6/29/15 Iceland/Norway/Scotland: Lost camera/returned - was it you?

[IBelieveInTheMagic]

I wanted to post about my DS losing his camera at the Blue Lagoon in Reykjavik and see if someone here on the DIS returned it.

My DS (11) LOVES taking pictures (he gets that from me ) and his small point & shoot camera bag has a strap and it's always around his wrist as he's always been afraid to lose it. At the Blue Lagoon you need to leave your things in the locker for the experience and I wasn't in the mens locker room (LOL) when my DH and DS changed and stored their items. As we were about to leave to catch the 12:15pm bus back to the town, my DS became frantic and couldn't find his camera and we never found it. We/they searched all over the locker rooms, lost and found, etc. The manager at the Blue Lagoon was amazing and my DS is pretty "strong" but he cried for over an hour as he had "lost" his pictures from the cruise and vacation up to this point. The Blue Lagoon was gracious and wrote down my contact info, said they'd mail it to us wherever we were and were very sorry about the experience. We left with a bit of sadness but we knew we had to move on and not let this get us down.

The bus ride (with Reykjavik Excursions) has free wifi so the entire way back I spent my time tweeting, face booking, emailing, etc., anything I could do to put it out there about my DS losing his camera. I did forget to post on the DIS, however. I carry an extra P&S so told DS he could have it for the rest of the trip and he loves my little camera so we were moving forward, although still very sad. I told him, my last idea was to check at Guest Services on board.

We went directly to Guest Services and described his camera bag and that his has the Swiss flag on the outside and she went to the back. Imagine our surprise and my DS's happiness when she walks out with his camera!!! He again started to cry and was so happy.

We assumed the whole time the camera was put on the bench and/or perhaps got mixed up in towels or perhaps someone just picked it up and thought it was theirs. I'm not sure what made the person return it to the ship but it was clear to see on his camera card that we were on a DCL cruise

In the off chance the cruiser was on our cruise and reads the DIS - a huge shout out to you for the pixie dust and good karma. We've always raised our DS to do unto others as you'd have done to you (good karma) and it was so nice to see this returned. My kids vacation was suddenly "restored".

I wanted to personally thank you so if you are here, send me a message and from the bottom of my heart, thank you!

Heather

 

[lorimay]

WOW! So happy you got it back.

We found a really nice, expensive camera outside of Figment by stroller parking in EPCOT back in March. We brought it over to the entrance of the ride as soon as we saw it. I hope the owners realized it quick so they didn't miss too many pictures.

 

[quickcat]

That was a really great story! So glad he got it back! Thanks for sharing, it made me smile

 

[Pens Fan]

I'm so glad there was a happy ending to your story! It reminds me of one Gunther, our guide in Reykjavik, told us. He was traveling across Iceland with friends and one of them lost their camera. About two weeks after they returned home, Gunther received a phone call from someone who had the camera. They found it in a parking lot, pulled up the pictures and found a picture of his car. They blew it up until they could read the license plate and then had a friend who had access to those records look up the name and phone number of the car's owner. They lived on the other side of the island, but had a relative driving to Reykjavik in few weeks, so they even delivered the camera to them!

There really are good people in the world. Unfortunately we don't hear nearly enough about them. I'm glad the person that found your son's camera was one of the good ones!

It also serves as a good reminder to take photos of your hotel, car, ship, cell phone #, or something to identify how to contact you. As you mentioned, the DCL pictures on the card are most likely how your son was reunited with the camera.

I'm downloading my 5,000 plus pictures from that amazing cruise as we speak. I would be crushed if they had somehow been lost.

Again - so glad it worked out for you!!

 

[ctnurse]

Love this! I am so happy for your DS. My DS is also 11 and understand.

DH and I found an IPad in the safe when we were packing up in Thailand and I often wonder if the owner ever received his iPad.