How Safe is the Safe?

[gojanie]

I was at jewelry party last night, and the first thing out of the consultants mouth was that the place where jewelry is most often stolen from is the room safe on cruise ships....

 

So how safe is the safe? and what is the deal with it? I read some threads before that said something about using your drivers liscense to lock it or something along those lines, but I didn't follow what they were talking about.

 

Can someone explain in simple terms?? THANKS!!!

 

YEA! LEAVING NEXT SATURDAY FOR THANKSGIVING CRUISE! WHOOOHOOO!

[*Mach*]

I was at jewelry party last night, and the first thing out of the consultants mouth was that the place where jewelry is most often stolen from is the room safe on cruise ships....

 

So how safe is the safe? and what is the deal with it? I read some threads before that said something about using your drivers liscense to lock it or something along those lines, but I didn't follow what they were talking about.

 

Can someone explain in simple terms?? THANKS!!!

 

YEA! LEAVING NEXT SATURDAY FOR THANKSGIVING CRUISE! WHOOOHOOO!

 

The safe is safe.

 

Use any card other than your Sail and Sign card to lock the safe. Avoid valid credit cards as there is a possibility that the magnetic stripe might be erased. I use one of those little gift cards folks use to by music on line and such.

 

I find the safes very secure.

[Giggles2007]

I also find the safes on the ships very safe. I keep just about everything in there. My mom keeps all of her jewelry in the safe and has never had a problem. I have an old bank card that doesn't belong to anything anymore and that is what I use to lock it. I also have not heard of anyone in my group have any problems either.

[misssea]

Just curious. If you do use your Sail N Sign card for the safe and the magnetic strip gets ruined, can't the purser's desk just replace it?

[Yankeegirl]

We've never had a problem. We leave our wallets, jewelry, cash and cell phones in it. Just like the other posters said, we don't use a major credit card (visa/mastercard,amex). We use a Lowe's card or something like that.

 

You should be fine, don't worry just have fun!!!:)

[serene56]

Just curious. If you do use your Sail N Sign card for the safe and the magnetic strip gets ruined, can't the purser's desk just replace it?

 

 

Sure but then the new card wont open the safe- You would have to wait for the maintenance guy to get it opened which could take up to 24 hours.

 

Many people accidently wipe out the memory of the magnetic strip= a VERY good reason NOT to use your sign and sail card for the safe

[Kurbanfan]

Just curious. If you do use your Sail N Sign card for the safe and the magnetic strip gets ruined, can't the purser's desk just replace it?

 

The reason you should not use your S&S card for your safe is because that card also opens your door.

We have never had a problem with our safe. But we never bring expensive jewlery when we travel anywhere. Better be safe then sorry.

[DqALEX]

I have never had a problem. I feel they are safe

[Rirruto]

I use my first S&S card as my safe key. It obviously has no value towards it, monetary or otherwise, and I always have it in my wallet anyway as a remembrance. If the magnetic strip gets demagnetized for some reason, no biggie since it doesn't do anything anyway. I can't confuse it with my current S&S card since it is gold instead of red, white, and blue.

 

Never had a problem in terms of security of my safe. To the OP, what did the person say was the reason why cruise safes are so vulnerable?

[cmsmuse]

will old gift cards work?

[Kurbanfan]

will old gift cards work?

 

Yes.

[MonaCD]

will old gift cards work?

 

Just about any card with a magnetic strip will work.

 

Just don't make the same mistake I did. I used an old Quatas frequent flyer card, one day in the middle of the cruise it wouldn't open the safe. I tried all possible ways to slide it through the slot, stuck my tongue out to the left while doing it, then to the right, nothing worked. I had a moment of panic then left it for awhile. I came back an hour later and tried all ways again, then as a last act of desperation, I used my S&S card and voila, it worked! Apparently, withought thinking, the last time I locked the safe I had swiped it instead of the frequent flyer card I'd been using all along. Duh.

[pe4all]

As we always fly in a day early, we use the room key from whatever hotel we stayed at the night before. As for safety, we have never had a problem. Keep our passports, daughter's ipod and digital camera in there when not being used. (usually don't take any expensive jewelry on a cruise - as for buying expensive jewelry in a port, I'm working on dh about that one!!) I do know that at some all-inclusives the in-room safes, and even the room locks themselves have a code that is somehow "recorded" anytime anyone enters the room/uses the safe. That way, if anything is amiss, they can literally track when it happened, and who had access to the room - for example, if a maid/maint. worker, etc. used their pass key to get in. I have read about cases where thing have been stolen, and they have used this method to make arrests. Don't know if Carnival does this.

[In2why]

I was at jewelry party last night, and the first thing out of the consultants mouth was that the place where jewelry is most often stolen from is the room safe on cruise ships....

 

So how safe is the safe? and what is the deal with it? I read some threads before that said something about using your drivers liscense to lock it or something along those lines, but I didn't follow what they were talking about.

 

Can someone explain in simple terms?? THANKS!!!

 

YEA! LEAVING NEXT SATURDAY FOR THANKSGIVING CRUISE! WHOOOHOOO!

 

 

Was the jewelry hostess trying to sell you "cruise jewelry" that you would feel safer taking on ship? I went to a tupperware party where I was told that cast iron skillets were unhealthy and could never be washed...so of course I should get rid of mine and buy her $600 set. (I love my cast iron cookware, and of course it is washed)

[Payd]

Was the jewelry hostess trying to sell you "cruise jewelry" that you would feel safer taking on ship?

 

That was my thought.

 

We have used the safe on every ship and NEVER had a problem!

 

Payd:)

[AZ Karaoke Girl]

I haven't used Carnival's safe yet cuz I've only cruised NCL so far but we had no probs with ours. I put all my extra cash - jewelry - video camera - digital camera in my safe and never had a problem. The only one who can get in your room are ship crew/room stewards so they would be risking their jobs if they tried anything. Could it happen, probably and that is why the notice is in CCL's documents that valuables should not be stored in room safe's or the ship safe's. NCL had an option to use a pin number that you create on the keypad or a card swipe. We used the pin method. There was a slot for a special key on it that they could get into it if it malfunctioned so they could get in and steal your stuff so if you are worried that much about it, leave it at home and bring costume jewelry.

[Frick_&_Frack]

I've never had any issues with the in-room safe provided by any of the cruiselines. Some had keypads; others the "card swipe" entry.

 

Maybe I've just been lucky; but I wouldn't worry excessively over it (and I'm a compulsive worrier).

[Jolimont]

The safes have been safe on our 3 cruises. We couldn't use our S&S cards on our last Freedom cruise, we used a store frequent shopper card instead.

[sandestination]

will old gift cards work?

Yes I also use cards from the casino where I live...and Grocery cards for some stores. However i have a ring I love but it is an antique and I am afraid to take it because I don't want to wear it on the beach and an aunt that passed away left it to me so I am going the dimonique QVC jewely.

[Tightlinerods]

I was at jewelry party last night, and the first thing out of the consultants mouth was that the place where jewelry is most often stolen from is the room safe on cruise ships....

 

Did she also tell you second most common place to have Jewelry stolen was from your dresser in your home????

 

John

[BND]

I was at jewelry party last night, and the first thing out of the consultants mouth was that the place where jewelry is most often stolen from is the room safe on cruise ships....

 

So how safe is the safe? and what is the deal with it? I read some threads before that said something about using your drivers liscense to lock it or something along those lines, but I didn't follow what they were talking about.

 

Can someone explain in simple terms?? THANKS!!!

 

YEA! LEAVING NEXT SATURDAY FOR THANKSGIVING CRUISE! WHOOOHOOO!

 

Where did she get her facts from? We've used safes in hotels, cruises, etc and never had a problem and neither has anyone else I know. Also, since the safes are the same on land, why would cruise ships have a higher risk? We use a grocery store card for ours. I prefer the ones with numbers, but cards work fine too if you use something like a store or gift card with a magnetic strip.

[LHP]

Just curious. If you do use your Sail N Sign card for the safe and the magnetic strip gets ruined, can't the purser's desk just replace it?

 

You can but you have to stand in line at the Purser's desk to have it done and I can think of better ways to spend my time on a cruise....:D

[virginiab]

I believe that the real reason not to use your Sail and Sign card is for security. IF you lose track of your S&S card AND the person who finds it knows your cabin number (which is not on the card), they could enter your room AND clean out your safe. Not likely, but possible.

 

We have used our S&S card to lock the safe on some cruises. It did not demagnetize the card. Everything worked perfectly. It was just inconvenient because if one of us locked the safe, the other could not unlock it if the first person had wanderod off with the only card that worked.

 

So we, like lots of other folks, use some other card (usually a used-up gift card) and hade it somewhere in the room. This, of course, is not as secure as taking the locking card with you. So don't use this method if you are flashing a lot of expensive jewelry or a lot of cash around the ship. There is no need to make yourself a target!

 

But if you have the same stuff in the safe that most folks do: wallets, cell phones, cameras -- well, just lock in some way that is convenient enough so that you actually use the safe regularly and relax. Enjoy your cruise!

[Writer_at_Work]

Interesting. The Holiday still uses a separate room key and the safe lets you set your own four-digit combination. I suppose the S&S card opening the door and the swipe cards for the safe are features of the newer ships?

[cruisesomewhat]

What if I were to use an old sail and sign card that has already been used for a safe on a previous cruise? Would it still work?