Carnival destroys our luggage again

[pbsteve]

Bored at work... so I was reading carnivals FAQs. Just thought everyone would like to know the porters are NOT carnival employees, but outside companies hired by the port, not the cruiseline. So it may not be carnival destroying your luggage, but hr the port porters

[andy.capitan]

My bet is still before it got on the ship. Besides the porters, there are the luggage eating conveyer belts to the x-ray machines. I'm sure no passenger ever overstuffed a bag and sat on it to close it.

[pbsteve]

My bet is still before it got on the ship. Besides the porters, there are the luggage eating conveyer belts to the x-ray machines. I'm sure no passenger ever overstuffed a bag and sat on it to close it.

 

At the same time, the bags are loaded in big containers, and rolled on ship, bags that are stuck on the sides of the container may rub against the hull of the ship when going in.

[antique sailor]

AHOY SHIPMATES

 

As you can SEA we tend to cruise a LOT. Long cruises require a lot of large suitcases and the pier personnel are really rough on the bags. The heavier they are the worse they treat them The ships crew are a bit more careful. On Holland America they have a repair shop (free) and fix things enough to get you home. They dont replace wheels/castors tho, I'm a handy man and replace wheels when lost by getting small 1" wheels at hardware store. When they break handles I replace with pieces of old leather belts and rivet them on or

use small bolts/nuts w lock washers. For fast retrieval at customs area I have painted large palm trees on each side of bags. dont need to be an artist to paint a tree, then spray it with polteurethane varnish (waterproof and lasts the life of the bag

For the short Carnival trips WE use duffle bags with wheels. REMEMBER they must be small enough to fit thru xray and always debark early in unassisted class.

[clackey]

We never had a problem on 5 cruises when we drove to the departure ports. When we started flying to Miami is when our luggage got torn to pieces. I would wager that the baggage handlers have a bet on who could throw the luggage the highest. It is like, "Watch this. A 2 and a half gainer with a half twist.":eek:

[blondietink]

We flew to Hawaii last year with 2 plane changes and 2 inter island flights. Our JCPenney and Target luggage held up fine.

 

Went on Carnival cruise in January. Drove to the port. Target luggage was dented something fierce when we got on the ship and when we got off was dented worse and the cloth was ripped in addition. JCPenney luggage is still fine. Go figure.

 

Take duct tape just in case.

[losijon]

Probably mostly the airlines. One time when I flew into Phoenix I literally watched the guys unloading the luggage throw it like a sack of potatoes about 15 feet into the cart. (Was a small plane so they could only get so close) saw several pieces of luggage not make the cart and fall and hit the Tarmac. A couple of them busted open with clothes everywhere. They just scooped the clothes up, shoved them back in the suitcase and set the piece on the cart. The luggage was apparently damaged so badly they couldn't close it or just didn't care.

 

 

.....................................................

Carnival Pride 7 day Mexican Riviera: September 2008

 

Carnival Inspiration 4 day Mexican Riviera: September 2013

 

Carnival Miracle 15 day Hawaii: coming October 2015

[misguidedangel]

Carnival is not responsible for damaging the luggage. The porters who take your bags work for the port, not Carnival. True, Carnival pays a port fee and the porters are part of the deal.

 

If in doubt, get cheap cancellation insurance that includes damaged luggage and deal with insurance for that. I have had my Heys luggage and used it on four cruises including air transportation, one two connection air travel, and my niece has used my luggage three times since 2011 and besides a few scuffs, it is in excellent condition.

 

Carnival is nice in giving you something when they know their own staff only load/unload the luggage when it is loaded onto the ship.

 

Perhaps, if you can. Take two rolling carry ons and two small travel bags that can all go through the scanners. You have free laundry.....

 

It is a thought....

[Disconnections]

Carnival is not responsible for damaging the luggage. The porters who take your bags work for the port, not Carnival. True, Carnival pays a port fee and the porters are part of the deal.

 

If in doubt, get cheap cancellation insurance that includes damaged luggage and deal with insurance for that. I have had my Heys luggage and used it on four cruises including air transportation, one two connection air travel, and my niece has used my luggage three times since 2011 and besides a few scuffs, it is in excellent condition.

 

Carnival is nice in giving you something when they know their own staff only load/unload the luggage when it is loaded onto the ship.

 

Perhaps, if you can. Take two rolling carry ons and two small travel bags that can all go through the scanners. You have free laundry.....

 

It is a thought....

 

Carnival Cruise Lines has as much of a probability as the third party operating participant. The operating participant hands over the luggage cases to Carnival for Carnival's associates to deliver. On the night prior to disembarkation day, Carnival's associates throw the luggage in the cage just as the porters did when you gave them the luggage.

[golfadj]

Carnival is not responsible for damaging the luggage. The porters who take your bags work for the port, not Carnival. True, Carnival pays a port fee and the porters are part of the deal.

 

If in doubt, get cheap cancellation insurance that includes damaged luggage and deal with insurance for that. I have had my Heys luggage and used it on four cruises including air transportation, one two connection air travel, and my niece has used my luggage three times since 2011 and besides a few scuffs, it is in excellent condition.

 

Carnival is nice in giving you something when they know their own staff only load/unload the luggage when it is loaded onto the ship.

 

Perhaps, if you can. Take two rolling carry ons and two small travel bags that can all go through the scanners. You have free laundry.....

 

It is a thought....

 

Have to disagree with you. Luggage is handed to porter who will carry it all of about 10 ft and put it into a rolling cage. Than the Carnival people take it.

 

99% it was Carnival people who destroyed our luggage.

[golfadj]

We purchased a rolling duffel with recessed wheels from bed bath and beyond. Our next cruise is end of August and will be interested to see how this one survives.

 

Also submitted the bill to Carnival with letter from guest services and hopefully Carnival will make good on their damage.

[DocF]

The wheels on bags are a weak spot, no doubt. As has been said elsewhere, the wheels of spinner bags are especially exposed to damage. They do work well on smaller airplanes that do not use luggage "cans" as the baggage smashers simply shove them to one and other rather than throwing them. So you get to pick which weak point you will tolerate.

 

I no longer buy soft side bags. We use the thermoplastic bags and have had them survive half a dozen cruises and two trips to Europe and four to Honolulu.

 

Buy mid line bags - the wheels are much better than on the low-end bags. I see no value in buying expensive luggage as it gets just a beat up as any other.

[golfadj]

Thought an update was in order.

 

The good news is we purchased a rolling duffel which Carnival paid for.

 

The bad news

 

We returned from cruise on the Conquest. To prevent problems I brought the rolling duffel to our cabin ourselves and we did self assist debarkation.

 

Even with all that by the time we got home last Sunday there was a rip in the fabric of the duffel.

 

We returned it to the store we purchased it from and will shortly purchase a heavy duty duffel at Sams. This luggage stuff aint easy.

 

Next cruise has us flying so lot of handling will be going on.

[RDC1]

Thought an update was in order.

 

The good news is we purchased a rolling duffel which Carnival paid for.

 

The bad news

 

We returned from cruise on the Conquest. To prevent problems I brought the rolling duffel to our cabin ourselves and we did self assist debarkation.

 

Even with all that by the time we got home last Sunday there was a rip in the fabric of the duffel.

 

We returned it to the store we purchased it from and will shortly purchase a heavy duty duffel at Sams. This luggage stuff aint easy.

 

Next cruise has us flying so lot of handling will be going on.

 

I have had very good luck with rolling duffels from FUL.

[beamqueen]

I'm wondering if maybe we should take our cheap luggage if so many people have had issues. My DH is an airline pilot so he has very expensive/nice luggage and I definitely do not want to have to purchase that again!!

[travler27]

I love that Goodwill luggage. I don't lose any sleep over damage to that stuff.

[SadieN]

I love that Goodwill luggage. I don't lose any sleep over damage to that stuff.

 

 

DD is studying in Rome and needed a second bag. Got a late '80s brown tweed Jordache with the puny wheels for $5 at Goodwill. Still works great after many trips back and forth.

Edited September 15, 2014 by SadieN

[golfadj]

i have had very good luck with rolling duffels from ful.

 

ful?????

[PAPERBKWRITER]

Between the airlines and cruise lines I figure 10 trips is a wipe out. Just bought some new stuff for this weeks cruise. I find the better quality luggage last a lot longer. We've got some old Samsonite that takes a licking but it is heavy. Hope the new Samsonite holds up as well. Walmart suitcases, if you fly or if they are handled by porters you'll be looking for new bags after 1 trip.

[soccersharon]

Between the airlines and cruise lines I figure 10 trips is a wipe out. Just bought some new stuff for this weeks cruise. I find the better quality luggage last a lot longer. We've got some old Samsonite that takes a licking but it is heavy. Hope the new Samsonite holds up as well. Walmart suitcases, if you fly or if they are handled by porters you'll be looking for new bags after 1 trip.

 

My cheapo Wal-Mart suitcases have endured 4 cruises and 2 land vacations :) Guess I've been pretty lucky!

 

Sent from my phone. Typos are inevitable.

[meanjean80]

Never realized how lucky I was. I've had the same Eddie Bauer wheeled bag (hard bottom compartment/canvas duffle top) that's been with me for all but my first two cruises, plus five trips to Europe, a Las Vegas run, two Hawaii trips and a couple of Christmases...no damage other then some wear and tear on one of the ends. Too bad I can't clone it, I could apparently make a killing!

[golfadj]

Never realized how lucky I was. I've had the same Eddie Bauer wheeled bag (hard bottom compartment/canvas duffle top) that's been with me for all but my first two cruises, plus five trips to Europe, a Las Vegas run, two Hawaii trips and a couple of Christmases...no damage other then some wear and tear on one of the ends. Too bad I can't clone it, I could apparently make a killing!

 

You sure have gotten your moneysworth.:)

[sharona211]

My cheap luggage set is 13 years old and has been on at least 50 flights, 2 cruises, bus trips and dozens of road trips. It's been dragged up stairs, dropped, kicked over, lost for 2 days, handled by hundreds of porters/bellmen and loaned out to family members a bunch of times. I guess we've been lucky. It doesn't look new but it's not really damaged except for the zipper pulls on a few pockets being replaced with whatever we have on hand. I can't recall the brand but it's not anything I'd heard of before, just something on sale at Macys when we were planning a big trip.

 

I do use duct tape but not for repairs, I use it to mark our black bags so we can find them and so no one else takes them in error. If you see an old black upright with a stripe of Superman or Hello Kitty duct tape circling the carousel, come on over and say hi!

[BenjiRodney]

Sorry to hear that, with Carnival never had an issue, US Airways is another story.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Edited September 15, 2014 by BenjiRodney

[CRUISE2062]

We were on the Glory about 5 years ago or so and when we received one of our pieces of luggage, it was very obvious that a fork lift tine had ripped through one of our bags. I went to guest services and they immediately told me that either we or they could find a replacement bag in St. Thomas. We let them shop for it so we didn't have to waste our time. By the time we got back on the ship, it was in our stateroom! That has been the one and only luggage problem in 12-13 cruises.