Be careful collecting your luggage at debarkation

[drk]

Just back from a great trip on the 12/11 sailing of the Zuiderdam. We went to baggage claim after our color/number was called and one of our bags was not there. We alerted the HAL folks working in the area and we all looked all over the baggage area and couldn't find our bag. The assumption was that someone took the wrong bag. Other HAL people were out at curbside and sure enough found our bag with another passenger who was very surprised to have the wrong bag. His was the only one left in the claim area.

 

Thanks to the diligence of the HAL personnel a major problem for us was averted however the problem never should have happened in the first place. Please check the name tags when claiming your bags. (Like most people we have a colored ribbon on ours which was helpful to the HAL people in identifying our bag at curbside.)

[DFD1]

Good advice. Thanks for the heads up.

[ekerr19]

We have had this happen to us also - only the bag was not caught til the individual got home - it took them two weeks before they finally shipped it back to HAL so it could be delivered to us!

 

There is no excuse for this, imo - if you don't know your bag - READ the tag!

Save everyone else the inconvenience... :mad:

[Candy]

Even though HAL's color coding is very efficient, we found the "Black Sea" overwhelming and switched to red luggage which is much easier to spot. Our last Zuidy one of our friend's pieces was misplaced, but it was found in only 15 minutes. In contrast, luggage retrieval on the Majesty OTS last month was a nightmare, taking nearly 1 1/2 hours to find our bags... a disgrace! That's only one of the many reasons we sail HAL almost exclusively.

[kryos]

Thanks to the diligence of the HAL personnel a major problem for us was averted however the problem never should have happened in the first place. Please check the name tags when claiming your bags. (Like most people we have a colored ribbon on ours which was helpful to the HAL people in identifying our bag at curbside.)

I also make sure my bag is "unique" ... so that hopefully no one else could pick it up by mistake. I generally travel with a big floral duffle bag that definitely stands out.

 

If your bag is not unique, then make it so by decorating it with multi-colored ribbons on the handles ... something that will make it stand out.

 

Also, I always verify the luggage tags whenever I pick up my bags either at the airport or the cruise terminal. It's a shame more people don't do this since it would avoid problems such as the one you experienced.

 

Glad everything worked out for you ...

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita

[thulewx]

It seems like, nowadays, every other piece of luggage coming off the carousel at the airport or at the port has a big piece of red yarn tied to it - "Ooh! I bet I'm the ONLY person on earth who's ever thought of THIS!!" :rolleyes:

Get creative with your colored duct tape!!

[98Charlie]

To help with identifying our luggage at airports and disembarkation, I painted very large white daisies by freehand on each piece of our luggage. We can spot them easily now. An added plus is that few other people, if any, would want to travel with luggage decorated with my primitive, amateur artwork blazing all over the outside. :D

Dianne

[PCruzer]

This also happened to us on a Bermuda cruise out of NY. Someone else had taken our piece of luggage. Fortunately that person lived in Queens. When we arrived home on Long Island, the phone was ringing, and we found out that the person returned our luggage and picked up their own. As it happened, our luggage was under the wrong color tag. We were charged a fee to have a courier transport it to us. (We are about a 2-hour drive from the NY pier.) Ever since then, when we cruise we do not put our luggage in the hallway the night before disembarkation. Everything we bring with us we carry off ourselves. We have streamlined our packing so that it all fits in 2 wheeled garment bags and 1 or 2 small carry-ons. We can easily manage it off the ship. Works for us!

[tomc]

(1) I couldn't find one of my HAL-logo bags once. A HAL rep and I looked all over, came back and there it was. We assumed that a pax picked up the wrong one and returned it.

 

(2) I saw a bag coming off an airport carousel with either "MINE" or "NOT YOURS" on the side. I forget which.

 

(3) For sneaking extra-pricey items through customs undetected, everyone should read (or watch) Paul Gallico's delightful story, "Mrs. 'Arris Goes To Paris."

[Livestotravel]

This also happened to us on a Bermuda cruise out of NY. Someone else had taken our piece of luggage. Fortunately that person lived in Queens. When we arrived home on Long Island, the phone was ringing, and we found out that the person returned our luggage and picked up their own. As it happened, our luggage was under the wrong color tag. We were charged a fee to have a courier transport it to us. (We are about a 2-hour drive from the NY pier.) Ever since then, when we cruise we do not put our luggage in the hallway the night before disembarkation. Everything we bring with us we carry off ourselves. We have streamlined our packing so that it all fits in 2 wheeled garment bags and 1 or 2 small carry-ons. We can easily manage it off the ship. Works for us!

What is the downside to taking your own bags off? Can you leave anytime you want? Do you have to wait in a customs line that you wouldn't have to if your bags were put out by HAL? We are staying at our disembarkation port for 3 days and would love a leisurely morning, just leaving whenever we felt like it (within reason, of course) without listening for numbers, and searching for baggage.

[Maryandi]

The downside would have to be carrying everything off - incl. using the elevator instead of the escalator, etc.if you are comfy with the luggage-then carrying it off yourself would be the way to go. I'm doing that myelf in Feb.

 

In the meantime, I decorate, with fabric paint, paint my last name on the bottom AND wrap the whole thing in an X with duct tape. No one has ever tampered, stolen or walked off with this sorry- looking luggage. No one but it's Mom (me) has ever claimed it.!

[cruzincurt]

We use two large stripes of pink fluorescent duct tape on all handles. Amazing on how many people will look at our bag on the belt and almost pull it off. I have to keep a sharp eye out for our bags because apparently some of the brain dead forgot that they don't have fluorescent tape on their handles.

 

When we enter the sea of black, our suitcases jump right out.

[98Charlie]

On our last cruise on NCL they had a special category for those who wanted to take all luggage ashore with them. I think it was called express departure.

 

They had to sign up for express departure by noon of the last day. They were the first ones off (couldn't hang around the ship). For those who like to make early flight arraingements it would be OK.

 

I think that they were off by 8 or 8:30!

 

Charlie

[vjb223]

we have had that problem in the past but now, hopefully and have used for 2 yrs or so will not have ...we ordered name straps that go around luggage. It clearly states your last name or whatever you want so someone knows oops that is not mine.

[98Charlie]

we have had that problem in the past but now, hopefully and have used for 2 yrs or so will not have ...we ordered name straps that go around luggage. It clearly states your last name or whatever you want so someone knows oops that is not mine.

Where did you order the straps. We found a couple of bright colored ones with the name of a luggage company that we use (in addition to the hand painted daisies) and they do help identify the luggage from a distance. Personalized ones would be nice.

 

TIA

 

Charlie