By Christopher Elliott

Travel columnist

updated 2:29 p.m. ET June 9, 2005

When Miriam Lehrer disembarks from her Mexican cruise, she's given bad news: her luggage has been “dumped” overboard. Even though Princess Cruises sends divers to retrieve her valuables, it is unable to find her belongings. The company promises her a free cruise and cuts her a $500 check, but that’s doesn’t even begin to cover her losses. Is the lost luggage a lost cause? Find out how you can prevent this from happening to you on your next vacation.

Q: My husband and I recently took a cruise on the Star Princess to the Mexican Riviera. When we disembarked in Long Beach, Calif., we were advised that our luggage had been “dumped” into the ocean.

Princess representatives assured us they would take care of everything. They sent divers to retrieve our luggage and noted our contact information at the hotel where we had planned an extension of our vacation

When we checked into our hotel, we anxiously waited for a call or for the luggage to arrive. However, despite their promises, we heard from no one from Princess Cruises. We spent the rest or our vacation with only the clothes on our back.

What started out as a wonderful vacation turned out to be a nightmare. Princess eventually told us it wasn’t responsible for the luggage. It sent us to a company called Metro Risk Management for compensation. The company didn’t respond to any of our inquiries, so we went back to Princess.

Finally, we reached someone at Princess who said he would be in charge of our claim and that Princess Cruises along with Metro Risk Management were going to compensate us for all our losses and aggravation. Part of the compensation, he said, would be a free cruise.

Months later, my husband and I received checks for $500 from Metro Risk Management. That didn’t even come close to covering our losses, which were in excess of $5,000. Princess never made good on the free cruise. Can you help us?

— Miriam Lehrer Boynton Beach, Fla.