How to escalate and/or document RCCL losing luggage

[JSB2023]

Hello,

I am currently on day 4 of a 7-day cruise on Odyssey of the Seas. On day 1, we were on board early via The Key and I was asked if I wanted to check any additional baggage. I checked my backpack as my husband signed us up for the iFly and didn’t want a have the bring this with me. I checked the bag with the Key/Royal Caribbean staff in the main dining room, saw them attach a tag with my cabin number and off we went. Unfortunately, the bag did not end up getting delivered later that day so we called house keeping. They’ve since watched the security footage, sent a letter to folks around us, and tonight asked us to file a lost items claim after we’ve done multiple follow ups. 

After losing the bag I’ve seen realized it had WAY more than I normally would have ever put in a checked baggage scenario. Our hope is that the bag will be found before the end of the trip, but in the case that it isn’t RCCL isn’t providing any information on their normal policy or procedure. Any recommendations on what we should be doing or documenting to maximize our chances of having the bag found or being appropriately compensated for the lost items?

Additional details - no we do not have trip insurance as this was booked by a family member and we’ve never had an issue on our previous 7+ cruises (lesson learned here). Going to check to see if their credit card may have any. 

Also, hindsight is 20/20 so have realized things to do and not to do - looking for advice on what we can do to address this scenario and learning through this that air tags, having a more distinct bag, and just not giving them important items needs to be remembered going forward. 
 

Thanks,

 

[Xaa]

That stinks @JSB2023.

I don't really have advice on how to get appropriately compensated.  I'm sure whomever makes these decisions are very used to people proclaiming that they had precious jewels and bars of gold etc.  Incessant false claiming creates a cry's wolf situation for cases like yours.  I'm really sorry about that.

I would say that RCI should refund your The Key cost.  Their camera's will certainly show you entrusting to them, via a special program, your carryon items.  They failed and now someone else has your bag because they gave it to them.  Not the pier workers, 100% ship crew.  This is not what you were promised with The Key and refunding that is something they likely have more latitude to do onboard.

Good luck.

[CruiseGus]

Wow - Sorry this happened to you.

in my opinion anything like this does not bode well for the "KEY" and I agree it is 100% ships crew.

If still onboard when you read this, go immediately to Guest Services and ask to speak with the "Hotel Director" speak to no one lower than them or the MHO (Manager Hotel Operations).  Be polite and just make sure they are aware of the situation. Ask them to try to help with the situation.

[TessFromFlorida]

I am on the same cruise and also have the Key. I do not know if this applies to every cabin or just others who were in the MDR that afternoon, but I did receive an in cabin notification about a lost bag asking everyone to check their room. I do hope it shows up soon! I agree with the others here, at a minimum I would ask to be reimbursed for the Key for all passengers in your party.

[JSB2023]

Update for all: After we escalated to higher ups via Housekeeping (this incident is House Keeping’s problem as it was in their possession). @CruiseGusthanks for the advice here. This morning they were able to locate the bag after watching all the security cameras and have confirmed the bag was delivered to someone else’s room. The bag was found in their room with our staterooms bag tag attached. 
 

It’s now a security incident so they need to talk to the folks in that stateroom and I should receive my bag in the next hour. 
 

Thanks @Xaa for the sympathy and the luck. 
 

@TessFromFlorida Thank you for confirming that you did receive the letter. It was found on a higher deck. I have family staying on as well and they never received a letter so the folks who have the bag may not have gotten it. 
 

Really appreciated everyone’s replies to this as this was not a fun experience lol

[Xaa]

Good news for sure.  Hate the trouble you had, but glad the crew did everything possible to help you locate it!

[WAAAYTOOO]

So glad you were able to recover your property.  I have such a hard time believing that anyone would intentionally keep something that doesn’t belong to them but it happens all-too-frequently, unfortunately.  

[RockerDom31]

1 hour ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

So glad you were able to recover your property.  I have such a hard time believing that anyone would intentionally keep something that doesn’t belong to them but it happens all-too-frequently, unfortunately.  

My first thought if I walked into a room with luggage that wasn’t ours would be “Uh oh did we go to the wrong room??”.

Upon verifying that we are indeed in the right room, my next thought would be to call guest services immediately. I would want nothing to do with a bag that wasn’t ours!!

[Pattycruise]

44 minutes ago, RockerDom31 said:

My first thought if I walked into a room with luggage that wasn’t ours would be “Uh oh did we go to the wrong room??”.

Upon verifying that we are indeed in the right room, my next thought would be to call guest services immediately. I would want nothing to do with a bag that wasn’t ours!!

Agree.  Why keep luggage that’s not yours?!  Very odd.

[AshleyDillo]

I was on a cruise where my friend checked her backpack with the porters and it never showed up to our room. They had the room stewards leave a flyer about the missing bag in all the rooms. She eventually got it back halfway through the cruise. Apparently it was delivered to the wrong room and no one said anything because everybody thought it belonged to someone else in the room.

[KevinK]

3 hours ago, RockerDom31 said:

My first thought if I walked into a room with luggage that wasn’t ours would be “Uh oh did we go to the wrong room??”.

Upon verifying that we are indeed in the right room, my next thought would be to call guest services immediately. I would want nothing to do with a bag that wasn’t ours!!

Yup, especially it is in their room for at least 4 days, and don't tell say you don't know anything about it..   How could you not know there's a bag pack there that's not yours.. hmm.  interesting.