Status of Ocean Medallion?

Yes, because there is hardware (locks, message screen instead of corridor mailbox, etc) involved.

 

The staterooms are in Muster 'B'. I don't know if all of Muster 'B', though. There is a post in some

thread somewhere that details the specific stateroom numbers, but good luck finding it.

We walked through the main 3 decks on the first preview cruise in November and, from the panels outside the staterooms, identified Baja 301-336, Marina 201-243, Lido 201-302. A few more may have been added since.

Sandra

Yes, because there is hardware (locks, message screen instead of corridor mailbox, etc) involved.

 

The staterooms are in Muster 'B'. I don't know if all of Muster 'B', though. There is a post in some

thread somewhere that details the specific stateroom numbers, but good luck finding it.

Lido 201-212, 214-235 and 301-302 for 36 staterooms

Marina 203, 206-212, 214-239, 241 and 243 for 36 staterooms

Baja 301-312 and 314-337 for 36 staterooms

Caribe 336-337 for 2 staterooms

Total of 110 staterooms which contain 6 Deluxe Balconies, 19 Balconies, 63 Minisuites, 18 Interiors and 4 ADA.

Tom

Lido 201-212, 214-235 and 301-302 for 36 staterooms

Marina 203, 206-212, 214-239, 241 and 243 for 36 staterooms

Baja 301-312 and 314-337 for 36 staterooms

Caribe 336-337 for 2 staterooms

 

Total of 110 staterooms which contain 6 Deluxe Balconies, 19 Balconies, 63 Minisuites, 18 Interiors and 4 ADA.

 

Tom

for my cruise in October, my cabin is not listed. i guess i wont have it. Hopefully, they continue adding more cabins when the ship arrives in September

Do the cabins that get the Medallion also get a Key Card?

Do the cabins that get the Medallion also get a Key Card?

Oh, yea and verily. ...for when ***** thinks you're still down the hall instead of in front of your door. :rolleyes:

We were on the Regal for the Halloween cruise last year

Photo taken on 11/4/17

Medallion Conversion Howard Maier

The conversion has been going on for awhile and really what difference does it make whether you use a cruise card or a Medallion?

Howard

Great picture, Howard.

Make is pretty clear that it's an RFID reader. (as it works with replacement cards, it would have to be)

Since that screen is powered, I assume it has a wired network connection.

Princess also had a press release bragging about how many miles of wire they had installed for Ocean Medallion.

(apparently, it was not enough to reach back to Miami)

I simply can't understand why there were so many posts from folks who had problems opening their

cabin doors with their medallion.

With a wired connection, no issue with steel bulkheads.

I guess the only difference it makes is that customers are not enjoying all the benefits

that Princess hyped.

If you never believed Princess (which is often sensible) then, you're not disappointed.

Also, it's clear from the picture that you were actually on regal.

As well as the people like Tom and Bobby who took the time to record and post the actual cabins involved,

and other details.

I notice that several of the heavy-hitters in this thread have not.

We were on the Regal for the Halloween cruise last year

Photo taken on 11/4/17

 

 

 

Medallion Conversion Howard Maier

 

 

The conversion has been going on for awhile and really what difference does it make whether you use a cruise card or a Medallion?

 

 

Howard

We were on the Regal for the Halloween cruise last year

Photo taken on 11/4/17

 

 

 

Medallion Conversion Howard Maier

 

 

The conversion has been going on for awhile and really what difference does it make whether you use a cruise card or a Medallion?

 

 

Howard

Thanks for the picture!

The difference is that you’re required to carry two devices instead of just one and which do you use when you want something.

Thanks for the picture!

 

The difference is that you’re required to carry two devices instead of just one and which do you use when you want something.

I don't believe you are required to carry both. One can just wear/carry a RFID cruise card and not carry a medallion which is what I will most likely do on our next cruise on the Royal.

Howard

Also, it's clear from the picture that you were actually on regal.

As well as the people like Tom and Bobby who took the time to record and post the actual cabins involved,

and other details.

I notice that several of the heavy-hitters in this thread have not.

Yes, we did a couple of blog posts about our Regal experience with the Medallion. Was hoping to do a follow-up later this year with the full experience but progress has been too slow.

Sandra

Thanks for the picture!

 

The difference is that you’re required to carry two devices instead of just one and which do you use when you want something.

Wouldn’t Princess ask you to carry the medallion for testing purposes? Or does the cruise card also contain all of the same functions such as the interaction with Ocean Screens around the ship?

Yes, we did a couple of blog posts about our Regal experience with the Medallion. Was hoping to do a follow-up later this year with the full experience but progress has been too slow.

 

Sandra

Great blog - the best description I’ve seen thus far!

Yes, we did a couple of blog posts about our Regal experience with the Medallion. Was hoping to do a follow-up later this year with the full experience but progress has been too slow.

 

Sandra

Wow, that was wonderful!!! The best info yet. We were on the Regal from 10-21 through 11-5. It was interesting watching all the IT folks working hard to get the Medallion up and running.

Cheers, Denise

Great picture, Howard.

 

Make is pretty clear that it's an RFID reader. (as it works with replacement cards, it would have to be)

 

Since that screen is powered, I assume it has a wired network connection.

 

Princess also had a press release bragging about how many miles of wire they had installed for Ocean Medallion.

(apparently, it was not enough to reach back to Miami)

 

I simply can't understand why there were so many posts from folks who had problems opening their

cabin doors with their medallion.

 

With a wired connection, no issue with steel bulkheads.

 

I guess the only difference it makes is that customers are not enjoying all the benefits

that Princess hyped.

 

If you never believed Princess (which is often sensible) then, you're not disappointed.

 

Also, it's clear from the picture that you were actually on regal.

 

As well as the people like Tom and Bobby who took the time to record and post the actual cabins involved,

and other details.

 

I notice that several of the heavy-hitters in this thread have not.

• The sensors are indeed wired.

• What's wireless (tho not "WiFi") is the connection between the sensor and the medallion.

• RFID Gen2's quoted range is around 40', not 3'. ***** is supposed to see you coming down the hall.

• Being on board doesn't help diagnosing the door problem unless you've got a signal-strength meter.

Princess isn't discussing WHY the medallions sometimes don't work, but there's a clue in what they

said about the testing ashore: It was done in a building with reïnforced concrete floors (which look

like steel decks to UHF radio signals). That suggests the problem is the metal walls -- sometimes

bouncing the RFID replies well beyond where they were expected to reach. Do you really want *****

to unlock your door when it can't tell if you're standing in front of it or one at the other end of the ship?

Understand that the real reason for ***** is not to open pax' doors but to track where they are for

shipboard operations. The hype is to get us to wear the things. Carnival Corp. plans to roll *****

out across all 10 of their brands (look at the logos across the bottom of www.ocean.com), but

they're not going to do one more cabin until ***** can reliably narrow down pax' locations to better

than "somewhere on deck 9".

That suggests the problem is the metal walls -- sometimes

bouncing the RFID replies well beyond where they were expected to reach. Do you really want *****

to unlock your door when it can't tell if you're standing in front of it or one at the other end of the ship?

.

The people who have received replacement RFID cards have not reported any problems

opening the cabin door. Only those trying to use the medallion.

What's your personal experience?

Yes, we did a couple of blog posts about our Regal experience with the Medallion. Was hoping to do a follow-up later this year with the full experience but progress has been too slow.

Thank you for the link.

Lido 201-212, 214-235 and 301-302 for 36 staterooms

Marina 203, 206-212, 214-239, 241 and 243 for 36 staterooms

Baja 301-312 and 314-337 for 36 staterooms

Caribe 336-337 for 2 staterooms

 

Total of 110 staterooms which contain 6 Deluxe Balconies, 19 Balconies, 63 Minisuites, 18 Interiors and 4 ADA.

 

Tom

What if you are in one of these cabins and you do not want to use or carry around the *****, can you just use your regular card as in the past???

The people who have received replacement RFID cards have not reported any problems

opening the cabin door. Only those trying to use the medallion.

I --ahem-- suspect that they've gotten shorter-ranged RFID Gen1 replacements -- which solves their

door problem, but which does diddly for ship operations' desire to track pax.

The people who have received replacement RFID cards have not reported any problems

opening the cabin door. Only those trying to use the medallion.

 

What's your personal experience?

We were on one of the early cruises last November and while there were problems, it seemed to work pretty well with us. It opened our door as best I remember, identified my wife in shops (The first time, when the clerk greeted her by name she thought he recognized her from a previous cruise and asked him if they'd met before and he said no, that the medallion had identiied her by name and showed her on the display. Sure enough, there was her name!) A good friend of ours was working with the medallion program on the ship and she knew we were on the ship. Every morning her co-workers told her "It must be about 8;30, Tom & Dianna are up in the Horizon Court having breakfast." so at least some of the capabilities were working in some of the locations. It must be a highly frustrating situation, trying to figure out what is causing the problems and what the solutions are going to be and how to implement them. I guess the bright spot is that if/when Carnival rolls out the final system to the rest of the Carnival lines, it should, hopefully, be easier and quicker!

Tom

We were on the Caribbean Princess for her June 9th sailing. Internet was spotty at best. A couple of times my messages to husband went through - just a bit too slowly to be useful though. The on demand in the cabins would freeze and hang. At times it went out completely. I found that if I rebooted the TV (pull out the power plug, count to five and re-plug in) it would come back on. Often we saw techies in the hallways working in the hallway networking panels. Upgrades are always a pain and the bigger the upgrade, the bigger the pain! Gotta keep pushing forward - cause going back ain't an option!

We were on the Caribbean Princess for her June 9th sailing. Internet was spotty at best. A couple of times my messages to husband went through - just a bit too slowly to be useful though. The on demand in the cabins would freeze and hang. At times it went out completely. I found that if I rebooted the TV (pull out the power plug, count to five and re-plug in) it would come back on. Often we saw techies in the hallways working in the hallway networking panels. Upgrades are always a pain and the bigger the upgrade, the bigger the pain! Gotta keep pushing forward - cause going back ain't an option!

You've conflated 4 different things.

• Princess@Sea is intranet, and its mail server is as good as anyone else's (to damn with faint praise)

• MedallionNet is their internet. (i.e. off-the-ship to Facebook, Drudge, etc)

• TV, on Regal at least, suffered because they kept re-adjusting the antennae for MedallionNet.

• The swarming ***** folks are still trying to figure out how to make medallions work reliably.

We were on one of the early cruises last November and while there were problems, it seemed to work pretty well with us. It opened our door as best I remember, identified my wife in shops (The first time, when the clerk greeted her by name she thought he recognized her from a previous cruise and asked him if they'd met before and he said no, that the medallion had identiied her by name and showed her on the display. Sure enough, there was her name!) A good friend of ours was working with the medallion program on the ship and she knew we were on the ship. Every morning her co-workers told her "It must be about 8;30, Tom & Dianna are up in the Horizon Court having breakfast." so at least some of the capabilities were working in some of the locations. It must be a highly frustrating situation, trying to figure out what is causing the problems and what the solutions are going to be and how to implement them. I guess the bright spot is that if/when Carnival rolls out the final system to the rest of the Carnival lines, it should, hopefully, be easier and quicker!

 

Tom

I'll bet the rent money they know what the problem is. (Metal walls sometimes bouncing RFID replies

way further than was expected). How to solve that without scrapping pax tracking is ...non-trivial. :o

You've conflated 4 different things.

• Princess@Sea is intranet, and its mail server is as good as anyone else's (to damn with faint praise)

• MedallionNet is their internet. (i.e. off-the-ship to Facebook, Drudge, etc)

• TV, on Regal at least, suffered because they kept re-adjusting the antennae for MedallionNet.

• The swarming ***** folks are still trying to figure out how to make medallions work reliably.

Lol...I was just saying. Caribbean is still in the throes of having ***** fully installed - at least that is what I was told. And usually, although technically different, there is a tie in between all the technology - you fix one thing, something else could suffer. Anyway - was just my experience on board. I'm just a tech on land - on the seas I'm strictly vacation mode.

Ships are just large, floating, Faraday Cages.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faraday_cage

I know that the frequencies are different but I’ve always been amazed how well Walkie Talkies worked on a cruise ship. Maybe Princess just needs to change their frequencies for the *****. :D