It was a frightful day, the wind was whipping, there were ice storms, snowstorms, and even tornadoes touching down.  A perfect day for flying right?  Well actually, this is how the trip in the airport started.
We were scheduled to fly from Chicago to Miami at 5:30 PM, the day before our cruise was to leave. At 1:30 we got a call from American Airlines stating that our flight had been canceled and we had 2 hours to get to the airport to catch a flight to Baltimore with a connecting flight to Miami. After 3 different changes we were able to fly standby on an earlier Chicago to Miami flight that had been delayed over 8 hours.

 At 1:30 AM we arrived in Miami, and found all our luggage missing. We had to fight with American Airlines people just to fill out a lost luggage claim. The next morning we went back to Miami Airport and discovered that my wife’s and our friend’s luggage had arrived. Only my luggage and ALL MY DIVE EQUIPMENT was still missing. I was able to stop at Sears and buy some clothes with a few hours to spare before boarding the ship.

Throughout our trip the cruise personnel were contacting American Airlines every day to find out the status of my missing luggage. Each day they got a different answer from American Airlines baggage service department. Without any dive equipment and my prescription dive mask, I opted to abort my scheduled dives in Barbados, St. Lucia, and Tortola (The Rhone). I find it difficult to dive without being able to see my computer or gauges, and I do dive safely.

Now both American Airlines and our travel insurance company want original receipts for all lost items. Some of my dive equipment is old enough not to have saved all the receipts and I don’t have receipts for most of my clothes. Their response is “TOO BAD… Out of luck.”

This is how I went on a 10-day cruise without any luggage or dive equipment.