Princess Loses Luggage
 

Author: Oldmyst
My family and I just returned from a Princess cruise to the Eastern Caribbean. When we arrived at the ship, our luggage was taken away by a porter. My 17 year old daughter never received her luggage. By 9:30 PM I went to the passenger's service and requested a t-shirt and stretchy shorts for her to sleep in. They said they could only give her a robe to sleep in. I told them that she would not be comfortable sleeping in a robe. I went back at 11:30PM and asked to speak to a supervisor, and she told me that since they have not determined if her luggage is truly lost, they could only offer her a robe and a toiletry kit, and besides the shops were closed.

All she had was the clothes on her back. Every night she had to put her denim skirt and tank top out for cleaning, and wear it again. One morning we put it out early, expecting it back by 5:30PM. They couldn't find her clothes. She sat in the room waiting until almost 7PM (dinner was at 6PM) for her clothes and finally came to the dining room in shorts and a tank top. Her laundered clothes arrived after dinner.

By the second day they had offered her $50 shipboard credit, the third day it went to $100, then $200 on the fourth day.

I went constantly to passenger services to check on the status of her lost luggage and was immensely frustrated with them. They refused to put a letter in people's mail asking them to check among their luggage to see if her's was in their cabin, and they wouldn't make an annoucement over the PA.

I went to a shop and bought her a bathing suit for $148, fruit of the loom briefs (they don't carry bikini styles and my teenage daughter was horrified) for $10 and Princess shorts for $28. They didn't have anything a young woman would wear. They said they had formal wear for her, (because she didn't have anything for the Captain's dinner) but it turned out to be polyester stretch waistband pants and a polyester short sleeve top. It looked like a uniform a service person would wear. My daughter refused it and was in tears in the cabin.

My husband and I were incredibly stressed, and were not enjoying ourselves. I finally had enough, and insisted on speaking to the Captain. They instead made me an appointment with the Pursor. They offered us $500 in cash because there was little to buy on ship. We had made a list of what she packed and figured it came to about $1,500 at the very least.

On our first port stop, St. Thomas, I spent the day looking for things like bras, underwear, a dress, etc. It was almost impossible to find the kind of clothes a teenager would wear in St.Thomas. Our day in St. Thomas was ruined, and we weren't able to buy all the things she truly needed. Since the next day was St. Maarten, and we had already booked an excursion, we therefore had no time to shop. We were then back to sea and the last stop was the Princess Cays.

To make a long story short, on the very last day of the cruise, in the late afternoon, her luggage was found. I was given two different stories. Passenger services told me it was found abandoned on a different floor. The second story we heard was that a family directly on the other side of the ship had it. What bothers me is that we were told the stewards were doing a room by room search for her luggage. Obviously they weren't doing a thorough job.

It was not a very enjoyable vacation.

What a nightmare!
It seems that if another family had YOUR luggage they would have turned it in. Why would they keep it? I can't imagine they didn't notice they had a bag that didn't belong to them.
That explanation sure sounds fishy!

P.S. Be sure to cross pack for all trips!

This must have been very upsetting, but it sounds like you waited several days before you purchased some clothing for your daughter. How many days were you at sea?

I would have bought things in the ship's shops first (they always have bathing suits & casual wear); and then shopped at the first port. You resolve the cost later on & salvage your vacation that way. My husband's luggage was lost once when we arrived at a resort destination & he had to wear jeans to a first night cocktail party. We had already decided that if his luggage was not found the same night, next day was a shopping day.

There's not much you can do about this now, but anyone in a similar situation can---and should---ask for some sort of cash or ship credit to buy replacement clothing, and the line will usually offer something, though I think $50 is probably about par for the course for the first day. If you have travel insurance (always a good idea), it will usually cover the cost of some replacement clothing---just save receipts.

Losing luggage is always an unfortunate situation, but it does happen---particularly the larger ships---though certainly not as often as on an airplane. This is one reason why you should always pack a few things in your carry-on. (I'll confess that I don't really believe in cross-packing, but including clothing in your carry-on is always a good idea.)

The most important thing to remember is not to get all stressed out. I know that's easier said that done ... especially with a teenager.

For the benefit of other cruisers in a similar situation, if your first port call is in St. Thomas or San Juan, you're usually in luck because both islands have Kmart, where you can pick up a few basics for the same price as back home. Both islands also have good malls with a variety of clothing stores. The best thing to take a quick taxi ride away from the duty-free mall at the cruise-ship pier (unless you want to buy some discount designer clothing) and to the mall where island locals shop. That way, you can do all your shopping in an hour or two and not spend a fortune.

I know this doesn't help you much now, but it always helps to have enough clothing to least a day without your luggage in case something happens.

What a shame! Cross packing is always key in our household.

Once I was travelling with a single lady friend in the Mediterranean and her luggage didn't make it (it had to do with an airline connection) and she had to go 3 days and nights before it arrived at a major port. The cruise line was wonderful (RSSC) and brought her 2 full racks of clothes to choose from (clothes left on board by previous passengers that were all laundered and pressed...more like going shopping in a department store). She chose various outfits to hold her over for a few days. Luckily, she just rolled with the punches and made the best of it all without stressing. Next time you cruise, just remember to cross pack just in case!

Good ideas everyone. I guess I should have cross-packed, but I have never done that. I did wait two days to buy because I was led to believe it would turn up soon, and they told me they were thoroughly searching every cabin. My daughter borrowed some things from me and my other daughter for the first two days. Then I got fed up and used the shipboard credit. There aren't a lot of great things a teenager would want to wear from their stores. The $200 didn't buy much. I had never been to St. Thomas and didn't know there was a Kmart until we got back. No one on Princess gave us any guidance for shopping.

Doug, your advice is right on the mark. Unfortunately, this was our first cruise, and everything was new to us. I am sorry I let the situation get to me. I just assumed that a big outfit like Princess would have been more accommodating and helpful.

We left on a Saturday afternoon and got to St. Thomas on a Tuesday. That was our only shopping day. The highlight was when my daughter got back to the ship and dressed for dinner. She was wearing a new beautiful dress and got lots of compliments. It surely made her feel good.

Alas, we will never know if the luggage was truly found on another floor and then delivered to a cabin 432 instead of 431 or if it was all along in cabin 432 and the family was clueless. Hard to believe in such small rooms.

Thanks for all your comments and advice.

Cross packing is very important.

Also - did you have cruise insurance? That would have helped as I believe they provide funds for buying clothes, necessities.

This happens on all cruise lines, unfortunately. I don't think any other line mass line would have handled things differently.

what a dilema--I want to make a comment about cross packing. My husband and I did this one time while flying and wouldn't you know--they lost both our bags. We did get them back the day before we were to fly back home--just in time to recheck them. Still cross packing is a good idea especially now that we may not be able to carry much on anymore.