Last week, I left you while sailing past the Statue of Liberty and wondering if my checked bag was aboard the ship. Here’s Part 2.
The last communication from the airline was that the bag was en route to the ship and would make it before sailing.
Even though the purser’s desk hadn’t located it on board, I did still hold out hope, because 1) I know from experience that it can take a long time to get all that luggage delivered to staterooms 2) it wasn’t going through the usual checked baggage process, so might be kept in the hold until after sailing, and 3) the ship was late departing due to a customs issue so that meant more likelihood of the airline getting it to the ship before sailing.
I’m such an optimist!
Late evening, the crew confirmed that the bag wasn’t on board.
The ship’s staff were extremely helpful – especially considering it was not the cruiseline’s fault. One member of the purser’s staff, Reyna, was assigned to liaison with the airline and keep me informed. She offered an amenities kit (which I appreciated, but didn’t need) and free laundry/dry-cleaning until I was reunited with my clothes (this was a life-saver!).
I won’t go into a day-by-day, blow by blow of trying to connect me with my bag while we went island hopping. That’s a story unto itself. Let’s just say that Reyna and I became very close over the next few days! It finally showed up on the 6th day of an 8-day cruise!
Here’s how I survived. Some was good planning, some was just dumb luck:
- My carry-on bag held two changes of clothes. I usually recommend one, but in this case, I had packed the outfit I planned to wear for the wedding plus some causal clothes for meeting up with friends my first evening in New York.
- Therefore, I had three changes of clothes – jeans and shirt I wore on the plane, dressy wedding outfit, casual skirt and blouse.
- All my underwear was in my carryon. This was just plain lucky. At the last minute of packing, I was “filling available space” and basically stuffed underwear in all remaining spots.
- Swimsuit and toiletries were in carryon – this is part of the put everything in your land luggage that you may need in the first 24 hours rule!
- Travel insurance. Yep. This was great. I went shopping in the ship’s boutique and picked up another skirt and blouse to round out my wardrobe. Of course, I could do this anyway, but it was much more fun shopping on someone else’s dime!
Here are a few things I didn’t have:
- Formal wear – fortunately, there are always dining options that don’t require formal wear. But, for the record, Reyna told me I could eat anywhere I chose – that they would alert the maître d’s so I wouldn’t have any problem with the dress code.
- Flip flops. I wore sandals or tennis shoes to the pool and beaches (on port days). Very stylish!
- Dress shoes – I had some nice sandals that were OK for the pinch I was in, but I would have picked a different pair had I known.
- Shorts. I was a little overdressed on a couple of occasions! I did check the gift shop, but they didn’t have anything I liked in my size.
- Hat. Did I mention gift shop?
There you go - 1 night in New York and 6 of the 8 days of my cruise without my checked bag. Believe it or not, the experience was fun. Once I came to terms with my missing wardrobe, I relaxed. Never had to worry about what to wear! I learned I could make do with very little and what was important (underwear!!). Now, I have set myself a goal to deliberately take a traditional cruise with just a carryon. I’ll let you know how it goes!
Have you ever spent part or all your vacation without your luggage?
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