scottlad

Was really excited about Spellbound until I saw the dress code. So disappointing. I stopped bringing jackets and ties on cruises several years ago. I hate wearing them on land and even more so at sea. 

I get they are trying to stick close to the experience at the Magic Castle, but as was mentioned before it's one thing to throw on a coat and tie for an evening out, and another to have to pack it and drag it around with you. And I'm with @bnickle's husband when it comes to the idea of wearing a blazer/jacket/suit coat on a plane.

I'll be interested to see whether that dress code sticks or it gets relaxed at some point.

But since I'm never going to get an invitation to the Magic Castle, if this is the only way I can get a taste of the experience, I might do it. It'd be a one time only thing, but I might do it. 

I know this is an older thread, but wanted to let folks know that Celebrity lifted the cap on the amount of gift cards you can use for a booking. We booked Ascent for December and used $1500 (3 x $500) in Celebrity gift cards from AARP without any problem.

The AARP fine print for the Celebrity and RC cards says they had a cap of $500 per booking, so we asked our TA to confirm whether that was still the case so that we didn't overbuy. She checked with Celebrity and was told that the cap had been lifted, so we bought three (total booking was under $2k so $1500 was the most we could from gift cards).

I don't know if the cap is gone, or if there is just a new upper limit over what we used, but I recommend checking with Celebrity before you buy.

On 1/20/2023 at 4:49 PM, Td6462 said:

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Oncoming cruisers might expect a boarding delay as the app has us now arriving in Miami at 8 am. It was a 7 am arrival. 

Still says 7 am when I look. Given that it's only 60 miles from OC to Miami being on time wasn't going to be an issue, with or without engine issues. It's 11:49 and we're less than 30 miles from Miami. 

Nothing wrong with Uber (other than their internal culture which the new CEO can hopefully reform), but don't forget about Lyft. We used them from, airport, to ship, and everything in between this week.

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Very excited about the Ennio Morricone show. Love his music.

I'm just happy Princess is giving it's passengers the option of using the medallion or sticking with the cruise card. This way everyone will be happy in their choice. Personally I'm sticking with the cruise card to make me happy.

 

 

 

Cheers - Ken & Darlene

The Princess site states: "While you must carry a Medallion while onboard, it’s up to you how much or how little you want to take advantage of the full experience."

People have been assuming opting out means no Medallion but what you're opting out of are the extra services.

On a side note, Kenosha native here, but moved on after high school.

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No, it wasn't CC that said that you could stay with the cruise card, it was on a PDF where I read it. I had a copy around here somewhere but have misplaced the darn thing.

 

There is another place on the Princess website where they address privacy concerns also. Here's a direct quote from that pub. The point that I find hard to understand is that with the apparent great concern for "privacy", is that so much of it is about things that already exist and that they have already said that you can opt out if you want. Now, whether that will continue to be an option or not is a different question.

 

Tom

 

"Privacy Concerns?

All information provided before and during your cruise will be encrypted and is not stored on your Ocean Medallion. The most advanced software security models, tools, and methods are fundamental to Ocean Medallion Class. However, any guest is also welcome to opt out of all services at any time."

They've been pretty clear that you can opt out of the "services" by using Safety Mode which limits the Medallion to working as key, onboard purchases, and family member location. Not opt out of having the Medallion. It says in the OCEAN FAQ on the Princess site: "While you must carry a Medallion while onboard, it’s up to you how much or how little you want to take advantage of the full experience."

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That video definitely does not say there will be a cruise card option. I've watched it twice. Nope, nope, nope. If there is to be such an option is isn't mentioned in that video. He skips around actually saying "no" but makes it pretty clear that, while you can limit your medallion to the "safety features" only, you will still have a medallion.

Right, and even in Princess' FAQ on their site it says "While you must carry a Medallion while onboard, it’s up to you how much or how little you want to take advantage of the full experience." The emphasis there is mine, but saying "must" seems pretty clear cut.

We're planning to book that first cruise on Regal to try it out. :)

I don't think the system will be doing real-time tracking of everyone onboard. That would need a lot of computing power. Instead, when you request something, then the system will determine where you are. Or if you enter a venue, it may note your entrance for crowd control purposes. It's not going to be a virtual Marauder's Map.

It's not really that much to do. The sensors are constantly checking for Medallions in range. Since they know which Medallions any given sensor can see, they know the location. With 7000 sensors they can pinpoint things pretty precisely. That's how they enable the ability for family members to see where everybody is. Tony Roberts said in his interview with Dave Monk that even in Safety Mode, where you opt out of the advanced features, your family can still see your location:

"The ability to locate people is one of the safety features, it’s an interesting scenario that someone wouldn’t want to be found but ultimately people [in their family] will be able to see where they are. I’m not sure we’ll be able to*disable that, but perhaps that is something we should*check.’"

When they walked through the door unlock process during the keynote, for example, they mentioned that the portal outside your door activates and lists where your family members are, along with other info.

So it may not show your footsteps as you walk like in HP, but it's the next best thing. :)

Actually you don't have to use the medallion if you don't want to do so. Its plainly stated in the release info. Those who are afraid of the technology or uncomfortable with it are free to continue on as they have in the past. Princess will happily issue you a standard cruise card.

It seems that was a misinterpretation of what they said about it being optional. Dave Monk's interview with Tony Roberts from Princess clarified this, and it's in the FAQ too. I think we all saw that you had to opt in and assumed that meant the Medallion.

The text from Princess' Ocean FAQ (http://www.princess.com/ships-and-experience/ocean-medallion-class/ocean-faq/) says:

"While you must carry a Medallion while onboard, it’s up to you how much or how little you want to take advantage of the full experience."

and

"If you do not want to take advantage of the full Ocean Medallion Class experience, you can switch your privacy setting to "Safety Only" and enjoy the cruise the same great way you do today."

I'm super excited about the Medallion. can't wait to try it out.

I'm very much looking forward to this arriving on Princess. Bug fan of Disney's Magic Bands and the MyMagic+ program. Carnival Corp lured the guys behind it from Disney, and its exciting to see them take it to the next level.

Anything that removes friction from the different touch points on the cruise is a big win for me.

The Medallion ships to you with the basic plastic-type wristband from their video showing the unboxing. Same as Disney. Of course you can buy upgrade bands and such. I like the plastic since its waterproof, but some of the others look pretty nice.

No more waiting for someone to take your drink order. Place order and they just show up. Or preorder for the evening show, and your drink arrives when you do. Reserve your spot in line for tenders in a virtual queue. No more demagnetized cards. Can't wait! The future is now. :)

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We were in mini suite C170 on Royal right below the Skywalk and we had no issues. One advantage is some of those cabins, like ours, have angled balconies that are larger than the really narrow standard balconies.

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I always find it interesting when you quiz fellow passengers about opinions about other lines, or overhear conversations, how opinions differ. For every person who thinks line A has better food than line B, there's another person who thinks the exact opposite. Or service. Or whatever. :)

What I've always loved about Princess is that it has such a wide variety of itineraries, ships, and experiences. That's ultimately why we picked Princess for our first cruise back in 2001. It was true then and it is true today.

Based on Stein's comments, it sounds like that isn't necessarily going to be the case down the road, assuming his vision comes to fruition.

If their thought is that guest will go elsewhere for the small cruise experience or for the more unique itineraries, that assumes that the "Princess" experience isn't part of what guests come back to experience. I understand that the economics of ship building favor the larger ships, but to flat out say that all new builds going forward will be at least the size of Royal/Regal is shortsighted. That statement wasn't an actual quote attributed to Stein, so I'm curious if Stein said that explicitly, or if the writer inferred it.

If his idea is that you are expected to move to other members of the Carnival family for small ship or exotic itineraries, then they're going to have to look at reciprocal frequent cruiser benefits and allowing credit to be earned on other brands, otherwise you hurt your most loyal passengers.

The Royal Caribbean comparison has its pluses and minuses. I honestly have had zero desire to sail on RC until the Oasis class ships had been out a while and even then it is really only to see just what the experience is like on one of those behemoths. The Quantum class looks like an excellent product, however, and I'd be interested to try it out. I agree with Kristin that it's more a choice between Celebrity and Princess for me rather than between Princess and RC.

I extended an invitation to Carnival CEO Arnold Donald to have dinner next time he's back home here in St. Louis so we can chat about some of these things. We have mutual acquaintances here in town, and he has a close association with the business school where I work, so one of these days we're going to cross paths. lol :)

We were upgraded from our vanished aft balcony B735 to R415, a minisuite on Riviera. Honestly, if you book a cabin on a new build, you run the risk of something changing during construction. An aft balcony would have been nice, but I'm not complaining about the upgrade. I am curious though, how they decided to allocate cabins to the displaced folks since some of us on our cruise in October were upgraded and others weren't.