Luggage broken into Escape 10/6-10/13

[mjbari3]

My Mother and I had our luggage broken into sometime after we left our bags outside of our stateroom on 10/13. 

 

We noticed after we picked them up at the NYC dock. Hers was locked, and the zipper hardware was snipped, but lock was intact. It was a TSA lock. Her belongs were rifled through, and no paper was left notifying the search.

 

My luggage was not locked, but was rifled through. Mine was packed so tightly with packing cubes, that the person was not able to get an inside zipper closed. They probably had to sit on it to close it, and therefore jammed the handle. 

 

Anyone have this problem on that sailing? Any tips for damaged luggage? 

 

Edited October 17, 2019 by mjbari3
Wrong port name

[salty dingo]

Maybe Homeland Security actually inspects luggage sometimes?

[cliffd64]

Never had this issue coming off a cruise.  Did you have insurance?  I would check to see if there was any coverage for luggage damage.

 

 

Edited October 17, 2019 by cliffd64

[DinaS]

How did the bags get to a Brooklyn dock?

 

Any legitimate inspection would have left a sticker or something stating it was opened.  

[FLAHAM]

I guess there's no way to know if it was a passenger, an NCL crew member or a Port Authority of New York and New Jersey employee or contractor. 

[njhorseman]

8 minutes ago, mjbari3 said:

My Mother and I had our luggage broken into sometime after we left our bags outside of our stateroom on 10/13. 

 

We noticed after we picked them up at the Brooklyn dock. Hers was locked, and the zipper hardware was snipped, but lock was intact. It was a TSA lock. Her belongs were rifled through, and no paper was left notifying the search.

 

My luggage was not locked, but was rifled through. Mine was packed so tightly with packing cubes, that the person was not able to get an inside zipper closed. They probably had to sit on it to close it, and therefore jammed the handle. 

 

Anyone have this problem on that sailing? Any tips for damaged luggage? 

 

I was on that cruise and had no problems. 

 

By the way the ship was docked in Manhattan, not Brooklyn, and if your luggage was opened by some government official the TSA lock wouldn't have mattered as TSA is not involved with screening luggage from cruise ships.

 

The only thing I can think of, outside of attempted theft was that a CBP dog alerted to something it thought was suspicious in the luggage causing CBP to open the bags.

Edited October 17, 2019 by njhorseman

[mjbari3]

8 minutes ago, DinaS said:

How did the bags get to a Brooklyn dock?

 

Any legitimate inspection would have left a sticker or something stating it was opened.  

My mistake. It was NYC. I edited the post. 

[mjbari3]

9 minutes ago, cliffd64 said:

Never had this issue coming off a cruise.  Did you have insurance?  I would check to see if there was any coverage for luggage damage.

 

 

Have insurance and NCL has been contacted.

[mjbari3]

10 minutes ago, DinaS said:

How did the bags get to a Brooklyn dock?

 

Any legitimate inspection would have left a sticker or something stating it was opened.  

My mistake. Not Brooklyn, but NYC. Yes, I know about a paper or note being left. There was no paper left in either.

[mjbari3]

9 minutes ago, FLAHAM said:

I guess there's no way to know if it was a passenger, an NCL crew member or a Port Authority of New York and New Jersey employee or contractor. 

Nope, unless they were caught on security cameras. 

[mjbari3]

13 minutes ago, cliffd64 said:

Never had this issue coming off a cruise.  Did you have insurance?  I would check to see if there was any coverage for luggage damage.

 

 

Yes, we have insurance. Going through NCL, too. 

[mjbari3]

UPDATE: We just found out that another woman in our tour had some pearls stolen from her luggage the same trip. Must be pretty easy pickings. 

Edited October 17, 2019 by mjbari3
Spelling

[mjbari3]

17 minutes ago, salty dingo said:

Maybe Homeland Security actually inspects luggage sometimes?

Any agency that inspects luggage is supposed to leave a note inside stating so. Have seen it before, traveling to Europe. 

[DinaS]

3 minutes ago, mjbari3 said:

UPDATE: We just found out that another woman in our tour had some Pearl's stolen from her luggage the same trip. Must be pretty easy pickings. 

 

Perhaps that was the first bag they found, and they figured if someone had jewelry in their bag, the rest would have been "easy pickin's".

 

Seriously - leaving jewelry in a checked bag is not the best idea.  All valuables (jewelry, cash, cameras, etc)  should be carried on and off.

[mjbari3]

My Mom and I are smart enough to not leave anything valuable out of our sight. The woman who had her pearls stolen is in her 90s, and obviously näieve.

[tallnthensome]

16 minutes ago, DinaS said:

 

Perhaps that was the first bag they found, and they figured if someone had jewelry in their bag, the rest would have been "easy pickin's".

 

Seriously - leaving jewelry in a checked bag is not the best idea.  All valuables (jewelry, cash, cameras, etc)  should be carried on and off.

This is for sure ..... they’re getting nothing of value from my packed luggage . All documents, cameras, watches are kept on me when embarking and disembarking. Certainly could have simply been some low life passenger in the late at night.

[NLH Arizona]

38 minutes ago, mjbari3 said:

Have insurance and NCL has been contacted.

Was the luggage damaged?  What was stolen?

[mjbari3]

31 minutes ago, NLH Arizona said:

Was the luggage damaged?  What was stolen?

My Mom's luggage was damaged. The zipper hardware was cut off. My luggage was fine. Nothing was stolen out of ours. 

[MJSailors]

     Many years ago (about 20), My DH and I took a cruise on the NCL Dreamward out of NYC to Bermuda.  When we disembarked the ship and were loading the car, I noticed that a part of a belt attached to one 

of my dresses was dangling out of one side of the suitcase. We are neat packers and we thought it was unusual, but we put the suitcase in the car and returned home.

      Once we were home, I unpacked the suitcases, dividing clothes into laundry and dry cleaning piles. That is when I noticed that an outfit of mine was missing. It was an expensive cocktail dress. I know that I packed it in the suitcase, because we did a sweep of the cabin including all closets and drawers to check that we had all our belongings before we left the cabin for the last time.

      I called the PortAuthority, but they had no information for me about lost/found articles. I called NCL headquarters and filed a claim to no avail. The cost of the dress was one thing, but I really liked it and had planned to wear it to some future events.

     Now, one thing that is curious is that one night when I was wearing it to go to dinner, our female steward saw us in the hall and admired my dress. Seems to be a coincidence that she made her comments and it was the same dress that was missing.  I thought that she could have had the opportunity to open the suitcase after we put it in the hall and taken the dress. If she did, I hope she enjoyed wearing the dress. 

     We were young travelers then and not so savvy. Now, we put valuables in our carryons and do self assist disembarkation ( something I do not think was available 

years ago). I no longer pack expensive formal clothes as dress codes have become more casual on ships.

        What I am saying is that it is quite possible that the OP’s bags could have been rifled through while they were in the hall waiting for transport off the ship. I think though, that hallways are monitored with cameras these days, so the person who did this must have acted quickly or out of view of any camera surveillance.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mugtech]

Just another reason we take our own luggage off the ship.

[Sauer-kraut]

2 hours ago, salty dingo said:

Maybe Homeland Security actually inspects luggage sometimes?

 

Mine seems to be a target on most my trips.  🙄   My most recent flight from Vancouver was the first time in a long time that my suitcase wasn't "inspected".  

[mjbari3]

4 hours ago, MJSailors said:

 

        What I am saying is that it is quite possible that the OP’s bags could have been rifled through while they were in the hall waiting for transport off the ship. I think though, that hallways are monitored with cameras these days, so the person who did this must have acted quickly or out of view of any camera surveillance

 

 

 Exactly what I thought, too.  We are both very neat with our packing. Mine was stuffed so full, we had to use the both of us to close the inside zipper. That's why they didn't zip it back up; no time to fix it. Same goes for the suitcase itself, as it took effort to close as well. They probably had to sit on it to close it quickly, thus messing up the telescopic handle.

 

We used Mom's fancy matching hard sided leopard-print luggage. I usually use my own crappy-but-durable luggage, and have not had a problem. Joke was on them when we had all of our valuables with us! There was nothing in the bags for a thief to want!

 

[CookieShip]

Glad we did the self assisted disembark, even though we had to drag our luggage rather unnecessarily around the entire Manhattan dining room (I know they do this every week so it must be the most efficient way...)

[mjkacmom]

17 hours ago, mjbari3 said:

My mistake. It was NYC. I edited the post. 

Actually, Brooklyn is a borough of NYC, as is Manhattan.

[Georgia_Peaches]

The way I understood this post is that the bags were left in the hall outside the cabin on the last night waiting to be picked up and taken to the terminal for pick up and then rifled through.  But the OP is uncertain if the luggage was violated on the ship or off?  Is that correct?  If security had reason to open the bags they would have left a notice and used their special TSA key to open the luggage.  Could have been a passenger...  OP, have you alerted security?  They could possibly check the security cameras to see if your luggage was tampered with while still on the ship.

BTW...was anything taken?  Sorry if I missed it.