Haboob

47 minutes ago, I Love Cruising 3 said:

After reading the above link there's another part of their documentation which is also not correct. It's true that people wouldn't be able to charge to the medallion but would certainly be able to get into your cabin. 

 

"Could other people find it and use it to get into your room or charge purchases to you?
The Ocean Medallion contains no personal information. Your Ocean Medallion is associated with your profile that contains your onboard security picture. If that picture does not match a guest when a purchase is being made or when someone other than the original guest is nearby, access will not be granted to a stateroom and purchases cannot be made."

Yeah, they're wordsmithing there.  "Access will not be granted" means a crew member looking at your picture on his tablet and opening the door for someone else.  Lawyers at work.

5 minutes ago, Haboob said:

Alas, that only means the person you talked to needs more training.

 

BTDT - last April.

2 minutes ago, Colo Cruiser said:

Or they need to stop printing stuff that does not apply.

BTDT - last April.

2 minutes ago, Colo Cruiser said:

That’s great but they say it does not exist. Unless they are referring to the process I outlined above.

They know nothing of “safety only”.

 

Alas, that only means the person you talked to needs more training.

BTDT - last April.

8 minutes ago, Roberto256 said:

Good thing it was only the sensors.

 

One of the posters here insists the ship will initiate an emergency search for you

if they lose contact with your medallion.

 

If he were right,  the ship would be searching endlessly, and never make it to the next port..

Make that "if they lose contact with your Medallion while you are where you could have fallen into the sea".

You'll notice, too, the newer ships have less such areas (bye, bye Promenades) and balconies from where you would fall onto a lower deck rather than into the water.  Had that pointed out to me by a Princess captain.

25 minutes ago, Colo Cruiser said:

I just spoke to the OM staff here on the Sky and specifically asked about this so called “safety only”.

There is no such thing.

There is a process to stop anyone from inputting your info and finding or adding you as a contact.

In the Ocean Compass section  (which you have to sign into with your cabin # name/birthday) click on your profile photo/initials upper left and it gives you the option to “hide my location from guests”.

The PSD cannot do anything about any “safety” setting which they tell me does not exist.

 

This may be what some are talking about.

 

Based on what I am seeing in this section you cannot just input someone and look for them. 
They have to be added as a shipmate at some point.

 

Quoting:

Will I be able to opt out of or turn off this new technology?
If you do not want to take advantage of the full Ocean Medallion experience, you can switch your privacy setting to "Safety Only" and enjoy the cruise the same great way you do today.

https://www.princess.com/learn/faq_answer/pre_cruise/ocean_medallion.jsp

2 hours ago, richstowe said:

I guess there is something to talk about because of posts like yours . Yes , true service dogs are allowed as required under the law.  Very few would dispute this . The problem is people bringing on dogs that are NOT legit service dogs . Get it ? 

Close but no cigar.  The problem is people bringing on animals which are legally service animals (a simple claim "I trained my dog to do 'x' to assist me with my disability 'y' " makes them so under the ADA) but without the training and temperament associated with what the rest of us would call a legit service dog.  When a cruise offers accommodations (staterooms) while in US waters, the ADA bars Princess from asking any questions about the nature, extent, or effectiveness of that training.  Not so fellow passengers.

47 minutes ago, Haboob said:

Ask Mr Marlin Jackson his opinion on that.  He's the Delta passenger who needed 28 stitches after a "emotional support animal" mauled his face.

 

You're friend is welcome to privacy on their medical needs.  But everyone around her needs to know whether her animal only "should have good social skills" or is trained to "service animal" standards.

28 minutes ago, Ombud said:

[merely highlighted " 'emotional support animal' "]

The defect in the ADA is that a person is entitled to train their own animal and Princess is specifically barred from asking about the nature and level of that training.  ESA registry sites entice owners to make the claim that legally makes their animals "service animals", but without any assurance to their fellow passengers that the animal has the training or temperament to actually be safe among the crowds or narrow corridors as are found on a cruise ship.

The ADA imposes no such legal restraints on fellow passengers (especially on a Bermudian-flagged vessel in international waters).

4 hours ago, Peckishpixie said:

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You dont have to know. You dont work for the cruise line and you are not an ADA lawyer. Its frankly none of your business why a person needs the dog. No one asks you about your medical conditions.

Ask Mr Marlin Jackson his opinion on that.  He's the Delta passenger who needed 28 stitches after a "emotional support animal" mauled his face.

You're friend is welcome to privacy on their medical needs.  But everyone around her needs to know whether her animal only "should have good social skills" or is trained to "service animal" standards.

1 minute ago, Cruiser933 said:

My understanding is that my name and photo will pop up on screens throughout the ship when I am in close proximity.  I don't need pushy salespeople greeting me by name.  I have also seen mention of names and pictures being shown to your fellow passengers when you are waiting for an elevator.  Can I opt out of these features?  Maybe this is more of a concern to women than men.  I am not concerned that Princess knows where I ate dinner or what I bought since they would have already known that.

Then toggle the "safety only" option in your Medallion profile -- or ask the Purser's Desk to do it for you.

51 minutes ago, JimmyVWine said:

Because it is unassailable.  No one is going to risk a $3,000 cruise on the chance that they get to the port only to be told that they aren't going to be allowed to board.  The risk/reward is far, far too great.  This isn't an "Oops.  Didn't work this time.  I hope I have better luck next time" situation.   People showing up with dogs either have the proper paperwork that will allow the dog to board, or have very convincing fakes which will allow the dog to board.  Either way, there is nothing that Princess can do about it.  The law does not allow them to do the type of cross-examination that would deny boarding to the dogs that you find to be so offensive and disruptive.  So get over it.

Yup.  Princess is specifically barred by current law from asking relevant questions.

That does not mean passengers are forbidden from politely expressing their opinions to Fluffy's owner -- but be very careful in analyzing the behavior of what looks like a Fluffy first -- nor are they forbidden to seek changes to that abuse-inviting law.

13 hours ago, Flatbush Flyer said:

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As I understand it, the issue with any cruise ship's internet is not the network speed. Rather, it's mostly to do with "latency," which is the time lag in communication with the ship's network servers which are located shoreside (Miami for Oceania).

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Uhh...  Usually not.

Shipboard internet is routed over satellites.  If you play "first-person shooter" games, then the extra quarter-second "latency" that radio waves take to go up and down to geosynchronous orbit is an issue, but otherwise the big issue is cost of uplink bandwidth = how many bytes per second a ship will buy and dole out to each passenger.

What has changed in the last couple of years, is that there is now one satellite constellation whose uplinks cost a tenth (yeah, a tenth) of the others, so my question is "Does Oceania buy those O3b uplinks?"

2 hours ago, JimmyVWine said:

The Princess policy has been clearly stated in this thread. Emotional support animals are not permitted. So why are you so certain that the people traveling with dogs did not have the proper paperwork? Do you really think that Princess is looking the other way and not enforcing its own policy?  Kind of a big risk to fly to a departure port with your non-qualifying pet  hoping that you could sneak the dog on board. The risk of being wrong is monumental. The dog would be denied boarding and so would the owner. No refund. Who would roll those dice? We’re not talking about having a pint of rum confiscated. The more likely scenario is that the dogs you are seeing are providing a service for a disability that you cannot see.  People showing up with dogs who are not qualified to board and putting their vacation worth thousands of dollars at risk? Doesn’t add up. 

Alas, too many animals which provide a "service for disability" are not as well-behaved as an animal trained to "service animal" standards, and the [adjective omitted] folks who abuse the deference given to true "service animals" in order to take their precious Fluffy along are the whole point of the thread.

It's not the visibility of the owner's need that's in question, it's the training and demeanor of the animal, especially when you read such things as "the animal should have good social skills" on some emotional support animal registries.  "Should"?!?

7 hours ago, HappyCruiserettu said:

You may, of course, settle your bill with cash at debarkation.

Yup.  But since it's being applied to your folio balance, it's not anonymous cash, is it?

The issue, simply, is that while Coca Cola products are available worldwide, Pepsi's aren't.

Did you notice the "North American fleet" caveat in the press release?

5 hours ago, Stevanb said:

That works   But  we  put ours in the safe  and they came and changed the sensors in our cabin both of them as they thought they where not working   The one  n the bathroom is really disturbing

The original plan was to use the Medallions to control your lights (replacing the place-your-seacard-in-this-slot arrangement).  The sensor in the bathroom was so you didn't have to shower in the dark.

1 hour ago, Daniel A said:

Do you recall which ship did this?  It seems that posters are saying the whole embarkation procedures will differ from one ship to the other.

Even between one Captain and his relief on the same ship.

47 minutes ago, scottca075 said:

 

No Tom, they will NOT know where I ate, unless I go to a specialty restaurant. They won't know what I bought because the only things I buy on shipboard are things I pay cash for; no crummy art or over-priced jewelry.

Food for thought on "monetize":  The cruise industry is competitive in the extreme, so that monetization ends up as, yes dividends, but also lower fares.

4 minutes ago, CZEE said:

I was perusing a private forum on another platform when I came upon a post from a woman, currently on a Princess ship with some sort of emotional support/service animal.  From previous posts, she claims to have some disability.  An elderly man, 90s according to her, accosted her about having the dog.  I guess he was surprised by its presence and may not have handled it well.  My filters may be gone if I get to reach that age.  LOL 

 

According to her post, she escalated the confrontation and the dog got involved. She then threatened to turn her dog loose on anyone at any time (present or future cruises) who dared question her right to have a dog on the ship.  It appears there may have been drinking involved as it was after the Captains Circle Party. From the scene she claims to have made, security has likely dealt with the situation.  I took a screenshot of the interchange before it was taken down but will not post it here. Not sure if I should send it to Princess or even how to.  It might just be a drunken post.

 

Guess Princess is going to have to address proper use of emotional support/service animals if other passengers are going to be threatened by the owner.  If I was on that particular ship and saw the post.  I'd take it right down to security.   

 

 

First thing to do is understand the difference between a "service animal" and a "support animal".  A service animal is a highly trained animal (akin to a seeing-eye dog) and has standing under the ADA.  A support animal is typically a pet with a diploma-mill $45 certificate downloaded from the internet and therefore lacks standing under the ADA.

2 hours ago, Colo Cruiser said:

Absolutely false.

There are a large number of passengers on this current Sky cruise (or every cruise for that matter) with a PM.    I have seen them announce at security that they have a pacemaker prior to passing through and are wanded. They have Medallions.

My son has one. We were on the Crown 2 weeks ago. He had his Medallion.

It is advised to keep it 8 plus inches away.

He cleared it with his doctor and the PM manufacturer.

You should not post false info like this.

"Over-reacting"? yes.  But "false" is a bit harsh, especially in a post that could prove deadly.

Such devices will work as designed, Medallion or no Medallion, but "as designed" is different than "as expected".  Some (most?) pacemakers and implanted defibrillators have an internal switch which is activated by placing a magnet over them.  Just what the switch does depends upon the device, but in one case it deactivates the device's automatic defibrillation function -- kinda non-trivial, no?

Medallions are built with an embedded magnet to secure them in wristbands and come with lanyards that hang them over your heart.  A simple "it is advised" does not convey just how strongly some people need to keep that eight inch distance.

I am not a physician.  Ask yours.   Be sure he thinks about "embedded magnet", "internal switch", and "lanyard".

1 hour ago, MissP22 said:

The baggage check to carried on luggage was something they tried for a while & most people just went to the cabins anyway. 

Even if the cabin isn't completely finished, they'll still let you drop off the bags & put things in the safe. 

On Grand last month, the fire-doors leading from the elevator lobbies were closed and signposted until the cabins were ready.

I've never heard of the restrictions on OBC actually being enforced.

That being said, "Past performance is no guarantee of future results".  Once upon a time, they accepted Stockholder OBC requests by email; then someone in their Legal Dept took a good look at the Dodd-Frank Act, and Santa Clarita doesn't any more (although Southampton, UK still does).

It used to be that Princess' shipboard systems did not know what flavor each award was.  They do now: check your Personalizer or folio statement.  I'm quite sure Princess would rather let the situation ride and avoid any drama, but there was a reason the onboard systems started tracking OBC by flavors.

3 hours ago, wrongwaywatson said:

You should notice that your internet is faster.  We were on the CB where it was in place, but not active yet.  I think they had 100 or so people testing it out.   My internet from my internet package was much faster than normal ship internet.

The MedallionNet internet system and the Medallion pax-tracking system are two entirely separate systems that are being currently rolled out to the Princess fleet.  MedallionNet takes a lot less installation work so will often show up on a ship well before the Medallions.

But... there are still not any O3b-like satellites in polar orbit, so north of about Seattle / Southampton and south of the Falklands, a ship with MedallionNet is still stuck with legacy satellites and their limited bandwidth.

On 10/19/2019 at 1:07 PM, GICNJC said:

Flyertalker, I disagree with your comment on surge protector power bars.

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The problem with surge protectors is they will eventually (7 seconds from now or 70 years, depending upon how much surge they have seen) catch fire when plugged into shipboard power.  Ashore, they're safe, but the way ships wire the "neutral" slot on plugs makes surge protectors afloat a fire waiting to happen.

Here's a US Coast Guard report on two such fires:

https://www.dco.uscg.mil/Portals/9/DCO Documents/5p/CG-5PC/INV/Alerts/03-13b (second version).pdf?ver=2017-07-25-143030-170

47 minutes ago, Bgwest said:

Was on a Barcelona to Rome mediterranean cruise last month. On the Emerald with MedallionNet. It was terrible.

 

I did periodic Speedtest.net checks on the download speeds. Never got above 1.75 mbps for the entire 11 days. Was nominally around 0.75 mbps. 

 

Compare this to the CB with nominal download speeds in excess of 75-100 mbps. 

 

The internet manager on board was of no help whatsoever. His explanation was that MEO satellites covered North America and GEO satellites covered Europe. I showed him and the Guest Relations Manager to whom I complained that Princess own website shows a graphic disputing his silly notion. 

 

In any case, do not have any explanation as to why the download speeds were so crappy on this sailing. They just were. 

Emerald is developing a reputation for not using the O3b constellation even when it's in range.  She got MEO-capable antennae back in summer of '18, but was still using GEO satellites LA/Hawai'i in Dec '18, posting the sign below.

Someone needs to take a clue-bat to her IT operation, I will not sail on her again until then.

The only connection between "MedallionNet" and "Medallion Class Cruise" is that Princess' Marketing Dept named them about the same time.

MedallionNet refers to internet uplinked through SES' "O3b" satellites in MEO (Medium Earth Orbit).  Since they are in MEO rather than GEO (Geosynchronous Earth Orbit) they move across the sky and require new antennae-mounting hardware, which is why a ship is or is not rated for MedallionNet.

The big deal about the O3b's is they orbit with 10 dish antennae, and can sell the same bandwidth to 10 different ships (as long as they aren't too close to each other), significantly lowering the cost of bandwidth via the O3b's.  The cash we pay for a MedallionNet internet package buys a lot more bandwidth.

One caveat:  Being in a lower orbit than the GEOs, the O3b's drop below the southern horizon when you sail north of about Seattle or Southampton, and "MedallionNet" or not, our cash doesn't buy all that lovely extra bandwidth any more.