New Self-Service Digital Photo Printing Kiosks Introduced Aboard Carnival's Fun Ships

[Paladin]

From the Carnival website. Here's a link to the news release:

http://www.carnival.com/CMS/Articles/printing_kiosks.aspx

 

"New Self-Service Digital Photo Printing Kiosks Introduced Aboard Carnival's Fun Ships

08/30/2004

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

 

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 www.pixelmagic.com."

[HOSKI]

Interesting, I'm wondering if they are going to finally stop printing all the photos taken during the cruise and just have guest print the ones they wish to purchase.

[JerseyJim2]

There's already a thread about this:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=74278