My story was from our cruise last June to Norway/Iceland/Scotland. I've posted this awhile back so it might seem familiar for those who read it then. My son (who was 11 at the time) has always been in to photography along with me and has had his own little point and shoot for every cruise we've been on and vacation for that matter. We went with another couple we had become friends with from our group (and remain very close to, to this day) to the Blue Lagoon in Reykjavik and took a bus out there and back.
At the Blue Lagoon there are dressing rooms with lockers to store your real clothes and any items and my DS thought he handed his camera to my DH and from there it got sort of mixed up. What we think happened is my DS left the camera (in his small carry bag) on the bench in the changing room and from there they went to the lagoon. I was chilling in the cafe and taking it all in and then it was time to go. My DS panicked as the camera was nowhere to be found. The security and manager at the Blue Lagoon was amazing and really tried to help us re-step our steps, look in the dressing room again, lost and found, etc. Our friends were trying to assist us in any way they could and we didn't want them to miss the end of their lovely and relaxing morning there so I was already feeling bad for them since we were "frantic". We had a specific bus to catch to make it back and didn't want to miss it. My DS never takes his camera off his wrist (it has a a wrist strap) so he was gutted as his cruise pictures were on there as were the pictures before the cruise in Copenhagen.
We filled out the lost and found forms in the office and she took my email information and we hoped for the best. She said over 90% of lost items are found there and most don't steal anything. I knew we'd be leaving port later so time was not on our side but the manager explained they would even ship it free to whatever destination we needed it to be sent to so I was trying to be hopeful. My poor DS cried on the bus back and he rarely cries. I felt so bad and immediately knew this would put a sad face on the big adventure so tried to be positive and told him he could use my point and shoot from here forward since I also brought my DSLR and we'll learn and move forward. I cried on the bus too and it hurt me so bad to see how much he was hurting and I know what the pictures meant to him.
The bus had free wifi so I was posting on the Twitter feed, posting on our FB group, emailing the Blue Lagoon, whatever it took. Once we got back on the Magic I told my DS, on a whim, let's go to Guest Services and at least check to see if someone from our cruise was there and someone found it and brought it back to the ship with them. At the least we could leave our information in case it showed up later. I was thinking perhaps someone in the changing room swooped the camera up with towels and didn't notice it until later or they took it by mistake earlier and that's why we couldn't find it before we left.
We explained to the very sweet CM at Guest Services what his camera bag looked like which included the Swiss flag on the front of it. We waited and while hopeful we knew the chances were slim to none and then sure enough she comes from out the door carrying a case and I immediately saw the Swiss flag and my DS was beyond excited. We took the camera out and made sure it was his (which it was) and also the memory card still there with all the pictures. He began to cry and again, my son doesn't cry that much but that camera and those pictures meant the world to him and it's like he got back his 2nd arm since it never leaves him.
We have to assume a fellow cruiser, grabbed it by mistake and turned it on and saw some of the cruise pictures and knew to turn it in to Guest Services. There were lots of tourists at the Blue Lagoon so clearly not everyone there was on our sailing. I asked the CM if she had any idea who turned it in and she did not know. I wanted to return the favor and leave him/her a surprise but there wasn't a name left which didn't surprise me.
I always believed in karma and "do unto others as you'd have done to you" and it was so nice to experience it and show my DS that there are more *GOOD* people out there and we have to focus on those good people and not always the bad and above anything, always do the right thing and good thing as you never know when it will be returned your way.
To add to this, later in the afternoon we received some nice gestures from the CM at Guest Services for my DS and for me (a bottle of wine). I was not expecting that and that just added the extra Disney touch to all this. I will forever be grateful to whomever returned the camera to Guest Services and what a small world to know it had to be someone on our sailing there at the same time.
Heather