Items stolen on disembarkation day

[EZ4]

All that speculation of how stuff went missing is logical thinking, except for the previous reports of theft on the Dream back in the fall. Stuff that makes you go hmmm...............

[klfrodo]

Sometimes we just post things that happen to us because we want to be heard not badgered. Sometimes we speak of it on Cruise Critic cause we feel that we have something in common with others which is cruising.

 

I was on Carnival Miracle, in 2010. I had packed and locked my luggage put them out in the hallway. When we got home the next day my husband and I usually unpack within the next 1/2 hour of arriving home. As soon as I started to put my things away I noticed that like 10 or so socks (Diabetic Socks) all black that look like men socks were missing. Did I get angry no, did I get mad at Carnival no, cause it wasn't Carnivals fault that an employee stole my socks, it just shows me that no matter were you are we are not suppose to let our guard down. Very sad but true.

 

I don't fly so no one else outside of Carnival employees touched my bags.

 

What I want to say is yes it did happen to me, did I report it no, cause I felt nothing would be done. But like someone said maybe we should report it, not because we will get our items back but so that Carnival becomes aware that somewhere inside there is a few rotten apples.

 

I am just posting what happened to me, not speaking bad of Carnival or anyone else just what happened.

 

I had my wedding band stolen. :mad:

 

Reported it. Of course no one ever said anything. No I'm sorries, no offers of sympathy,, nothing.

Filed all my reports. Filed my insurance claims.

After about 2 months total time, I got my check. Check was only for $500 :eek: The ring cost way more than that.

 

About a month after that, opened my shaving kit,,, found my original wedding band. :o

 

Lesson

NEVER EVER NEVER report something stolen unless you were held up by gunpoint and it was ripped off your body.

Might have been LOST, might have been MISPLACED, or Yes, it may have been stolen.

 

To Bigmama

Yes, I did quote you but it was not my intention to call you out. I appreciated the way you handled your experience and wanted to ride your coat tail.

[Podna's]

All that speculation of how stuff went missing is logical thinking, except for the previous reports of theft on the Dream back in the fall. Stuff that makes you go hmmm...............

 

 

As for those incidents... According to a very good friend that works for the port of New Orleans, the first reports were legit and and passengers compensated (didn't know how). The very next cruise, a copy cat crime was reported. Turned out to be just that, a made up story. He said a couple claimed they were robbed while they slept in that small room. They dismissed their claim. Anyway, this could've absolutely happened while they were at breakfast but I'm putting my money on the airline if the items were not accidentally left behind. Who knows, op has not been back, maybe she found them after all.

[Cruisin'Doc]

Although the general idea people have is that cruise ship employees will not jeopardize their jobs to steal, they will.

 

While doing a B2B, my mom and I earned the Drinks on Us card on the first leg. Into the second leg, I checked my account on the TV in the room. I noticed a LOT of charges (with a zero balance, of course) for drinks from the casino; for times when I KNEW I was not there - including the first day going down the Mississippi - which means I WAS being charged taxes on those drinks.

 

I went to Guest Services to discuss it, and they sent me to the Casino. Turns out, one of the bar waitresses, one we had spent a LOT of time talking with on the first cruise, had signed off on all of the drinks. There was no doubt the drinks did not belong to me; many of the slips had not been signed, many were signed but the signature was obviously not mine, charges took place when we were documented in the MDR, drinks were purchased which we could not have drank (mom is on blood thinners), etc. There was no question *WE* had not ordered these drinks.

 

As it turns out, the way this works is that drinks are ordered and fulfilled by bar services. They are billed, including the mandatory gratuity. The casino services then pays the bar bill. So, for every drink someone orders on the DoU card, wait staff still get their regular gratuity. Great scam - charging them to people with the DoU card, so they aren't charged and won't complain (usually won't even notice), yet the server gets extra grats.

 

My intent was not to get anyone into trouble when I reported this; however, I was charged for taxes on drinks when I was not drinking, and there were a lot of drinks charged to my mom and I which we had not ordered; I initially let them know just to clear this up, thinking it was a mistake. It was intentional - the server at one point said we had ordered the drinks (until we pointed out my mom cannot drink alcohol), etc. I had to speak with security multiple times. They cleared it up fairly quickly, however (they also found this had happened on several other accounts - on the current and several most recent cruises). The server was fired and as the ports we were visiting that trip included her home country, home she went.

 

It was very sad to see this happen, and shocking that someone would do it, particularly when a job on the ships can be a wonderful opportunity for many. However, not everyone begins work on the ships with the same awesome work ethic as do most of the workers.

[Illyria]

Although the general idea people have is that cruise ship employees will not jeopardize their jobs to steal' date=' they will.

 

While doing a B2B, my mom and I earned the Drinks on Us card on the first leg. Into the second leg, I checked my account on the TV in the room. I noticed a LOT of charges (with a zero balance, of course) for drinks from the casino; for times when I KNEW I was not there - including the first day going down the Mississippi - which means I WAS being charged taxes on those drinks.

 

I went to Guest Services to discuss it, and they sent me to the Casino. Turns out, one of the bar waitresses, one we had spent a LOT of time talking with on the first cruise, had signed off on all of the drinks. There was no doubt the drinks did not belong to me; many of the slips had not been signed, many were signed but the signature was obviously not mine, charges took place when we were documented in the MDR, drinks were purchased which we could not have drank (mom is on blood thinners), etc. There was no question *WE* had not ordered these drinks.

 

As it turns out, the way this works is that drinks are ordered and fulfilled by bar services. They are billed, including the mandatory gratuity. The casino services then pays the bar bill. So, for every drink someone orders on the DoU card, wait staff still get their regular gratuity. Great scam - charging them to people with the DoU card, so they aren't charged and won't complain (usually won't even notice), yet the server gets extra grats.

 

My intent was not to get anyone into trouble when I reported this; however, I was charged for taxes on drinks when I was not drinking, and there were a lot of drinks charged to my mom and I which we had not ordered; I initially let them know just to clear this up, thinking it was a mistake. It was intentional - the server at one point said we had ordered the drinks (until we pointed out my mom cannot drink alcohol), etc. I had to speak with security multiple times. They cleared it up fairly quickly, however (they also found this had happened on several other accounts - on the current and several most recent cruises). The server was fired and as the ports we were visiting that trip included her home country, home she went.[/quote']

 

I suspect in the server's mind, this is not stealing from the guest but scamming the "faceless rich corporation". While it's undoubtedly stealing, it takes a different mindset to do that vs. go through someone's bag looking for valuables.

[Flatbush Flyer]

We were on the Carnival Dream for 7 days after Christmas. When we were unpacking a couple of days after our home arrival, my wife noticed that her expensive sunglasses, some jewelry, and curling iron were missing. She packed them before we went to breakfast and they were inside our suitcase. That is the only time that they could have been taken from our packed and closed suitcases. So, the only "window" of time they could have gone through our suitcases would have been when we were at breakfast. That leaves the cabin steward in question. From the time time of our disembarkation, the suitcases were always with us. This is our 10th cruise w/Carnival and an additional 5 w/other cruise lines. And, this is a first. Before anyone says something about how an employee would never take a chance in thievery, let me say that a majority of a retail store's loss comes from employee theft. My son was a manager for Best Buy for 10 years and says employees made up for over 70% of items stolen from the company. I realize that Carnival will probably do nothing, so writing a letter to them would probably be futile. Has anyone ever experienced the same experience?

 

 

Total REAL value of what was stolen?

 

 

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[Lerin]

Can't imagine stealing a curling iron

[hftmrock]

Has anyone ever experienced the same experience?

 

 

I have not experienced the same experience at all

[Tapi]

Can't imagine stealing a curling iron

 

 

That's one reason why I'm wondering if this is a case of misplaced or left behind items, rather than stolen ones. :o

 

 

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[Tapi]

I had my wedding band stolen. :mad:

 

 

 

...About a month after that, opened my shaving kit,,, found my original wedding band. :o

 

 

OOoooh we did the same thing. We have an insurance policy on my wife's wedding ring. We filed a claim after she "lost" the ring when she took it off at a restaurant where we were having dinner. She was SURE that she had left it by the bathroom sink when she took it off to wash her hands, but when she went back, it was gone, so somebody must've taken it! :mad: We got management involved, filed a police report, and called the insurance company to make the claim.

 

2 days later, my wife is about to do laundry when she checks the mini pocket inside the big pocket of the pants that she was wearing. Sure enough, there it was! :eek: My wife had actually placed the ring in the mini pocket which explained why she couldn't find it when she checked the big pocket. We called the insurance company to cancel the claim, explaining that the ring had been found. :o

 

The thing that sucks is that even to this day, any time that we apply for an insurance policy, that claim pops up, even though we called to cancel it and never cashed in on it.

 

 

 

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Edited January 9, 2015 by Tapi

[CanadianDee]

I had my wedding band stolen. :mad:

About a month after that, opened my shaving kit,,, found my original wedding band. :o

It takes so much courage to say this, particularly within a public forum. Props for your honesty.

[tallyho8]

What good does it do to lock your luggage on a flight? You have to use a TSA lock and the airline employees have keys to them so locking them does not protect you from employee theft.

 

I believe that all thefts, no matter how small, should be reported.

If you report a theft from cabin 1000 then management will know who had access to that cabin and keep an eye on them. If another cruiser reports items stolen from a cabin that the same employee had access to it brings up a pattern so that the employee can be watched and caught. If no one else complains about thefts in cabins that employee had access to, management will simply figure it was lost not stolen.

[lesters]

What good does it do to lock your luggage on a flight? You have to use a TSA lock and the airline employees have keys to them so locking them does not protect you from employee theft.

 

 

Tallyho you are so right - the same is true for the safe in your hotel room or in this case ship cabin. Think about it - the hotel has to have an override key for when guests check out but leave the safe locked. If that override key is obtained by the wrong staff person you get what happened to me this past December - we had our iPad stolen out of a locked hotel safe in Paris.

 

So locks, safes etc. its all to make us "feel" like we are doing the right things, but dishonest people will find always find a way.

[cindivan]

Tallyho you are so right - the same is true for the safe in your hotel room or in this case ship cabin. Think about it - the hotel has to have an override key for when guests check out but leave the safe locked. If that override key is obtained by the wrong staff person you get what happened to me this past December - we had our iPad stolen out of a locked hotel safe in Paris.

 

So locks, safes etc. its all to make us "feel" like we are doing the right things, but dishonest people will find always find a way.

 

 

We had several hundred dollars stolen out of our safe in South Africa. My husband thinks I am totally paranoid but sometimes I feel like putting our valuables in a safe is just saving the thief time from having to search our room. Of course some hotels/ships have better security in that. I don't feel too worried on ships. But hotels to me are much more concerning because I'm not sure they have the cameras that ships do and employees might feel more confident in stealing. If you look at statistics in crime rates, major tourist places like myrtle beach, SC has one of the highest rates in SC, but the great majority is thefts at hotels.

 

On ships I would be more inclined to suspect guests rather than employees, especially for a crime of opportunity.

 

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Edited January 9, 2015 by cindivan

[DavyJoneses]

It is plausible. Maybe. I'm just thinking why would the cabin steward need to go in the room prior to them leaving the ship to embark for good. Unless it was strictly to steal. Stranger things have happened.

 

Write a letter to Carnival OP. If the steward entered your room while you were at breakfast, they should be able to find the electronic record of the key entry.

 

Great suggestion. I wonder how long they keep those logs?

[seabum]

Strangest thing happened to me one time sailing out of San Juan.

 

Upon debarkation - I noticed the end pocket of my rolling duffel wasn't zipped up tight - and I usually zip tie the end pockets as well.

 

Anyway - I look inside and there is all the packaging and paperwork (not counting the receipt) from a Sony Discman personal CD player. Which I had not purchased !!

 

Obviously some one had stolen the player from some one else's bag - and stashed the trash in my bag.

 

We reported it - but security seemed really dis-interested.

 

Being a CD player and not MP3 - gives you some idea as to how long ago this took place - LOL

[bizeemom4]

If you did self assist then your bags would have been with you the entire morning. Why would the room steward needed to be in your room the morning of embarkation? And if you didn't do self assist, how were your bags with you at breakfast when they take them the night before?

 

Our room steward entered our room while we were at breakfast, stripped out our bed and made it for the next guests before we had moved our stuff out. He moved all of the items left in the bed and put them on our dresser. So they do enter the rooms to work before you 'ding' off the ship.

[pe4all]

How did you get from the port to your home?

This is my question also. If they flew from NOLA to Ca, then the stuff very well could have been taken from their suitcase at the airport. Plenty of time for someone to do that with checked baggage. If they drove, then that pretty much puts the blame on someone at Carnival. First thing I do when I get home is unpack - and do the laundry if I have any! I also put anything of value into my backpack or pocketbook, which never leaves my side at embark or debark. Guess we won't know until the OP comes back to answer some of the questions asked.

Edited January 10, 2015 by pe4all

[ohioblue52]

Where has OP gone? Nothing like running through the mall yelling "I've been robbed" and then disappearing. :confused:

[ldlewis45]

What good does it do to lock your luggage on a flight? You have to use a TSA lock and the airline employees have keys to them so locking them does not protect you from employee theft.

 

No, they don't. It's a TSA lock, therefore only the owner of the bag and TSA have the keys, and TSA doesn't usually give them out. Airline employees are not supposed to have access to the TSA keys. I work for CBP, and we don't even get the keys. We have to cut the locks. Now, there are usually ways to get around the locks without disturbing them, but to save time, we use our "universal key" (a bolt cutter). It's really amazing how quickly people find their "lost" keys when we pull that thing out.

 

That said, the TSA locks aren't good locks. It's pretty easy to break them (or the zipper tabs) and get into the bags. It's actually surprisingly easy to get into the ones where the zipper tabs lock into the side of the bag itself, too. All you have to do is either pry apart the bit that attaches the zipper pull to the zipper or pry the metal prong in the lock itself with a knife. The bags that are pretty difficult to get into are the non-expandable hard-sided Samsonite ones with the plastic clasps. Those can be broken into, but they require a lot more effort (and usually a pry bar). The down side is that they're also expensive and heavy.

 

Your best bet to avoid tampering from thieves is to both use a lock and get your bag wrapped in plastic when you fly. It doesn't prevent theft, but it slows the thief down long enough that it makes it inconvenient.

[love my grandkids]

What happened to OP?

 

Would report it to Carnival who will not do anything but this might be part of a pattern by room steward.

[blctlc]

I just returned from the Imagination and found I'm missing clothing that I packed in my luggage and had set out the night before for relaxed disembarcation. So of course I didn't notice it was gone until I got home. I don't like to think that an employee would do this and who knows at what point it happened, but it did happen. I have cruised many times (more than my profile indicates) and this was a first. I have emailed the cruise line just to notify them of the situation.

[cccer]

When you leave your luggage out the night before, anyone can take something out. Not really a Carnival problem since I don't see how they can prevent this happening. Original post from Jan was items missing from luggage left in room.

Good reminder for everyone not to leave valuables in luggage left out for disembark.

[lady_cruiser]

We even lock our carry off luggage. I know if someone really wants to get in our luggage a 3-combination lock won't stop them but it might act as a deterrent.

[blctlc]

In my case it was clothes, so not valuable. The thief could have been another passenger or someone in customs as easily as an employee. I think most of us comprehend the risk we take by placing our luggage out the night before. That's why the self-assist has become so popular.