Royal Cruise pre-Medallion: Construction or Other issues?

Hey everyone. I am getting ready to book a November 30, 2017 cruise on the Royal. This cruise is a couple of weeks before the Ocean Medallion voyages start on the Royal. I assume all the technology is already installed. Will this cruise be negatively affected having lots of screens, etc. that are not yet turned on or in operation? Will there be additional construction. I can see all these screens all over the place not being in use and that will not look very nice. Or perhaps they will be testing it before they go live and that could impact the focus of our cruise. I am traveling with friends who have never been on Princess and I don't want the pre-Ocean Medallion "stuff" to take away from the ship or the Princess experience. Any thoughts? Thanks so much.

Who knows, they may use you as "guinea pigs" to test the system before the first announced medallion sailing.

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Who knows, they may use you as "guinea pigs" to test the system before the first announced medallion sailing.

No one knows but they would be testing the system before the actual effective date.

I'd think there will be many shakedown cruises as the new system is perfected. When the less technologically advanced Princess@Sea system was implemented there were growing pains. Although that didn't adversely affect our cruises because it was an enhancement & not a replacement for our Princess cruise experience.

***** is designed to further enhance passenger's cruise experience which may eventually happen. I wouldn't be overly concerned about sailing before or after the official implementation date because I understand there will most likely be a few issues. Most of the enhancements are to make it easier to spend money which isn't my top priority. ;)

I don't have a clue. I do wonder how and when the upgrades will be made to the Royal. I thought the other ***** ships will have drydocks before. I can't believe the Royal got the tech upgrades during its last upgrade - though I did think I saw some new electronic screens around the Royal last February. Should be an interesting January for the Royal staff.

I don't have a clue. I do wonder how and when the upgrades will be made to the Royal. I thought the other ***** ships will have drydocks before. I can't believe the Royal got the tech upgrades during its last upgrade - though I did think I saw some new electronic screens around the Royal last February. Should be an interesting January for the Royal staff.

Not as interesting as it will be on the Regal in November.

I am traveling with friends who have never been on Princess and I don't want the pre-Ocean Medallion "stuff" to take away from the ship or the Princess experience. Any thoughts? Thanks so much.

You will be on the Royal and the Medallion will be introduced on the Regal first, so the shakedown efforts will be on the Regal. There will probably (in my opinion) be little pre-Medallion work going on during your Royal cruise.

Basically the cruise card had the following functions:

a) open your cabin door

b) allow you to charge items to your onboard account

c) allow you to on to and off of the ship

It also had your dining information for dinner and your muster station printed on it.

It also could have a sticker for AIBP or soda&more package on it.

So to work on the first implementation on a Princess ship, it needs to mainly:

a) open your cabin door

b) allow you to charge items to your onboard account

c) allow you to get on to and off of the ship

If it can do those three things it will be a success.

Yes, a screen will be needed to find out your dining assignment (or there might be a letter in your cabin). If the screens do not work, there will be initial confusion, but somehow Princess will get that information to you.

Your muster station will still be shown on the inside of your cabin door.

The Medallion is supposed to link to the ship's computer to show you have a beverage package if you do have one. If that does not work, they might put a sticker on it.

Any other promised features of the Medallion and the interactive screens are secondary and if they do not work initially it should not affect a cruise. You can pick up the phone to make a Spa reservation instead of using an interactive screen. You can walk to a bar and order a beverage and not need to have the system tell a waiter where to bring a drink. Etc.

Anyway, I would not worry about pre-Medallion work affecting your enjoyment of your cruise.