Long Awaited New Photo Services

[CruiseFever]

Press Release from Carnival today


NEW SELF-SERVICE DIGITAL PHOTO PRINTING KIOSKS INTRODUCED ABOARD CARNIVAL’S ‘FUN SHIPS’



New Technology Part of Line’s Fleetwide Multi-Million-Dollar Digital Photo Upgrade



MIAMI (August 30, 2004) – Carnival Cruise Lines has introduced new self-service digital photo printing kiosks providing a convenient and cost-effective way for guests to download and print their digital vacation photos while sailing aboard the “Fun Ships.”

The new system, adapted for the shipboard environment by San Marcos, Texas-based Pixel Magic, a leader in digital photo technology, is currently on several ships and expected to be expanded fleetwide by the end of the year.

Pixel Magic’s iStation 150 photo printing kiosks are located near the ships’ photo galleries. To print their photos, guests simply insert the memory card from their digital camera into a card reader located within the stand-alone printing kiosk. After selecting photo size and quantity, the images are then printed in a matter of seconds on high quality digital photo paper using Pixel Magic’s latest MegaPixel III printers.

Guests can also customize their photos with colorful borders, backgrounds and other features. To pay for the photos, guests simply swipe their “Sail & Sign” shipboard credit card and the amount is charged to their account.

“With the growing popularity of digital cameras, we wanted to provide a fast, competitively priced means for guests to download and print their cherished memories from their ‘Fun Ship’ cruise vacation. The new Pixel Magic system offers all this and more, while providing a value-added service to our guests, who enjoy the most convenient and sophisticated photo services at sea,” said Bob Woodry, Carnival’s vice president of photo and communication services.

The new Pixel Magic self-service photo printing kiosks are the most recent additions to Carnival’s multi-million-dollar fleetwide digital photo conversion. The upgrade includes state-of-the-art professional Olympus E-1 digital cameras – the first such cameras ever employed on cruise ships – and the full line of Olympus retail cameras, as well as the cruise industry’s fastest digital photo labs developed in tandem by Carnival and KonicaMinolta.

Also new is a photo-retrieval kiosk currently being beta-tested on the Carnival Pride’s seven-day cruises from Long Beach, Calif. The new system – the first of its kind in the cruise industry – utilizes ImageWare Systems, Inc.’s innovative “facial recognition technology.” Developed in conjunction with Carnival, the technology matches a guest’s likeness with stored “Fun Ship” vacation photos shot by the ship’s photographers and displays the images on the computer screen for review and purchase.

Carnival has also expanded the photo accessories sold on board its ships to include ScanDisk digital memory cards.



About Carnival Cruise Lines

Carnival is the world’s most popular cruise line, with 20 “Fun Ships” operating voyages from three to 16 days in length to the Bahamas, Caribbean, Mexican Riviera, Alaska, Hawaii, the Panama Canal, Canada, New England and Europe.

The line currently has two new 110,000-ton SuperLiners under construction – Carnival Valor, scheduled to launch year-round seven-day Caribbean service from Miami Dec. 19, 2004, becoming the largest Carnival ship ever based at that port, and Carnival Liberty, which will inaugurate the line’s first-ever Mediterranean cruises with a program of 12-day voyages beginning July 20, 2005.

For additional information and reservations, contact any travel agent, call 1-800-CARNIVAL, or visit carnival.com.



About Pixel Magic

Since 1993, Pixel Magic has pioneered many of the retail imaging technologies that are accepted as standards today. The company has shipped over 6,000 systems to date to such clients as Eckerd Drug, Meijer Corp, Japan Camera Centre, and Carnival Cruise Lines.

Pixel Magic Imaging was founded on and continues to promote open architecture, modular digital imaging solutions designed to help consumers easily take advantage of the many benefits digital photography offers. Its One Touch Digital Printing™ is a unique one-touch software platform designed to offer instant digital services at the touch of a single button. Pixel Magic is located twenty miles south of Austin in San Marcos, Texas. For more information, call (800) GO PIXEL or visit [url]www.pixelmagic.com[/url].

[carolinagirl621]

This is cool. I wonder how much it will cost??

[hstrybuf]

That was my first thought too, cost. I'm sure this is something that many people will be happy about. I wonder if they transfer those to disc as well or is this something Carnival already does?

[tef43]

"Competitively priced." Compared to [i][b]*what*[/b][/i] ?

I can print 4x6 at Wal-Mart or Costco for $.17-$.19 each. I have plenty of memory cards, so running out of media is not a concern.

[CruiseReg]

I like the facial recognition software since scanning through hundreds of photos for the couple that are ours pretty much sucks! The onboard printing stuff doesn't really appeal to me that much unless I can just get proofs to determine if I really want to keep or delete pictures. Also, I wonder what formats they'll support. Hopefully someone will have some information thats actually used the system.

[samiam]

Our Walmart charges $.29 to print from digital cameras...not the 1-hour, but the machine that prints out your pictures immeditately. If Carnival's price is similar to this, I'll print my pix onboard! :)

[GOTTA CRUISE NOW]

It will also be nice to be able to print pix to give to your new friends you meet onboard! I asked about that in February on the Spirit & of course it wasn't available. So this is good news for our next cruise!

[tngirl1979]

Does anyone know if this is on the Elation? Also anyone know how much it cost?

[Lovebirds]

[quote name='samiam']Our Walmart charges $.29 to print from digital cameras...not the 1-hour, but the machine that prints out your pictures immeditately. If Carnival's price is similar to this, I'll print my pix onboard! :)[/QUOTE]
It will be interesting to see what the pricing structure is. I'll bet it will be closer to $1.29 than it is to$.29.

[cmez]

I'm curious as to what the price will be as well. It's worth taking a look at, but I doubt if I'll ever use it.

[JerseyJim2]

That service might be handy for printing digital pictures you want to share with people you meet on the cruise. Also it would be nice if you could make custom postcards to mail home.

Otherwise it is probably more cost effective to print your pictures when you get home.

[PammyHound]

Chris, they had a self service printer on the Glory last Fall, perhaps they were testing it to see how well it went over. When I found it I thought I'd hit the jackpot! It was only .50 cents per print and it allowed me to share photos with friends on board without having to mail them from home! Sadly, the Conquest didn't have it when I cruised a few months later so I'm assuming the Glory was just a test ship. It's great to hear they are expanding the service!

ps...the printers accepted a variety of different digital media. I had a Sony.

[judyf]

I also doubt I will use it. Much easier to bring home the memory cards then a lot of prints.

[PammyHound]

I agree, for lots of prints it's a waste, but it is valuable if you wanted to print something to send home with a new friend.

[zonemasconi]

[b][font=Comic Sans MS][color=blue]Sounds cool to me to be able to make a few prints up whenever I want to and I remember the prints pammyhound got on the Glory last year because I received a couple from her.[/color][/font][/b]

[b][font=Comic Sans MS][color=#0000ff][/color][/font][/b]
[b][font=Comic Sans MS][color=#0000ff]teft I wanna send my prints to the walmart near you heck I pay .26 to .29 up here, are you getting an AARP rate or something.LOL[/color][/font][/b]