My mum and sister are currently traveling with Princess Cruises without their luggage. My sister emailed me from the Crown Princess to tell me her tale of woe and not so nice dealings with one of our top airline companies. Here’s what happened – to get to the cruise ship terminal they flew from their home airport to Miami, the trip should have been relatively easy, they had to transfer at LaGuardia in New York City and the connection time between the two flights was reasonable. The luggage made it to New York but was MIA when the plane landed in Miami.

The company lost the bags, no big deal, it’s not nice but life isn’t perfect. What really bothered her and me was the comment from one of airline’s customer service reps. They were told that “this should teach them not to fly the same day as cruise day”. Don’t you love that kind of service? Let’s blame the customer! In contrast, Princess has been spectacular and is making every effort to help locate the missing bags. They have also given them free laundry service and a generous liquor credit. As one of my tweeting buddies stated: “The free laundry isn’t much if you don’t have the clothes to wash, but if you have a few drinks then you don’t care!”

I spent a few minutes fuming about the treatment they received from the airline company, but then I started to think about some funny ways that you might make do if stuck without your stuff while on a cruise ship (tongue firmly in cheek)! Here’s my top ten list of:

FUN things to do if you are on a cruise and your luggage has been lost:

1. Have your steward design a special towel bikini for you.

2. Suggest a clothing optional day for the entire ship.

3. Do a Scarlett O’Hara and make a dress from your stateroom curtains.

4. Four Coke Cards in strategic spots would make a sexy swimsuit!

5. Take a page from the Air New Zealand commercial and have cruise members body paint a t-shirt and shorts for you – fun for everybody!

6. Make do, like the reality show Survivor, and use a hibiscus twig to brush your teeth.

7. I’m betting every ship has a few of rolls of duct tape lying around for emergency situations like sealing a hole in the ship, borrow a couple of rolls and make your own sandals.

8. Go with the nautical theme and design your very own boat hat made from paper.

9. Make full use of the buffet and fashion your own Bacon Belt or Bacini.

10. Cover yourself in gold body paint and tell everyone you’re dressing for the Oscars!

I promise to post a serious list of what to do if your bags have been lost soon, let me know in the comment section below if you have any great and slightly more logical tips!