A post of frustration-open letter to the offender

[bunting]

My husband put his new video camera on the deck while we were talking to old friends we were meeting, on the first day of a cruise. He realized it a few minutes later and naturally, it was gone. We went to the pursers desk and someone had found it and turned it in. Good news/ bad news. They kept the battery which cost about $80.

 

I just wonder didn´t the Pursers have the person´s name? most Lost and Found, especially items of value, should be logged in a sheet with the item description and name of the person handing it in...e.g. for a wallet or a bag (personal, handbag, video etc) the contents should be verified by the Purser in front of the person handing the item in and then logged...this is intended to not only record the details of the finder (owners sometimes want to thank the finders) but also verify what was found where, when etc and act as a deterrent against any possible pilfering...

[polodad]

I can sympathize as I enjoy photography and love my new expensive digital SLR camera. A few months ago I was returning from visiting # 2 son in LA & flying Southwest. I'm sitting on the floor in my group waiting to board & have my camera case in my lap so I won't forget it. they start boarding and next thing I know I'm at my seat & no camera. I realized i must have set it down at the gate & started to deplane. A guy coming up the aisle said "the gate agent has your camera". Sure enough, as soon as I walked off the ramp the gate agent handed me my camera bag. Either he had noticed it or a good samaritan had given it to him. Either way, I lucked out or would have been in your shoes. I hope it gets turned in.

[J and G]

A few years ago, I coordinated a Halloween carnival at our church. After a very long day of setting up and an evening of carnival activities, we were cleaning up and found a woman's wallet full of credit cards and about $7 in cash.

 

When 9 PM came and went without the wallet's owner returning to claim it, I stopped to call her so that she could come pick up her wallet before bedtime. After several calls and quite a bit of searching, I located the owner. She proceeded to quiz me about the contents of the wallet, listing every credit card she had and asking me to verify that they were all there. She also claimed to have several hundred dollars in the wallet, and virtually accused me of stealing it.

 

She then said that she couldn't come get the wallet and asked if someone could bring it to her. I told her that we were still cleaning up and that she could pick up her wallet at the church office at her convenience.

 

Incidents like that make one wonder if going to the trouble to be honest is worthwhile, when the honest person is virtually accused of theft. Of course, I have to live with myself so I will continue to be honest. It's about how I feel about my actions...not how someone else responds.

Well, here is the other side of my previous story.....

On a recent trip to the Venetian in Las Vegas (for a presentation at a conference) I left my purse on a table outside one of the conference rooms. A few minutes later I realized what had happened and managed to find my way back to that table, despite the fact that I was in a panic and that the Venetian is HUGE and all the conference areas look alike.

 

A man at the table (a teacher from California) said that my purse had been found and that he turned it over to security. I eventually found the security desk and retrieved my purse with all contents in tact (even though I had an Ipod, a PDA, and money inside). I could hardly believe that I got my purse back in Las Vegas!

 

My DH and I had in-room breakfast sent to the teacher's room at the Wynn, even though he initially refused any sort of reward. (I guess breakfast in bed in Vegas was too tempting!) It was the best $90 we've spent in a long time! Thanks to that honest gentleman!!!

[3redheads]

I'm so glad some of you have had positive experiences. I'm still waiting to hear back from RCCL. They told me someone would contact me within 48-72 hours. I'm not holding out much hope, but you never know!!

 

Thanks again!!

[FlyingPhotog]

Sorry about your loss. I had the same thing happen to me a few years ago when I left my small digital camera on a park bench in Hawaii. Of course it was gone when I returned 10 minutes later. My insurance replaced the camera, but like you said the memories are gone forever. :(

[Ocean Boy]

I always take tons of pictures on our cruises to have for memories. After one cruise we were at the airport and I left the camera where I had been sitting. I didn't realize it until I had boarded the plane. Suddenly I got this feeling of panic when I realized I didn't have it. The flight attendent brought me back into the terminal and I ran to where I had been sitting and the camera was gone. I had this totally sick feeling in my stomach. Suddenly this woman walks up to me and asks me if this is what I was looking for and she handed me my camera. I can't begin to explain the feeling of relief that I had.

 

It turned out that the woman was on the same flight as me and when we saw eachother on the plane we both had huge smiles for each other.

[Captain Canuck]

I saw something the other day about memory cards....they don't keep forever...to the guy who has 15 of them I hope he is backing them up to a dvd too. I have mine on an external hard drive...our laptop..and I back them up to DVD on a regular basis...I also leave copies at my siblings houses in case my house burns down....sorry but law school had that effect on me

[SheriNtexas]

The person who has my camera has probably erased all of my pictures and video. The videos of my daughter dancing with my husband, the pictures of my birthday celebration at Chops. Our wonderful catamaran excursion in St. Thomas-gone. My camera is 2 years old and is not worth what I paid. Are you going to try and sell in on eBay? You may get a few dollars.

!

 

 

I have not read all the replies to this yet, but I am SO sorry that someone took your camera, and after reading the replies, I hope somewhere in there it is you, telling us that you got your memory stick back!! I don't know how someone can do something like that!! This won't help you to get your stick back, but i have a story that MAY restore faith that there are people out there who ARE honest!! My ex husband and his wife took our 2 kids, ages 16 and 18, to las vegas a couple of weeks ago. My 18yo son had his Ipod video, the various chargers, cables, etc. that go with it, some kind of handheld nintendo game, along with all the access. and games, a phone charger, etc. in a walmart sack. He sat in the front seat of the cab and they got dropped off at their hotel in vegas. about 15 minutes later he realized he had left it in the cab! That was about $1000 worth of electronic stuff. He called every cab company and left a message. Meanwhile, they get back home, we buy him a new charger for his phone, and there is a message from one of the cab companies, and they have his sack!! I sent them the mailing info along with a check to cover mailing it back priority mail, and we got it today!!

 

 

To the OP, i hope that you got your stick back, and I'm so sorry that happened to you! We just basically have to hope that as we live our lives, the people we meet, or DON'T meet, are good, honest and decent!! I'm sorry that it seems that whomever found your camera was a thief with no conscience!! Shame on them!!!:mad: :mad:

[SheriNtexas]

Thats what my Momma taught me....and I taught my two kids the same.

quote]

 

 

One year I went to a church camp as an adult supervisor with a group of girls, my daughter included. There were girls there, ages around 4th thru 6th grade, from churches all over. Well, about 3 days into the camp, I noticed that my watch had somehow fallen off. We looked everywhere!! It wasn't expensive, but it was MINE!! It was a very unusual watch, with lots of different colors, etc. Well, couple of days later, we are standing in line for dinner, and i overhear a girl admiring another girls new watch. I glance over that way and sure enough, MY watch was on her wrist. I walked over and asked to see it and she smiled so big as she showed me, and then i asked her where she got it and she pointed to her friend and said, "She gave it to me"! I then told the other girl that i had lost a watch exactly like that one, and as her face paled, she said she had found it while walking back to her cabin. As the other girl is ripping it off her wrist, :D i told the other girl, "You really should turn things in that you find"!! As i was walking away, i heard the girl wearing the watch say to her friend, "I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU LIED AND LET ME WEAR A WATCH THAT BELONGED TO SOMEONE ELSE....BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH!! LOL!!

[Quampapetet]

We had our camera stolen at a wedding... we left it on the table while we danced, and came back to find it gone. Our fault for being so trusting, but come on, who would steal a camera at a wedding???

 

That happened to my parents once, too. The hotel ppl told them that it happens often. It isn't the wedding guests who steal them, but ppl who come to the hotel, blend in with the guests, and steal whatever they can find.

 

That same wedding, somebody's card for the bride & groom was stolen, since it had a lot of money in it.

 

So sad!

 

But here is a nice story: My friend and I were eating at Whispering Canyon at Disney World and the man in the table next to us (the one I was facing) had to take his daughter to the bathroom. His wife had already left dinner to take their other kid up to the room to bed, so it was just the man and his daughter there. The guy left his camera right on the top of the table when he went to take his daughter to the bathroom. Our waitress saw this and asked my friend and I (okay, really me, since my friend's back was to that table) to keep our eye on the camera 'til the man came back. So we did and nobody tried taking the camera and the man and his daughter came back and had dinner.

[jayfurr]

For what it's worth, I had a GPS unit and cell phone stolen out of an outside pocket of my suitcase by RCCL staff at the Port of Miami when we cruised on the Explorer of the Seas in April of 2004. They were there when we handed over our bags and gone when we got our bags back. I know better now than to put anything valuable anywhere it can be accessed by light-fingered people but at the time, in all the confusion at the pier and port, I guess I wasn't thinking clearly. I'm now the most freakin' anal-retentive person IN THE WORLD when it comes to controlling all the little expensive electronic things we surround ourselves with.

[A Sixth?]

I must say that we too are disappointed with some of the lack of character we experienced on the Mariner 12-19th.

 

I left a Tilley hat posibly by the Solarium pool or worse yet, more likely in out stateroom, and it too disappeared.

 

In any case I know it wasn't our room stew, he was great but they do leave the doors open when they service the cabins and the hat was right there airing out on our table, for all to see.... that's what we think happened, but aren't 100% sure that I may have left it by the Solarium pool .

 

There were lot's of kids aboard.... a few drunken party types... who knows.

 

In any case, it was misplaced, didn't jump over board by itself, and was never turned in.

 

A sad epilogue for our first sail on RCI

[johno95]

If someone here could be tempted on a future cruise, someone here could have your camera.

 

you feel bad, you wish you had your images back.

 

...I know the person who has or had my camera isn't a member here, but to those who may be tempted to keep a lost item, please think about how it affects the owner. At the very least, turn in the memory card.

[brigittetom]

 

My DH and I had in-room breakfast sent to the teacher's room at the Wynn, even though he initially refused any sort of reward. (I guess breakfast in bed in Vegas was too tempting!) It was the best $90 we've spent in a long time! Thanks to that honest gentleman!!!

 

I know this isn't the point you were trying to make. But......breakfast at the Wynn is $90. :eek:

[geoblond]

3 Readheads, So sorry about the camera. Those kind of things can ruin your cruise. I WAS glad to hear you loved your cabin. We are going to be in 1688 and I can't WAIT

It was as wonderful as it sounds? We will be on the Voyager of the Seas. Did you experience much motion?

I hope your next cruise wipes out the bad from your last one....:)