OCEAN MEDALLION

[mnocket]

11 hours ago, caribill said:

 

Facial recognition has come a long way, but it must be 100% accurate or there will be some very unhappy people who cannot accomplish what they want because they do not get recognized.

 

Some cities in China do have very advanced facial recognition software implemented and claim they can locate anyone in the city with 15 minutes. (If you are inside somewhere, they probably have a record of you entering that building.) And some cities in England monitor the streets and can identify someone from about a half mile away. I doubt Princess can afford the systems that can do these things.

As you point out facial recognition is being used in some very challenging environments.  I just read today that Delta airlines has launched facial recognition for check-in in the US.  iPhones use facial recognition for login.  In the case of a cruise ship, the facial recognition challenge is greatly reduced.  Instead of having to determine which of millions of people the camera is looking at, on a cruise ship the system just needs to determine which of 3,000 people the camera is looking at - a much easier problem.  I really don't know the cost of facial recognition software, so I have no idea if that is what caused Princess to skip it, but I am fairly certain that the technology is ready for prime time.

Edited November 29, 2018 by mnocket

[XBGuy]

Ep010835, you have invested a lot of time and effort explaining the new system to us.  Thank you, very much.  Believe it or not, I do not have any more questions.

 

Now, go back to your cruise.  It's about time that you start enjoying yourself.

 

😉

 

 

[Ep010835]

2 hours ago, XBGuy said:

Ep010835, you have invested a lot of time and effort explaining the new system to us.  Thank you, very much.  Believe it or not, I do not have any more questions.

 

Now, go back to your cruise.  It's about time that you start enjoying yourself.

 

😉

 

 

 

I’m pretty sure I wore a lot of folks out during the last several months as I was trying to quickly self-educate on, well, everything!!

I’m just trying to give back a bit to the community. 

Happy to have been able to help a little. 

 

Sitting here at the aft pool on the Lido deck looking at the hills of Antigua, what’s not to enjoy!! 😃😃

[sprint180]

I usually use a lanyard.  Can they be hooked on one of those or do they have to be carried in a pocket, etc.

[Pierlesscruisers]

Just now, sprint180 said:

I usually use a lanyard.  Can they be hooked on one of those or do they have to be carried in a pocket, etc.

They issued a holder that would go on a lanyard. At least they did a year ago on the first few medallion cruises.

 

Tom

[Ep010835]

2 hours ago, Pierlesscruisers said:

They issued a holder that would go on a lanyard. At least they did a year ago on the first few medallion cruises.

 

Tom

 

Same thing  now. The lanyard has a quick disconnect to the Medallion itself so you can keep the lanyard around your neck while, for example, a server takes your Medallion to pay for your drink purchase. 

[Ep010835]

I realized I missed a part of your question. You are provided three Medallion related things during the checkin process:

The Medallion itself 

A plastic holder for the Medallion (with a quick disconnect attachment)

The lanyard  (with a quick disconnect attachment)

You’ll have verything you need. 

 

 

[Mike45LC]

6 hours ago, Ep010835 said:

The lanyard has a quick disconnect to the Medallion itself so you can keep the lanyard around your neck while, for example, a server takes your Medallion to pay for your drink purchase. 

I thought the server could detect your medallion while you  were wearing it or carrying it in your pocket.  If you have to detach the medallion and give it to the server/store keeper/bartender, what's the use of the d&^% thing??  [Other than to allow Princess to track you throughout the day and night?  As I adjust my tinfoil hat.]

 

[floridalover5623]

7 hours ago, Mike45LC said:

I thought the server could detect your medallion while you  were wearing it or carrying it in your pocket.  If you have to detach the medallion and give it to the server/store keeper/bartender, what's the use of the d&^% thing??  [Other than to allow Princess to track you throughout the day and night?  As I adjust my tinfoil hat.]

 

Not to pay for drinks at this time. They have to take your medallion or card.

Possibility in the future they'll have portable scanners.

About the only time it'll work being in your pocket without removing it is entering your cabin - for all other things, it must be held up to a scanner with the exception of the PSD where your photo will appear on their screen.

[Ep010835]

12 hours ago, Mike45LC said:

I thought the server could detect your medallion while you  were wearing it or carrying it in your pocket.  If you have to detach the medallion and give it to the server/store keeper/bartender, what's the use of the d&^% thing??  [Other than to allow Princess to track you throughout the day and night?  As I adjust my tinfoil hat.]

 

 

The “thing” has a great many uses.  I think my favorite of those that have currently been rolled out, is the “Shipmates” function. 

 

Depending on exactly where a purchase is made, all that may be necessary is for you to hold your “thing” up to a card reader and wait for the reader to turn from blue to green. Think IC, almost any shop, standing at any of the on-deck eateries, the laundry, etc, etc. 

 

Essentially any point of purchase where you would in the past have placed your cruise card.  

If you are sitting in a bar or around the pool, in a restaurant then yes, the server will take your “thing” to a reader to complete the purchase. 

Potrable readers are coming in order that your “thing” can remain firmly on its lanyard around your neck. That’s more “end game” stuff. 

 

The technology is very much in its infancy right now. And clearly, not everyone is eager to embrace it. I see many of the tinfoil hat crowd on board the ship now. These are the octogenarians who in lieu of going to the pantry for aluminum foil, simply attach their cruise card and holder at the end of the lanyard and leave their “thing” in the cabin safe. Such a plan works just fine for the old crowd who steadfastly refused to embrace new technology. However, there will come a point I’m certain where the cruise cards will be phased out completely in favor of the “thing”.

 

 Embrace it now, embrace it later. The choice is yours. 

[jwattle]

If possible, can you get word on if Enchanted Princess will be OM operable when she begins? Much appreciated!

[Ep010835]

On 11/30/2018 at 9:03 AM, jwattle said:

If possible, can you get word on if Enchanted Princess will be OM operable when she begins? Much appreciated!

 

I’ve asked two different people but no one seems to know. Or won’t tell!

Sorry I was unable to help. 

[satxdiver]

I just got off the CB.  We were issued our OM and cruise card along with a lanyard that had a plastic holder for the cruise card and a holder for the OM.  Both were detachable from the lanyard and I kept both in my pocket.  I used the OM to leave and arrive back at the ship on port calls.  Simply place the OM on the small reader's circle and it turned colors.  The bar staff was taking the OM to scan and returning it even though they all carried tablet like devices from their waist.  I never saw one being used.  I did make a small purchase in one of the onboard shops and put my OM on the reader to pay for it. I do second seating TD and noticed that the waiter had a tablet to order the food.  While the other waiter sharing the station used his tablet, our waiter did not.  He wrote out the order like in the past and had his assistant go get the food.  

 

We all went to the mandatory safety briefing in my case Club Fusion.  The staff had hand readers and were having difficulty using them.  I was one of the first to enter and later they had to go back and reread all the medallions.  The staff member at the mike read off a lot of pax names that they had missed.  So much for the staff using the readers.  Luckily the staff at the exit door to go ashore did not have any problems other than with the older pax.  

[jlp20]

On 11/29/2018 at 6:43 PM, Mike45LC said:

I thought the server could detect your medallion while you  were wearing it....

 

To be sensitive enough to detect your OM in your pocket, It may pickup anyone around you. I assume the runner's device WILL have a screen to show your photo to verify correct account.

[caribill]

1 hour ago, jlp20 said:

To be sensitive enough to detect your OM in your pocket, It may pickup anyone around you. I assume the runner's device WILL have a screen to show your photo to verify correct account.

 

Verifying by photo might lead to incorrect charges if a photo of someone near you is also on the screen and looks similar to you.

[floridalover5623]

7 hours ago, jlp20 said:

To be sensitive enough to detect your OM in your pocket, It may pickup anyone around you. I assume the runner's device WILL have a screen to show your photo to verify correct account.

We were in the DR one night sitting about 20 feet from the door & it was picking up my medallion throughout our meal as I could see on their screen. I believe they must have a sensitivity adjustment on their tablets.

[Ep010835]

A recurring question in this thread had been “Is the Ocean Medallion user adjustable?” Or some variant of that. 

I spoke with an OM supervisor this evening. The answer is No. It contains no user adjustable functions. I asked specifically about the ability of the user to disable the function that unlocks the cabin door. 

It “comes alive” on embarkation day and “goes to sleep” on disembarkation day. Presumably it then sits on a shelf at home until its little batteries die. 

[XBGuy]

This may or may not be of interested to readers of this conversation.  We just completed a cruise on the Ruby Princess.  This was not a Medallion-enabled cruise.  We were issued card keys, not medallions.  However, when in dry dock in October, the ship did have much of the medallion infrastructure installed.  So, cabin doors were unlocked by holding the card key up to the newly installed readers.  

 

I did see the public screens in many of the public areas--especially, in elevator lobbies.  I did see the reader with the blue ring around it on these screens,  As a test I held up my card key to the reader and, sure enough, the blue ring turned green.  These screens really had no interactive functionality.  So, that is all it did.  However, one day I decided to print out my folio using the public device near the Passenger Services Desk.  It turns out there were two such devices next to each other--one had a magnetic stripe "swipe" reader and the other had the blue-ringed medallion type reader.  I held my card key up to the the medallion reader, it turned green, my name appeared on the screen, and by touching the printer icon, my folio was printed.

 

It appears to me that people who opt to use the card key instead of the medallion, can use the public screens just like users of the medallions.

[Ep010835]

3 hours ago, XBGuy said:

It appears to me that people who opt to use the card key instead of the medallion, can use the public screens just like users of the medallions.

 

 From what I have seen on this cruise, I believe you are right. For the first three days my medallion wasn’t working but my wife’s was. Every time we left the ship and returned she held her medallion up to the reader and it turned from blue to green. Same thing happened when I held my cruise card up to the very same reader. Blue to green. 

 In each case the reader recognized us and displayed our photo on the security screen. 

[jlp20]

On 12/2/2018 at 4:35 PM, Ep010835 said:

It “comes alive” on embarkation day and “goes to sleep” on disembarkation day. Presumably it then sits on a shelf at home until its little batteries die. 

Not quite right OM are "turned on" when battery connected at factory. The day of your cruise, each pax cabin door is programmed for the corresponding OM. That cabin lock is reprogrammed when the next cruise info is loaded. **What I don't understand is all the hand wringing about the assumed "big brother" factor and imagined safety. First, no one says you have to choose Princess. Second, from day one Princess has stated you can opt out of the OM. You will be issue a cruise card that still opens the cabin's lock by placing the very low powered card on screen next to the door. 

[Ep010835]

2 hours ago, jlp20 said:

Not quite right OM are "turned on" when battery connected at factory. The day of your cruise, each pax cabin door is programmed for the corresponding OM. That cabin lock is reprogrammed when the next cruise info is loaded. 

You’re splitting hairs. But if you’re happy, then so am I.

 

**What I don't understand is all the hand wringing about the assumed "big brother" factor and imagined safety. First, no one says you have to choose Princess. Second, from day one Princess has stated you can opt out of the OM. You will be issue a cruise card that still opens the cabin's lock by placing the very low powered card on screen next to the door. 

You are issued a cruise card whether or not you “opt out of the OM”. 

 

[jlp20]

The answer was also to point out the OM is a solid disc with that the pax has zero control of it's functions. Reading info from Princess, issuing both OM and cruise card is temporary policy. Once the ship is fully OM functional, the "card" has to be requested or opting out of OM. 

[Ep010835]

14 hours ago, jlp20 said:

 Reading info from Princess, issuing both OM and cruise card is temporary policy. Once the ship is fully OM functional, the "card" has to be requested or opting out of OM. 

 

I’m speaking for the present. Where we all live now. 

 

I’ll wager you LONG into the future, you will be issued a cruise card whether or not you “opt out of the OM”. 

 

I’m as eager as anyone, more so than many I imagine, to permanently retire the cruise cards in favor of the OM device. But I’m also a pragmatist who lives in the moment and eschews placing too much faith in the promises of technological tea leaves. 

[floridalover5623]

48 minutes ago, Ep010835 said:

 

I’m speaking for the present. Where we all live now. 

 

I’ll wager you LONG into the future, you will be issued a cruise card whether or not you “opt out of the OM”. 

 

I’m as eager as anyone, more so than many I imagine, to permanently retire the cruise cards in favor of the OM device. But I’m also a pragmatist who lives in the moment and eschews placing too much faith in the promises of technological tea leaves. 

Lets face it, Princess is paying for the cards as well  as the Medallions right now and I'm sure the cards will be eliminated sometime in the future unless specifically requested. 🤑

We were told by a Princess rep that she's only encountered 5 people so far on the CB that opted out of the Medallion.

Edited December 9, 2018 by floridalover5623

[CaliforniaDon]

It sounds like the medallions will be the biggest source of entertainment and amusement on our March Regal cruise. The elevator procedure may match that time the elevators went demonic and were making their own decisions. Floor lights turned off off by themselves, the cars went up when you pushed a down floor.

 

ANYHOW , how do the medallions work in the casino?  Do we still create a PIN, or can we try to sit close to someone who hits a jackpot (right!) and hope it ends up in our account?