Luggage damaged

[bluzchick]

Has anyone else out there had their luggage damaged by Carnival? It made it to the airport in SJ, the hotel, and to the pier unharmed. By the the time it arrived to our cabin, we had one large suitcase that had the bottom torn..you could see through it and another had the metal frame completely bent inward(the first damaged had this also). Obviously they had been dropped, perhaps off of the forklift which we saw happening as we were waiting.

 

I did buy insurance through Carnival but I think I read somewhere you had to have your original receipt for the luggage?!?! Seriously?? My hairdryer and curling iron were also damaged...plastic pieces busted right off of both of them.

[LHP]

You should not need the original receipt.

 

Just a copy of the complaint form you filled out at Guest Services when you let them know about the damage.

 

Your travel insurance will probably tell you to file it with your homeowners insurance first before they will pay....

[Rena921]

Not personally, but I have heard of luggage being dropped in the bay....

[bankerbabe]

We've had luggage damaged by the airlines, and luggage damaged by cruise ships. It happens, unfortunately. We've never bothered to file with our insurance because the fine print always says that you have to keep your original receipt, and I've never had them available.

 

On our last trip, my husband took a brand new Sampsonite four-wheeled suitcase. By the time they were done with it (I don't remember if that one was the cruise ship or the airport) it was a two wheeled suitcase. Bummer.

 

Good thing we buy our luggage at Ross Dress for Less - it's much cheaper but still Sampsonite.

[norcal2]

We had our largest bag damaged. It came to the cabin with the zipper broken although you could not tell how badly until you tried to fully unzip it. We called downstairs and they picked it up and tried to fix it but at best it was a very temporary fix. I know they had a tough time with it due to the jamming. We knew the case was fine so assumed our suitcase was one that was checked by security.

 

Truthfully for us it was easier to just buy a new set as the prices had come way down and we wanted more versatile luggage that we could pack for any kind of trip with the airline restrictions. Good luck to you on getting repairs or whatever is necessary but for us the mended zipper got us home but in reality even if they fixed it, it would be less sturdy. How old was your luggage? Ours was about 3 or 4 years old and already outdated by airline restrictions. They would not have replaced our old set with a new set I doubt but in any case for us, buying a great set was a good thing. Lemonade out of lemons I guess. ;)

[bluzchick]

Thanks!

I am not filing with homeowners that is for sure and I was pretty sure I had to have the receipt..crooks!

 

It wasn't expensive luggage and the duct tape I brought came in handy..thanks CC!

[norcal2]

Thanks!

I am not filing with homeowners that is for sure and I was pretty sure I had to have the receipt..crooks!

 

It wasn't expensive luggage and the duct tape I brought came in handy..thanks CC!

 

I feel your pain though as it is upsetting at the time. By the way it kind of worked out good for us because Costco had a sale on a major brand of luggage that was twice as nice as what we had for half the amount. We bought 2 sets that fit todays flying much better. It is the lightest set we have ever had.

 

Still, it was a pain seeing that bag zipper and hoping the contents were secure enough to stay put until we got home. I would not have gone with homeowner's insurance either...they know where we live when they decide to raise the insurance cost on us.

 

A toast to duct tape! :D

[Ken076]

Thanks!

I am not filing with homeowners that is for sure and I was pretty sure I had to have the receipt..crooks!

 

It wasn't expensive luggage and the duct tape I brought came in handy..thanks CC!

 

If you go the Carnival Insurance route, the text toward the end of the constract indicates the need for receipts for a baggage claim - but nothing stops you from filing a claim with an ad or price tag of the same item in a local store to substantiate the amount of your claim.

 

Hopefully you filed a "claim" on the ship and have a copy - you can probably get (up to) $50 max via a claim based on Section 4 of the Cruise Contract.

 

If you paid for the cruise with a Credit Card, you might check the Credit Card's Trip Insurance benefits (usually pretty minimal) for lost/damaged luggage.

 

ken

[zqvol]

Keep in mind that until the luggage is actually on the ship, it is not in Carnival's control or possession, it is in the possession of the port. That doesn't make what happened right or any less painful, but it is very unlikely that carnival damaged the luggage, the stevedores who work for the port probably did it.

[Ken076]

Keep in mind that until the luggage is actually on the ship, it is not in Carnival's control or possession, it is in the possession of the port. That doesn't make what happened right or any less painful, but it is very unlikely that carnival damaged the luggage, the stevedores who work for the port probably did it.

 

Which kind of raises the points, what good IS lost/damaged luggage insurance coverage

 

(1) for "my luggage arrived at my cabin damaged" or "my luggage wasn't at the pick-up when I got off the ship" and

 

(2) if you don't keep a file of receipts for luggage and contents (I at least photograph the luggage opened before we leave).

 

ken

[McDebbie]

We had fellow CC cruisers who had their luggage damaged by the cruise line for sure as we drove to the port and dropped it off with the porters. By the second port day they had new luggage delived to their room. It was two (matching) smaller bags rather than their large bag but they were okay with that. This was in 2008 so not sure if that makes a difference in their policies. They went right to Guest Services as soon as their luggage was delivered to the room. No insurance claims, nothing, just new bags.

[misguidedangel]

The luggage I just threw away two weeks ago went through 10 cruises. They were on their last legs and intended to replace them. Well, the baggage handlers at the port were good and nice to the luggage, NOT so for the baggage handlers at the airport coming home on my connecting fligt from Toronto.....ya, well they were still in OK shape, but not after that flight. I vaguely remember the other words I muttered, but "Oh f-ck" came out of my mouth twice--as each piece came out of the back area and into the waiting area to pick up our bags.........

 

I bought brand new Heys hardcase spinner luggage and will NOT have any problems locating my luggage...I could probably find it 100 feet or more away....no, it's bright n colorful and if anything happens to it, well they don't sell the pieces individually, no, only sold in sets of 3 and they have a high retail store price, but I bought online direct with Heys so it was almost 50% price difference than in a retail store....

[CRUISE2062]

We had one piece damaged last February on the Carnival Dream. The extension handle and that area of the luggage was torn to pieces! We went to the pursers desk and was only asked if we wanted to pick up a replacement while in St. Thomas or should they. We didn't want to spend the day looking for luggage so we had them do it. It was similar to the damaged piece and we have been quite satisfied with their selection. Don't remember having to fill out any paperwork!

[MDSue]

I personaly haven't had luggage damaged by Carnival but have had a few experiences with damaged luggage with airlines and another cruiseline. Last year, my sister bought a large and very cheap rolling suitcase for our cruise. When it arrived in our stateroom, the plastic legs that held up the luggage (opposite the wheels) was broken and the suitcase wouldn't stand up because of the damage. My first thought was that her luggage had extremely cheap plastic on the bottom and it wouldn't take very rough handling to break it. She did let the pursers desk know that the luggage arrived in our cabin broken. The room steward came and picked up the suitcase and they did a great job repairing it the best they could. Lesson learned for my sister was that you get what you pay for. She's bought sturdier luggage for the next trip.

I bought an nice piece of luggage that was very sturdy and durable for my cruising. On the last night of my cruise, I could not get the handle to go down. No matter how hard I tried, the handle would not go back in place. It was checked into the airport with the stuck handle. When I reached my home destination, the luggage did not arrive. It remained lost for nine days, and when I finally got it back, the handle was completely sheared off. I flew through Miami that day and I'd heard that thousands of bags were mishandled that day for some unknown reason. I often wondered if my suitcase with it's stuck handle got hung up somehwere and caused a major jam.

Anyway, I had bought the suitcase less than a year before at a local major department store. I took it back to them and showed them the sheared handle and explained what happened. It was gauranteed and they replaced the suitcase free of charge. lesson learned here- even good luggage goes bad sometimes, but it stands a much better chance of standing up to the abuse it gets from luggage handlers.

[Marie51]

Thanks!

I am not filing with homeowners that is for sure and I was pretty sure I had to have the receipt..crooks!

 

It wasn't expensive luggage and the duct tape I brought came in handy..thanks CC!

 

When my luggage was damaged I had travel insurance I bought through insuremytrip. I no longer had the original receipt so they told me to just fill out the claim form.......it was easy but they did require a letter from my homeowners insurance stating that they will not cover luggage (as mine did not).

[bythehex]

Has anyone else out there had their luggage damaged by Carnival? It made it to the airport in SJ, the hotel, and to the pier unharmed. By the the time it arrived to our cabin, we had one large suitcase that had the bottom torn..you could see through it and another had the metal frame completely bent inward(the first damaged had this also). Obviously they had been dropped, perhaps off of the forklift which we saw happening as we were waiting.

 

I did buy insurance through Carnival but I think I read somewhere you had to have your original receipt for the luggage?!?! Seriously?? My hairdryer and curling iron were also damaged...plastic pieces busted right off of both of them.

 

I had luggage damaged on a Carnival cruise. It was the first time we'd used the bag and one of the wheels on the bottom was broken off and part of the corner of the bag was crushed. We reported it to guest services and they gave us a claim letter, and told us to write to Carnival, enclose a copy of their claim letter and a receipt for a new piece of luggage or for repair of the old one. We opted for a replacement of the same piece that was damaged, sent in the receipt along with the claim form, and Carnival reimbursed us for the cost of the luggage.

 

I'm sure Carnival deal with this type of situation all the time, and it was a very smooth process.

[kicia]

We had a suitcase that was damaged somewhere between dropping it off at the pier and being delivered to our cabin on our 2007 Med cruise on the Carnival Freedom. The zipper would not open and it was fine that morning when we left our apartment in Rome. Maintenance took the case and tried to open it but with no success. My husband took his trusty Leatherman tool and worked on it for a long time and we finally got the case opened. When we packed at the end of the trip we put our dressy clothes in that one, closed the zipper and duct taped it. It did make it home but we threw it away after we opened it again. We told Guest Services about it and they gave us a letter which we sent to Berkley Care. We did not need original receipts and the suitcase was several years old. We just had to put down what the cost was and we got a check in the mail. It worked for us.