Anyone collect cruise-cards?

[LOVECRUISING100%]

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I've been writing to ask about cruise-cards, here on the Memorabilia section

and at other CC Message Board locations but it seems no one collects cruise cards

beyond saving their own 'Sail & Sign' cards as a memento, only to be forgotten in a drawer somewhere!

 

I've recently discovered it's not that difficult to ask around among friends and acquaintances

-even in my small island community- to receive cards that turn out to be quite interesting.

 

Now that I have a few different ones (Carnival mostly)

I'm seeing all sorts of major and minor design changes that make a collection worthwhile.

As a collector, you already know that variation is the basis for all collections.

 

 

For what it's worth

here are a few cards I've recently acquired..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After returning from a memorable cruise, most people don't throw out their cruise cards, I'm sure..

they serve as an integral part of your holiday memories.

They get stuck away somewhere, not seeing the light of day for years!

 

Anyone who's been saving their old cruise cards 'for a reason,but not quite sure just what'

might consider donating them to a collector like me? Please? :confused:

 

Are there any other cruise-card collectors? -I'd love to know!

 

 

Please have a dig around to see what you can find.

 

 

 

Oh by the way...I live on the Caribbean island of Barbados

and this is one of my local beaches.

 

Thought you might like to see.

 

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I always save all my S&S cards .. I don't have very many since I just started cruising 2 years ago.. guess, I need to go on more trips .. Happy Cruising ...

[Wansbrough]

So Aplmac, this is where you have been hiding..... good to see you are still about and cruising. :)

 

 

After returning from a memorable cruise, most people don't throw out their cruise cards, I'm sure..

they serve as an integral part of your holiday memories.

They get stuck away somewhere, not seeing the light of day for years!

 

Not me! :D

 

I have posted a photo below of what I have done with my cards. I have some filling up to do. :D

 

Edited May 18, 2013 by Wansbrough

[pink roses]

So Aplmac, this is where you have been hiding..... good to see you are still about and cruising. :)

 

 

 

 

Not me! :D

 

I have posted a photo below of what I have done with my cards. I have some filling up to do. :D

 

So Neat!

[pink roses]

Thanks for sharing. This seems like such a fun thing to collect. Although, I scrapbook and only want the ones that belonged to me, it is neat to look at the others.

[Aplmac]

Okay so here are a few new ones from our recent VALOR cruise!

 

 

Current Gold card.

 

 

Crew access card, to their cabins (there's a new design out)

 

 

Crew have their own Sail & Sign cards!

 

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[Aplmac]

..are older than the hills! :D

 

 

These cards are printed on thin card

and are not standard credit-card size.

 

 

 

Obverse and reverse - 1992! :eek:

 

 

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Edited July 11, 2013 by Aplmac

[Aplmac]

Here's a reminder card Carnival hands out to Crew on board.

 

 

 

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[Aplmac]

I got this card, yesterday

 

 

 

It's printed on thin card stock -not sturdy plastic

 

 

Obverse and reverse are shown

 

 

 

Any Royal Caribbean ppl out there remember this card?

What year-ish?

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Edited August 14, 2013 by Aplmac

[Aplmac]

Here's a pair of (blank) Milestone cards from Carnival

 

 

Top one is an older issue, lower one is the current 2013 issue.

 

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[Aplmac]

Here's a few recent pics of cards I have..

 

 

Some of them you may have seen already

but there are a few new ones in there as well..

 

Key only! No charging of anything to the account (no Folio number..)

Probably a key for Junior.

 

 

 

Carnival crew-only cards -for them to communicate with friends and family.

 

 

 

 

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Edited November 8, 2013 by Aplmac

[Aplmac]

And here's a bunch of Carnival blue First-Time-Cruiser cards..

 

 

 

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[Aplmac]

Then and now.

 

 

 

Then - 2003 and 2005

 

 

 

More recent cards - 2011 and 2013

 

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Edited November 14, 2013 by Aplmac

[Aplmac]

Does anyone (with kids at Camp Carnival) remember this card at all?

 

 

 

I'm hoping to score one from someone who thoughtfully stashed it away somewhere

 

Please Email me: pcdoctor (at) karibcable.com

 

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Edited January 10, 2014 by Aplmac

[pghsteelerfan]

And here's a bunch of Carnival blue First-Time-Cruiser cards..

 

 

 

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Aplmac, just noticed that you have a card from Fascination from 1996. I don't know if you or anyone else would know, but I have a question regarding the old room keys/Sail & Sign cards from the early 1990's. We were on Carnival Festivale (was just known as "Festivale") on our honeymoon in 1992, which was our first cruise. I keep memorabilia from all of our cruises (5 now) and still have ours from Festivale but we don't remember having those cards and never came across any. We don't even know if they existed or if we were able to keep them at that time. I also can't remember if they were called "Sail & Sign" at the time. I do remember that we had cards that were tied in with a credit card for drink purchases but also don't know if they were the same ones used as a cabin key or not. The first time we cruised Carnival after that wasn't until 2006, on Miracle, and we do have the Sail & Sign cards for that cruise, which we keep with our other memorabilia. I've made it a point to keep them all from now on, so we've got our Glory and most recent Valor Sail & Sign. I might post this question on the "Carnival" boards as well but was hoping that maybe you or someone else here may know. Thanks!

[pghsteelerfan]

Aplmac, just noticed that you have a card from Fascination from 1996. I don't know if you or anyone else would know, but I have a question regarding the old room keys/Sail & Sign cards from the early 1990's. We were on Carnival Festivale (was just known as "Festivale") on our honeymoon in 1992, which was our first cruise. I keep memorabilia from all of our cruises (5 now) and still have ours from Festivale but we don't remember having those cards and never came across any. We don't even know if they existed or if we were able to keep them at that time. I also can't remember if they were called "Sail & Sign" at the time. I do remember that we had cards that were tied in with a credit card for drink purchases but also don't know if they were the same ones used as a cabin key or not. The first time we cruised Carnival after that wasn't until 2006, on Miracle, and we do have the Sail & Sign cards for that cruise, which we keep with our other memorabilia. I've made it a point to keep them all from now on, so we've got our Glory and most recent Valor Sail & Sign. I might post this question on the "Carnival" boards as well but was hoping that maybe you or someone else here may know. Thanks!

 

I also posted this question on the Carnival boards and got an answer, so this question can be disregarded. Apparently there were no "Sail & Sign" cards at that time, must have started shortly afterward.

[Aplmac]

I also posted this question on the Carnival boards and got an answer, so this question can be disregarded.

Apparently there were no "Sail & Sign" cards at that time, must have started shortly afterward.

Ummm.. that's almost-correct.

All research I've done into the history of cruise-cards as we know them today

points to the fact they didn't exist much before 1990(depending on the ship's door-technology?)

although I recall seeing a CARD(not plastic) card from a UK chap..

...I think it was dated late 1980s, and consequently rather rare.

 

He posted a pic. of it somewhere on the Carnival board I think

and I saved a copy of his picture, although I can't find it now.

It looked comparatively-unprofessional and I'm not sure of its size/dimensions.

 

The 1996 card you see above is the oldest Carnival card I have

although I do have Other Cruise Line plastic? cards from 1992

and some pink-card cards from Cunard

(and white-and-green cards from Windstar Cruises -see post below this one).

 

This is not my picture -got it from a guy I exchange with.

The card at right is the one I now have. Wish I owned both!

 

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Edited January 28, 2014 by Aplmac

[Aplmac]

As mentioned in the post above.

 

 

Cunard 1994, a big thing, not today's credit-card-size.

 

 

Obverse and reverse are shown here.

 

 

Obverse and reverse, again.

 

 

 

 

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Edited January 28, 2014 by Aplmac

[Aplmac]

This link is to Page 3 of the card thread I mentioned earlier

but you should check this out!

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1935808&highlight=card&page=3

 

 

July,1986 - non-plastic, as you can see from the crinkles.

The ship was (Carnival)HOLIDAY

 

Thank you for the history, Jamman54!

 

 

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Edited January 28, 2014 by Aplmac

[Aplmac]

We sailed twice on Ocean Village Two - in 2008.

 

She is an older ship (now re-named and working Down Undah).

Her elderly door-technology on board required us to use these cabin-access cards full of holes :D

 

 

 

and a separate card(below) for charging drinks

and stuff bought in the on-board shops...

..which they confiscated from us at the end of the cruise

-and for which I shall never forgive them. :mad:

 

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Edited January 28, 2014 by Aplmac

[pghsteelerfan]

Aplmac, thank you so much for helping out with this and for attaching the pictures and link to the other thread. I am going to have to go through and look through all of our memorabilia from our Festivale cruise again, just in case we do have something like that mixed in with the rest. I know I have the old luggage tags & the "Carnival Capers" for most of the days along with some other things. As I mentioned, it's been so long ago so my memory escapes me now on what we used to get on and off the ship and also the drinks, which I do remember drinks being tied in to a credit card. Speaking of "Sail & Sign" cards, we sailed on Royal Caribbean once, Mexican Riviera in January 2000. My DH found his card and I can not find mine anywhere. I sure hope I kept it and have been keeping my eye out for it since. Thank you again for your answer and all of the pictures. I really enjoy this thread. Oh, by the way, I've seen a lot of the pictures you have posted - beautiful shots.

[pghsteelerfan]

Aplmac, I just saw your response to the thread where I also posted this question in the Carnival boards.

 

Please post pictures of your older cards!!

 

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Will do. I probably won't get to that today but I promise to get them posted this week. I know I have Carnival Miracle (March 2006); Carnival Glory (May 2010) and Carnival Valor (May 2013). My DH has on from Royal Caribbean from January 2000 (I'm still looking for mine & hope I still have it somewhere). I don't know how well that (RC card) would go over on the Carnival boards. :)

[Aplmac]

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It was a Royal Caribbean Capt. who explained to me that this card..

 

 

was used for cabin-door-access only

 

 

 

but you were also given something like this card..

 

 

..to purchase stuff on board, and to get on/off the ship.

 

 

Then RCL introduced their SeaPass system, whereby one card did everything! ;)

 

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[pghsteelerfan]

Alpmac, I didn't forget about getting our Carnival "Sail & Sign" and the RC cruise card I told you I'd post. Here they are:

 

This is my DH's Royal Caribbean's card which was a room key and was tied in with a credit card for onboard drinks, like Carnival's version of the "Sail & Sign" card. We took this cruise on RC's Rhapsody of the Seas from 1/16/2000 - 1/23/2000. The cruise was a Mexican Riviera (Cabo San Lucas, Mazatlan, and Puerto Vallarta) and was out of Los Angeles, CA (Long Beach?).

 

These are both my DH's and my "Sail & Sign" from Carnival Miracle from 3/12/2006 - 3/19/2006 to the Western Caribbean (Tampa, FL; Sea Day; Grand Cayman; Cozumel, Mexico; Belize; Costa Maya, Mexico; Sea Day; Tampa, FL). This was our second cruise with Carnival but since our first cruise (honeymoon cruise on Festivale in 1992) was under my maiden name, this second cruise on Carnival Miracle was considered my first since it was booked under my married name. My DH was "Gold" Status and I was considered a first time Carnival cruiser, thus the difference in our "Sail & Sign" cards.

 

Both my DH's and my "Sail & Sign" card from our Carnival Glory cruise in May, 2010. The cruise was 5/09/2010 - 5/16/2010 and was an Eastern Caribbean (Miami, FL; Half Moon Cay, Bahamas; Sea Day; St. Thomas, USVI; San Juan, Puerto Rico; Grand Turk, BWI; Sea Day; Miami, FL). Per Carnival's records, this was DH's third cruise and my second but it was also my third. I contacted Carnival after this cruise and provided them the information they needed so my records could be adjusted to match DH's and have credit for my third Carnival cruise. We were both "Gold" status and are cards were the same.

 

Both DH's and my "Sail & Sign" cards from our most recent cruise on Carnival Valor (5/05/2013 - 5/12/2013) for a Southern Caribbean (San Juan, Puerto Rico; St. Thomas; Sea Day; Barbados; St. Lucia; St. Kitts; St. Maarten; San Juan, Puerto Rico). Due to Carnival's recent changes for the past guest program, we again reached "Gold Status" (28 days total) on this cruise.

 

I'm still looking for my Royal Caribbean card from Rhapsody of the Seas (2000) and also for any card we may have from our Festival cruise in June 1992and if I locate them (if we still have them), I'll be sure to scan and get posted for you. Our Festivale cruise was our honeymoon and also a Southern Caribbean that was very similar to that of the current Valor Southern Caribbean (out of San Juan) itinerary. On that cruise the itinerary was San Juan, Puerto Rico; St. Thomas, USVI; St. Maarten; Dominica; Barbados; Martinique; Sea Day; San Juan, Puerto Rico).

Edited February 1, 2014 by pghsteelerfan

[Aplmac]

Thanks for posting pics of your cards.

 

 

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I just photographed my Carnival Gift Card

- bought it on board the ship at the little Cherry On Top candy store on Deck 5

 

 

When you buy this card from Cherry On Top

you can specify whatever amount you want put on the card

anywhere from $10 to $1,000 I think.

 

I put ten bucks on mine and then went to Guest Services right away to redeem the money:

- I just wanted the card for my collection! :)

 

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Edited February 2, 2014 by Aplmac

[pghsteelerfan]

Thanks for posting pics of your cards.

 

 

................................

 

 

I just photographed my Carnival Gift Card

- bought it on board the ship at the little Cherry On Top candy store on Deck 5

 

 

When you buy this card from Cherry On Top

you can specify whatever amount you want put on the card

anywhere from $10 to $1,000 I think.

 

I put ten bucks on mine and then went to Guest Services right away to redeem the money:

- I just wanted the card for my collection! :)

 

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I did not know about this and will keep it in mind the next time we have an opportunity to cruise. Thanks for sharing about it. Some great news...I found my Royal Caribbean card. I don't know how I missed it numerous times, it was in a basket in our family room where it is dusted/moved to dust end table it's on weekly. It is now with the rest of my RC cruise memorabilia. I'd go ahead and post, but it's exactly like the one of DH's that I posted. We now have our complete set of the cards, almost. I'm still keeping an eye out in case we kept those from Festivale.