Anyone ever lose luggage before cruise?

[BriarfoxinWA]

We're flying in the day before our 3/29 cruise. Our flight arrives from Seattle via Dallas Fort Worth. My Mom asks me last night how much time do we have for a lay-over at DFW as the airport is huge. We have about an hour. She says "What happens if you miss your flight or your luggage doesn't make it?"

So now I'm TOTALLY paranoid! What will we do if our luggage misses the BOAT! I told her I better pack a swim suit and shorts in the carryon for all of us! Have to have priorities ya know! She's worried about our formal clothes - I'm worried about the swim suits!

Anyway - just wondering if that had ever happened to anyone?

 

[mcnuss]

We were flying the Friday night before our cruise, our connection was tight to begin with and then we were late. We made our connection but our luggage did not, and of course, we were on the very last US Airways flight of the night from Philly.

They put our bags on the very first flight of the am and they were delivered to us by about 10 am. Here's what helped stave off panic:

1. We were staying at the airport Hyatt anyway so the bags did not have far to come in the am.

2. Thanks to the fab information on the board, I had packed us a carry on bag with all of our pjs, toiletries and clothes for the next day. I had done this bc the Hyatt has the deal with DCL where you can put your luggage out in the morning and they will take it to the bus for you. I did not want to have to break into the big suitcases, so had packed the one little one for the hotel. Turned out to be the best bit of pre-planning I have ever done. The guy at US Airways told me I was the calmest person he'd ever seen lose a bag! I told him that if I did not have my luggage by 3 pm the next day, he'd see another side of me!

FYI -- even if you are staying elsewhere, the airline is required to deliver your mishandled bag to your location. So don't worry too much, in the 3 times my luggage has been "lost", I've had it in less than 12 hours.

 

[allears]

Hi briarfoxinwa,

Since you're flying in the night before I would relax, especially after reading mcnuss's post. It sounds like the airlines did pretty well by you. And they probably have till about 4 pm on sailing day to get the bags to the port if there was a problem.

Definintely, definitely pack your important stuff in a carry on. I would also suggest your change of closes, shorts etc, bathing suits and if you have enough room in a carry on, clothes for the first night's dinner. Also pack your medications, bathroom stuff, anything you wouldn't want to go through a day with out.

The first reason is that your checked luggage doesn't arrive at your stateroom as soon as you do. On our 7 day trip last year, all the bags arrive pretty early, but they don't have to be at your state room until 6 pm. So if your coming in from a colder climate, you'll want a change of clothes and if the pools are a big draw, bathing suits.

The second reason is if your bags get misrouted, you'll have stuff to fall back on until they get there. We did have one experience like this, and now I make sure we carry on what we need. Our first cruise was a 4 day combined with 4 days in WDW. The WDW resort we stayed in on the first leg of the trip never took our bags out of the hotel room. The plan is that you tag your luggage and they take it away and send it to the ship.

There are five of us, and we packed no extras since we were just going from the hotel to the ship. However, and this is one of my favorite Disney stories. About 15 mins before the ship left the dock, guest services called us. They informed us of the problem, and since it was their responsibility (we had their transfers) they immiediately sent up 5 kits of personal care items from the gift shop, issued a $500.00 shipboard credit, so we could buy clothes for dinner, swimming, sleeping etc. They had our luggage, all nine pieces air frieghted to nassau. We had our bags by 10 am the next morning. However, one of them was torn. When guest services called to check that we got everything, I let them know about the torn (brand new)suit case. They said no problem, bring it to guest services and we'll have the ship's appolster (sp) look at it. 24 hours later I had our bag bag, looking good as new.

That was what I called Disney Service. What could have been a HUGE problem was handled so well that we consider it a highlight of our first cruise. But it did make me plan for this evenutalty. When we sailed last year, you can bet we carryed on back ups.

So don't worry too much, but do plan.

Bon voyage

 

[pouncingpluto]

It is true that airlines deliver your lost luggage to where *you* are, even if it's not where your flight came into.

For example, my boyfriend met up with me during a business trip to Estonia last year, and his luggage was lost. He flew into Helsinki, Finland then took a ferry across the gulf to Tallinn, Estonia. The airline he had flown to Helsinki doesn't fly to Tallinn, but they put his bag on another airline to get it there for him.

 

[BriarfoxinWA]

Thanks for the reassurance! I am a compulsive planner - so I'll make sure we have enough stuff to get by if something happens. Worst case is that we'd spend 7 days in shorts & t-shirts and have to buy clothes at every port! How bad can that be!

 

[hydster]

and havent had our luggage lost YET! I was told a long time ago that the best way to make sure your luggage had the best shot in making it to your destination was to curb check it and tip the porter pretty good. We have done that and have had no problems getting our luggage. Maybe it is our good luck and maybe that had some truth to it but either way we have literally walked off of one airplane, down 3 gates to the next airplane, sat down, buckled our seatbelt and taken off and still have not had our luggage lost. To be safe I would follow Mcnuss's advice!!! I would hate to be without my luggage but hey in the Carribean maybe it isnt that bad! LOL

Heidi

 

[donald@home]

Our plan was to fly from Boston to Olando and stay at WDW the day before the cruise. There was a big storm in Boston so our flight was cancelled. They booked us on a later flight connecting in DALLAS/FT WORTH!!!

Because the airport was so huge we missed our connecting flight to Orlando, which was the last flight for the night. They put us up for the night. No one knew where our luggage was. T Our luggage had our name and home information on it, but it DID NOT have ANY THING saying it was headed for a Disney Cruise.

The next morning when we checked in at the airport for our flight to Orlando they STILL didn't know where our luggage was.

When we arrived in Orlando, our luggage never showed up and they had no idea where it was. It was now about 6 hours before the ship was to depart.

When we got to the ship, they still didn't know where our luggage was. We boarded the ship and went our room wondering what we should do. We decided to have lunch and hope it would show up, even thought we knew there was little chance of that, since there was no Disney Cruise identification. We were still in the same clothes we were wearing while we were in Boston the day before. . After lunch we went back to the room. The luggage was there. I have NO IDEA how they figured it out.

I am not sure if this helps or not, but your question made me think of that rough start to our cruise.

 

[magic cruiser]

Allears : Sorry to hear about your losing your luggage but was EXTREMELY impressed at the way Disney handled it !! You were lucky....a few years ago we did a Carnival cruise, southern carribean out of San Juan. Anyway, we missed our connection and ended up on the cruise WITHOUT our luggage !! Carnival did NOTHING !! They didn't even offer us a toothbrush ! We purchased the essentials from the ship's store and bought a few clothes at St Thomas, our 1st port. Our luggage did arrive ONE hour prior to leaving St Thomas !! The worst part was the poor attitude on the part of the pursers staff....I could not believe it !!!Now the only lines we will sail on is Disney and Princess !!

 

[allears]

We were really impressed as well. I think the reason Disney was so proactive was that the situation was their responsibilty. Our luggage should have been transferred. But like I said, they handled it so well that it is one of our favorite stories.

One detail I left out. By wife wore slacks to the port, so she was presentable for dinner, however the rest of us were not, all in shorts and t-shirts. I was at the shops as soon as they opened after we left the dock. I got a really nice silk shirt and pants at Treasure Ketch, but they were all long lenghts. So while we went to the show, they had the pants altered for me to the correct length. We had late seating for dinner. We are big fans of Disney service anyway, but this locked us in as true devotees.

That little mistake of theirs costs them a lot, when you figure in the ship board credit and the cost of air lifting our luggage. Mistakes happen, how they are resolved shows a companies true colors.

 

[dmadman43]

BriarFoxinWA, we did this trip/connection two weeks ago for our 12/28 sailing and had no problem with the luggage connection. In fact, much to my surprise my luggage was waiting for me when I got to baggage claim!

 

[quidam]

On my very first trip to WDW, in the 70's, my mother and I both lost our luggages and got them back three days later! My father was ok. His suitcase had made it.

Here is what I am now doing every time we go on a trip.

Even though my husband, son and I each have our own suitcase, I pack the three suitcases with clothes for the three of us... nice clothing, shorts, pj's and bathing suit, etc. in each suitcase.

So if we end up losing one or two suitcases, we will still all be fine!

 

[sluggo]

Dear donald@home.

I am pretty sure I know how it happened. You bags probably arrived at the Orlando Airport after you last went to the airline's Baggage Service Office to check on them.

After each flight that comes in at the Orlando airport, DCL has CMs that look at every unclaimed bag and checks the name on the bag against a manifest of all of the people that will be on the cruise that day. If they find a match, they take the bags and put handwritten DCL tags on them and send them to the port with the other tagged bags.

This can be a very labor intensive process but it what DCL will do in order to try not to miss any bags.

In case the airlines delay bags past the time that the ship leaves, there is still one CM that stays until late at night to find, claim and ship out to the 1st port of call those delayed bags.

Sluggo

 

[MickeyB426]

Hey BriarFox,

Worst case scenarion...stop by my room and I'll loan you some of my stuff. I always overpack and you can make three shirts for your crew out of one of mine!

 

[BriarfoxinWA]

Thanks for the offer MickeyB426! I'm almost looking forward to potentially losing a bag! Then I would HAVE TO clothes shop in Key West, Grand Cayman...