Luggage locked or unlocked?

[spooly]

Stupid question here from a first timer. I thought I read somewhere that you should have your luggage locked before giving it to the porter to load onto the ship. Is this correct? If so, I guess I have to pack locks for the flight and lock them once I get them at the airport.

[Barbee524]

You don't have to lock your luggage before you give it to the porter, but it's not a bad idea. If you don't already own luggage locks I suggest you get the TSA approved locks or you can always just use zip ties.

[Coolmama_1]

We use the TSA locks for both the flight and cruise.

[CPT Trips]

We use zip ties for air and sea. Only a couple o cents each and somehow the baggage carrying machinery always seemed to "eat" our TSA locks.

[nlptes]

I agree - use the zip ties. My suitcase was returned without my TSA approved lock :rolleyes: :( :confused:

 

Zip ties are much cheaper as well. But leave a decent sized loop so you'll be able to cut it off. Which, BTW, I keep a nail clipper in the outside zip part of the luggage to snip them off.

 

Have fun!

 

Nancy

[Happy ks]

I have always locked my luggage before turning it over to the porters and especially when leaving it out for pickup in the hallway the last night.

 

I've read too many posts here on CC about valuables being taken out of unlocked luggage. If we are flying, I use the zip ties or TSA locks for that, if we are driving to port, I use regular luggage locks.

 

And......most important......do not pack valuables into your checked luggage. What we read about here that is missing the most is Ipods, laptop computers, jewelry, cameras. If you take any of those things along, always hand carry them.

[GreatLakes]

We used the TSA approved locks on our luggage for this past cruise, and despite the fact the bags were locked in our hotel room when the porter came to pick them up (with my husband in the room when they took the bags), 2 of our bags were delivered to our ship's cabin with no locks and had been opened. We decided to file a report with the cruise line since we were not sure if anything had been taken, which it did not appear to be. The cruise line was blaming TSA, and we assured them it was not TSA since our luggage had been at the hotel for 3 days with us. The one thing we do when we travel is pack all our personal undergarments in clear plastic bags, whether it is checked baggage or carry-on, so that if anyone is going to rifle through our luggage, they will be able to see what is in the bags and will not be touching my undergarments.

[jazzlvr57]

I'm not sure about all cruise lines but I know that Holland America told me that they are not able to open the TSA locks and will need to cut them off if they need to open the bag.

[Nebr.cruiser]

I guess we're the exception, but we no longer bother to lock our checked luggage. We never put anything valuable or irreplaceable in it anyway, and my clothes/shoes aren't really valuable enough to tempt anyone. If some clothing or a toilet articles (the only things in our checked luggage)are missing, it might be a little inconvenient, but not tragic.

[Host Kewlguy]

We always lock all our luggage both on our flights and when checking them in on the cruise ship. We do not use TSA approved locks and have never had our luggage opened. We lock our carry ons also.

[CC Help Michell]

I'm not sure about all cruise lines but I know that Holland America told me that they are not able to open the TSA locks and will need to cut them off if they need to open the bag.

 

While I'm sure that's true (and no biggie, TSA locks are cheap) if in an emergency the cruiseline needed to open your bag, I have to say this post kind of took me aback. I've never heard of a cruiseline that would "officially" open a bag without the passenger being present. If the xray machine shows something they want to examine further (a bottle which might have booze, for example), don't most cruiselines put the bag in the "naughty room" and phone the cabin to ask you to come open it for them?

 

We use TSA locks for flying and cruising. The people who DO have a right to open your bag outside your presence (TSA) have keys. Someone who doesn't have that right (whether at the airport or on the dock/cruiseship) COULD still open the bag by cutting off the lock... but we think of it as kind of like having a "burglar alarm" sign in your yard -- whether you actually have an alarm or not, the crooks will go look for easier pickings -- it's more for deterrence than preclusion. Even so, we also do not pack valuables in our checked luggage, ever.

[cb at sea]

My luggage stays locked from the time I leave home, through the flight, until the bags are in my cabin! We don't use TSA locks, because anyone at the airport with a key can open them! Why do I want that????? If they MUST get into my bags, the can cut the lock, and I will know about it! So far, never happened!

LOCK YOUR BAGS!!!!!!

[mom2NnB]

How does the ship know if the bottle in your luggage is the allowed bottle of wine (Carnival) or a bottle of liqour?

 

We will bring 2 bottles of wine, wrapped in towels to avoid breakage.

[Philob]

We use TSA locks and when we returned from our Hawaiian cruise earlier this year, we found a note in our suitcase from the Hawaiian Dept of Agriculture and not the TSA :eek:

[Scootercruise]

I agree with some posts, lock or zip tie your luggage getting on or off the ship, so you can see if someone opened your luggage. We have had notes in our checked luggage after a flight informing us of a random baggage check, which is no problem to me, just being safe.However, on our most recent cruise in Sept on the NCL Spirit, we had to get something out of our luugage before we put our bags through screening at the airport, only to find things missing that we had bought in ports. It could have only been taken on the ship since they had the luugage from 11pm to 8am the night before disembarking. The cruise line flat out refuses to refund us anything because we didn't file a report on the ship, my question to them was how to file on board when you are already of the ship. So yes I would advise you to lock or zip tie while your luugage is going on or off the ship.

[GORDONCHICK]

This last cruise was the first time we used the zip ties, and we loved them. Didn't have to keep up with keys or combo. Just kept clippers handy.

[momofmeg]

Stupid question here from a first timer. I thought I read somewhere that you should have your luggage locked before giving it to the porter to load onto the ship. Is this correct? If so, I guess I have to pack locks for the flight and lock them once I get them at the airport.

 

I don't-I have heard too many horror stories about locked luggage and people haveing expesnive valuables stolen out of their suitcase. is it any wonder with those locks on luggage? Keep your expensive valuables -ex. jewelry, camcorders in your carryon.

[EggDropErin]

We also use the TSA locks for flights and cruises. Our have little indicators on them to let us know if our luggage has been opened.