When did the current room keys start?

[nycruise1]

Don't have any from the 90s or a 2001 cruise.  Not sure if we did not save them or we were still using the physical metal room keys then.  I am not referring to the dining assignment cards they gave out back then, but the card we now swipe with to open the doors.  Who has the oldest or remembers when they began?

[icft]

I don't know when they started, but I have one in my hand right now from our July 2001 cruise on the Inspiration.

[Guest BasicSailor]

I have a few, beginning with a hole type punch card. 

 

[klfrodo]

Our 2001 3 day Fantasy cruise used the current card key.

[Essiesmom]

My first Carnival was in June 1999.  It was on Fantasy, and it was the plastic sail & sign, but did not open the cabin door.  There was a separate white plastic key with holes for that.  Since it did not open the cabin, the cabin number is on it.  EM

[RWolver672]

Our first cruise was on the Destiny in 1999.  The S&S card was used to unlock the door.  We've never had a regular key or a separate card to open the door.

 

[ShakyBeef]

Our first cruise was on Inspiration in 2005.  Our Sail & Sign cards were also our door keys (included a pic of one of our luggage tags and a Capers from that cruise, just for fun:

 

 

 

[nycruise1]

2 hours ago, RWolver672 said:

Our first cruise was on the Destiny in 1999.  The S&S card was used to unlock the door.  We've never had a regular key or a separate card to open the door.

 

I wonder if it had to do with the age of the ship at the time.  Destiny was one of the newest then.  We were on the Festivale, they probably would not have retrofitted all the doors, perhaps not the Holiday as well.

[tidecat]

1 hour ago, nycruise1 said:

I wonder if it had to do with the age of the ship at the time.  Destiny was one of the newest then.  We were on the Festivale, they probably would not have retrofitted all the doors, perhaps not the Holiday as well.

The original Celebration had separate room keys in her post-Carnival career with Bahamas Paradise. Celebration remained in the Carnival fleet until 2008.

 

I suspect since Inspiration and Destiny were under construction around the same time, the transition began sometime around 1994 or 1995.

 

I suspect Fantasy was likely converted around 2000, which would line up with her 10-year drydock.