When you board most cruise ships you get a credit-card-style room key that serves as much more than that.
Royal Caribbean Group (RCL), Carnival Cruises Lines (CCL), and MSC all have slightly different names for the "Sign and Sail" cards, but they all use similar systems.
Your card serves as your room key, but it's also how you pay for purchases online and prove your identity. In some cases, like checking in at a specialty restaurant, you may simply be asked for your cabin number. But when the time comes to settle the bill -- even if it's a zero-dollar meal you paid for before your cruise -- all three cruise lines will ask for your card.
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Basically, you need to have your cruise card (SeaPass on Royal Caribbean, Sail & Sign on Carnival, and Cruise Card on MSC) at all times. You can, in theory, put the card in a wallet, a purse, or someplace more intimate (women have been known to tuck their cards into their bras) but none of those are particularly smart choices.
It makes the most sense to wear your card on a lanyard. That may not be the coolest look, but it's the easiest way to have your card on hand whether you're in the pool (where roving waiters take drink orders), in the casino (where inserting it into machines or handing it to a pit boss is how your play gets tracked), and most important, when you get off the ship (where your card proves who you are by bringing up your picture).
Image source: Daniel Kline, TheStreet
Buy a Lanyard Before You Cruise
On embarkation day all the cruise lines sell lanyards in various places and in at least one onboard store after that. If you want a lanyard branded to Royal Caribbean, Carnival, MSC, or any other cruise line, you can get one, but you will generally pay $15 to $20 each and may not have a lot of choices.
Amazon (AMZN) sells a variety of lanyards for less than that, so you need to prioritize what you want. There are a few things to consider.
- Do you want a thin or a wide band?
- Would you like a detachable pouch (which makes handing the card to someone without taking it off easier), a standard one, or one on a retractable reel (which makes it easier to insert in a slot machine without taking it off).
- Are you looking for a waterproof pouch?
- Do you want a basic lanyard or one with a design.
In most cases, it's best to buy a lanyard that has a detachable pouch because you will often have to hand over your card. Not having to take off your lanyard to do that or take the card out of the pouch (which can be tricky) is an added convenience that's worth a little added expense.
Virgin Voyages, for the record, uses a bracelet rather than a card for room access and charges. Royal Caribbean and Carnival offer similar technology on some ships, but the bracelet does not fully replace room cards when it comes to things like getting on and off the ship.
Don't Lose Your Card! That's a Huge Cruise Problem.
If you lose your cruise card, you can't get back into your room. You also can't make most onboard purchases and you won't be able to track your points in the casino.
If you lose your card, go to Guest Services. The location for that varies by cruise line and ship, but it's usually somewhere between the third and sixth floor and the lines are often long.
In many cases, Guest Services is filled with people trying to solve complicated issues or arguing about money. Reprinting your card takes only a few seconds, but it might take half an hour (longer during peak times) to actually get to the front of the line.
It's also not fun to get back to your room and realize you left your card somewhere and need to go back to Guest Services for a replacement. Cruise ships, especially most of the Royal Caribbean fleet, are gigantic. and having to walk a long way just to be able to open your cabin door cuts into your vacation fun.
