Packing up at the end of a cruise vacation can be hectic, especially as passengers may rush to get their bags out for security collection on the last night of the cruise.
Or you may be like me, carrying your own bags off the ship but not packing until the early hours of debarkation morning when you’re barely awake.
Either way, it’s easy to accidentally leave something onboard tucked in the back of the stateroom safe, in a nightstand drawer, or forgotten in the closet. But what happens to those items?
Carnival Cruise Line’s Brand Ambassador, John Heald, has offered a rare look behind-the-scenes at the “Mother Ship” – the cruise line’s Miami headquarters where lost items are gathered as shoreside staff works to return them to their rightful owners.
“I’m in a very special place and I want to say a massive thank you,” Heald said, referring to the lost-and-found-team. “They are all very, very, very, very hard-working people.”
“These are people never in the spotlight and that’s not right, so I wanted to put them in the spotlight now and say thank you.”
The 4-minute video Heald shared on his Facebook page not only recognized the shoreside crew members responsible for sorting, cataloging, and working to get items back to travelers, but also showed deeper insights into the entire process.
“Every single week, people leave things onboard. It’s found, or recovered, and sent back to the Guest Services desk,” Heald explained. “A week later, or the end of the next cruise – not straightaway on the same day that it’s lost – it’s sent back to Miami. It has to clear through customs and all the other things.”
You can watch the full video below:
Lost items are delivered to Carnival Cruise Line headquarters in green bags marked with the ship name and sailing date so they can be processed to be returned to their owners.
A surprising variety of items are left onboard Carnival ships, including purses, shoes, cell phones, tablets, charging cables, eyeglasses, jewelry, clothing, cpap machines, hats, books, and much more.
Heald has previously noted that approximately 1,000 items are lost each week across the Carnival fleet of 27 ships.
“All this is gathered up,” Heald explained, showing plastic bins with ship names where items are collected. “Then it’s sorted.”
The next step in the process is that all items are examined and attempted to be matched with lost item reports from individual ships. These are forms that travelers fill out to alert crew members that they have left an item behind.
If the item is located, it will then be returned to the guest. Travelers should be aware, however, that the process can take time – even up to two weeks or longer after a sailing has ended.
Why Does It Take So Long to Return Items?
It can be frustrating for travelers to wait so long to recover items they may have accidentally left behind on their cruise. The return process, however, can vary greatly depending on each ship’s individual schedules.
If the ship is sailing longer itineraries, it may be quite some time before lost items can be located as they are not taken to headquarters until after the end of the next sailing.
For example, let’s say a guest enjoys the 4-night, November 28, 2024 departure of Carnival Sunshine from Charleston, South Carolina, but accidentally leaves their cell phone onboard in their stateroom safe. They only realize this after debarking the ship, but do fill out the online form to recover their phone.
The ship, however, has already departed on its next cruise – a 10-night Eastern Caribbean sailing that left just hours later. Even if the phone is found by the cabin attendant, it will be 10 days before the ship returns to the US.
Then, the phone (along with any other items found onboard after that 4-night cruise) must be shipped to Carnival Cruise Line’s headquarters in Miami, which could take another 3-4 days.
Read Also: 15 Mistakes to Avoid on a Carnival Cruise
Once arriving in Miami, the items must then go through the sorting process, be carefully identified, and connected to their respective owners. Only at that time would the lost phone be able to be sent back to its owner.
Throughout the process, Carnival Cruise Line does attempt to email travelers about the status of their item, including whether it was located or not and what the next steps may be.
Have you ever lost an item on a Carnival cruise? Did you get it back, and if so, how long did the process take? Share your experiences on the Cruise Hive boards!