Friends aboard Carnival Cruise ships in latest weeks have seen fewer and fewer of the cruise line’s iconic ship-on-a-stick trophies. Whereas these kitschy souvenirs have beforehand been given out for all method of video games and competitions, they’ve been noticeably scarce lately.
Concerning the Ship-on-a-Stick
Carnival Cruise Line’s “24-karat plastic ship-on-a-stick” trophies are enjoyable souvenirs all through the fleet, personalized with the identify of the vessel the place the trophy was gained. Measuring 5.25 inches (13.25 cm) tall and 6.25 inches (16.0 cm) lengthy, the “golden” ship is held aloft by laurel leaves, an historical, basic image of victory.
Wildly common as souvenirs of a Enjoyable Ship trip, these trophies are sometimes given out as prizes for trivia contests, deck video games, group video games, sport reveals, dance offs, and all kinds of different onboard competitions. Amongst Carnival Cruise Line followers, accumulating a brand new ship might be the spotlight of a cruise.
Trophies Disappearing
In latest weeks, nonetheless, these trophies have seemingly begun to fade from Carnival ships.
Slightly than presenting winners with trophies, Enjoyable Squad members have been giving out generic Carnival “bling-on-a-string” medallions for every win, reserving the coveted trophies for extra intense group competitions or excessive profile sport reveals.
This has led to rampant hypothesis in regards to the destiny of the trophies, with the most typical idea being that the cruise line is eliminating the prizes as a cost-cutting cutback, just like different everlasting post-pandemic cutbacks and introducing extra fee-based room service choices.
Official Response
The rumors have caught the eye of Carnival Cruise Line’s model ambassador, John Heald, who has addressed the scenario with the ship-on-a-stick trophies on his Fb web page.
“We have now not stopped the trophies. I’m afraid there was a provide chain problem from the manufacturing facility,” Heald mentioned. “That has been resolved and we must always get them again to the ships no later than the tip of this month.”
Relying on the ship, the availability of trophies could already be practically exhausted, whereas different ships nonetheless have some restricted provide of the prizes accessible to award contest winners.
Who Makes the Trophies?
Carnival Cruise Line has switched producers for the molded plastic trophies lately. The unique ship-on-a-stick trophies have been shinier and had a V-shaped laurel “stick” with stick-on plaques that named the ship.
The newer design is barely extra refined, with a matte end and a extra round laurel leaf holder. Every ship’s identify remains to be on a plaque on the trophy’s base, however is now black letters on a gold background, relatively than the unique gold letters on a black background.
Each trophy designs are the identical dimension, and the ships on particular person trophies are the identical, not personalized to the ship’s class or different particulars.
Older trophies have been manufactured by MDR Industries, a division of MDR Worldwide, Inc., that additionally created plastic hurricane glasses and different drinkware extensively used on cruise ships and in varied inns and resorts.
The brand new trophies, nonetheless, are manufactured by Y-Not Design & Manufacturing, Inc., which additionally creates different trophy designs and all kinds of company emblem merchandise comparable to drinkware, baggage, electronics, stationery, and way more.
The brand new firm has partnered with Carnival Cruise Line for practically a decade, offering not solely the ship trophies, however different loyalty gadgets and branded merchandise.
It seems that the unique provider, MDR Worldwide, Inc., is not in operation.
In the meantime, Y-Not Design & Manufacturing, Inc. additionally provides merchandise to Norwegian Cruise Line and Disney Cruise Line.
Heald referenced a “provide chain problem” as trigger for the present trophy scarcity, which has impacted all features of producing and retail operations, not simply journey trade souvenirs.
To allay fears of discontinuing the trophies, nonetheless, Heald emphasised that the prizes will return.
“They are going to be again and can return to being prizes once more,” he mentioned.
That will likely be excellent news to Carnival Cruise Line followers wanting ahead to persevering with to gather these whimsical trophies, particularly with Carnival Celebration quickly to affix the fleet – what higher approach to rejoice the brand new ship than profitable a brand new trophy?
