jacketwatch

Actually this post is Bearlands first here on Fodors, its controversial and has created a bit of a stir. Personally it seems like a troll MO to me. Time to go. On to more productive and fun postings.

jacketwatch

Its also CapnC's first too. Hmmm again.

joan

Bearland, how do you know a Princess employee at the airport took possession of your bags? Did you hand them your bags? Or did you leave them on the carousel with the big Princess tag on them, assuming a Princess porter would come along and get them?

BlueSea

Joan: good questions.

Bearland: please answer them.

mireaux7

note to self: when traveling, never take more items that what i will truly need. if it pains me to see something lost or stolen, better left at home than to be gone.

soclwrkr

Your absoutely right, you had a contract with Princess and they fulfilled it. They gave you the $250.00 that they were contractually obligated to give you. If Princess gave $3800.00 to every person who claimed they had custum suits and Cole Haan shoes they would surely be out of busines. Wow! You really are into wasting miney, a lawsuit? Give me a break.

Bearland

Yes, I physically handed my bad to the Princess uniformed attendant. I wasn't given a choice to do otherwise. They took possession and did not return. Whether they stole, it fell off the dock or a passenger stole it is immaterial at this point. They took possession and did not return. Thus, they did not fullfill the contract as you imply. Its Ok, the sunshine "golly-gee" posters on here would rather talk about which line has the best buffet or ice carvings, so please proceed. Those that don't have their heads in the sand will read my "first" post and know that it was to give others a heads-up as to what could happen to them, to be aware that they need to protect themselves and know that the cruise lines don't care about you personally only their current stock price and the EBIT.
Any other questions you'd like me to answer about the robbery?

Bearland

Oh, by the way....for all you sunshiners.....Celebrity has better ice carvings and buffets! (Feel better now?)

jacketwatch

This sounds more like a vendetta than a warning and with your everpresent sarcasm including insulting those who question you its amazing you think you should be believed. I just shake my head.

patsy120

Bearland sure sounds like a troll to me....

jacketwatch

Yep. Maybe the editors should nuke this one.

soclwrkr

Those of us with common sense are partially resposible for keeping this thread going. We're giving Bearland the forum to continue his ridiculus rants. How 'bout we all ignore him and move on to more worthwhile posts.

svicious22

I understand, and mostly agree with, Bearland's position and attitude. Once that bag was handed to an employee of Princess, with no other option available, it is absolutely true that the specific fate of the bag is irrelevant.

$250 is an absurdly low amount that, in my personal opinion, constitutes bad faith on the part of Princess. While it may well be true that a bag's value cannot be reliably established in the event it is lost or stolen, $250 is a joke. The standard should be updated to reflect modern times and to give the lines greater incentive to watch after their customers' property properly.

It might also be possible the per passenger maximum is kept low by the cruise industry (and airlines) in order to encourage purchase of insurance for the excess amount. For example, on Celebrity this bag could have been fully insured for $175 ($3800 - $300 per passenger maximum liability = $3500 x 5%)-not a small sum and doubtless at a rate calcuated to be quite profitable.

Bearland, thanks for the information, it will cause me to review future arrangements with more care.

Theresa

The bags most likely were handed to Pier Employees (union employees that are hired by the pier) that work for all the cruise lines.

I have yet to see Cruise Line employees handle luggage at any pier I have been to.

joan

theresa, bearland said the luggage was handed over at the airport. He must have purchased the cruiseline transfers, because he did not see it after the airport.

I'm still waiting to find out whether he had more than that one bag, and whether his companion(?) also handed a bag over at the same time.

svicious22 has a good point - if he can prove the value, and they took responsibility, then $250 is not reasonable IMO. I didn't realize you had to pay additional premium to get full value for your bags. It is a potential moneymaker for the cruiseline insurance.

suebeme

I started a thread concerning my lost luggage but had no reply. I was reading this thread and found it interesting so am responding. I disembarked Diamond Princess on 1/17/08. I left my bag outside the stateroom door for pick up and have not seen it since. It was not outside (in port) with the rest of my luggage. I am in the process now of tyring to find it. I filled out a form at that time with a Princess rep. It's five days later and I just spoke to them on the phone. They said they mailed another form for me to fill out and after I send it back to them I should wait four weeks. If I haven't heard from them at the end of the four weeks I should call them. I can understand why Bearland is angry. The amount of items you can put in a large suitcase amounts to a lot of clothes lost whether they are designer duds or kmart. And when you have to listen to your teenage daughter whine because all the clothes she received for Xmas are gone, that makes it even worse. It's going to be a L O N G four weeks. I sure do hope this has a happy ending.

suze

I have never been on a cruise but may be taking one next year.

If I pack only one smallish suitcase can I handle it myself and keep it with me at all times? Or are you required to turn it over to the cruiselines at various points along the way?

traveller69

Hi Again Suze. Yes you can keep your suitcase with you - no problem. A lot of people do that on shorter cruises (not too many clothes to pack in). It gives you the advantage of not having to sort through the suitcases in your section when you disembark. I don't know if you are familiar with the procedure of disembarkation. They give you a questionaire as to your arrangements eg early flight out, late flight, no flight etc etc and they issue you with colour coded bag tags. When it is your turn to disembark you find you luggage in the terminal under the colour and number on your tag. If everyone in your party is carrying their bags off just answer that you have an early flight and you get priority disembarkation times so you won't miss your flight. Long explanation!! I have lost count of the number of cruises I (we) have taken but it is over 50 starting in 1975 and have never lost my luggage. The only thing that happened was our bags were broken into after an Antarctic cruise a couple of years ago but that happened at the airport in Santiago. If you have homeowners insurance your items are covered. We didn't have any problems at all being reimbursed by our insurance.

suebeme

To Suze, I would suggest packing light so you can carry your luggage off yourself and you won't have to deal with my situation (lost luggage). I only had to wait a short time to utilize the laundry room. This was my first cruise and had I known what was in store for me I would have done things differently. By the way, if you use a hair dryer you might want to take your own. The dryer in the room was not very good, it worked but didn't have much power to it. And take a hat. Cruises are not very hair friendly!!!

lperkins

If you were bringing such expensive items you should have got travel insurance. It seems like everyone whose luggage is lost all of a sudden has designer clothes and shoes.