Ocean Medallion

[Haboob]

Are you guys suggesting that the Satellites in Europe are all totally separate, and different, and non-compatible with the Satellite systems we currently use here in the U.S.

 

Why can I not really believe or wrap my mind around this.

 

It has been a 'Global' world for a long time now.

 

PS: We will be on the Regal when it returns to the U.S. I had thought it might be neat to have *****.

(Agreed, that I do not HAVE to have this and think it is more hoopla and perks than real true benefit.)

Wow.... Might not be fully operational even then.

 

It isn't a US / Europe satellite issue. It's a equatorial / polar satellite orbit issue.

 

The Regal's fire-hose bandwidth is provided by the O3b satellite constellation. O3b is an

equatorial MEO (medium Earth orbit) constellation that cannot be seen north of about

Spain. Works great in the Caribbean: 1500 simultaneous video streams. Silence after

it goes down below the southern horizon.

 

Whoever decided to send the Regal to the Baltic(!?!) and sell MedallionNet there should

be seeking new employment.

 

PS: AFAIK, there are no polar-orbit, or even geosynchronous satellites with bandwidth

comparable with the O3b's.

[Haboob]

I have been on the Regal twice in January and again in April. No progress with *****. At M&M of 250 of CC members senior officers simply said it doesn’t work. This was verified by the people in the one muster station. Work will resume in the Fall on the Regal. Next up for trial is Caribbean Princess. As one officer put it it was invented in a large concrete building and doesn’t work in a large metal building. I have read countless technical explanations but that was the clearest. It was invented for Gen X and young folk and implemented by a guy from Disney...since these groups apparently want personal experiences...they forgot their customer base is baby boomers who care less if they are greeted by name at their door. The fact is it rarely works and they have spent tens if not hundreds of millions on it and marketing. Mike

 

 

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The hype is to get pax to wear the things. The reason for them is ship operations: Which

bathroom is the guy hiding from muster hiding in? What did someone with food poisoning

eat in the MDR? How are the folks who were at the same table doing? "Someone needs

check out that long line outside the ladies next to the theater!" Allow bartenders to bill

drinks faster while recognizing customers the first time they lays eyes on them. Allow

them, too, to know a customer was 86'd at a bar on a different deck. Where are those pax

who are delaying the zeroing of the ship on turnaround day? ....

 

The OceanMedallion is a glorified RFID chip, and the core problem is that with the metal

walls bouncing radio signals around, they can't always figure out which sensor the *****

(and you) are really next to.

[kjg46]

The new high speed Internet is great in North America but doesn’t work in Europe due to satellite problems. This is not part of ***** but separate and they are now trying to conflate it so they don’t have a PR disaster...but stay in North America if you want to use it. Various technical posts on this but as one said Princess is going to have to launch their own satellite in Europe if they want it to work there. Mike

 

 

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Just off the Regal from b2b Western Caribbean transatlantic sailing. Yes,in or near US or Western Caribbean ports internet works a little better than a previous cruise on the Royal. When we got to foreign ports internet just as bad as prior years on many of the Princess ships.

 

Also, we were on Caribe deck C735. No sign of any Medallion screens on any of the cabins. Only medallion screens are in the elevator area. .It will be a long time to complete this ship. Maybe by summer 2019.

[Haboob]

Just off the Regal from b2b Western Caribbean transatlantic sailing. Yes,in or near US or Western Caribbean ports internet works a little better than a previous cruise on the Royal. When we got to foreign ports internet just as bad as prior years on many of the Princess ships.

 

Also, we were on Caribe deck C735. No sign of any Medallion screens on any of the cabins. Only medallion screens are in the elevator area. .It will be a long time to complete this ship. Maybe by summer 2019.

 

Wiring a ship while it's actively cruising takes about 2 months.

 

Coming up with a brilliant inspiration may or may not take a little longer. :evilsmile:

[stevenr597]

Just h ope that the T.V. system is up and running in time for our cruise on the Regal Princess at the end of July. We have given up on O.M. It seems to be a concept that is really not needed or wanted.

[bobby3334]

You will not have it unless you are in muster station b. All work on Regal has ceased until it returns to States we were just told on TA to Europe. There are 8 muster stations. As for satellites you need to read the whole thread in which tech experts explain the difference. It is beyond me and I think most. As in many high tech common sense does not apply

 

 

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[bobby3334]

On which ships is the new high speed internet on? Is it just the Regal (and soon to be Caribbean Princess) so far....that doesn’t work so great outside of North America?

 

 

 

They are experimenting with high speed and pricing. One ship has three levels; forgot which. Most have the old we were told. Mike

 

 

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[Haboob]

You will not have it unless you are in muster station b. All work on Regal has ceased until it returns to States we were just told on TA to Europe. There are 8 muster stations. As for satellites you need to read the whole thread in which tech experts explain the difference. It is beyond me and I think most. As in many high tech common sense does not apply

 

 

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The satellite issue boils down to "the Regal has sailed to where the Earth itself is between

her antennae and the only satellites that can make MedallionNet sing like it did in the

Caribbean". Same idea as "it gets dark when the Sun goes down".

[bobby3334]

Poster 24 needs to read post 26 and others to come to the conclusion as I did that we are not dealing with a simple matter. I learned more about satellites on this cruise than about any other thing. All very interesting unless you are doomed to be in the area of the world where the satellite is wrong or can’t be seen. But surely Princess would employ people who know about such things. Not

 

 

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[Haboob]

Poster 24 needs to read post 26 and others to come to the conclusion as I did that we are not dealing with a simple matter. I learned more about satellites on this cruise than about any other thing. All very interesting unless you are doomed to be in the area of the world where the satellite is wrong or can’t be seen. But surely Princess would employ people who know about such things. Not

 

 

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One more "satellite thing": Skagway is an east/west valley. Property on the south slope is cheaper than on the

north slope. The mountain blocks their view of even geosynchronous satellites. Horrors! No TV. :halo:

[neverbeenhere]

Charades Only. Ugh.

[Wishing on a star]

Wow... impressive info indeed!!!!!!!

Thanks!

 

Okay, if this is the biggest part of the problem, and Princess ships cruise Europe, as well as all around the planet...

Did somebody overlook something big, or what!!!

 

Anybody know if Caribe, Forward, on the Regal, might be Muster Station B???

[bobby3334]

I don’t know but if the stations are equal in #s you have a 1/8 change of being in b. But be careful what you wish for. I met several who wanted to be rid of it but couldn’t. EG they were greeted by name but their door remained locked. They also had to have the card since the port authorities had no idea what that little metal coin was. A new form of money? Mike

 

 

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[pablo222]

You will not have it unless you are in muster station b. All work on Regal has ceased until it returns to States we were just told on TA to Europe. There are 8 muster stations. As for satellites you need to read the whole thread in which tech experts explain the difference. It is beyond me and I think most. As in many high tech common sense does not apply

 

Dont worry, I think it's beyond some of the posters too.

 

Princess is buying medallion net from the same supplier as Royal Carribbean Voom.

 

Voom seems to work in europe -- even described in a cruise critic artical:

 

https://www.cruisecritic.com/articles.cfm?ID=2416

[Pierlesscruisers]

Wow... impressive info indeed!!!!!!!

Thanks!

 

Okay, if this is the biggest part of the problem, and Princess ships cruise Europe, as well as all around the planet...

Did somebody overlook something big, or what!!!

 

Anybody know if Caribe, Forward, on the Regal, might be Muster Station B???

The section of the ship called the Mid-Forward section contains the Muster Station B staterooms and they would be, I believe in the section that is aft of the elevators in that section.

 

 

Tom

[Haboob]

Dont worry, I think it's beyond some of the posters too.

 

Princess is buying medallion net from the same supplier as Royal Carribbean Voom.

 

Voom seems to work in europe -- even described in a cruise critic artical:

 

https://www.cruisecritic.com/articles.cfm?ID=2416

 

The critical differences are

 

• HotS apparently sailed from Southampton, at the fringe of O3b coverage

(and went where? I doubt it was the Baltic)

 

• HotS arranged sufficient, expensive "supplementary geosynchronous"

bandwidth while in the fringe. Regal did not, and then could not find it even

on the spot market.

 

• HotS sold tiered internet, and Regal gave away all-you-can-stream internet

(We all know what happens when an ISP gets congested.)

[jlp20]

All I know is I have dealt with large company that went through three major hardware/software replacements. Each time there was major issues that took anywhere from six months to never getting fixed. Each time a string of lies was put out to cover bad programming.

[Haboob]

All I know is I have dealt with large company that went through three major hardware/software replacements. Each time there was major issues that took anywhere from six months to never getting fixed. Each time a string of lies was put out to cover bad programming.

 

...and changed the name of the product to bury the failure, no? ;)

 

Actually, methinks the programming isn't the villain here, either with OceanMedallion or

MedallionNet.

 

***** ran into an "unknown unknown". RFID works well in "metal buildings" ...to identify an

item when it gets near enough to a sensor, but not --so far-- to keep a running track of

where it is, possibly because too many sensors hear the RFID responding.

 

NM ran into someone who decided to sail Regal out of range of the satellites that made it

cheap enough to give away. And still wants to give it away when there isn't enough last-

generation satellite bandwidth available, even at prohibitive cost, to continue to do that in

the Baltic.

[Pierlesscruisers]

deleted

[Pierlesscruisers]

If you are in one of the following staterooms, you are in a Medallion stateroom. If you are in any other stateroom, you aren't. That is as of today. By the time your cruise arrives, that may or may not be the case, depending on whether more staterooms have been modified by that date.

 

Lido Deck-201-302 (36 staterooms)

Marina Deck-203-243 (36 staterooms)

Baha Deck-301-337 (36 staterooms)

Carib Deck-336-337 (2 staterooms)

 

Tom

[neverbeenhere]

Only jokers stay on the BA HA deck? ;p

 

 

Clowns to the left of me...

[voljeep]

OK, it's been posted that there will be no more work done on the ***** on the Regal while spending the summer season in the Med...and also posted about how the Medallion.net service is almost, well...not up to speed...

 

so is Princess even supporting any of the ***** services in the Med...or just saying we're working on it...here's your cruise card...:(

[MrsEmmaPeel]

Hmm - Haboob's link to the O3b coverage maps seemed to indicate that the UK and the Baltics were out of luck, but the Med might still be in range for good bandwidth on Medallion.net (via the O3b MEO satellites). I guess we'll see. Sadly, it was Medallion.Net on Royal my crew needed (and expected when booked), and that's a non-starter now.

 

OK, it's been posted that there will be no more work done on the ***** on the Regal while spending the summer season in the Med...and also posted about how the Medallion.net service is almost, well...not up to speed...

 

so is Princess even supporting any of the ***** services in the Med...or just saying we're working on it...here's your cruise card...:(

[Haboob]

OK, it's been posted that there will be no more work done on the ***** on the Regal while spending the summer season in the Med...and also posted about how the Medallion.net service is almost, well...not up to speed...

 

so is Princess even supporting any of the ***** services in the Med...or just saying we're working on it...here's your cruise card...:(

 

They had planned to roll ***** out at 2 months/ship. Then reality struck.

 

Currently, there are ...some staterooms equipped on the Regal, and they are reportedly working

on the Caribbean while the Regal is in the Baltic. Dunno what is planned for when the Regal

comes back.

 

That's the only two ships that are going to have some ***** until they solve the "where's Waldo"

issues with *****. None of them in the Med.

 

PS: Love your "not up to speed" way with words. (y)

[bobby3334]

Just off the Regal and we were definitely told by the Captain at CC M&G all workers connected with ***** in North America and no further work until return in Fall. I happened to have been on the Regal in both January and April of this year and only muster station B outlined very well above was completed in January. No apparent work in the three months. April was same as January. The apparent conclusion is they can not get it to work and they are going to continue to try on the Caribbean Princess or abandon the extremely costly mistake. Only 1/8 of The passengers had. I spoke with several who did have it and they were not impressed. They showed it to me and the door pads and I was not impressed. Other than that not much seem to work. In general it seemed to be more for the benefit of the line than the passengers. Recall that this has nothing to do with the new Internet even though they call it the ocean medallion Internet. Two are distinct projects. I have the impression from those that had it That it certainly was no big deal. I also have the impression that a decision is near or has been made about its ultimate fate

 

 

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