Key Aspects:
- Guests are reporting widespread problems with ink wearing off on Carnival Cruise Line’s Sail & Sign cards.
- The ink is wearing off some guests’ cards in just a day or two, leading to multiple replacement cards during a single cruise.
- All levels of cards are affected and not all guests with damaged cards use sunscreen, so that common culprit may not be to blame.
Carnival Cruise Line’s new Sail & Sign cards have been causing problems for guests, not because of the new vertical orientation or the controversial “Crew Love” stickers, but because there appears to be a quality problem with the printing that makes cards unusable long before they are deactivated at the end of a cruise.
Guests have reported on Facebook that while the new cards are attractive, they quickly get much less attractive as the printing wears off after just a few days.
Because the cards are used for all shipboard functions, including drink orders, casino gambling, and retail sales, the damage can be problematic. If the barcode is unreadable, the card may not scan properly at the gangway, and the folio number, muster station, and dining assignment information can also be worn off.
John Heald, Carnival Cruise Line’s brand ambassador, was alerted to the problem and has noted that he will check with various ships to see if this is a consistent problem.
“I have not seen this reported by anyone until now. Thank you for letting me know,” he responded to the original poster’s concern over their damaged Diamond card.
“Remember you should go to Guest Services and they will always prepare an immediate New card for you. This may have just been a bad card and for which I apologise. But again this is the first I’ve heard of it so I will check with the ships.”
Other commenters quickly chimed in on the post to note their own problems with different cards, sometimes more than once.
“I had mine remade 3 times on a 10-day cruise,” one guest said.
“I was on Venezia [and] I had to get two reprints,” another commenter said. “It is definitely a problem.”
Guests are reporting that the ink is wearing off quickly, even by just the second or third day of a sailing, depending on how much they use the card.
Carnival Cruise Line’s Sail & Sign cards come in different colors depending on a guest’s level in the Carnival Rewards program: Red (red cards), Gold (gold cards), Platinum (silver cards), or Diamond (white cards).
For guests who keep the cards as personalized souvenirs of their sailings, the wear removes the details that make the cruise memorable.
“For those of us who cruise frequently and collect our Sail & Sign cards as souvenirs, that’s pretty disappointing!” the original poster explained. “These cards aren’t just room keys. They’re little keepsakes from our cruises, reminders of the ships we’ve sailed on, the places we’ve visited, and the memories we’ve made along the way.”
Why Are Sail & Sign Cards Wearing Out?
While cards have occasionally worn out in the past, before the new design for Carnival Rewards cards was introduced, the problem appears much more widespread now and hundreds of commenters have chimed in on the original Facebook post.
The chemicals in sunscreen can remove the printing from ship cards, and many commenters have had similar problems when they wear sunscreen. Others note, however, that their cards have had printing wear off even though they do not use sunscreen, bug spray, or hand lotion.
Chlorine from pools can also damage the ink on cards, and some cards are wearing off just from being touched and handled. This writer has had Carnival cruise cards wear off in the past with no more than basic use.
The Guest Services desk can easily reprint Sail & Sign cards onboard and many guests are choosing to do this to preserve the information on the card as a souvenir of their sailing, as the cards include the sailing date, ship name, and days the guest has sailed with Carnival Cruise Line.
It is unknown if the problem is fleetwide or may only be on select ships. While guests are reporting the same problem on Carnival Venezia, Carnival Panorama, Carnival Miracle, Carnival Legend, Carnival Sunshine, Mardi Gras, Carnival Horizon, and other ships, it is possible the exact type of printers or inks may vary on different ships as card equipment is replaced or updated.
