Stolen Items While On Board?

[VIPBY40]

I love my jewelry....I never take it off poolside...I dont care about a watch tan...or ring tan....one day on Triumph I came across a chair scooted up to the shade outside of activities by the ping pong table....I saw $$$$$$....just laying there on the lounge on the towel.....no one around no one looking.....I WAS SHOCKED....ok am I being tested......WHATever...I scooped and turned into the pursers desk.....there was some good stuff in the scoop lemme tell ya! Did I need to do it? ABSOLUTELY NOT....why did I do it....simply because her loot could have been so gone in a heartbeat.....I did do inventory with Purser AND left my #....2 hours later I had an invite n cigar bar and went.....got so freaking trashed....oyyyyyy.....all because of my honesty.....she asked point blank why did you do it? I said point blank if I were a dishonest person I would have all your loot in my bag going home and no one would know it wasnt mine! You cant really let your gaurd down anywhere even if you feel safe....maybe it would have been there when she returned...but what if it wasnt....she did admit she was gone for over an hour......I donno......take it for what its worth! I will trust my lounge on Lido with sunscreen some trash mag and book and my slippers (flip flops) If I leave my flip flops I will be back in 10 min's to collect them....and plant the ass....10 min's is ok....1 hour or 2....something to think about.......

[M. St. Louis]

My camera story...

 

I forgot my digital camera on the chair at breakfast, went back a little while later and it was gone. A few hours later, checked out the lost and found and luckily, it had been turned in. Whew.

 

The next day, we go into port, I take out the camera, turn it on, and...

 

"ERROR: no memory card found"...

 

Some !@#$%^ stole the memory card out of the camera with all our photos of New York City on it. We had specifically taken a couple of extra days vacation to visit New York for the first and only time of our lives, and done everything possible.

 

To this day I still wonder if the person who took the memory card was the person who handed the camera in to lost and found.

[VIPBY40]

...take the camera....turn in the card!

[KC_fn]

After a few days, a cruiseship starts to feel like home. It's hard to remember that, if you're not in your cabin, you're in public. And I guess the public on a ship is probably about like the public at your average mall -- mostly honest, but a large minority not. :(

[Pjzplace]

I have always said that people are creatures of "Opportunity".

 

After working in retail management for over 20 years I HAVE SEEN IT ALL!

 

I have come to the realization that about 10% of people are dishonest and will take advantage of every situation that presents itself.

 

About 80% of people if given the opportunity will take advantage of the "Right" situation. ie: discounted item or service based on the mistake of another person.

 

The last 10% will never take advantage of a situation no matter what it is. If they notice an error, they will call it out.

 

These are some very hard numbers but think about it. Have you ever gotten a "Deal" on something? A free drink? or an extra something? Did you point out the situation to see if it was an error or a true special? Most people keep their mouth shut and get out of there as soon as they can before the error is detected. In other words, "THEY PLAY DUMB" and take advantage of the opportunity.

 

This combinded 100% of the people make up every situation, every home town and every vacation. We must all look out for ourselves and belongings and "BE A PART OF THE LAST 10%"!

 

Please, feel free to FLAME ME if you disagree. But, Look inside yourself before you do it and decide what percentage you are in.

[vacruizer]

I have always said that people are creatures of "Opportunity".

 

After working in retail management for over 20 years I HAVE SEEN IT ALL!

 

I have come to the realization that about 10% of people are dishonest and will take advantage of every situation that presents itself.

 

About 80% of people if given the opportunity will take advantage of the "Right" situation. ie: discounted item or service based on the mistake of another person.

 

The last 10% will never take advantage of a situation no matter what it is. If they notice an error, they will call it out.

 

These are some very hard numbers but think about it. Have you ever gotten a "Deal" on something? A free drink? or an extra something? Did you point out the situation to see if it was an error or a true special? Most people keep their mouth shut and get out of there as soon as they can before the error is detected. In other words, "THEY PLAY DUMB" and take advantage of the opportunity.

 

This combinded 100% of the people make up every situation, every home town and every vacation. We must all look out for ourselves and belongings and "BE A PART OF THE LAST 10%"!

 

Please, feel free to FLAME ME if you disagree. But, Look inside yourself before you do it and decide what percentage you are in.

 

I have to agree with you mostly. I don't know that I'd put the "opportunity" number as high as 80% since I like to think people are more honest than that but it could be.

 

What astounds me is the people who steal things but don't think it's theft like they would with someone's camera or wallet. I spent quite a few years in the restaurant business and was always amazed that people would actually take silverware, cream pitchers, salt shakers, etc. and pocket them as a souvenier. And this was in a 4 diamond hotel - not the Motel 6.

 

I have seen similar threads here where people seemed to think it was fun and ok to take place settings or bar glasses from the ship home as a memento. And there was thread here the other day about walking out of the photo area without paying for your pictures onboard.

 

The sad part is, most people who do stuff like this would never consider themselves thieves like a common purse snatcher and they see nothing wrong with their actions. They feel like by patronizing a business, hotel, cruise line, etc. they are entitled somehow. And the end result is higher prices for everyone.

 

Sorry for the rant - pet peeve of mine after too many years of watching little old rich ladies steal the china off the table after dinner. They'd ask the price of purchasing the salt shakers, for instance, and would say, "oh, no, that's too much." Ten minutes later they'd leave an the salt shakes would go with them. They thought nothing of dropping $150 on dinner, but don't make them pay for the china!

[Leo Jay]

Aren't these surveillance cameras above the tables? I wonder if they ever catch sticky fingers that way...

 

[Pegs222]

I think we're both too wrapped up in Da Vinci Code scenarios. :)

Have a great time on your cruise... I'm envious. :(

 

Possibly, I have read all of Dan Brown, and of course started out with The Da Vinci Code. I love mysteries.

 

You should come on this cruise :p, it is the first time they are going to Northern Europe.

[ladypalmtree]

My oldest DD had her purse and with camera and 50 dollars taken from the disco on the Elation..her cruise card room key also...we had to change the room keys...she insisted the entire cruise that it would be turned in intact...um NO..........lesson learned I hope...Myself..one time in Vegas I had 3,000 in my lucky little beaded purse...I had just started to gamble and was making the rounds of machines..and oops...no purse...My friend and I panicked and ran around looking..........nope...went to the security desk in tears...and guess what? It was there and no money was missing...I gave the guard a 100 dollar bill and told them to give to the person whe returned the purse..and if they did not come back..for him to keep it...Boy..that was a lucky weekend!

[bjkeen]

Perhaps we should look at the question of honest or dishonest cruisers in a different light. Think of yourself at a resort with 3,000-4,000 other people that you do not know. Would you trust them with your belongings? Not me. It is the same type situation on a cruise because a cruise ship is similar to a floating resort.

 

While on my first cruise I did not lock my luggage when I put it out for pick up on the last night of the cruise. I returned home without jeans and various other items. That was all it took for me to wise up.

 

My vote is treat cruising like any place else you might visit on a vacation, watch out for your belongings.

[bunting]

.

 

I found one of the security people explained I left my purse at the security checkpoint he told me not to expect to see it since they were in the process of firing everyone at the port for stealing. .

 

Monkey girl so glad you got your valuables back but IMHO how unprofessional of the security person to make that comment not only was it unhelpful, likely increased your stress but it likely tarnished the reputation of the many honest people at the port....was that comment made by port or ship security?

[RatherBFishin]

I have come to the realization that about 10% of people are dishonest and will take advantage of every situation that presents itself.

 

About 80% of people if given the opportunity will take advantage of the "Right" situation. ie: discounted item or service based on the mistake of another person.

 

The last 10% will never take advantage of a situation no matter what it is. If they notice an error, they will call it out.

 

I think this is pretty correct. But you should have just said it's a Bell Curve. ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Normal_distribution )

 

We must all look out for ourselves and belongings and "BE A PART OF THE LAST 10%"!

 

I'm happy being at the 50% point, which is where the majority fall.

 

The main question I always ask in these situations is: "Will my actions hurt someone else?" or "How would I feel in their shoes?". That means I would absolutely turn in a lost camera on a cruise ship. I would totally empathise with the person who lost it.

 

But it also means I would almost never point out an incorrectly rung up item at a store. I guess there's a part of me that also thinks people should be punished for their stupidity and incopentence as well.

 

Just being honest about it (the way I feel that is)

[ShelleyQT]

This sort of thing is so frustrating. We've lost suntan lotion too, which shouldn't be a big deal, but it IS when it's your only bottle and it's so expensive, and of course it had our name on it! Last week on the Triumph my daughter's flip flops disappeared (????) but I assume the staff were just too lazy to put them in lost and found or something.

 

But the worst thing we lost on a cruise was my daughter's memory stick for her digital camera. She took it out of the camera and placed it on the vanity in her cabin right before dinner. When she came back it was gone, along with ALL the pictures from our cruise. There was no way to prove that it was stolen by the room steward or anyone else, of course. Something that small could easily be explained as "lost", but I really do suspect the room steward took it.

 

Of course the same thing can happen in a regular hotel, too. Five years ago, DH and I packed up our hotel room after our honeymoon and didn't notice our camera was missing until we got home, along with all our honeymoon pictures. If they wanted the camera, I just wish they'd at least left us the film!

[madge57]

This happened on a land base vaction!!. We have timeshare and we went to Freeport over Christmas vacation!!. When we got there there was 7 of us and we decided to check out the resort. My DD had her backpack with her so I put my digital camera in the bag. We went to the game room and she put the bag down. We completely forgot about the bag:eek: We were in the room and I as my DD where he bag was and she said she forgot it in the game room. We all felt guilty because we were all there. Well it had my camera and her cd player with cd in it. Also a couple of magazines. We kept asking at security and the front desk if anybody found it and they both said no. We also went the the police since there was station by our resort ant they told us the we woulb probably not get it back. Well we went home right after New Years and of course there were many messages on our answering machine. But there was one from a lady from North Carolinan telling us the she found our bags with our stuff and she tried to find us in the resort but the front desk wouldn't giver her any informantion so she decide to keep the bag for safety reason. She also went to the police and they told her not to give it to the front desk because they would keep it. Well I called her and she told me that she got our phone # by using the address on the magazines. My dd brought along her magazines that she ordered so it had her name on it.. So we exchanged addresses and she sent the bag with everything inside it. We were so happy to get it back.:D . (Although I had to buy disposables but they worked great) We decided that they should get something for being so honest and trying to find us to return the items to us. I'm so glad there are some honest people still in this world!!!

[vafamily5]

IPod's. That is the big item these days on the list of most likely to be stolen items.

[HereIam]

On the Glory, earlier this summer, I had my camera turned in and returned to me before I even realized it was gone. I had moved from my seat in the theater to the other side and left my camera. I was talking to a friend and happened to hear the social hostess ask about a lost camera and it was mine. It was near the end of the trip so I had a ton of pictures on it. Thankfully, there are still some honest people in the world.

As to the not pointing out "mistakes in your favor", you have to ask yourself if you would say something if it was the other way around. Just last week at a restaurant, we weren't charged for one of our drinks and we pointed it out because if they had charged me extra, I most definately would have had them take it off. Remember, if you have children, they are watching you.

[Cages2000]

On the Valor last November, my 11 year old lost an Italian charm bracelet that had 5 rows of charms. She left it in our room in the bunk bed (why I did not see it). We realized it was missing the next day at home in Colorado. I called Carnival and they did not help other then taking a report. Our room stewart was great and we gave him a good tip, I was hoping that it would show up in the mail but it never did. Maybe it was wrapped in the blankets and went to the laundry. Oh well. It had charms of all the places she had ever been and all the ships she had been on. We have replaced most of them.

[Tucker in Texas]

My son left his camera in a lounge. We had closed it down, there were no other customers in there. He realized it as soon as he got on the hallway to the cabin and turned around to go get it and it was gone. It was brand new but only cost $100 or so but he lost all the pictures he had taken on the cruise as it was the last night. I never thought to put in an insurance claim for it as I buy the insurance to cover major stuff forgetting it also covers minor things.

 

As for people stealing things, I volunteer in a church thrift shop. We price our things very cheap (pants, blouses, skirts, mostly $4, t-shirts a dollar, a dress $7, men's suits $7) because we consider it an outreach project also. Yet we have people that come in and take things all the time. Some are even so brazen that they leave the price tag where they know we will find it. These same people will usually buy something. They will switch tags, cut a button off and then try to have us reduce the price because it is missing, etc. Every time we think we have heard/seen it all, we find out we are wrong. The best one was when a shoplifter bought an item back! She came in with a small grocery bag containing a pair of shorts, a ratty t-shirt, and a broken child's toy. She handed it over in the back where we process donations and left the shop quickly. In the bag was a pair of shorts with the tag still attached and in the pocket was a tag for another pair of shorts taken at the same time. When the cashier suspects they have taken something (like they have a very bulky blouse on probably covering some other article of clothing or it is August in Texas and they have a sweatshirt on) she will make a point to tell them she is giving them a flyer that tells them where all our profits go as she hands them the bag. Doesn't seem to help with some of them.

 

Tucker in Texas

[trixiejingles]

What about beach towels? I understand that Carnival supplies them, but if they get lost or stolen, we'll have to pay. I'm thinking we'll bring our own (inexpensive) ones so we don't have to chance it. Whaddayathink?

[Monkey_Girl]

Monkey girl so glad you got your valuables back but IMHO how unprofessional of the security person to make that comment not only was it unhelpful, likely increased your stress but it likely tarnished the reputation of the many honest people at the port....was that comment made by port or ship security?

 

I really couldn't tell you I kept trying to find someone to help me gt back off the ship and they kept redirecting me to different people. All I remember was he was a very nice older gentlemen and he was telling me there had been a problem and he was hoping with the new employees at security it would be there. I don't think he meant any harm but I understood he was preparing me not to fully expect it to be sitting there with a big red bow! I made sure and thanked the people who turned it in and told them I appreciated the fact they had made their profession an honarable one in spite of the incidents in the past. I was just so relieved to have my things back so I could cruise!

[cruisecavy]

I'm going to be quite honest here, I feel no sympathy for the people who have ever lost something. To me, if you forget your camera on a bench, deck, lounge, or where ever, it obviously didn't mean that much to you. My camera and I stick like glue, same goes for iPod, cell phone, etc. You don't just leave something there, at that value and "forget" it. If anything more people should kick themselves and not lash out on the; steward, police, or whomever they feel to vent on. Feel free to flame, but that is my take on it.

 

As far as finding a 20 dollar bill or a wad of money on a street or something, with no one around.....you can bet I'm going to take it. And I like to see one of you guys find a 20 dollar bill just laying there, with no one around and not take it.

[Pegs222]

What about beach towels? I understand that Carnival supplies them, but if they get lost or stolen, we'll have to pay. I'm thinking we'll bring our own (inexpensive) ones so we don't have to chance it. Whaddayathink?

 

I would not worry about loosing them. The are big and it is not like you could over look them. If you take yours, they may be damp and if you put them in a bag and you will not be home for a while, they may not get moldy, but they sure may stink a bit.

[silverwolf]

In my opinion a cruise ship is nothing more than a small city with a diverse group of people. There are honest people and people who aren't so honest. I take the same safety precautions on a ship as I do anywhere else.

[Calicruiser101]

I'm going to be quite honest here, I feel no sympathy for the people who have ever lost something. To me, if you forget your camera on a bench, deck, lounge, or where ever, it obviously didn't mean that much to you. My camera and I stick like glue, same goes for iPod, cell phone, etc. You don't just leave something there, at that value and "forget" it. If anything more people should kick themselves and not lash out on the; steward, police, or whomever they feel to vent on. Feel free to flame, but that is my take on it.

 

As far as finding a 20 dollar bill or a wad of money on a street or something, with no one around.....you can bet I'm going to take it. And I like to see one of you guys find a 20 dollar bill just laying there, with no one around and not take it.

Your first point seems rather harsh it it's tone??? Just because someone has forgotten something does not mean that anyone walking by gets a free gift. You wrote "you don't just leave something there, at that value and 'forget' it." Do you think they were leaving their items behind on purpose? People do get distracted in life, especially on vacation. I left my Dooney and Bourke purse at a table, went back a few minutes later and it was returned to me. This was not on a cruise. Just because it is of some value does not mean I couldn't forget it, because I did. Nor would I think it was ok that someone found a purse and decided to keep it, that is not the right thing to do.

 

As far as finding money in the street, of course I would keep it. What am I going to go to the police station and turn in $20, I don't think so. If I saw who dropped it though I would give it to them. There is a big difference.:rolleyes: :rolleyes:

[poptart]

Sadly it does happen. I have to blame myself too for being stupid enough to leave it sitting, but... we were seated in a public seating area near a window. Got up and started toward the dining room when I realized I'd left my video camera in the chair. We'd only walked about 20, maybe 30' when we turned and ran back. That fast it was gone! We checked with lost and found several times a day for the duration of the cruise but it was never found. What really made me sick was that I'd been filming all day. My travel insurance covered the camera so I got a new one, but all those memories on the tape were gone forever.

 

wow! I never thought of that :eek: In March a drink fell over and drowned my new digital camera. I never even thought to turn it over to insurance.