Cruise Cards as a take home souvenir?

[cruiseryyc]

...Actually... it would cost them more to pay someone to peel off those stickers so they could reuse the card..... than that 3 cent card is worth. ;)

 

Actually those cards are worth about $10 each; I deal with them everyday so I do know. Have been on 14 Princess cruises and have never been asked to hand in my card at the end of the trip.

[Colo Cruiser]

That must be really new. I haven't seen a card with peel off information on them.:confused:

 

Mike:)

 

 

Same cards, quality control issue.

We had 2 replaced on the Island because of the coating peeling off. :mad:

That is the part the machine prints on.

[rcacace]

Actually those cards are worth about $10 each; I deal with them everyday so I do know. Have been on 14 Princess cruises and have never been asked to hand in my card at the end of the trip.

 

You are joking right? :confused:

[Colo Cruiser]

The Star Princess seems to be the majority as far as cards being taken upon disembarkation.

Contrary to what others say, I really think this is a shipboard decision and has nothing to do with port authority. :)

[Colo Cruiser]

After they confiscated ours in July I emailed Princess asking them if I could get a replacement & questioned them for an answer. I also requested a replacement to which they didn't even respond to.

 

Their reply was,

 

Dear Mr. and Mrs. XXXX:

. We take all cruise cards from passengers when leaving the vessel for the last time during disembarkation. This is done for security reasons and to help us ensure that all passengers have disembarked from the ship. We can assure you that all cruise cards are immediately destroyed following their surrender at the gangway. We are sincerely sorry for any confusion and disappointment you experienced due to this situation.

 

Sincerely,

Katie Olson.

Specialist, Customer Relations

 

Princess Cruises

 

 

Oh surprise surprise, another disconnect between Corporate and Fleet. :rolleyes:

[rcacace]

The Star Princess seems to be the majority as far as cards being taken upon disembarkation.

Contrary to what others say, I really think this is a shipboard decision and has nothing to do with port authority. :)

 

There was a post a while back from someone who works in the industry that said it was port security that issues the collect order & Princess only complies. As I was leaving the ship in Victoria last July 4 th. I overheard a security officer breaking in a new employee & instructing him to make sure to not only look at the care but to also verify the dates of the cruise.

[Colo Cruiser]

There was a post a while back from someone who works in the industry that said it was port security that issues the collect order & Princess only complies.

 

 

Sure, but why not the other Princess ships that arrive at the same port??:cool:

[rcacace]

Sure, but why not the other Princess ships that arrive at the same port??:cool:

 

I think the poster said something to the effect that port security does so at any time without reason & that Princess does as ordered. Princess has nothing to gain or lose by anyone keeping the cards since their computer would reject any reuse.

[lanoitarus]

Actually those cards are worth about $10 each; I deal with them everyday so I do know. Have been on 14 Princess cruises and have never been asked to hand in my card at the end of the trip.

 

That's simply not true, unless you are adding in the man-hours cost to princess associated with printing and distributing them, and even then, its a major stretch.

 

I dont know what type of card stock princess uses (since i havent sailed them yet), but PVC magnetic stripe cards (the kind you swipe to read, like a credit card) cost about 10 cents each from any number of suppliers. If princess uses RF (contactless proximity cards that you "wave" over a reader), or smart chip (the kind with a small metalic contact point on the front which you insert into a reader sideways and then pull back out), those cost slightly more -- ranging from about 50 cents each on up to $1.50 each depending on memory size and technology involved (the more expensive ones store a LOT of data, like medical records, for instance, so princess is unlikely to use those). And these prices are from my office IT supply catalog, and are only in volumes of 1,000--- princess clearly would get bulk discounts well beyond that.

 

Now, those prices are for blank cards, the printers to actually add the needed data and images are not cheap- They range from $1k for the cheapest models on up to tens of thousands for high-volume, high-speed industrial models. If I had to guess, princess probably has something in between at the pursers and check in counters-- probably in the 3-5k each range. But once purchased, those machines can print tens of thousands of cards. There biggest cost is honestly probably associated with the employees to run them and print your replacements.

 

But my general points is, $10 is so far from the "cost" of these cards. Its more like 10 cents to a dollar for the raw material, plus the labor and printing costs associated. Labor is probably by far the biggest cost.

[Putterdude]

We have had no problem in keeping ours for DW's scrapbooks.

[chasetf]

Actually those cards are worth about $10 each; I deal with them everyday so I do know. Have been on 14 Princess cruises and have never been asked to hand in my card at the end of the trip.

You are joking right? :confused:

Boy if he is right :eek: .... then our Platinum cards must really be made of Platinum. :D

[Luv4dacruise]

Just a random thought. I certainly hope they clean them if they are reusing them, cause i can see noro spreading like wildfire with something like that :eek:

[Luv4dacruise]

Actually those cards are worth about $10 each; I deal with them everyday so I do know. Have been on 14 Princess cruises and have never been asked to hand in my card at the end of the trip.

 

I'd be interested to know what you mean when you "deal with them everyday"?.....

 

Buying something like that, in the bulk that Princess is purchasing them, well, Carnival Corp. for that matter, if you actually believe they are paying anywhere near that amount let me know cause i got a bridge i wanna sell ya.

[SJSULIBRARIAN]

Similar experience as previous poster on Sapphire Princess. Upon disembarkation in San Diego on Sept. 27th, we were advised to keep the cruise card as souvenir.

 

Barbara

[calval]

I too deal with issuing ID Swipe cards for a huge medical facility. We feel they are worth about $10 each with card, printer and supplies, labor and distribution. It is so worth it though and I am sure that is why cruise lines use them. They have definitely paid for themselves with ease and security. Only make sense for a large company needing to rekey/rename things each week. Not to mention you have the exact passenger count as you disembark and can deactivate them with a simple push of a button.

[OuiOnboard]

We used to save/collect all our cruise cards back in the day, but nowadays we only save the cards they don't keep (for whatever reason)when we disembark.

But the memories of the fabulous goodtimes, they can't take those away.

[Colo Cruiser]

Boy if he is right :eek: .... then our Platinum cards must really be made of Platinum. :D

 

 

And you might see a card surcharge. :rolleyes:

[2good2b]

Our last 2 Princess cruises were on Star & Dawn and both times our cards were kept. Never had them taken away on any other ships. :confused:

[Mike11]

We have been on a number of Princess ships and have never had the cards taken at the end of the cruise. We will be on the Star this coming February, so we'll see if they ask to keep them there. Maybe someone on the Star and Dawn have a plastic recycling consession?

 

Mike

[here2cruise]

It also happened to us on the Dawn in SF in July. Someone posted that it was an order from port security & that Princess has nothing to say about the matter. It's to bad since from now on I intend on losing my card on every sailing no matter which port we disembark at. What a waste of money just to get a souvenir.

 

that info was from me as that is what Princess told me...however......i work with a gal who is married to a customs agent and he says it is nOT a port authority or customs rule. so it looks like it is a Princess rule...maybe some ships do & don't but for now on i will be losing my card on every cruise i take! i guess we'll all show them!