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Luggage dropped into the water in Miami - 17 Nov 2014

rajones007

By rajones007,
in Norwegian Cruise Line

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TX_Atlantis_Cruiser

TX_Atlantis_Cruiser

Posted
Posted

Having gotten off of flights and retrieved luggage that had been on the tarmac in the rain, I usually pack my clothes in the big "vacuum" bags where you pack them, zip seal them and vacuum out the air. Since I never have a vacuum, I buy the "dual use" ones which you can manually push the air out of (yeah, I just lay on them usually LOL). These keep everything dry, help with fitting everything into a suitcase, and since I sort stuff into different bags, I can just go to the bag that has Tshirts for instance and find what I want.

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sweetpea143

sweetpea143

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WOW! We live in Miami and have cruised with our son over 14 years, from Miami, Port Everglades and Port Canaveral...just to mention the Florida departure ports only (cruise lines were HAL, NCL and Disney...with our last FL. departure cruise being Disney Fantasy 2 years ago and our next 2 being NCL over New Years from Miami and Spring Break from Tampa). We were not on board or one of those unlucky passengers on the sailing you reference, but we are so pleased that you shared what you observed and that CC actually allowed it to remain published! My last review (July 2014 Celebrity Greece/Rome/Turkey) was locked without explanation and it took me a month of emails to get it unlocked and I was told that CC doesn't have to explain anything they do even when locking your posted opinion without explanation. And after a month when it was unlocked, no one cared about an old review. So...thank you for sharing what you observed and congrats that CC allowed a critical review to remain since it really helps the CC community and not the cruise industry that CC is evidently beholden to! Bravo!!!!

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clmom

clmom

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I just read about this happening on a Princess ship. Wow..bad day at the docks! The "drowned" luggage arrived in the passenger's cabin in big plastic bags. They got free "express laundry" for their belongings and they are in the process of filing a claim for reimbursement of damaged articles.

Another reason I always pack in zip lock bags!!

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GoofyCrew

GoofyCrew

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And here I was bummed to find out that we couldn't do laundry onboard! :p

 

Stuff happens. While it would really stink, I agree that it is still better than never seeing your stuff again. I am sure they laundered everything and replaced/reimbursed for things that couldn't be fixed. Electronics...augh...

 

I am glad we are rolling our own luggage on/off. If anything goes in the water it will likely be our DS fault... ;)

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Rochesterboatingdotcom

Rochesterboatingdotcom

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On our last Carnival cruise, the porter delivered my wife's suitcase to the wrong room, and the perps in that room must have been intoxicated the whole cruise, as they held on to it until debarkation. No clothes for a week! We did end up buying some new clothes for her in St Thomas, but it basically ruined the whole cruise for her.

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calex

calex

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We were aboard the Norwegian Star on November 17th out of Miami. My suitcase was delivered to our cabin, but not my DW's suitcase. I joked that she must have hidden something in it and she would be called to the naughty room for a secondary security screening. After the mandatory safety drill, we returned to the cabin to find a message on the phone asking Aileen to call guest services. They explained there was a mishap with a luggage cart during loading and that her suitcase had fallen into the water and was recovered by the divers.

 

She was instructed to meet house keeping staff on deck 4 to inventory all items in her suitcase. A list was made of every item. All clothing was either laundered or dry cleaned and returned to the stateroom closet on the afternoon of the second day. It was all pressed and hung on hangers. The dry suitcase and three pairs of dry shoes of showed up on the third day. Only her favorite pair of 12 year old tennis shoes showed any discoloration.

 

I was pleasantly surprised at the professionalism exhibited by the Star's guest service and housekeeping staff during this unfortunate incident that was not the fault of anyone left cleaning up the mess. Hotel Director Hugo Vanosmael's staff did a real good job trying to make it right for the passengers involved. Aileen did not have any shoes other than the uncomfortable pair she wore onto the ship. Guest Service staff told her to go pick out a pair of comfortable shoes from the gift shop and they would reimburse the expense (which they did). They also made a few goodwill gestures by sending a plate of chocolate covered strawberries and a bottle of wine to our stateroom; and treated us to dinner in Cagney's one night.

 

It was interesting to note the on-board staff made it clear that these gestures on board were goodwill in nature, and any compensation for loses would be made by corporate in Miami... now we are waiting for the Miami Corporate staff to follow up (I'll update the thread with the response we receive from corporate in Miami if they follow up as professionally as the incident was managed on-board by Hugo's staff).

 

From the facts I gathered on-board, 12 passengers were affected and at least one passenger had a CPAP machine destroyed in the water. Sure hope they got his CPAP replaced promptly. One night without your CPAP is living hell for those of us with sleep apnea.

Edited by calex
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Love my butler

Love my butler

Posted
Posted
We were aboard the Norwegian Star on November 17th out of Miami. My suitcase was delivered to our cabin, but not my DW's suitcase. I joked that she must have hidden something in it and she would be called to the naughty room for a secondary security screening. After the mandatory safety drill, we returned to the cabin to find a message on the phone asking Aileen to call guest services. They explained there was a mishap with a luggage cart during loading and that her suitcase had fallen into the water and was recovered by the divers.

 

She was instructed to meet house keeping staff on deck 4 to inventory all items in her suitcase. A list was made of every item. All clothing was either laundered or dry cleaned and returned to the stateroom closet on the afternoon of the second day. It was all pressed and hung on hangers. The dry suitcase and three pairs of dry shoes of showed up on the third day. Only her favorite pair of 12 year old tennis shoes showed any discoloration.

 

I was pleasantly surprised at the professionalism exhibited by the Star's guest service and housekeeping staff during this unfortunate incident that was not the fault of anyone left cleaning up the mess. Hotel Director Hugo Vanosmael's staff did a real good job trying to make it right for the passengers involved. Aileen did not have any shoes other than the uncomfortable pair she wore onto the ship. Guest Service staff told her to go pick out a pair of comfortable shoes from the gift shop and they would reimburse the expense (which they did). They also made a few goodwill gestures by sending a plate of chocolate covered strawberries and a bottle of wine to our stateroom; and treated us to dinner in Cagney's one night.

 

It was interesting to note the on-board staff made it clear that these gestures on board were goodwill in nature, and any compensation for loses would be made by corporate in Miami... now we are waiting for the Miami Corporate staff to follow up (I'll update the thread with the response we receive from corporate in Miami if they follow up as professionally as the incident was managed on-board by Hugo's staff).

 

From the facts I gathered on-board, 12 passengers were affected and at least one passenger had a CPAP machine destroyed in the water. Sure hope they got his CPAP replaced promptly. One night without your CPAP is living hell for those of us with sleep apnea.

 

The cruise contract specifically states machines like a CPAP must be carried on board and NCL is not liable for any damage to one that might be located in checked luggage. That is the policy. Who knows if NCL will do the right thing and pay for it.

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Bars7816

Bars7816

Posted
Posted

We always use 2-gallon plastic bags for our clothes, mostly just to keep them organized. Never thought about our luggage going overboard! We do cross pack also, so unless both of our cases went overboard, each of us would still have something to change into. :)

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calex

calex

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Who in their right mind would put any type of medical device in checked luggage? To me thats like putting one of my $$$$ DLSR camera in, its never going to happen

 

I am in the same boat as you, I would never place medical devices like a CPAP or other expensive electronic devices in checked bags on a cruise or airline. Unfortunately, somebody may have learned a hard expensive lesson. When we boarded the Star on November 17th, we both hand carried our CPAP machines on-board.

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