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Medallion receivers everywhere. Customer convenience or sales and marketing genius?


masterty
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In the Sancturary today I noticed the new medallion pucks installed on the Grand. I started looking around for them and noticed they are EVERYWHERE. There must be thousands of these things on each ceiling of each floor. They are generally placed around 6-12 feet from each other. They are in each cabin and in my cabin a second puck in the bathroom. The marketing and sales information Princess will gaining from the passengers wearing the medallions will be Google level huge.  

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2 hours ago, masterty said:

In the Sancturary today I noticed the new medallion pucks installed on the Grand. I started looking around for them and noticed they are EVERYWHERE. There must be thousands of these things on each ceiling of each floor. They are generally placed around 6-12 feet from each other. They are in each cabin and in my cabin a second puck in the bathroom.

 

Check your balcony for another one.

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21 minutes ago, kywildcatfanone said:

I wouldn't call it marketing genius, just marketing. They know where you are and every movement you make on the ship and can use that to market to you.

 

Get an RFID protected case to carry your medallion in and you'll be off the grid.  I use one for my credit cards and another for my passport, both of which can be read remotely with a portable scanner.

 

 

 

 

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4 hours ago, fishywood said:

Monitoring your every movement.

 

33 minutes ago, SargassoPirate said:

 

Get an RFID protected case to carry your medallion in and you'll be off the grid.  I use one for my credit cards and another for my passport, both of which can be read remotely with a portable scanner.

 

 

 

 

Really???? Like they have thousands of people manning monitors watching each individuals every move. What do you guys do onboard that you are so afraid that Princess might find out?

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1 hour ago, SargassoPirate said:

 

Get an RFID protected case to carry your medallion in and you'll be off the grid.  I use one for my credit cards and another for my passport, both of which can be read remotely with a portable scanner.

Or just wrap it in aluminum foil.:classic_ninja:

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1 hour ago, SargassoPirate said:

 

Get an RFID protected case to carry your medallion in and you'll be off the grid.  I use one for my credit cards and another for my passport, both of which can be read remotely with a portable scanner.

 

 

 

 

 

I'm not nearly paranoid enough to care whether Princess knows where I am onboard.

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Agree, what's the big deal?

 

A Peter Pan or Jiffy coupon (popular peanut butter brands in the US) pops up on your phone when you walk down the appropriate aisle in the food store - buy some or don't, your choice.

 

You shouldn't fault them for trying to sell you. 

Edited by EatonDoolittle
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Personally, I see many positives.  And I can imagine scenarios where the feedback is two way.  For example, we often find ourselves a bit frustrated when we arrive at a favorite place, let's say Crooners for a pre dinner drink only to find the place 'sold out' every seat taken.  We always have a backup venue, but if we could click on the app and know when we leave our cabin that there's no space in Crooners we could go directly to Adagio instead for example.

 

In my mind Princess already knows everywhere I've been.  They know I signed up for Sanctuary for certain days, they know I always get a coffee between 0530 and 0600.  They know we have two cocktails for dinner (rarely 1 and never 3).  They know I hit vines for a favorite glass of vino as I walk into the dining room.  Having them use a bit of this info to improve the service provided strikes me as a reasonable compromise for allowing them track my movements onboard.

 

Given that we're all tracked by hundreds of companies on a day to day basis the incremental data being sucked up by Princess isn't even a drop in the bucket.  At least that's what I tell myself 😁.  If there was any doubt, I'm being shown an at right this very minute on cruise Critic that is selling me  . . . Ocean Medallion, that's no accident, they're tracking what threads are appealing to me. 

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3 hours ago, SargassoPirate said:

 

Get an RFID protected case to carry your medallion in and you'll be off the grid.  I use one for my credit cards and another for my passport, both of which can be read remotely with a portable scanner.

 

 

 

 

A small piece of aluminum foil works just as well if your that worried.

 

So far I've been on 2 ships with the medallion & they haven't sold me a thing I wouldn't have purchased otherwise. 

What's the worry? 

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3 hours ago, SargassoPirate said:

 

Get an RFID protected case to carry your medallion in and you'll be off the grid.  I use one for my credit cards and another for my passport, both of which can be read remotely with a portable scanner.

 

You're gonna wear out that case, digging your medallion out every time you want

to get back into your cabin.

 

As for "privacy", the medallion doesn't give them any more big data than would

installing turn-of-the-century facial recognition software on their existing video

surveillance systems.  At least with the medallions, passengers get some

convenience and MOB goodness.

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DH and I recently took our first Medallion cruise on the Royal Princess. The following is a brief exchange of what happened to us at Crooner's Bar:

 

DH has just boarded ship.  He approaches a Bartender at Crooner's.

 

Bartender:  Good afternoon Mr. xxxxx.  Would you like a Dos Equis?

 

DH:  Why yes I would? (DH is wondering how the bartender knew he liked Dos Equis.)

 

About 10 minutes later, I go to Crooner's for a cocktail. 

 

Bartender:  Mrs. xxxxx, would you like another cocktail?

 

Me:  No thank-you.  I'm going to see if my husband boarded the ship yet.

 

Bartender:  He was just here madam.  He ordered a Dos Equis and said he was going to the cabin.

 

Me (a little stunned):  Lol, thank-you. 

 

I will admit, at first, this did creep us out a little bit, however it comes in very handy if you are trying to locate someone.  😉

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We pointed out, way back when the Medallion program was announced, that it was all about marketing.  If folks think that Princess is spending $ Millions to simply give passengers a new way to open their cabin door or buy a drink I have an old cruise ship to sell them :).  The Medallion gives the cruise line an almost unlimited amount of information about each passenger.  In theory they could track who went into which shop (even if it was just to browse), how often they go to the bathroom, etc.  They can easily "push" out marketing to each passenger via their phones or even the monitor outside their cabin.  I guess this is what is called progress :(.

 

Hank

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1 hour ago, Hlitner said:

...how often they go to the bathroom...

 

FWIW, the original (and possibly future) plan is for the Medallion to enable

stateroom lighting.  The bathroom sensor is to keep the lights on when you

close the bathroom door.

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OK, so I am one of those individuals who in the last few years have become paranoid about our government leaning into our lives.  

 

What is stopping Princess from selling our info to a wine company (cause we buy that wine onboard) or beer company, etc. etc.

 

I won't do that DNA testing for family members as I am fearful they will sell my DNA info to the government (can't commit a crime then).  Further, watched a show that the DNA company sold the results of an ailing individual to her insurance company before she even received the results.  What happened was the insurance company cancelled her insurance and it would have cost a fortune out of pocket.

 

Now, please don't forget that I openly admitted to being paranoid at this point.

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1 hour ago, Haboob said:

 

FWIW, the original (and possibly future) plan is for the Medallion to enable

stateroom lighting.  The bathroom sensor is to keep the lights on when you

close the bathroom door.

So they expect you to wear it in the shower? Good thing it is waterproof.

 

But you can turn this into a 21st century version of that classic movie pick-up line:

"I take the Medallion off for one thing, and one thing only" 

(though I guess you would have to leave in on even then if your companion wants the lights kept on...):classic_ohmy:

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24 minutes ago, Knickearth said:

OK, so I am one of those individuals who in the last few years have become paranoid about our government leaning into our lives.  

 

What is stopping Princess from selling our info to a wine company (cause we buy that wine onboard) or beer company, etc. etc.

 

I won't do that DNA testing for family members as I am fearful they will sell my DNA info to the government (can't commit a crime then).  Further, watched a show that the DNA company sold the results of an ailing individual to her insurance company before she even received the results.  What happened was the insurance company cancelled her insurance and it would have cost a fortune out of pocket.

 

Now, please don't forget that I openly admitted to being paranoid at this point.

 

Yes, but as the old saw goes, are you paranoid enough?

 

It used to be the old village ladies on their porch that watched and knew

everything about everybody.  "Privacy" came late to civilization and is

now departing.  Assume it's gone and plan accordingly.

 

 

Edited by Haboob
Un-wrapping extra line-wraps
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I really enjoyed reading PartyBarbie's experience.  Our first cruise with the Medallion is booked for September.  I am, pretty much, tech agnostic, but it will be interesting, and fun, to see if I get any of those presumptive greetings.

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An RFID protected wallet and passport case is just good common sense nowadays.  Your credit cards and your passport can both be read remotely with a portable scanner.  

 

So far as the medallion and Princess tracking us,  one needs to be concerned about what they do with our information - ala Facebook, Google, etc etc.

 

I can see the day where if I spend too much time in the bathroom in the middle of they night the next morning I'm being offered prune juice at breakfast.😂

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I recently went on a medallion cruise on the Royal and I loved the medallions. For some reason I thought we would get a cruise card and a medallion, but we just got medallions. It was so convenient. We didn’t have to open our doors and it was easy to find my dad. Also I ordered a drink at the bar and it was so easy. They knew who I was and automatically charge my room. 

 

Another fun thing was you can see the names of your neighbors. I never saw them, but I knew their names lol.

 

On side note, it was easy to tell who was from your ship in ports, because most people wore them around their necks. It was funny we had a connecting flight in Seattle on the way back and notice people in Seattle were still wearing them haha. I throw mine away as soon as I got the airport.

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