Misprinted Sea Pass Cards - Big Deal?

[MattJump]

We recently sailed on the Allure of the Seas out of Galveston. After being the first ones to board, we got to our room later in the day to discover that our light blue Sky Class Suite sea pass cards had been misprinted to the purple cards for Star Class Suite guests. After getting settled in and unpacking, we made our way up to the concierge, MJ, who we introduced ourselves to and enjoyed a nice chat with. We informed him of the misprint and he said that it should be no issue and we could keep the cards and use them like normal. He told us that the card, internally, is still set to our room, which is a sky class.

Day 2 comes and we're in the suite lounge where a bar tender takes our orders, asks for our sea pass cards, and upon returning, says that we have the wrong cards. We informed her that we know they are misprinted, but were told it's ok to use them. She carried on without incident. Later in the day, we were back in the suite lounge again and once again, the same bar tender says we have the wrong cards and need to go get them re-printed at guest services. We said ok since we thought she didn't understand us earlier.

Fast forward to day 4, after our first stop, we once again had this lady as our bar tender. We were skeptical to order from her because of previous encounters with her, but did so anyways. This time she took a while to come back. In the 20 minutes she was gone, someone else had brought us our drinks and she came back with new sea pass cards that she went and had printed at guest services. When she returned, she nearly ripped our originally misprinted cards out of our other group members hand. Needless to say, at this point, we were very upset. 

After this incident, I informed our concierge and guest services of the incident, who then contacted the bar tenders boss. The officer met me and concierge MJ at guest services where I explained what happened. They informed me that she acted out of line and should never have done something like that. We talked about the situation where we all agreed that she was completely in the wrong. The guest services attendant explained that she came down to the front desk and said that the guests would like their sea pass cards reprinted to the correct type. (Which we weren't planning to do as we were told it was fine to use.)

Anyways, after the report, the bar tender was taken out of the suite lounge for the remainder of the cruise, but we never received any further communication about the incident. This was a major inconvenience for everyone in the other group we were travelling with, as they weren't properly informed that their new cards would be the only useful cards that would get them off the ship. Needless to say, the rest of the cruise was a debacle on which cards could and couldn't be used. 

I know our situation was probably very rare, but I don't think the bar tender handled it well at all. Nearly getting physical with a guest over the color of a card, even though we were told it wouldn't matter and all the necessary information is stored in the computer when they are supposed to swipe the cards. Our benefits aligned with sky class no matter the color of card.

Has anyone else had similar situations or heard of similar events happening and causing great inconvenience? 

[Xaa]

That's a unique one @MattJump.  I wonder why it bothered that bartender so much?  The concierge seemed to know that it was better to leave it how it was.

[OCSC Mike]

Bizarre story and I have to believe it’s very much a one-off. Sorry you went through that.

[tjcruisers]

While I've had to get cards reprinted, I never had that issue though. Honestly I think the concierge should have gotten them reprinted for you on day 1. Not trying to defend the bartender, but who knows what's going on behind the scenes. I could see them getting in trouble for not pointing out the the wrong card and serving you.

[WAAAYTOOO]

I agree with @tjcruisers.  This was really the Concierge's fault.  The incorrect cards should have been gathered and new cards printed immediately.  It's unfortunate that this mess resulted in unpleasant encounters even with 1 member of the staff.

[ScottD]

The bartender may have thought you were trying to get over on them with the higher class cards, but like other said, the concierge should have dealt with this right off the bat and never let it linger to the point where it may cause an issue (which it did) 

[bobroo]

I hope other readers here find this post as upsetting as I do. <fingers crossed>
 

An FYI: of course you can get a reprinted card at guest services. But also through the suite concierge, the diamond concierge, or the loyalty ambassador.

 

 

[BrianB]

I have also had issues with the wrong color card.

But the Suite Concierge and/or the Diamond Lounge Concierge took care of it immediately by printing out the correct color card right at their desk. There was no need to go to Guest Services. After all…that’s part of the concierge’s duties. To be a guest services desk for those eligible to be in the lounges.

I agree the bartender acted inappropriately…or worse. But the Concierge shouldn’t have just shrugged it off, either. 

[Atlantix2000]

This is an odd story but the part that puzzles me a bit is that after being given new cards, some people didn't know which cards could be used to get on/off the ship?  Maybe I'm misreading but it sounds like the bartender took away the old cards so I'm confused how this situation occurred.  I guess it doesn't really matter but I would generally assume that if new cards are printed, the old ones are deactivated.  (This is a different situation then getting extra room door only cards.)

[MattJump]

1 minute ago, Atlantix2000 said:

This is an odd story but the part that puzzles me a bit is that after being given new cards, some people didn't know which cards could be used to get on/off the ship?  Maybe I'm misreading but it sounds like the bartender took away the old cards so I'm confused how this situation occurred.  I guess it doesn't really matter but I would generally assume that if new cards are printed, the old ones are deactivated.  (This is a different situation then getting extra room door only cards.)

The bar tender re-printed the cards of the group of 4 traveling with us. She wanted to take all of their misprinted cards, but they kept them just in case. The new cards were the only ones that could be used to get off the ship and the old ones were the only ones that actually worked for charges on the ship. It was a whole ordeal, so they had to carry around both cards for the rest of the cruise.

[Ampurp85]

1 hour ago, MattJump said:

The bar tender re-printed the cards of the group of 4 traveling with us. She wanted to take all of their misprinted cards, but they kept them just in case. The new cards were the only ones that could be used to get off the ship and the old ones were the only ones that actually worked for charges on the ship. It was a whole ordeal, so they had to carry around both cards for the rest of the cruise.

This makes no sense, if you can use the cards to exit, they can be charged. Since both cards would have the same information.

But I don't think the bartender was in the wrong, they might have been a smidge rude in the manner. The concierge was the wrong one. Star class cards don't have to be swiped to be charged, so I think they should have changed them asap. Them telling you it was no big deal was a red flag. 

[MattJump]

5 minutes ago, Ampurp85 said:

This makes no sense, if you can use the cards to exit, they can be charged. Since both cards would have the same information.

But I don't think the bartender was in the wrong, they might have been a smidge rude in the manner. The concierge was the wrong one. Star class cards don't have to be swiped to be charged, so I think they should have changed them asap. Them telling you it was no big deal was a red flag. 

That’s what we thought about the cards as well, but for some reason this wasn’t the case. That’s why I explained how it caused a whole ordeal where we had to carry around both cards the rest of the trip. For example, the old card would not access our rooms anymore and the new cards wouldn’t work with charges on board.

[Bruin Steve]

31 minutes ago, MattJump said:

That’s what we thought about the cards as well, but for some reason this wasn’t the case. That’s why I explained how it caused a whole ordeal where we had to carry around both cards the rest of the trip. For example, the old card would not access our rooms anymore and the new cards wouldn’t work with charges on board.

I guess that COULD happen...but, if so, that could easily be corrected with a new replacement card in  matter of seconds.  We've never had a problem with any new card not being able to make charges onboard.  The card is tied to your account.