A Royal Caribbean International Anchor & Crown member provided me a hand full of new issue chips from the Mariner Of The Seas currently sailing out of Galveston, Texas, to the Caribbean. The ship is scheduled to go into dry dock for a major remodeling after her last Texas scheduled cruise April 15. Mariner then will sail TA to be stationed in Genoa and Rome where she will continue Mediterranean sailings. Mariner’s inaugural voyage was in 2003, and her service was mainly off the Greek Isles, Turkey and Italian coasts.
She’s not scheduled to resume Texas sailing until November 2012.
The attached chip scans are the new $1 chip that will be fully issued after the ship's refurbishing. Only a few chips were on the tables, but these came from the cage.
The other $5 chip is a pristine, current issue that has seen very little table play. From what I am told, all the early version chips will be replaced, and a new set including this $1 chip, a .50-cent and new $5 will be in future issues.