Do you need your cruise card to keep the lights on?

[Illbcruzn4life]

On most lines any kind of card will keep the lights and a/c on.

 

I’ve read that on msc only your cruise card for that sailing will work.

 

trying to see if thats correct.

[Bgwest]

Nope. Last week used an old business card. 

[jean87510]

I like it as you will never misplace your card.

[LuiK]

Depends on the ship. On older vessels other paper/plastic cards work, on newer vessels only any (old) MSC cruise card with RFID will do the trick. So keep your old cruise cards…

Edited May 18, 2023 by LuiK

[1kaper]

Last year on Divina - any card. 
 

Last week on Seaside - only MSC card. 

[ZoeyVictoria]

Last week on the Seaside we tried another card, but only the MSC card would work.  Very annoying to not be able to charge my phone while out of the cabin. 

[Georgia_Peaches]

If I recall correctly, the light remains on in the cabin for a certain amount of time after removing the card from the slot allowing for you to get out of the room and still see where you are going.  When we were on Seashore our room remained perpetually hot.  Our butler placed a card in the slot to remain permanently hoping that it would cool our room.  It didn't but that tells me that the card in the slot also has something to do with the A/C, not just the lights.  I will also add, that the lights in the newer ships are the very intense tiny spot lights.  They gave off a lot of heat so I wasn't too keen on the lights being on for long.

[Georgia_Peaches]

1 minute ago, ZoeyVictoria said:

Very annoying to not be able to charge my phone while out of the cabin. 

Yes, indeed!  I got around this by using my battery pack charger while out of the room and then charging my battery pack when in the room.

[Essiesmom]

1 minute ago, ZoeyVictoria said:

Last week on the Seaside we tried another card, but only the MSC card would work.  Very annoying to not be able to charge my phone while out of the cabin. 

If you get the bracelet, you can leave your card in the slot.  That’s what I did.  In 2019 it had to be a card from that ship.  My old cards from Divina did not work.  EM

[ZoeyVictoria]

8 minutes ago, Georgia_Peaches said:

Yes, indeed!  I got around this by using my battery pack charger while out of the room and then charging my battery pack when in the room.

 

7 minutes ago, Essiesmom said:

If you get the bracelet, you can leave your card in the slot.  That’s what I did.  In 2019 it had to be a card from that ship.  My old cards from Divina did not work.  EM

Those are both good suggestions for next time, thank you!  I had a battery pack with me, but had just purchased it in September for our latest hurricane, did not need it then, and completely forgot I even had it. 
 

And the lights….   I could not find a way to apply makeup without those overhead lights shining down on me and creating shadows on my face. 

[cublet]

Hello,

 

My old Queen Victoria card worked on Virtuosa from 27th April.

 

Something I think is a nonsense is that the TV stays on when the lighting cuts off - I guess it is on the same circuit as the fridge.

 

Regards,

 

Cublet

[Illbcruzn4life]

Thanks for all the replies. Is the Meraviglia one of the ships you can use any card or is it the card for that ship only?

[Two Wheels Only]

1 hour ago, ZoeyVictoria said:

Very annoying to not be able to charge my phone while out of the cabin. 

 

That's likely due to fire risk. 

 

On many lines, the room steward is instructed to unplug charging devices when the guest is not in the stateroom. 

[GPPhilly]

1 hour ago, Illbcruzn4life said:

Thanks for all the replies. Is the Meraviglia one of the ships you can use any card or is it the card for that ship only?

We used an old hotel key on the Mera in Oct

[GPPhilly]

We also tried to use an old hotel key on the Divina in March but every time while we were gone the room steward would take it out.  

[Tierun]

1 hour ago, Illbcruzn4life said:

Thanks for all the replies. Is the Meraviglia one of the ships you can use any card or is it the card for that ship only?

Mera is a newer ship that requires a msc card.

[Illbcruzn4life]

5 minutes ago, Tierun said:

Mera is a newer ship that requires a msc card.

thank you very much.

[morpheusofthesea]

I posted this while on the Seashore back in July.

Posted July 9, 2022

Another tip we learned today. One must place ones key card in the power switch with the lanyard hole up to ones right for it to keep the power on. I just stuck an old one in upside down. (And the lights went out after a minute) YMMV

Edited May 18, 2023 by morpheusofthesea

[Morecruisesplz]

14 hours ago, Illbcruzn4life said:

On most lines any kind of card will keep the lights and a/c on.

 

I’ve read that on msc only your cruise card for that sailing will work.

 

trying to see if thats correct.

On Seaside, yes. Other cards (Royal, gift card, cc will not work.)