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

[StknCPA]

11 hours ago, fishywood said:

Monitoring your every movement.

Argh.

[tgwabd]

If you are really paranoid about the medallion just lock it up in the safe and carry your card......

[cruzsnooze]

4 hours ago, Hlitner said:

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

And don't forget you can gamble from the casino without stepping foot in there. Or you've been in the buffet to long, how much did you eat!!!! LOL  I bought a 10 pack of RFID blockers on ebay for 99 cents. 

[Mike45LC]

1 hour ago, Knickearth said:

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.

 

I was a captive audience to CNN's HLN (I think that is what it is called) and a "true crime story" was on.  There was a cold case that was solved by running old DNA from the crime scene against the DNA databases that one of the private ancestry  genetic companies maintains.  The criminal's brother (I think it was the brother) had sent in a DNA sample for fun, and the database kicked out the brother's info as a closely related match to the criminal.  So the authorities ran a family background on the guy who did the genetics check, and found the criminal.  Thanks, Bro!!

 

I'll bring an extra roll of aluminum foil for my next cruise.

 

[Mike45LC]

44 minutes ago, Idahoan58 said:

 

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. 

 

Before Medallions, the names of the occupants were typed on the "mailbox" outside each cabin.  Low tech, but you could always see the names of your neighbors.

 

In port, the people carrying the blue Princess tote bags are from your ship.

 

[Mike45LC]

6 minutes ago, cruzsnooze said:

 LOL  I bought a 10 pack of RFID blockers on ebay for 99 cents. 

 

They have the RFID blocking aluminum wallets at the 99 Cent Store.  For 99.99 cents each.

[Idahoan58]

15 minutes ago, tgwabd said:

If you are really paranoid about the medallion just lock it up in the safe and carry your card......

You don’t get a cruise card... at least on the cruise I was on we didn’t get one.

[Idahoan58]

7 minutes ago, Mike45LC said:

 

Before Medallions, the names of the occupants were typed on the "mailbox" outside each cabin.  Low tech, but you could always see the names of your neighbors.

 

In port, the people carrying the blue Princess tote bags are from your ship.

 

Never noticed that before. It was my first princess cruise though so maybe thats why. On the other cruise lines I have been one they didn’t do that.

 

I just thought it was funny that medallions became some sorta weird fashion accessory. 

[Hlitner]

3 hours 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.

That makes a lot of sense.  So you take off your clothes to take a shower and leave the Medallion on the other side of the cabin?  Oops!  The ship has the capability of knowing the approximate position of the Medallion at any time. If somebody wanted to call up a computer report, by passenger, of how much time is spend in bath rooms (be it the cabin or a public bathroom anywhere on the ship) they could get that info.  When the Medallion first came out I once joked that they could program their system to tell them if a passenger spent too much time in the bathroom.  They could use that to send medical personnel to one's cabin to make sure they do not have some kind of GI problem.  Or perhaps they could start to "direct market" some new Spa services such as "Colon Cleaning."   You can have a lot of fun thinking of what is possible with the data base generated by those Medallions.  Another idea suggested by a friend is they could put a time limit on the time you are permitted to spend in the Lido.  Perhaps if they detect you are sitting in the Lido too long you would be fined!  

 

Just had another idea.  They could charge admission to most of the shows in the main theater or lounges by simply using the Medallion to monitor your position.  The system could automatically charge your shipboard account .  I know that sounds ridiculous but when I started cruising the idea that a ship would charge money for food was also thought to be crazy.

 

Hank

[gotta cruise again]

Was on Caribbean Princess last week (the 4-day post-“drydock” cruise). One of the Ocean apps, I think it was Ocean Compass, had the option to switch off the “find me” feature. It said something like “hide my location” or “don't allow my location to be seen”. I didn’t turn it off but did see that the option was available. I believe this was only so other pax you were connected to couldn’t find you. But if you are so inclined, you could ask a medallion navigator if toggling to off then makes a feature like Ocean Now not work OR if  the cloak of invisibility is invoked upon switching this to “off”.

[Mike45LC]

Hank, a couple of cruises ago, my wife and her cousins spent many long afternoons sitting in the Horizon Court talking.  Your "time limit" idea would NOT have been welcome!

[tgwabd]

3 hours ago, Idahoan58 said:

You don’t get a cruise card... at least on the cruise I was on we didn’t get one.

My wife did not like the idea of the medallion, so she just carried her card which was issued to us when we checked in at the pier....

[Idahoan58]

19 minutes ago, tgwabd said:

My wife did not like the idea of the medallion, so she just carried her card which was issued to us when we checked in at the pier....

Interesting.. I asked for a cruise card, but was told they no longer give them out my check in lady. I am glad your wife had that option!

[Haboob]

2 hours ago, tgwabd said:

My wife did not like the idea of the medallion, so she just carried her card which was issued to us when we checked in at the pier....

 

The doorknobs on Regal no longer have a slot to insert a seacard.

[richmke]

I'm guessing the antennas are for the mediallion and internet. Signals do not go far on a metal ship. Each room, and balcony, needs an antenna.

 

with the fast internet, you need a good signal.

[richmke]

Double post

Edited May 22, 2019 by richmke

[Haboob]

1 hour ago, richmke said:

I'm guessing the antennas are for the mediallion and internet. Signals do not go far on a metal ship. Each room, and balcony, needs an antenna.

 

with the fast internet, you need a good signal.

 

Regal, at least, uses very recognizable WiFi access points in the hallways and her stateroom doors have

non-metalic centers to be transparent to her 5GHz WiFi.  There was no WiFi antenna in my stateroom

-- I looked and looked until I finally noticed that most of the door was non-metalic.

 

Location tracking of medallions uses BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy) radio at 2.5Ghz.  Which is interesting

because such would normally pass through anything 5GHz does and do it easier.  I'd love to know why

my door actually stayed locked when I was inside.

 

BTW, there's also a NFC chip in the medallion to trigger point-of-sale sensors and the sensor that logs you

on/off the ship.  That has a 1½ inch range.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[SinbadThePorter]

18 hours ago, bemis12 said:

 

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

 

So there is no problem with you ever spending the night as a guest in someone else's cabin.

 

I wonder if Princess records will be open to subpoena?

[BoopTennis]

2 hours ago, Haboob said:

 

Regal, at least, uses very recognizable WiFi access points in the hallways and her stateroom doors have

non-metalic centers to be transparent to her 5GHz WiFi.  There was no WiFi antenna in my stateroom

-- I looked and looked until I finally noticed that most of the door was non-metalic.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So the doors are not metal anymore?  Magnets won’t stick to them now?

[Orangefan]

I was on the Carib Princess last week. I used the medallion for opening the door period  !  If I want something I am happy to walk over and get it. 

Sali

[bemis12]

3 hours ago, SinbadThePorter said:

 

So there is no problem with you ever spending the night as a guest in someone else's cabin.

 

 

 

Correct.  Nor is Princess interested in going around rousting people who are in someone else's cabin.

[JF - retired RRT]

11 hours ago, Haboob said:

 

The doorknobs on Regal no longer have a slot to insert a seacard.

I don't know if this is correct on ships that have the medallion enabled, BUT we were on the Ruby last month and the door locks had been changed (no slot for a card) and the screens that had been put where the mailbox used to be had the ability to "read" the cruise card.

If they don't turn that off when the medallion is up & running, then cruise cards could still be used to open the door.

Just sayin' 

[rwilk1129]

My gripe with the medallion is what Princess has spent to implement it. Anybody noticed how much fares have increased in the last couple of years? I don't like spending so much more for something that I am not interested in.

[Doug R.]

5 hours ago, BoopTennis said:

So the doors are not metal anymore?  Magnets won’t stick to them now?

I was on the Regal in January with the medallion enabled. Magnets still stick to doors.

Edited May 22, 2019 by Doug R.
Bad spelin ans gramer.

[stoneharborlady]

On 5/21/2019 at 9:38 AM, bemis12 said:

 

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

Maybe, but its none of their business to track me to the bathroom.