My experience with RCCL lost & found (took a while but all ended well)

[rabidstoat]

I just wanted to share my experience with leaving something on the ship and ultimately getting reunited with it, in case others with a similar problem do a thread search here.

 

Short version: Left something on the ship. Used the luggagerecovery@rccl.com address, and after a few follow-up phone calls, $25 shipping & handling fee, and nearly five weeks, I got my lost item back!

 

Long version:

I was on a Caribbean cruise out of Fort Lauderdale last month, from June 18-25. When I got back to my home airport after the cruise I quickly realized that I did not have my car key fob with me, one of those deals that no only remotely unlocks the door but does push-button ignition start. Fortunately I had a spare key fob; unfortunately, it was a $90 Uber round-trip away.

 

Anyway, I finally got home with my car and by then, I realized that I had probably left it in my in-room safe. I remembered putting it there for safe-keeping, and I remembered searching the safe before I left but since I was too short to see inside I just felt around inside. I must have missed it. I sent email to luggagerecovery@rccl.com like it said on their web site and included the details -- ship, dates, cabin number, description, that I thought it was left in the safe -- and waited.

 

It took a few days to get called about it, and they could only tell me that they had opened a ticket. I didn't keep track of the dates but over the next approximately five weeks there were about half a dozen phone calls updating me on what is apparently is a slow bureaucratic process. I thought it would be a simple matter of finding it since I said exactly where it was left but I guess they have their processes to go through. Usually they called me with an update every 5 or 6 days. Once when it went a week without hearing back I called them, and apparently they were still pursuing a lead.

 

Finally, victory! I got a call exactly four weeks after first contacting them, on a Sunday morning, with information about how they had definitely found my key fob! I verified my shipping address and gave them a credit card number to cover the $25 fee. I ended up receiving it five days later through FedEx. Hooray!

 

So everything worked out well with lost & found, though it did take longer than I had anticipated, 33 days total to get my key fob back. I didn't need it in a rush so that was fine, I just wanted it as a backup in case I lost my primary again. Since those push-button ignition key fobs cost like three or four hundred bucks to replace, being more expensive than just the fobs that unlock the door only, I was glad that they found it!

[StrikeEagle]

Thank you for sharing your experience. I just add that RCCL email address to my contact list. I'm glad you got your key fob back. It cost that much $25 dollars to ship a small key fob? Where was it shipping from and to.

[bouhunter]

Glad you got it back. Royal must make a lot on shipping charges to subsidize room service.

[Arzeena]

Thanks for sharing your story. Happy that you got it back.

[Milwaukee Eight]

Thanks for sharing. We have found that putting our items in a ziplock bag is helpful.

[ONECRUISER]

Thank you for sharing your experience. I just add that RCCL email address to my contact list. I'm glad you got your key fob back. It cost that much $25 dollars to ship a small key fob? Where was it shipping from and to.

OP referred to the $25 as Shipping AND Handling. My guess it's a flat rate as lot of companies charge.

[rabidstoat]

Yeah, it was sent FedEx express, domestic shipment, just a flat envelope. I'm assuming the extra is for tracking everything around, verifying it's the right thing from the right boat, follow-up calls, etc. Didn't seem unreasonable to me.

 

The weird thing about it taking a lot of time was that after two weeks they said they thought they had found, but needed to verify it. And then it took two weeks to verify it. That's the part that seemed confusing, because I just assumed when they found stuff they tagged where it was. So I wasn't sure how they could think they found MY car key fob, as opposed to someone else, unless they knew where it came from. And it seemed weird that it would take two weeks to investigate where it came from.

 

But anyway, lost and found on dozens of cruise ships with tens of thousands of passengers traveling each week is probably a big logistical deal. I'm just glad they found it.

 

Oh, I also lost my Kindle on the boat. (I lose things a LOT.) I was out and about for an at-sea morning and realized it was missing around lunchtime. I backtracked my steps and couldn't find it, so I waited until early that evening at Guest Services. I figured it might take time to get turned over there. They found it within a few minutes of me asking and I just had to sign the claim slip and show my card after describing it.

 

That poor Kindle. It also got lost somewhere at Disney World, in Hollywood Studios. It took 2 days to make it over to the Transportation and Ticket Center but they did track it down and it was reunited with me, pretty amazing.

[rabidstoat]

Thanks for sharing. We have found that putting our items in a ziplock bag is helpful.

 

That might not be a bad idea for the safe. I just assumed that if I felt around I wouldn't miss anything. Probably should've dragged the chair over to get up higher and actually look inside.

 

Second time I've gotten home from a vacation without my car keys in 25+ years of traveling. The first time I discovered on the plane that I'd left my keys in the hotel room, and let out some rather foul language in my mutterings when I discovered this. Unfortunately I didn't notice the two priests seated in front of me until the end of the flight. Um, sorry fathers!

[Milwaukee Eight]

That might not be a bad idea for the safe. I just assumed that if I felt around I wouldn't miss anything. Probably should've dragged the chair over to get up higher and actually look inside.

 

Second time I've gotten home from a vacation without my car keys in 25+ years of traveling. The first time I discovered on the plane that I'd left my keys in the hotel room, and let out some rather foul language in my mutterings when I discovered this. Unfortunately I didn't notice the two priests seated in front of me until the end of the flight. Um, sorry fathers!

 

 

 

No worries, I've lost my good glasses twice in the last six months. Putting them on the bumper is not a good idea. It was easy to find my phone with the Find My Phone App. [emoji15]

 

 

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[UK Fan]

Thanks for sharing your experience. Glad to hear you finally got your fob back, even though it seems like it was a lengthy process!

[A&L_Ont]

 

The weird thing about it taking a lot of time was that after two weeks they said they thought they had found, but needed to verify it. And then it took two weeks to verify it. That's the part that seemed confusing, because I just assumed when they found stuff they tagged where it was. So I wasn't sure how they could think they found MY car key fob, as opposed to someone else, unless they knew where it came from. And it seemed weird that it would take two weeks to investigate where it came from.

 

As I'm reading this I'm laughing to myself. If it doesn't work on your car you've verified it isn't yours. I'm fairly certain you'd send it back if it wasn't yours. It's not as though they'd hand deliver it your house and check that it starts your car. ;p