Lost Luggage, Be warned

[Shogun]

Hi Folks,

 

When my stuff went missing my first contact with Princess was not good in that they said you have insurance,

 

My first contact with the insurance company was just as bad, get your money from another, well as the hotel, bus and cruise are all part of a package from Princess then Princess should pay up, right, ?.

 

Well I am still waiting for a reply to my letter.

 

Round two with insurance company, OK we will have a look at your claim, provide us with proof or purchase before the date you went on holiday for each and every item, letters from shops saying I bought x in Dec and I paid Y for it are not acceptable if dated after your return.

 

Who keeps proof of purchase for small items of clothing, big items may be in case there is a fault.

 

OK next time I will keep everything.

 

The battle continues

 

yours Shogun

[regnig]

Oh Shogun I'm so sorry to hear that this saga continues for you. The best outcome would have been for that which was lost to be found but since the chances of that now is slim to none at least someone should step up and compensate you without anymore pain on your part. You demonstrated such a positive attitude when this occurred and didn't let it spoil your cruise this just now seems so unfair. :(

 

Princess is missing a good PR event here. I know the entire world doesn't read CC but a lot of future cruisers do and it would go a long way for them to see to it you could post a positive ending to this story.

[silvercruiser]

This sounds like typical "blame the victom" mentality.

I can't believe the terrible job of public relations being done by Princess. Not to mention that it just isn't right, when they were responsible for the theft of your luggage. I'm just incensed at this and hope everyone else is too.

A few years ago a passenger's luggage was accidentally dumped in the ocean at Ensenada on our cruise to Hawaii and they went through much of this same thing. Where is the sense of responsibility?

[mycruz]

I have a couple of suggestions for you if you would like to email me. I had a terrible problem before our last cruise between my TA and Princess and went way up the food chain. If you would like, email me and I'll fill you in.

swintmf@yahoo.com I feel as though someone at Princess at least listened and offered to be of some help afterwards.

[Sierra Fox]

Were you using Princess Travel Care or a different insurance company?

 

I can't believe they want receipts for everything in your luggage. That is a completely unreasonable request. I know I don't have receipts, not even for the luggage itself.

 

Good luck with this and keep upadating us on how it plays out. - SF

[BJS]

I'm sorry to hear of yet another hassle with insurance and more so for your loss.

 

Did you ask the insurance carrier what you should do without the receipts or did they say they would deny the claim?

 

We had a similar experience with a non cruise trip and lost luggage with an airline. They wanted original receipts also but when we said we had none they told us to get estimates for the replacement cost (which they depreciated depending on when we said we purchased items) and they accepted these.

 

Keep us posted --- there must be another way other than the original receipts to get reimbursement. It's hard to believe with all the lost and damaged luggage that insurance companies only pay with original receipts.

 

.

[4x4bob]

Shogun

Since I will be sailing on the Emerald in May I have been following your reports, the good and the bad, with interest.

 

I hope that the first rejection of your Claim to Princess is just an automatic reaction on their part to discourage people from filling claims. And, since you have indicated you are not giving up, mabey they will reimburse your loss.

 

However, must make note to self. Borrow my Brother-in-Laws luggage for this trip. :p

 

Bob

[CrusinAgain]

When my luggage went missing getting off the Pearl ship last month, I waited a couple weeks and gave up and filed a claim. In starting the process for a claim, I was informed they want receipts for everything in your luggage and they say to use receipts, credit card statements, letters from stores anything to prove the date you bought it, the item you bought and the amount. Don't bother to send in anything dated after your loss only before your loss is acceptable since you are home.

 

Luckily, I did have all the receipts in my safety deposit box, because I had learned from homeowners insurance you will have to do the same thing should something happen, and prove everything in your home with receipts. A word to everyone at this point is to start saving your receipts in a container that is fire-proof before you learn the hard way.

 

I had 12 pages of copies of receipts to send to them (2 receipts to a page) and they had two columns for how much you paid and how much it is worth. Be prepared for depreciation to be deducted also.

 

I wish you luck Shogun as like you said, people don't normally save receipts. I am a rare case as no one else in my family does. Hopefully bank account statements, credit card statements, will help you.

[kruisey]

I read on this page early 2004 that although it states at the FLL pier that there is no need to tip the luggage handlers one must. Which I did.My luggage plus crate of 24 bottles of water were safely delivered to my cabin

[silvercruiser]

Yes, it's wise to tip the porters at dockside, but Shogun turned his luggage over to Princess at the airport. In other words, he trusted them to take care of the luggage and they didn't, as it was obviously stolen.

As I mentioned before, the situation that day at the port was awful, but Princess should have been able to handle it.

[kruisey]

Yes, it's wise to tip the porters at dockside, but Shogun turned his luggage over to Princess at the airport. In other words, he trusted them to take care of the luggage and they didn't, as it was obviously stolen.

As I mentioned before, the situation that day at the port was awful, but Princess should have been able to handle it.

Shogun mentioned the luggage was put on the bus.

When I got off the bus I pushed some' Doe Ray Me' into the hand of one of the luggage handlers and described my luggage.

It is a very sad state of affairs when luggage disappears and I feel personally that Princess should have more empathy.

No I do not keep receipts for my clothing.Surely no one would go on a cruise without any clothing?

[kruisey]

Shogun mentioned the luggage was put on the bus.

When I got off the bus I pushed some' Doe Ray Me' into the hand of one of the luggage handlers and described my luggage.

It is a very sad state of affairs when luggage disappears and I feel personally that Princess should have more empathy.

No I do not keep receipts for my clothing.Surely no one would go on a cruise without any clothing?

 

I have just spoken with Princess travel Care.

If the Airline or Princess confirm that they have lost your luggage then without receipts you get 20% off the value of the item.Example dress costs $200 you get $160 dollars refund.I mentioned I was on travelcare gold.

[Shogun]

Hi Folks.

 

The insurance was not from Princess, I think what they offer in UK is not same as USA.

 

Insurance company I used was one of the bigger ones, thought go with a big name costs a little more but would be worth it if things went wrong.

 

Bags were last seen out side hotel getting loaded onto bus as we had to stay overnight in Miami, so bag either was not put on bus, was not taken of bus or was lost at port. There were two buses but all bags went in one bus.

 

As to proof of purchase, on the policy docs no where does it say need proof of purchase if making a claim, only on the claim docs, does it state no letters, insurance valuation etc after date of lose, only proof purchase before claim are acceptable, plus letter from cruise line, plus orginal policy doc, then docs showing date booked, which is over a year ago, big letter saying why insurance was not in place at time of booking, well policy is only for 12 months, if they try and say it had to be in place at time of booking I will fly to England and make them eat the docs. Then letter saying why no police report, as they say all thefts need to be reported. It just goes on and on, but thats OK I am not going anywhere so bring it on the bigger they are the harder they fall.

 

 

 

 

yours Shogun

[DetroitMark]

Am I required to surrender my luggage? I mean, I understand it has to go through security and whatever. But what if I requested that I take my own luggage to my stateroom, and take it myself off of the vessel after the cruise?

 

Are they going to make a big deal out of it? Airlilnes lose luggage enough as it is, and the stuff is RIGHT UNDER THE FUSELAGE. Imagine what can happen when there are 2000 bags instead of 500!

[CrusinAgain]

My insurance policy was thru the cruiseline but it is administered by Berkeley Insurance so the cruiseline has nothing more to do with it and it is all handled by the insurance carrier and yes we had to also provide homeowners insurance, proof of going on the cruise, itinerary along with everything else. They do not make it easy.

 

Kruisey, what does Princess travel care go by for the value of your clothing. You have to show them something for them to give you 20 percent of its value.

[BJS]

Am I required to surrender my luggage? I mean, I understand it has to go through security and whatever. But what if I requested that I take my own luggage to my stateroom, and take it myself off of the vessel after the cruise?

 

Are they going to make a big deal out of it? Airlilnes lose luggage enough as it is, and the stuff is RIGHT UNDER THE FUSELAGE. Imagine what can happen when there are 2000 bags instead of 500!

 

If your luggage is small enough to fit through a scanner you can carry it onboard. You can choose to self-disembark and carry your luggage off of the ship. To do this you must be able to carry the luggage and still have one hand free for escalators, etc.

 

It is always advisable, yes it is frequently hard to do, to watch and make sure your luggage is put on the bus, taken off the bus, and then at the port is given & taken by the correct people to load it onto the ship.

 

.

[DetroitMark]

Hm. Maybe just the disembark for me. We're going straight to a hotel in Venice so we don't need to catch any land buses. Geesh. This thread has me freaked out a little bit.

[Cruisin' Chick]

OMG, I was hoping you'd received your luggage by now. Most people don't keep receipts for clothing they've bought, unless they think they might return it (hopefully without wearing it out on the town). And each party (the transportation company, the cruiseline, etc) seems to be pointing fingers at each other. It would be nice (and great PR) if Princess steps up and helps you out.

[PescadoAmarillo]

Hm. Maybe just the disembark for me. We're going straight to a hotel in Venice so we don't need to catch any land buses. Geesh. This thread has me freaked out a little bit.

We had a bag go missing after it was put on a bus on a shuttle to the Milan airport. We eventually got it back, but we'll never again be so trustworthy. Now we are the royal PITA couple where one gets on the bus and the other stays outside the bus until the baggage door is closed. Same with the porters at the ship's terminal...one of us watches the bags into the terminal building. And on a shuttle van, where others get out before we do and our luggage is offloaded for access to their's, we turn around in the seat and have our eyes on it all the time.

 

Shogun, my sympathies. You deserve better.

[kruisey]

My insurance policy was thru the cruiseline but it is administered by Berkeley Insurance so the cruiseline has nothing more to do with it and it is all handled by the insurance carrier and yes we had to also provide homeowners insurance, proof of going on the cruise, itinerary along with everything else. They do not make it easy.

 

Kruisey, what does Princess travel care go by for the value of your clothing. You have to show them something for them to give you 80 percent of its value.

OK if you don't have receipts you list the articles and they

told me you get value minus 20%

[Sandy R]

Shogun... my sincere sympathies. I still hold out hope the luggage will appear. If not I agree with you, take it to the limit in having the insurance company compensate you.

 

After reading this thread, I guess DH and I are in the minority in that we save our receipts... for 5 years beyond the year of purchase. We have for years and we've actually had to use them on several occasions. A year's worth of receipts along with all the statements, take up a Costco-size folding box. We do have an attic to store them in, which helps. It doesn't take any time to throw receipts in a small box... for us, it's now 2nd nature.

 

And, like others who have posted, we do tip the baggage handlers well and watch until our bags are loaded into a container.

 

Sandy

[ourlol]

Shogan

 

I really feel for you on this one. Some years ago my son had a similar experience, not on a cruise I hasten to add, but by an airline on his return journey from a student expedition. Cutting a long story short he and 20 other young adults had sailed aboard the tallship Soren Larsen between Tonga and Fiji for 3 weeks and then spent some time on a remote island building a hostel for the islanders. It was the culmination of 2 years fundraising for the project. On his journey home his bags were lost and with them all the mementos from his trip, gifts (many handmade) from those he had met. You couldn't put a price on much of what was lost because of the sentimental value.

 

Someone from Cruise Critic - armed with a photo of the bag - even went to Los Angeles airport (where the bag was last seen) to see if they could find it. I was eventually told of a huge warehouse where all unclaimed luggage eventually ends up... all to no avail.

 

Dealing with the insurance was an absolute nightmare with lots of tooing and froing between the airline concerned and our travel insurance company. First we were told any claim would be based on the weight of the bag and then, like you, we were asked to submit receipts for everything inside, along with details of when and where things were bought. I spent days compiling a spread sheet but even then there were things we were unable to claim for because I had no proof of purchase.

 

Shogan I still have the spreadsheet on my computer if you want me to send you a copy to use for your own claim. Just email me at ourLOL @ aol dot com and I'll forward it to you. You can just overwrite my text.

 

The worse bit was knowing that the bag was out there somewhere... and that someone was probably walking round wearing the contents.

 

Wishing you all the best with this. Good Luck and let us know the final outcome.

 

Laura

[Shogun]

Hi Folks,

 

Thanks for your kinds words and offers of help, we took pictures of the bags that did make it as they were the same, the photo folk on the ship printed them free for us, so these were given to Princess to e-mail of to all to see if this would help, or my return again I went to the hotel, spoke to Princess folk that I had seen at the start of the cruise and went to see if there was a lost luggage area at the port, I was told that there was not one as bags are a possible hazard they are opened and sent onwards to where they think they belong.

 

Still no relpy from Princess or the insurance company to my last letter.

 

 

yours Shogun

[mauiedin87]

Having had to deal with one of the large travel insurance companies a couple of years ago, let me assure you that they will make it as hard as possible for you to get anything out of them. They "taketh", but they don't "giveth" unless they absolutely have to. As someone else said, be prepared to go way up the food chain, even the State Insurance Commissioner!!! Insurance companies count on the fact that 90% of people will simply give up, throw their hands up in the air and file their experience under "lessons learned the hard way". Be one of the other 10%, be as persistent as a pitbull, it may take many months, but you may get compensation eventually!

[ColoRockiesFan]

Just to show that there is some hope for some compensation. I lost/had stolen my tote on the Diamond on January 17 in L.A. I filed a claim with my insurance company under my renter's insurance on Jan. 20. On Monday, January 28, my insurance company deposited an amount in my checking account which compensated me for about 60% of my losses. And they did this without me having to file any forms or receipts. Miracles do happen!

 

(Now onward and upward to the battle with Princess Travel Care to try to obtain part of the remaining 40%)