Experienced Carnival cruisers love to collect the exclusive, ship-branded pins offered as a VIFP gift to Platinum and Diamond guests. For the past three weeks, however, eager guests have noticed the pins are either missing or inaccurate.

Multiple cruisers have reached out to John Heald, Carnival Cruise Line’s brand ambassador, asking about the oversight from various ships in the Carnival fleet.

“My husband and I are currently on the Glory and getting ready to disembark today,” one recent guest explained. “We went to pick up our pins the other day from Pixels and found out that they are still giving the 2025 pins to everyone. I asked about the 2026 pin and they told me they don’t have them yet.”

The VIFP pins typically include the ship’s name and the year, making them a unique collectible for every sailing. Many guests enjoy displaying the pins on hats, vests, bags, or lanyards to show their Carnival cruise history.

“We are half way through January and they still don’t have them,” the guest continued. “For some people it’s no big deal but I truly do collect them and love that the platinum pin has the ship name and year. Is there a way for us to get the correct pin when they do come in? What can we do to get this corrected?”

Multiple guests have reached out to Heald through his popular Facebook page with similar concerns over the past three weeks, noting that they’ve been offered 2025 pins even though their sailings have been in 2026.

In addition to Carnival Glory, guests who have recently sailed on Carnival Freedom, Carnival Sunshine, Carnival Breeze, Carnival Venezia, Carnival Jubilee, Carnival Miracle, Carnival Vista, Carnival Dream, Carnival Pride, Carnival Spirit, and other ships have also reported receiving the 2025 pins.

Clearly, this is a fleetwide issue from multiple homeports, and Heald did explain why the pins have not yet been updated for the new year.

“The containership that has many thousands of those pins in our container had a mechanical failure and had to be towed back to the port,” he explained. “They now just reached California and the pins will be distributed to us very soon and we should have them on the ships.”

Admittedly, it may take a week or two for the pins to be delivered to different homeports and brought aboard Carnival’s 29 ships. Exactly when the pins will be available on each vessel will also depend on when individual ships return to their homeport and can bring the new pins aboard.

Guests Can Request Updated Pins

Fortunately for Carnival guests who have already completed sailings in 2026, they can still receive the updated pins for their collections.

“All is not lost. When you get home, please just send the booking number and request for [a pin] to [customer service] and my colleagues will send one to you as quickly as possible,” Heald offered.

It is important that guests include their booking number when they contact Carnival Cruise Line’s customer care team so their sailing can be verified and the proper pin will be sent.

It may take a few weeks for the pins to be shipped, but guests should still be able to complete their pin collection with the appropriate ship pin with the correct year.

Pins Will Continue With Carnival Rewards

Guests who do enjoy collecting the exclusive annual pins to commemorate their Carnival sailings will be pleased to note that the gifts will still continue when the Very Important Fun Person (VIFP) program is retired and replaced with Carnival Rewards later this year.

Pins will still be available to those guests who earn the Platinum and Diamond levels under the new program, but there will no longer be a Gold level pin. Under the VIFP program, Gold pins do not have the year, just the name of the vessel.

It is unknown how the designs of the pins may change for Carnival Rewards, but it is not unusual for the designs to shift from year-to-year. Some years have had more classic, nautically themed designs, while others offer more whimsical, colorful flair.

Carnival Explains Missing VIFP Gifts — and What Guests Must Do Now