Sail & Sign cards peeling?

[Earthworm Jim]

We're just off the Freedom December 4th sailing. Both my wife and I had the clear film layer with all our information written on it peeling and curling up  badly on our Sail & Sign cards. All 4 corners were peeling up. Near the end I had to hold the two corners adjacent to the bar code down with my fingers just so they could be scanned to get on and off the ship. Is anyone else having that problem, or did we just get a bad batch?

 

As far as I can tell, all my previous Sail & Sign cards had the information embossed on the surface of the card, so nothing to peel. This time all the information is on a clear layer of film on the surface of the card. The card itself just has the background picture. Which would be fine if the film stayed adhered to the card, but as it is...

 

Though for all I know it's not a common problem. I asked a fellow passenger and a bartender about it, and they both said theirs were only peeling a little bit. And presumably the bartender had had his card for a long time.

[babygrljaz]

ours lifted bad in sept. i went to guest services to get a new one because it was difficult to open our room door.  my kids just put up with it.  in october though it didn't life as much, but we also didn't use it as much. no cheers, not as much swiping

[jsglow]

Yeah, they've been crap since the restart.  Heald indicated that the manufacturer claims they were in 'cold storage' too long.  I say BS.  Find a new vendor.  Last week my wife's was so bad after ONE day that bartenders were having trouble swiping it.  Got a new one at guest services.  Our 2 week Pride cards held up okay enough but were pretty ragged by the hole punch by the end.

 

[Earthworm Jim]

I took our cards in the water in a zippered pocket one day, which could have had something to do with our problem. But I've always done that in the past without issues. 

[TravelGirlinDallas]

@Saint Greg had this same problem last week on the Vista.

[jsglow]

Jim opened a whole new can of worms! (See what I did there? 🤪)

[Saint Greg]

No problems on Mardi Gras or Panorama. But on Vista everyone had that problem. Mine was like this and I got it replaced on day 5 or 6. It was still working but I didn’t want my luck to run out at a bad time. Then on day 7 I had them replace my second one just so I’d have a good one to put with my card collection.

 

Edited December 13, 2021 by Saint Greg

[Earthworm Jim]

29 minutes ago, Saint Greg said:

No problems on Mardi Gras or Panorama. But on Vista everyone had that problem. Mine was like this and I got it replaced on day 5 or 6. It was still working but I didn’t want my luck to run out at a bad time. Then on day 7 I had them replace my second one just so I’d have a good one to put with my card collection.

 

 

Yeah, mine was getting about like that. Wish I thought of getting a pristine one for my card collection too.

Edited December 13, 2021 by Earthworm Jim

[cellfree]

Interesting post - had same problem on Pride November 28 cruise - I did go to Guest Services to have new one reprinted - never had this problem before - was our first post-covid cruise. 

[cruiseracer]

Just need to vax & mask them cards. 😅

[nwcruiselover]

I had the same problem about halfway through my Miracle cruise.  I got a new one at Guest Services but never mentioned it to anyone else.  I thought maybe it was just mine.

[csm5986142]

Yes, we have had this problem several times since cruising resumed.  We were wondering if maybe the cards sitting in storage so long during the shut-down is the problem?

[CheersPkg4Us]

We recently sailed on the Horizon, my wife had problems with her card, She wore her card on a lanyard in the pool one day and started having issues the next day. I didn't take mine in the pool and never had a problem. 

[wesorbeth]

I had the same issue on the Pride in October, it came completely off on day 6 and I had to get a new one.

[TomCruise48]

We had same problem on a RCCL cruise, so it is not just Carnival.  Lends more credence to materials being in storage past their shelf life.

[sgttami]

Wow...I haven't cruised since the restart,  Sounds like a vendor issue.

 

I have every card since my first cruise (nearly 30 years ago) and they still look like the day they were issued.

[gigem_aggies]

We've been on 3 cruise since the restart.  Didn't have a single issue in July or September on the Breeze.  But, on the Vista over Thanksgiving all of us--all 15 of us in our party--had to have new cards made.  Some of us even had to have more than one new card made!  They blamed it on the cards being kept in a warehouse for nearly 2 years.  Thankfully, the line at guest services moved quickly, but still a bummer to have to stop what you were doing to get the new card.  

[mz-s]

My wife and I were on Freedom over Thanksgiving. Her card peeled badly and needed to be replaced at Guest Services. Mine started to peel a little but not bad (it was isolated to the hole punch area).

 

My guess is the cards were not properly stored during the shutdown. These cards don't take up a lot of room in storage so I'm sure each ship has months' worth of cards in boxes somewhere.

[pokerguy90]

I work at a home office for a large commercial bank.  We recently had 15000 newly issued debit cards get recalled and reprinted becsuse they were exposed to high heat while in storage and the skin layer became brittle and rolled up from the corners.  So it happens when the clear adhesive is compromised.  We also see it when people  run a card through the dryer too.

[Tiger0613]

I had to get new cards on the Valor on the 11/29/21 sailing.  The peeling was isolated to the hole punch area.  I got a total of 4 cards on that cruise.

 

1) The original card had a different dining time than what had been confirmed.  I printed my boarding pass the same day I checked in.  It still said late dining.  Sometime in the next 14 days they switched me to early dining without my consent.  I only found out when I couldn't see late dining as an option on the food and drink tab in the app when I got onboard.  I got my first new card after they switched me back to late dining.

 

2)My card didn't work when I was scanned off and on the ship in Cozumel.  It said the card was disabled, yet I was still able to get into my cabin multiple times, use a slot machine, buy a drink, buy candy, and play in the arcade.  I thought it was the scanner, but no one else around me had any problems.  I was stubborn, but I eventually relented and went to Guest Services and got a new card.  My card was also peeling.

 

3)The card was peeling again.

 

All four cards had printing errors.  Some of the letters and numbers weren't completely printed.  The second card(the one that gave me trouble in Cozumel) had incomplete lines in the barcode.

Edited December 14, 2021 by Tiger0613

[Colorado Beach Bum]

No problems on Mardi Gras or Panorama but went through 3 card on Vista last week and wife went through two. 

[Jamman54]

We had to have our cards replaced on the Miracle. No issues on the Horizon or Panorama. 😎

[dallasdan]

Just got off the Dream on Sunday, there were several people that had cards peeling.  They had to go to guest services and get them replaced.  I didn't see any problems with cards on the Breeze in August.  

[K&RCurt]

We had this issue on the Pride in October with my Wife's card but not mine.

 

I am, by training and experience, an Organic Chemist specializing in adhesives and coatings for plastic films.  This is certainly an issue with the adhesive used to adhere the clear printed film to the rest of the card.   It is certainly related to shelf life, but this is likely "uncharted waters" for both Carnival and the vendor.  If you think about it, this material should have been used up last March.  It was likely not even tested past 6 months to a year when they developed it due to how quickly this material was typically consumed.  However, it is equally likely that Carnival requested a shelf like of "X", the Vendor agreed along with a long list of storage criteria they knew would never be met so they got a "get out of jail free" card on any claim made against shelf life.

 

I would think that new material for the top layer of the cards is in the pipeline but Carnival is just forced to remake cards when folks experience issues.

Edited December 14, 2021 by K&RCurt

[Aplmac]

I'm a long-term collector of cruise cards, including Carnival's.

 

The process has always involved your personal data printed on a clear film

and then laminated to a 'blank' card in a machine. So this is no new process!

 

What's new ....is either poor storage

or cheaper stuff for the clear laminate layer!

Knowing how corporations cut every possible corner they can

my money is on the cheaper laminate layer!

 

The only delamination I ever had (years ago)

was when folks sent me their cards by Mail, and they use Scotch Tape

on the face of the top card, to keep them bundled together in the Mail.

Taking the bundle apart upon receipt,

the clear laminate layer would often come off.

 

Thanks for the warning, next cruise I take... but maybe it'll be remedied by then.