all of the items left on board would be routed and who would supervise making the donations, including a listing of the items involved which are to be donated. I know if I saw a listing of items to be donated that included entire packed suitcases or wallets with IDs and probably credit cards, I would be making a further inquiry, as that would seem unusual and deserving of investigation.

 

It does make me more comfortable knowing that at least Celebrity has a standard operating procedure in their manual to cover situations like this, although it is unsettling that the procedures weren't followed in this case. But it still seems like there is a problem with the procedures for donating items left onboard to charity, especially if any Celebrity employee can make the donations for the ship.

 

However, although it is possible that there were Celebrity procedures that weren't followed, I don't accept that the packing up of the lady's possessions and subsequent donation to charity or the lack of notification to authorities was due to her not telling her family that she was on the cruise. I just don't think it is fair to blame the lady for the failure of Celebrity's personnel to follow company procedures.

 

In addition, it is irrelevant whether her family knew she was on the ship. Why would that make it ok to pack up her possessions or fail to notify the authorities that she was missing? Even if the cabin steward and his supervisor didn't tell their mangement, surely ship card check-out procedure would flag that the lady had never left the ship. Secondly, the lady's wallet was left with her ID, so there may have been more information available in her wallet and through the booking information and/or TA, including contact information for family members or others. And finally, I know when I have done the on-line pre-cruise registration, I have to put in an emergency contact person and telephone number. So this lady's emergency contact would have been listed there. I never have heard any explanation of why this information was not accessed or that it was somehow missing from her pre-cruise registration.

 

Perhaps if Celebrity did have a standard operating procedure requiring items left onboard, at least in the staterooms, to be kept and the passengers in those staterooms notified before items are given to charity, that would act as a failsafe to insure that even if missing passenger protocol/standard operating procedures aren't followed by housekeeping staff, a situation like this would be caught when the lost/found procedure is followed. Plus it would be good customer relations for those customers who did inadvertently leave items in their stateroom.

[caribbean dreams]

This may have already been said but if you purchased the travel insurance, it is covered in the policy.

[RickandAnne]

The point of my posting was to inform other people on this board of this policy that they may not be aware of. I still think, though, that Celebrity's policy is not fair and, by the way, other cruise lines do not have the same policy, I checked. Dave, I don't understand why you feel the need to yell at me and to be so nasty.

David

Which policy??? In your own words from the original post:

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!

Given the tone of the title of this thread and the absolute severity of the claim, this sounds pretty serious and, yes maybe a little inflammatory. But wait, you later post in post #13, just to make it clear:

The title of my subject line is to make people aware of Celebrity Cruises' policy of not returning lost items.

However, after challenges from Ocngypz and others you begin to back down from your original position. In post #31.

Lost items of clothing found on the ship are either discarded or given to charity. Only items of 'perceived value', such as jewelry, electronics, etc. are returned to Miami.

When you overstate a position in an inflammatory way and misrepresent the actual fact of the matter you generate an emotion and a belief on the part of folks that your original post is accurate, when it may, in fact, not be.

 

People still believe your original post is accurate. From post #56 from C2C

It is Celebrity's policy of ignoring everything that gets left behind that upsets me.

Gypsea and Danno are right!

We must choose our words more carefully.

Then the title should read...I made a mistake and need advice...imflammatory titles breed confrontational threads.

When you make the claim and put it down in writing (or screenprint), it gets treated as fact. Threads like this one that contain innuendo, supposition and inaccuracies do bother (anger) me and I don't think you should be so surprised when it generates the responses you have gotten. I love Celebrity, too, but I accept that people will make mistakes and believe we should not always trust everything we hear without crosschecking facts first.

 

Just MHO.

[seagulls]

Oh for heavens sake the person is telling you he didn't get his jacket back. There are people who frequent this board OFTEN who just love to come out with snide comments. I would imagine (but I don't know for sure) that they probably keep forgotten items for a while in their lost and found office but chances are you have to get a hold of the right person who will be bothered looking for it for you.

[LuvCelebrity]

Which policy??? In your own words from the original post:

Given the tone of the title of this thread and the absolute severity of the claim, this sounds pretty serious and, yes maybe a little inflammatory. But wait, you later post in post #13, just to make it clear:

However, after challenges from Ocngypz and others you begin to back down from your original position. In post #31.

When you overstate a position in an inflammatory way and misrepresent the actual fact of the matter you generate an emotion and a belief on the part of folks that your original post is accurate, when it may, in fact, not be.

 

People still believe your original post is accurate. From post #56 from C2C

Gypsea and Danno are right!

When you make the claim and put it down in writing (or screenprint), it gets treated as fact. Threads like this one that contain innuendo, supposition and inaccuracies do bother (anger) me and I don't think you should be so surprised when it generates the responses you have gotten. I love Celebrity, too, but I accept that people will make mistakes and believe we should not always trust everything we hear without crosschecking facts first.

 

Just MHO.

 

The tone of my posting was meant to be imformative, not inflammatory in any way. It was others who decided to be inflammatory and your tone is much more accusatory than mine certainly was. I think the title of my posting should NOT be "I made a mistake and I"m asking for advice". I was NOT asking for advice, and I certainly don't need yours!

 

I only found out later by calling several times that Celebrity's policy of discarding items applied to clothing, it was certainly not because of challenges from others!

 

People should definitely not expect eveything they see in writing to be fact. I was also asking for other people's experiences and I was glad to hear from those willing to give their experiences. It's a shame we have to hear from those who only seem like they need to attack people for what they say.

 

David

[Gypsea]

Major Cruise Line seeks self motivated individual with tracking skills, fashion label knowledge, good sense (thinking of family photo album lady) and jewelry appraisal skills. Benefits include discounts on ...

Anyone in the Miami area need a job? We could interview for the position right here. Interested?

 

Maybe there's a reason it is called Cruise Critic. Opinion is allowed (I assume) without people freaking out about it. Well, that was the idea I believe.

 

And for spot readers, yes this is about a man's jacket never returned which has direct ties to policy and in this case involved talk of the missing woman whose family would have liked to take possesion of the items she used in her last days on earth. It is all connected if you follow along. Did we break rules or are some of you just easily ticked off??????? If we did something wrong please copy and paste the guideline, I would like to read it.

 

Consistency to company policy would be appreciated since then a traveler might know what their next step should be if they would like to attempt locating a forgotten item. Personally, I think this is a very good thread for the RC/Celebrity corporation to take note of. Either take everything to Miami or throw it out but PICK one and stick to it. Send a memo and let every employee in on it..print it on documents too so it's in the "contract" for the clients. If it's important to us it should be important to those trying to treat us like celebrities.

 

Also, I thank the original poster for sticking with the thread considering he has been so critisized for just about everthing except original sin. Tee hee