I disembarked from Diamond Princess on 1/17/08. One of my suitcases was missing. I don't know if it was lost by Diamond Princess or if someone picked it up by mistake. I am desparate to find my suitcase. If anyone picked it up in error please let me know.
Welcome to Cruise-Chat! Sorry to hear of your lost bag and hope you can get it back. Have you notified the cruiseline and had them fill out a seach claim form? Also if there was a transfer involved you'll also want to reach the transfer company and do the same.
Hi, Thanks for the reply. I did file a lost luggage report with Princess but their policy is to wait five days before you can file a claim. The suitcase was lost sometime between pick up outside the stateroom and delivery outside the ship. Our other luggage was there, just the one suitcase was missing. I've left messages with LAX Police lost and found in case someone did pick it up by mistake and took it to the airport, but they have not returned my call. Thanks again.
Hi sjn, Welcome aboard. Sorry to hear about your luggage. Hopefully, you'll have the luck we did. I forgot one of our bags (ok, I'm getting old) in Port Everglades. I called the cruise line that evening as well as the port. They had found it and returned it to me within 3 days. On the paperwork they gave you, the day you disembarked, there should have been a phone number for you to call. It was also on our travel documents, back when they sent real ticket packets. I do hope you called the port. It really helped and I guess we were lucky. Hang in there and make sure they can get in touch with you.
Look on the Patter that they left in your room for the last day, the one with the color tags and times for departure, and the lounges. It should be on the front or back of that one. It will be in bold print, it says important phone numbers. If you have a ticket package, it is in there as well, but you have to search for it. Best wishes!
So sorry to hear about your luggage. I do hope you find the missing piece. But I wouldn't count on PRINCESS to help out too much. Their customer/ guest relations is not very good. I don't know why PRINCESS would tell you to wait 5 days before filing a claim????? It appears that they lost the piece and are just hoping that it shows up someplace. They don't want to actually "do" something now because that would require that someone at their offices actually do something to assist. If it was outside your room when you went to bed and not at the port when you arrived, chances are it is still on the boat somewhere. I hope PRINCESS finds it for you soon. It must be a helpless feeling knowing that no one at the cruiseline will assist you. Best of luck.
Hi sjn, and welcome to cruise-chat.com. I am sorry that your first post was on the topic of lost luggage, and hope that it is found soon.
Same thing happened to my in-laws years ago, andit was returned to them. (Different line -- someone else had taken their bag mistakenly and contacted the cruise line as to how to return it.)
Penny's advice is excellent. Do you have the paperwork Penny noted? If not, perhaps someone who disembarked in LA (San Pedro?) recently can share it with you.
I HAVE CONTACTED PORT GROUND SERVICE ONLY TO GET A VOICEMAIL. NO RETURN CALL OF COURSE. PRINCESS HAS INFORMED ME TO WAIT FOUR WEEKS TO CONTACT THEM (AFTER RETURNING ANOTHER LOST LUGGAGE FORM). ACCORDING TO THE FORM, I AM RESPONSIBLE FOR THE CHARGES TO RETURN MY LUGGAGE IF IT IS FOUND.I WONDER HOW MUCH IT WILL COST TO SHIP A 48# BAG THAT I DIDN'T LOSE IN THE FIRST PLACE.
Good outside travel insurance won't take away the frustration of lost baggage. It will allow you to be reimbursed for the lost luggage, shipping costs and other expenses you may occur from travel mishaps like this. Good insurance is more than cancellation protection, it will cover this sort of thing (that happens all to often) as well.
I'm very sorry that you're going through this mess sjn. I hope in the long run they find and return your luggage in the condition you left it.
sjn, if you called at 9:33 am east coast time, they may not have been open, since I am assuming you disembarked in either Los Angeles or San Diego. I, too, had to wait for a call to be returned, but they did. I can't remember how I paid the shipping charge, but it wasn't very much, around $20, which to me was well worth it. I had a dress that my hubby had just bought for me in my suitcase as well as a pants suit he bought. I know it's frustrating, and I understand it's not your fault, just try to keep the faith and be as pleasant as you can be. I was ready to drive back down because I couldn't get ahold of anyone, but they did call. When they did, they had good news. As Neil states, if you have insurance, it will cover some of your loss. I believe home owner's insurance will cover some of it as well. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for you.
Originally posted by penny3333: Hi sjn, Welcome aboard. Sorry to hear about your luggage. Hopefully, you'll have the luck we did. I forgot one of our bags (ok, I'm getting old) in Port Everglades. I called the cruise line that evening as well as the port. They had found it and returned it to me within 3 days. On the paperwork they gave you, the day you disembarked, there should have been a phone number for you to call. It was also on our travel documents, back when they sent real ticket packets. I do hope you called the port. It really helped and I guess we were lucky. Hang in there and make sure they can get in touch with you.
HUM, Our ship was held at sea once thrying to get to home Port. The reason, we heard later, was someone had left a suitcase in the terminal and they were treating it as a bomb. Could that have been you? haha
Just curious as to whether PRINCESS has come forward to assist in any way at all? It seems that this would ultimately be PRINCESS' responsibility to take care of in some manner or at least to start looking for it.
familycruisin, You won't like the response from the cruiselines when issues like this occur. Ever seen the disclaimers you agree to when you get your docs? They pretty much deny responsibility for anything and everything that may go wrong. Don't be surprised if the cruiseline blames the Port Authority workers and vice versa. If there were a transfer company in play there would be three sets of fingers pointing in a circle. The truth is there is no way to know who is responsible in lost luggage situations. You have airlines, port workers, ship staff, transfer drivers and then you have bags being left both in the hallway at the end of a cruise that are accessible to everyone on the ship. In addition you have an honor system with all the bags on the floor on the cruise terminal that you go and claim your bags from as you approach the Customs stations. Sometimes you can determine when they disappeared and eliminate some of the links in this chain but that still leaves several posibilities as to what happened. None of the parties will ever claim the blame and they have legal disclaimers to back their denials.
It's not pretty but it's the way things are, they pay good lawyers to protect their interest with their policies and contracts that they require you to accept in order to cruise. It is almost always the passengers responsibility in the end to insure against loss. Without such insurance you're left with hoping for some good luck or eating the loss.
I called the port in the afternoon on Thurs. but I still haven't heard from them. I'll try again on Monday. I was wondering how long you had to wait before they returned your call?
quote:
Originally posted by penny3333: sjn, if you called at 9:33 am east coast time, they may not have been open, since I am assuming you disembarked in either Los Angeles or San Diego. I, too, had to wait for a call to be returned, but they did. I can't remember how I paid the shipping charge, but it wasn't very much, around $20, which to me was well worth it. I had a dress that my hubby had just bought for me in my suitcase as well as a pants suit he bought. I know it's frustrating, and I understand it's not your fault, just try to keep the faith and be as pleasant as you can be. I was ready to drive back down because I couldn't get ahold of anyone, but they did call. When they did, they had good news. As Neil states, if you have insurance, it will cover some of your loss. I believe home owner's insurance will cover some of it as well. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for you.
I called around 7:30pm on Saturday night. I received my first call at 9:00am on Monday morning. My suitcase was home the next day. They sent it DHL. I never did hear from the Port Authority, just the Princess reps in Ft. Lauderdale.
Just wanted to let you know my suitcase was returned to me last Friday. I was not aware that it had been located as Princess never called to inform me. I'm just glad I was home when DHL came to deliver it!!!! Thank you for your help and suggestions. sjn
