No more demagnetized SeaPass cards—on Reflection

[cruisestitch]

Magnetic stripes are passé 

[Luvcrusn]

Gee, I'll miss my visits to Guest Relations twice per cruise to get new sea pass cards....not!😜 Thanks for posting. Is this only on Reflection?

[cruisestitch]

I guess we will have to wait for others to chime in on this...

[hcat]

How do they work?

[cruisestitch]

You touch the key to the door.  Same with the slot machines.

[Luvcrusn]

Do the new card still have the last three digits on the front of the card that they started putting on last year? If so, that's a definite security issue!

[hcat]

Seems easy.... will it be scanned the same on and off at ports?

[Silkroad]

Thanks for posting this information, cruisestitch! I'll won't miss those trips to Guest Relations either😊

[H2OH!]

We just got off Reflection and had to get one new card as it suddenly stopped working so you WILL need to return to guest relations. Problem not 100% resolved.

 

Also, they started putting your blue chip casino status on the front of the card. I had not idea we were even "in" blue chip club. Asked several crew member what Onyx meant and they had no clue. finally, someone in the casino let us know that is our blue chip status. Who knew??!!

 

Amy

 

[hcat]

4 minutes ago, H2OH! said:

We just got off Reflection and had to get one new card as it suddenly stopped working so you WILL need to return to guest relations. Problem not 100% resolved.

 

Also, they started putting your blue chip casino status on the front of the card. I had not idea we were even "in" blue chip club. Asked several crew member what Onyx meant and they had no clue. finally, someone in the casino let us know that is our blue chip status. Who knew??!!

 

Amy

 

We dont use the casino so hope we just get a plain card that works well!

Our next 2 cruises are on EDGE..wonder if they will have this system,.

[Mr. Click]

We got off of the Reflection on Monday, yes, the magnetic stripes are gone but there still has to be some way to store your information on the card so the door locks can read it, so the readers at the entrance and exit can read it and so the readers in bars and shops can read it too.... not sure how it works but we did not have any problems.  Seems slower in the shops to ring things up and we had a few times we had to re-scan getting into our cabin and off the ship.  Never needed a new card, just needed a bit more patience while the readers did their work.

[jelayne]

We had these cards on the Constellation in February it was great.  Put the card in the leatherette card holder we had from previous cruises and just touched the card holder to the door & it opened.  So much easier than inserting the card when carrying coffee, juice, a dish of munchies.

Edited October 24, 2018 by jelayne

[2theship]

3 hours ago, cruisestitch said:

You touch the key to the door.  Same with the slot machines.

Does this mean I won't leave my card in slot machines anymore?

[mom says]

Sounds like they've gone to RFID cards and readers- much like the cards and magic bands at Walt Disney World. DH will be happy. He was constantly demagnetizing his card (had a bad habit of keeping it in the same pocket as his magnetic sunglass clip ons) 

[CHEZMARYLOU]

3 hours ago, hcat said:

We dont use the casino so hope we just get a plain card that works well!

Our next 2 cruises are on EDGE..wonder if they will have this system,.

My understanding is that this will be standard on Edge and Revolutionized ships going forward.

[Turtles06]

2 hours ago, mom says said:

Sounds like they've gone to RFID cards and readers- much like the cards and magic bands at Walt Disney World. DH will be happy. He was constantly demagnetizing his card (had a bad habit of keeping it in the same pocket as his magnetic sunglass clip ons) 

Yes, RFID.   RCI has been using them for years; we had them on RCI's Anthem of the Seas back in 2015.  The same technology is used in RCI's "WOW" wrist bands.  What I like about the latter is the ease of opening your stateroom door, especially if you are carrying something, just by waving your wrist in front of the reader.  And no card to worry about when you go to the gym or the pool.

[The_Big_M]

Agreed, these are the same as Royal Caribbean has used since Quantum class.

 

There is a limitation if you use lanyards that it isn't straightforward to put a hole in them, as they have circuitry in the cards.

[riclop]

Thanks for the info.

[cruisestitch]

The card is scanned getting on & off the ship, in the shops and at the bars.

 

They also can scan this card for entry to the muster station....no more hunting for your room number on a list.

[Turtles06]

11 hours ago, The_Big_M said:

Agreed, these are the same as Royal Caribbean has used since Quantum class.

 

There is a limitation if you use lanyards that it isn't straightforward to put a hole in them, as they have circuitry in the cards.

Good point.  I should have mentioned that.  If you want a hole punched in these cards, it's best to have that done at Guest Services, so they can avoid the circuitry.  

[Turtles06]

18 hours ago, Luvcrusn said:

Do the new card still have the last three digits on the front of the card that they started putting on last year? If so, that's a definite security issue!

Are these the last three digits of your stateroom number?  (We haven't sailed on Celebrity in a few years, will be remedying that next week! 😃)  RCI does that, and I was flamed on the RCI board a while back for having expressed a similar concern about this. 

[WestLakeGirl]

People were flamed here too.  Just scratch the numbers off ifyou have concerns.  Or use a non-smear sharpie.

[Luvcrusn]

11 minutes ago, Turtles06 said:

Are these the last three digits of your stateroom number?  (We haven't sailed on Celebrity in a few years, will be remedying that next week! 😃)  RCI does that, and I was flamed on the RCI board a while back for having expressed a similar concern about this. 

Yes. They were on our cards in December on Reflection before the changeover to the new system. People were also flamed here for that opinion. This new system makes it worse security wise IMHO.

[upwarduk]

42 minutes ago, Luvcrusn said:

Yes. They were on our cards in December on Reflection before the changeover to the new system. People were also flamed here for that opinion. This new system makes it worse security wise IMHO.

 

The New System

Is this where  you are not given your card at embarkation, but it is waiting in your room for you?

Does this then mean that you have to wait until after 1pm before you can get a drink( assuming you have a drinks package)

[WestLakeGirl]

You must get your card at embarkation, otherwise you cant board the ship.  On B2B cruises outside of the US you might get the new card delivered to your stateroom the night before changeover, but it needs to be a activated the following day so you can use it