Rio de Janeiro to Barcelona.

Since our first cruises, it became a goal to cross the Atlantic Ocean via cruise ship. We accomplished that goal in the Spring of 2023, from March 19 to April 3. The trip was not without its challenges, virtually all caused by airline issues. Even so, as they say, a great time was had by all on this journey. This photo journal is but an overview of the places we visited interspersed with the stories of lost luggage and other surprises, good and bad. Lest you think I am complaining, don’t even consider this tome as a complaint, it’s simply a recounting of our adventure as it relates to traveling in today’s post-pandemic environment.

For our recent cruises, we’ve often shared the experience with family, my niece and her husband enjoy cruising as much as we do. We could have easily settled for a cruise from Florida or New York, but when we started looking at the available cruises, I spotted a cruise leaving from Brazil, heading to Barcelona with only six sea days out of the 15-day cruise. We booked flights through the cruise line planning for two days in Rio with two days in Barcelona before flying home. As it turned out, besides the “One flies free” promotion, we think we qualified for a benefit we were unaware we would gain.

Knowing that lost luggage is a “thing” these days, we decided to travel light and only bring two bags each, a “personal item” for under the seat, and a roll-about carry-on for the overhead baggage compartment. In addition, we prepped our roll-about luggage with trackers, just in case. For some time, we’ve used Tile brand trackers on our keyrings, however in reading reviews of tracking devices, it seemed that either Samsung or Apple trackers might be better. Since we use Samsung smartphones, we opted to install two Samsung trackers in our luggage behind the lining, zip-tied to the handle structure. For good measure, I took a couple of Tile trackers off our spare keys and threw them inside each carry-on.

We drove to Minneapolis where we boarded a flight to our first stop of three, at Boston’s Logan Field. By the time we got to board the aircraft, we were forced to check our carry-ons. We didn’t know then, but it would be the last time we would see these two cases until April 8.

When we landed at Sao Paulo, our second stop, we were directed to the baggage carousels to pick up our checked bags to go through Brazilian customs. Of course, our bags were not there, and checking the tracking software on my smartphone, we could see the bags hadn’t yet left Boston. Our flight to Boston was via Delta Airlines, and the flights from Boston to Sao Paulo and Rio were handled by Latam Airlines, a Chilean airline that serves all of Latin America. We don’t know if our carry-ons hadn’t left Delta’s possession in time or if Latam received them but failed to get them onboard our flight to Sao Paulo.

By the time we filed our complaint form (after waiting in line with several other people having the same issue), we missed our connection to Rio. We arrived in Rio, sans carry-ons, only about three hours later than scheduled, and our niece and her husband who were on different flights showed up at the hotel only a few minutes after we did.

For two days, our trackers showed our luggage was still in Boston, the Samsung trackers even told me the specific address of the building they were in. By the time we were boarding the Norwegian Star, we found our carry-ons made it to Sao Paulo, but there would be no way they could get to Rio prior to our departure later that day. While we were in Rio, we purchased some additional clothes as well as a spare carry-on so we’d have something on the ship to wear besides what was on our backs. We were also smart enough to have stowed some extra clothing in our personal item bags just in case.

The cruise line was very helpful as we departed Rio. We waited in the guest services line several times as they tried to coordinate our late luggage with our port stops. Almost every time we were in line, either someone ahead or behind us was also dealing with lost luggage. Norwegian (NCL) provided us with forms that gave us free laundry service and a small “care” package of toiletries and NCL T-shirts. By the next morning, there was a $200 credit on our shipboard account for us to purchase additional clothing and other necessities in the ship store. I am not sure we’d have gotten that credit had we booked our own flights, but I could be wrong about that.

NCL gave us access to a ship-to-shore telephone to try to contact the airline to arrange for the delivery of our luggage to Recife on April 23. The staff member at the desk tried to call each of the phone numbers they had for Latam Airlines. They could never get through, however, I did get an email response from the airline that told us we could pick up our luggage at the airport in Rio. It was our first communication with Latam. I let them know we were already on our way to Recife and provided them with the port details and arrival time in Recife where they could drop off our luggage at the ship anytime between 9 AM and 3 PM on May 23.

According to our trackers, the luggage arrived in Recife the day before we did, however, no one ever brought it to the ship. At least one other couple suffered the same fate. They were on American Airlines to Rio and their connection promised delivery at Recife as well. We decided to pick up some extra gear along the way as needed and get on with our cruise. I simply wrote in my email to the airline rep to please return the luggage to the airport in Fargo and we would pick it up when we returned home. I never received an acknowledgment from the airlines.

We couldn’t check our tracking software while at sea, but when we got to each port, we connected to the cell phone network to see the progress of our luggage. We had three sea days, and when we got to Cape Verde, we discovered that our carry-ons were still in Recife. When we got to Tenerife, our luggage showed the same address in Recife, but it hadn’t been seen for four hours by the Samsung trackers and 25 hours by the Tile trackers. I wondered if it might be airborne. The next day, we arrived at Funchal on the island of Madeira. After going ashore, we found our luggage made it back to Rio, and there was an email waiting for us that we could pick up our luggage at the airport in Rio. I again responded to that email asking that our luggage be sent to the airport in Fargo, and to please acknowledge receipt of the email. No further communication was received from the airline.

After another sea day, we arrived on the Spanish coast at Malaga. Our excursion that day took us to Nerja where we stood on the site of an old fort that has since been lost to history. King Alfonso XII once stood at this high point along the coast and marveled at the view. He named the location, “The Balcony of Europe.” A statue in his honor marks the occasion. It is just to my left as I took this photo of the Mediterranean coastline at Nerja. Before we boarded the ship again, I noticed our trackers indicating our luggage was in Sao Paulo.

Our next stop was on the island of Ibiza. As it was Palm Sunday, the “shopping” portions of our tour were pretty much non-existent with most of the businesses closed. Not that we were all that interested in shopping, we’d bought all of the clothes we could hold in our much smaller single carry-on purchased in Rio.

In Barcelona, we noticed our luggage must have been in transit again. The trackers said it had been hours since it was last seen in Sao Paulo. We spent the next day on an all-day tour of Barcelona similar to the all-day tour taken in Rio. I will have much more to say about these tours in a future post. Suffice it to say, these small group tours will likely be our pre- and post-cruise tours of choice from now on. The huge construction project in the image above is La Sagrada Familia, a cathedral that started construction in 1892. Our tour guide speculated that it will be completed in 2026. If he is correct, the entire project will be 134 years in the making.

The following morning, we boarded a plane in Barcelona on the first leg of our journey home. Our next stop will be Montreal Canada with a short layover to a direct flight from there to Minneapolis and a waiting hotel reservation. The next day, April 6, we’d be driving home from Minneapolis. Or so we thought… and what about our luggage? More to come…

John Steiner