Well, there is good news and bad news.
The bad is we will not be joining you and all our friends on the Magic's first Mediterranean cruise. Words cannot express how sad we are to be missing this trip with all of you. I had ordered Roses and the Bon Voyage chocolate covered strawberries and wine package to surprise Lynn in our cabin to celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary. We have both shed a lot of tears these last 2 days. Please tell Shane and Laurie we are so sorry we could not continue our trip with them. Laurie lent us her cell phone as they were boarding the plane in Atlanta and it helped us a lot! (We will get it back to her when they return to Phoenix.)
The good news is we met some of the most wonderful people at the Atlanta airport who helped us cope with this disaster. After we arrived in the Atlanta airport we went to another terminal to wait for our next plane and get something to eat. In front of Arbys I reached in my right front pocket to get my wallet out and felt there was only one passport, mine, in the same pocket where I had put both of our passports after clearing security in Phoenix. Panic set in as I tried to remember all the possible places I had taken out my wallet and could have dropped Lynn's passport. In Phoenix, I had gone to Starbucks before Shane and Laurie met up with us at the gate and had also had taken out my wallet while sitting at the gate area to give Lynn some money to go an get something to eat. The only other time I could remember putting my hand in that pocket was to take some pills I had in a small box while on the plane from Phoenix to Atlanta. So, unless someone had picket my pocket while in the Atlanta airport, it seemed the passport must have dropped out of my pocket when I accessed my wallet in Phoenix or on the plane. After carefully going through all our carry on bags multiple times, I rushed back to the gate we had arrived at in Atlanta. I asked the gate attendants if anyone had found a passport and they said no. They said the planes are cleaned between flights so it would have been turned in if it had been found. Also, that plane had already departed for San Francisco, so we could not check our seats again. I returned to the food court with the bad news.
Time ran out as I racked my brain on where the missing passport could be. We had a photo copy of the passport in Lynn's wallet but, they would not accept that to board. We watched our friends board the plane without us and I realized I needed to get our 4 suitcases off that plane! The gate attendant told us we would have to go to baggage claim and request them. We ran to the baggage claim service desk where there was a huge line of passengers waiting to be served. I panicked and apologized to everyone as I cut to the head of the line telling the attendant I only had 15 minutes to get our bags off of that plane!. After some confusion, I learned that on international flights, bags are only loaded if the owners are confirmed boarding the plane. I also learned it would take up to 4 hours for the bags to show up at the baggage claim area!
The Delta lost and found office was next to the baggage claim service desk so I checked with them and there was nothing. They sent a text message to Delta operations in San Francisco to check our seats again when the plane arrived there. We waited 4 hours the answer which was negative on the plane in SF. Our bags still had not come so this very nice lady from Delta's baggage service desk, (she knew our plight), took our baggage claim stubs and went to track them down. She returned about 45 minutes later with our bags! We thanked her and returned to the ticketing area to decide how to get back to Phoenix.
By now, we were both extremely exhausted. We had gotten up at 4am in Phoenix and it was after 12am in Atlanta by now. We talked with 2 ticketing attendants and told them what had happened so far and requested how best to get back to Phoenix. One of the attendants would not let us give up. She was so positive we would find the passport and overcame our doom and gloom attitude. She looked up every conceivable phone number in both the Phoenix and Atlanta airports for Delta Lost & Found, TSA lost & Found, airport Lost & Found, airport operations, even the Starbucks in Phoenix's terminal 3. She tried calling all these numbers but either received automated answer messages or negative answers regarding the passport. She would NOT let us give up! She said we should wait until late morning and try the numbers again. We were so sad & tired and all of the comfy chairs in the airport were taken with the holiday passengers sleeping in them! This incredible lady from Delta ticketing would just not let us give up!
Our ticket to Barcelona was not refundable and we did not have
travel insurance either. She rebooked us on the next flight to Barcelona and even reserved us a seat on a flight via Rome to Palermo on the next day so we could rejoin the ship if we found the passport and could get it in time. Anyway, she gave us a complimentary hotel voucher and a bunch of complimentary 5 minute phone cards, since we did not have the charger for Laurie's cell phone, and said go get some sleep and try again later in the morning.
We went to get the free shuttle to the hotel but the phone number for the shuttle was constantly busy! We talked with the driver of a shuttle for another hotel and after hearing our story, she volunteered to take us to our hotel even though she didn't work for them! WOW!!! She dropped us off near our hotel's lobby so as not to be seen and I gave her a nice tip and thanked her for her trouble. We got to our room by 3am and slept until 7:30am.
We returned to the airport and retried all the same numbers to no avail but left messages to call us on Laurie's cell phone regarding the passport. We finally decided to call
Disney Cruise Lines to see what our options were. Well, the castmembers we spoke with were incredible!!! We asked if we could possibly rebook one of the later cruises using some of the $12,000 we had spent on this one. We were told there was nothing available at first but then one of the supervisors tried again without entering the air travel add-on and surprise!!! For $435 additional perperson we got booked on the July 28th 11-day Med Cruise in a Cat 6 stateroom with a verandah just as we had booked on our previous reservation!!! She also told us not to book a flight back to Phoenix just yet and to call her back in 30 minutes.
We went and got coffee and a Danish and called her back after the 30 minutes as requested. When we called back she gave us a confirmation code for tickets back to Phoenix at 4:30pm!!!! Man somebody pinch me! I must be dreaming! First nightmare then WOW! We need to check with Delta but we probably can use our Barcelona tickets on this cruise as well.
So, it seems, we will get to the Med after all! We will miss you all terribly but, have a great cruise and we can't wait to hear all about it! While waiting for our flight back to Phoenix we went and had some lunch at the food court. We got a call from Starbucks in Phoenix and they had found Lynn's passport!!! We picked it up when we arrived back last night! So we are ready for July's cruise!
Sorry this was so long, but believe me when I say it was much longer for us!
Tom & Lynn (DisneySpirit)
My husband is gonna freak out when he gets home. He already thinks I've gone off the deep end with all this cruise stuff. Wait until he sees what I bought him to wear.
I offset the pirate costumes by finding a formal dress at the Goodwill store. I was psyched! Gotta stop eating ice cream so that I can fit into my dress.
That would have been WONDERFUL 
to see them dancing live! Does anyone know who the celebrity(ies) is/are on our cruise? 
I'm a big geek, but I did love my *NSYNC back in the day! 
