Room Key Card Question....

[Booman14]

I have read on these post that you do not receive your room key card until you get to your room....

Is this true?  if this is true, how do you get into your room to get the key card?

 

Any help would be great!

[cruisingguy007]

It's in a sealed envelope at your room door. In the meantime, you can use your boarding receipt to buy any drinks/sundries before the cabins open up and you get your sign and sail card.  

Edited June 5, 2022 by cruisingguy007

[Booman14]

Is it in you room? 

[Joe817]

1 minute ago, Booman14 said:

Is it in you room? 

No. It's in your "mail slot" right next to your door out in the hallway. You can't miss it. 

[mowogo]

19 minutes ago, cruisingguy007 said:

It's in a sealed envelope at your room door. In the meantime, you can use your boarding receipt to buy any drinks/sundries before the cabins open up and you get your sign and sail card.  

And will also work for when they scan you in for muster.  

[Booman14]

Ok- forgive me for being so cynical, but what would keep someone from just stealing your key card? 

[Essiesmom]

It’s in a sealed envelope. If the envelope has been tampered with, you go to guest services to get a new one.  If someone steals it, they can’t use it because when it is scanned your picture will come up, and if they don’t match…EM

[cruisingguy007]

49 minutes ago, Booman14 said:

Ok- forgive me for being so cynical, but what would keep someone from just stealing your key card? 

 

What Essiesmom said and they have cameras everywhere, including the cabin hallways. It would be a very short cruise if someone were to do this. It would take them all of 5 min to figure it out. Someone would have to be a bonehead to do this. It would make a great video though when that person is bounced from the ship lol.  

[finoky]

8 hours ago, Booman14 said:

Ok- forgive me for being so cynical, but what would keep someone from just stealing your key card? 

 

This question comes up a lot. There has not been one post on here where someone reported having it stolen out of the mailbox. But should it happen just go to guest services and get a new one. They can remove the fraudulent charges from your account. Also, cameras are everywhere. They will know who stole it.

[mz-s]

9 hours ago, Booman14 said:

Ok- forgive me for being so cynical, but what would keep someone from just stealing your key card? 

 

It just doesn't happen, the room is empty at that point so what's the point of stealing the key? The most they could steal is a towel or bar of soap. They can't use it for purchases because your photo would show up when they use it too.

[Guest BasicSailor]

16 minutes ago, mz-s said:

 

It just doesn't happen, the room is empty at that point so what's the point of stealing the key? The most they could steal is a towel or bar of soap. They can't use it for purchases because your photo would show up when they use it too.

 Perhaps something from your dropped off luggage. They take your room key with a person never knowing what happen to it. So the cardless person goes to guest services to retrieve another then return to the room and drop off their bags then off to Lido. Meanwhile the thief is waiting ,watching for you to leave so they can explore the contents in your bags. Could be anyone, even the staff.

Do I think it's safe, fairly safe yes. Is there room for intrusion, you bet. I liked the old system better than having my card placed in a box where sticky fingers can retrieve it

Edited June 5, 2022 by BasicSailor

[Guest BasicSailor]

1 hour ago, finoky said:

 

This question comes up a lot. There has not been one post on here where someone reported having it stolen out of the mailbox. But should it happen just go to guest services and get a new one. They can remove the fraudulent charges from your account. Also, cameras are everywhere. They will know who stole it.

No, not everywhere.

[mz-s]

5 minutes ago, BasicSailor said:

 Perhaps something from your dropped off luggage. They take your room key with a person never knowing what happen to it. So the cardless person goes to guest services to retrieve another then return to the room and drop off their bags then off to Lido. Meanwhile the thief is waiting ,watching for you to leave so they can explore the contents in your bags. Could be anyone, even the staff.

Do I think it's safe, fairly safe yes. Is there room for intrusion, you bet. I liked the old system better than having my card placed in a box where sticky fingers can retrieve it

 

They just leave the luggage outside the door, no need to steal the room key to look in the luggage. If someone wants my skivvies that bad, more power to them!

[Guest BasicSailor]

1 minute ago, mz-s said:

 

They just leave the luggage outside the door, no need to steal the room key to look in the luggage. If someone wants my skivvies that bad, more power to them!

I never leave anything of value in my luggage if I place it outside my door. Most valuables will be with me even when boarding and debarking the ship.😉.

[Kethry88]

11 minutes ago, BasicSailor said:

 Perhaps something from your dropped off luggage. They take your room key with a person never knowing what happen to it. So the cardless person goes to guest services to retrieve another then return to the room and drop off their bags then off to Lido. Meanwhile the thief is waiting ,watching for you to leave so they can explore the contents in your bags. Could be anyone, even the staff.

Do I think it's safe, fairly safe yes. Is there room for intrusion, you bet. I liked the old system better than having my card placed in a box where sticky fingers can retrieve it

 

To make sure I'm reading this right: you are saying someone steals the key envelope. The guest in that cabin sees they have no key envelope, so they go to guest services and tell them they had no key envelope. Guest services makes them new Sail & Sign cards. The guest then goes back to their cabin, opens the door with the new key, and drops off their carryon. They leave. The thief has been lurking in the hallway this entire time, sees them go in and then leave without their bags, then uses the old, stolen keys to get in the cabin and steal the belongings inside.

 

Now, I work in a hotel, not a cruise ship, and even with our less sophisticated keys that are NOT tied to an individual's spending account, this would not work. When we issue keys to an already checked in room, we can make duplicates, so all keys we have made for that room still work, or we can make NEW keys, which, when used on the lock, transmit a new code which voids out all previously made keys so they do not work anymore. I am 100% certain that every time a guest reports to guest services that the envelope with their Sail & Sign cards is opened or missing, the GSA makes entirely NEW Sail & Sign cards and voids the old ones so they will not work on the doors and flag as compromised if the thief attempts to use them to buy anything. In the above hypothetical scenario, the thief could not use the stolen keys to get in the cabin after the guest had used their newly issued keys to enter. It's impossible.

[Guest BasicSailor]

22 minutes ago, Kethry88 said:

 

To make sure I'm reading this right: you are saying someone steals the key envelope. The guest in that cabin sees they have no key envelope, so they go to guest services and tell them they had no key envelope. Guest services makes them new Sail & Sign cards. The guest then goes back to their cabin, opens the door with the new key, and drops off their carryon. They leave. The thief has been lurking in the hallway this entire time, sees them go in and then leave without their bags, then uses the old, stolen keys to get in the cabin and steal the belongings inside.

 

Now, I work in a hotel, not a cruise ship, and even with our less sophisticated keys that are NOT tied to an individual's spending account, this would not work. When we issue keys to an already checked in room, we can make duplicates, so all keys we have made for that room still work, or we can make NEW keys, which, when used on the lock, transmit a new code which voids out all previously made keys so they do not work anymore. I am 100% certain that every time a guest reports to guest services that the envelope with their Sail & Sign cards is opened or missing, the GSA makes entirely NEW Sail & Sign cards and voids the old ones so they will not work on the doors and flag as compromised if the thief attempts to use them to buy anything. In the above hypothetical scenario, the thief could not use the stolen keys to get in the cabin after the guest had used their newly issued keys to enter. It's impossible.

Not sure it works that way on a ship at all. But discussing land based keys. True Story . My daughter in-law goes up to the desk of a hotel🤐 and says she lost her room key. She gives them our room number and the front desk gave her a key/ card to my room. She then attempts to play a prank on us my dumping cornflakes on our bed under the top sheet. Funny stuff, right? Only problem being, somehow between the time she entered our room a pair of expensive diamond earrings were stolen. Honestly I've never become secure in Hotels safety after that incident.  Earrings were never found. and we were comped a free night, which we declined the offer. 

Edited June 5, 2022 by BasicSailor

[Kethry88]

12 minutes ago, BasicSailor said:

Not sure it works that way on a ship at all. But discussing land based keys. True Story . My daughter in-law goes up to the desk of a hotel🤐 and says she lost her room key. She gives them our room number and the front desk gave her a key/ card to my room. She then attempts to play a prank on us my dumping cornflakes on our bed under the top sheet. Funny stuff, right? Only problem being, somehow between the time she entered our room a pair of expensive diamond earrings were stolen. Honestly I've never become secure in Hotels safety after that incident.  Earrings were never found. and we were comped a free night, which we declined the offer. 

 

Since Sail & Sign cards are individual to the guest, I am fairly certain that making a new one automatically voids the old one. You can have guest services make you multiple copies of KEYS to your cabin if you want, but you only get one Sail & Sign per individual. Maybe someone who has worked on a ship can clarify.

 

As to your hotel experience, front desk shouldn't have given her a key without photo ID matching a name registered to the room, no ifs, ands, or buts. That's a huge security risk and people have legit been assaulted by strangers when that rule is ignored. Even if you have seen the person requesting the key with the people you know are registered to the room, you don't give them a key unless they are also registered to that room AND provide photo ID. Even without the jewelry going missing, giving out the key like that is a serious mistake that should require the desk agent go through retraining or possibly be terminated if they were already disciplined on doing the same thing previously. I'm sorry that your safety and privacy were compromised like that.

[mz-s]

Regardless, I have heard no reports of this kind of theft happening so I don't think it's an issue. The cards being at your cabin door saves time in the terminal which is a good thing.

[Booman14]

Thanks for all the replies.  It has been a few years since I have sailed and there seems to be a good number of changes.  Some for the better, and some, not so much. It is good to know that this key card placement is not an issue.   

[gatour]

This topic comes up periodically.  Carnival is not the only the cruises line that does this.  Since this was instituted years ago, I have never heard of any issues even among competing non Carnival cruise lines.

[Ellaleah]

I was on Princess 1/22.  They have you wear a “Medallion” instead of a key card and while many would tell you that their system is not without flaws, when I left my room with my Medallion inside they were able to see on their computer where it was and issue me a keycard so that I could get in.

[cruisingguy007]

1 hour ago, Ellaleah said:

I was on Princess 1/22.  They have you wear a “Medallion” instead of a key card and while many would tell you that their system is not without flaws, when I left my room with my Medallion inside they were able to see on their computer where it was and issue me a keycard so that I could get in.

 

Yikes! Complete real time gps tracking? Creepy for sure but kind of intriguing with all the metadata that could be complied. That is an insane amount of data to have at your fingertips.  

[mowogo]

3 minutes ago, cruisingguy007 said:

 

Yikes! Complete real time gps tracking? Creepy for sure but kind of intriguing with all the metadata that could be complied. That is an insane amount of data to have at your fingertips.  

In 2020 I got to experience the tech that once it aligned to your presence, would shift the displays to displaying your personalized information where only you could see it.  Start adding this tech and you can start having the ship guide you to activities you’ve selected in the Hub app.  

[cruisingguy007]

10 minutes ago, mowogo said:

In 2020 I got to experience the tech that once it aligned to your presence, would shift the displays to displaying your personalized information where only you could see it.  Start adding this tech and you can start having the ship guide you to activities you’ve selected in the Hub app.  

 

Interesting from the user interface but the potential for cruise lines is even more enormous. They could use that vast data stream to save lots of cash and reduce waste, redundancies and amp up the customer experience. These streams usually take weeks or months to reveal themselves but having it in real time could reduce that to hours/days. Amazing.  

[mowogo]

1 minute ago, cruisingguy007 said:

 

Interesting from the user interface but the potential for cruise lines is even more enormous. They could use that vast data stream to save lots of cash and reduce waste, redundancies and amp up the customer experience. These streams usually take weeks or months to reveal themselves but having it in real time could reduce that to hours/days. Amazing.  

Absolutely, and wait until you get to the first generation of ships fully designed with this insight, especially if they use it for crew workflows.