Not long ago, I wrote a post titled: 8 Ways To Make Sure An Airline Doesn’t Lose Your Bag … And That You Don’t Get Robbed or Stalked. It outlines all the ways to keep your belongings safe.
Well, thanks to reader Michael R. for sending over this important tip for cruise and tour group passengers: “Never completely trust the cruise lines’ EZcheck system. Third party contractors are involved. On a cruise line, don’t put your bag out early in the hall the night before disembarkation. It’s an invitation for theft. Ditto for motor coach hosted trips for bags out in the morning. Consider putting a less expensive TILE tracker inside your bag. Be watchful in the cruise line baggage claim room. Many bags look alike and your bag could easily find a way to disappear accidentally or on purpose.”
Michael is absolutely right and I’ve always been amazed seeing passengers line up their bags the night before outside of their cabin doors. I almost always pack light so I just carry my bags on and off the ship. If you do pack a large or heavy bag then, only put dirty clothes in there and nothing of value. That way, if someone does have sneaky fingers, they won’t get much and nothing of great value.
Many cruisers are older and cannot carry even a 30 pound suitcase plus a carryon from stateroom to disembarkation area.
Does one HAVE to put their bag out their bags? Can’t you take of your own if you want to?
Much depends on the cruiseline you are on. Luxury lines are one thing, party boats are another. Over 100 lux cruise segments – never a baggage issue. Nor a concern. Now, if I was on C******* or R**** *********, that’s a different story.
I used to cruise with my elderly mother a lot, which meant I kept up with our bags most of the time. I especially like the upright, easy glide, spinner wheel roller bags as I could easily hook our hand luggage over the pull-out handles and then walk with both bags at my sides. If it was a narrow walkway, I was able to put one in front of me and pull one behind. You can take the bags off the ship yourself, but the cruise lines frown on this as it can cause a bottleneck of people and slow things down at debarkation. And it frequently puts you in the last group to get off the ship, which is fine if that’s what you want.