Best Strategy for Elites Purchasing Medallion Net?????

[Papa Yoda]

1 hour ago, Colo Cruiser said:

Since I did not get a response........

I am asking this question again. TIA  🙂

 

Yes, you should wait until boarding.  You have 24 hours after embarkation to get the Platinum/Elite 25% discount for the whole voyage plans, and you can use OBC.  All reports and our experience are that the discounted cost is less than the pre-cruise purchase price, plus there is no 4-device plan available in the Personalizer.  There is no free unlimited anymore.

 

 

[Colo Cruiser]

5 hours ago, Ferd Berfle said:

 

Yes, you should wait until boarding.  You have 24 hours after embarkation to get the Platinum/Elite 25% discount for the whole voyage plans, and you can use OBC.  All reports and our experience are that the discounted cost is less than the pre-cruise purchase price, plus there is no 4-device plan available in the Personalizer.  There is no free unlimited anymore.

 

 

Thanks! 

[railman]

On 6/10/2019 at 8:58 PM, Astro Flyer said:

Here’s my experience on a Royal Princess cruise last month for a MedallionNet plan which was best by waiting until boarding the ship.

 

In advance anyone could purchase an unlimited plan for 14 days...$120.  Onboard as an elite level passenger here were my options...$90 unlimited or 250 free minutes.  I have no way to know if there was a lower price on the ship for passengers not eligible for the free minutes.

 

If my experience is standard fleetwide then for passengers eligible for free minutes (platinum/elite) waiting to purchase onboard was 25% cheaper.  Thus for my cruise it was best to purchase onboard & to pay with OBC.

 

 

My wife and I are both Platinum.  Do you know if one of us purchases the four device plan if we can use multiple devices at the same time?  We would have two I-Phones and two I-Pads with us.

[hpeabody]

10 hours ago, Colo Cruiser said:

Since I did not get a response........

I am asking this question again. TIA  🙂

 

Should I wait until boarding?

 

ANSWER,: IMO, Yes, the first 24 hours will have the best price

[Astro Flyer]

13 minutes ago, railman said:

 

My wife and I are both Platinum.  Do you know if one of us purchases the four device plan if we can use multiple devices at the same time?  We would have two I-Phones and two I-Pads with us.

Yes...with a 4 device unlimited plan all 4 of your devices can be logged on at the same time for the entire cruise.

 

Since neither of you will use your free minutes you might be able to negotiate with the Internet Cafe manager for another discount...it wouldn’t hurt to ask.

 

Here are the instructions on how to sign up for MedallionNet:

 

Edited June 18, 2019 by Astro Flyer

[Colo Cruiser]

5 minutes ago, hpeabody said:

 

Should I wait until boarding?

 

ANSWER,: IMO, Yes, the first 24 hours will have the best price

Thank you!

[voljeep]

On ‎6‎/‎10‎/‎2019 at 7:35 PM, voljeep said:

it's a shame to even have to post about this ... forming a 'strategy' in order to purchase a princess product because they can't come up with a definitive price for 'platinum and elite' and the 'free minutes'

 

anyway, it seems to be the consensus among posters that have done this to wait until boarding to log on and choose the plan ... pre-cruise discount doesn't seem to apply to the two highest levels of captain circle loyalty ...

 

11 hours ago, Colo Cruiser said:

Since I did not get a response........

I am asking this question again. TIA  🙂

answered in post # 2 ....

[Steelers36]

4 hours ago, voljeep said:

 

answered in post # 2 ....

Sort of... The Cruise Personalizer Pre-Cruise internet offer IS DISCOUNTED for Platinums/Elites as the system knows passenger status.  It is 25% off the rate offered to "newbies" and others eligible for the loyalty benefit.  

 

That said, it is likely that the DAY ONE pricing on board will be less than the pre-cruise offer (and Princess is simply not clear about this).  When we found this, I had no issue getting a refund for the difference.  If you want to use OBC, wait for sure.  If you are concerned the prices will go up (and perhaps they will once Medallion Net is more established and prevalent throughout the fleet), then pre-order as you have a price locked in and you can always check on-board pricing and request a refund.  In our case it was $10 "list" and $7.50 with discount difference, but longer cruises might have a larger difference.

 

It seems very apparent from all recent reports that the very best pricing is embarkation day.

 

[Astro Flyer]

Advance purchase prices can vary not only by length of the cruise but also by itinerary.

 

Our West Coast 14-day cost was $120 in advance;  our future 28-day Med/TA is $130.  On the longer cruise the first 3 weeks are very port intensive so that appears to be why it costs less per day.

[SDWalt]

Regardless of the small price discount by  purchasing on-board vs in the cruise personalizer, the Medallion Net price is fantastic!  Unlimited use for a 7 day cruise for about $60...wow! $105 unlimited for 4 devices!  Double wow!

[FloaterBoat]

Totally unrelated..but...what does DH and DW mean?

 

Darling wife and husband?

[SinbadThePorter]

On 6/11/2019 at 9:35 AM, hpeabody said:

I am recently off the Royal which has terrible Medallion Net.  I paid on board for unlimited the first day $49.95 (7 day Alaska cruise) and gave up the minutes.  I regret now not asking for a refund, what a waste that was and so very frustrating.  I can't believe Princess can get away with such a poor product.

 

It's all about location. The satellite internet service that Princess uses has medium earth orbit sats (fast speeds) and geosynchronous orbit sats (slow speeds).

 

If you are too far to the north or south, roughly above 50 degrees latitude, then the ship will lose the faster sats and be stuck with the slower sats. This is because the medium earth orbit sats will be below the horizon at those latitudes.

 

So before paying for internet access, check the itinerary to decide if it will be worth it.

[caribill]

1 hour ago, FloaterBoat said:

Totally unrelated..but...what does DH and DW mean?

 

Darling wife and husband?

 

Close enough. Dear Wife and Dear Husband.

[mum and son]

2 hours ago, SinbadThePorter said:

 

It's all about location. The satellite internet service that Princess uses has medium earth orbit sats (fast speeds) and geosynchronous orbit sats (slow speeds).

 

If you are too far to the north or south, roughly above 50 degrees latitude, then the ship will lose the faster sats and be stuck with the slower sats. This is because the medium earth orbit sats will be below the horizon at those latitudes.

 

So before paying for internet access, check the itinerary to decide if it will be worth it.

Sinbad, how will it fair for us Brisbanites? Mind you, this is the first I've heard about it. Is it on all ships? I have two cruises booked on Majestic and one on Sea Princess, all departing Syd or Bris. And do the free Elite minutes use the same internet (sorry, I'm guessing that's a dumb question), that is, is it the same speed as purchasing MedallionNet?

[Gracie115]

We will be on board for 25 days next April on the Sky.  They are offering the Medallion Net for $129.99 now.  We only  need the one device. This seems like a great price to me at $5.20 per day.  Does anyone here think the price will be even less if we wait to purchase till we are on board?

[SinbadThePorter]

4 hours ago, mum and son said:

Sinbad, how will it fair for us Brisbanites? Mind you, this is the first I've heard about it. Is it on all ships? I have two cruises booked on Majestic and one on Sea Princess, all departing Syd or Bris. And do the free Elite minutes use the same internet (sorry, I'm guessing that's a dumb question), that is, is it the same speed as purchasing MedallionNet?

 

I could be wrong, but I think the only ship with fast MedallionNet in Australian waters next cruise season will be Ruby Princess. Majestic, Sea and Sun definitely don't have it, they use the slower geosynchronous satellites. I haven't heard of any plans to upgrade them.

 

As far as I know, Elite minutes are exactly same as any other minutes in that all internet packages use the same system.

[emmak8]

I'll be on the Crown next month for 12 days. Precruise  internet price is 74.99  I think this is a great price for unlimited. 

That's 6.25 a day. Really? Wait for a better deal? The only better is FREE for platinum and elite.

[mum and son]

1 hour ago, SinbadThePorter said:

 

I could be wrong, but I think the only ship with fast MedallionNet in Australian waters next cruise season will be Ruby Princess. Majestic, Sea and Sun definitely don't have it, they use the slower geosynchronous satellites. I haven't heard of any plans to upgrade them.

Thanks Sinbad. That's probably why Princess sent us Aussies those ships, because they're not being upgraded. We'll accept anything down here 🤣.

[Steelers36]

8 hours ago, mum and son said:

Sinbad, how will it fair for us Brisbanites? Mind you, this is the first I've heard about it. Is it on all ships? I have two cruises booked on Majestic and one on Sea Princess, all departing Syd or Bris. And do the free Elite minutes use the same internet (sorry, I'm guessing that's a dumb question), that is, is it the same speed as purchasing MedallionNet?

 

4 hours ago, SinbadThePorter said:

 

I could be wrong, but I think the only ship with fast MedallionNet in Australian waters next cruise season will be Ruby Princess. Majestic, Sea and Sun definitely don't have it, they use the slower geosynchronous satellites. I haven't heard of any plans to upgrade them.

 

As far as I know, Elite minutes are exactly same as any other minutes in that all internet packages use the same system.

 

2 hours ago, mum and son said:

Thanks Sinbad. That's probably why Princess sent us Aussies those ships, because they're not being upgraded. We'll accept anything down here 🤣.

We sailed on a NZ cruise this past winter (NZ summer) on Majestic and while it does not have Medallion Net, it does have a newer/faster internet.  Because it is not Medallion Net, this ship offered the three levels of unlimited internet (Social, Surf, and Premium.  I bought the SURF version of unlimited at a discount in lieu of using my free minutes.  My wife used the free minutes.  This internet was faster than "old" internet.  With Surf I had email and such, but no video streaming and was restricted from Apps like WhatsApp.  The Premium package has no restrictions on websites and was equivalent in terms of functional access to the minutes my wife had (old minutes plan had not resttrictions).  The last three days of the voyage, I upgraded to PREMIUM.  I was offered that upgrade everyday and the price kept dropping as the number of days left in the voyage declined.  When I did the upgrade for the final three days, it cost $5/day as I recall. 

[Colo Cruiser]

11 hours ago, caribill said:

 

Close enough. Dear Wife and Dear Husband.

Dizzy

[Astro Flyer]

7 hours ago, Gracie115 said:

We will be on board for 25 days next April on the Sky.  They are offering the Medallion Net for $129.99 now.  We only  need the one device. This seems like a great price to me at $5.20 per day.  Does anyone here think the price will be even less if we wait to purchase till we are on board?

 

For our cruise last month the prepurchase price was $120 and was reduced by 25% ($90) to purchase during the first 24 hours of our cruise in exchange for our free minutes.  Our November 28-day cruise on the Sky is the same $130 as for you for our mostly port intensive cruise.  There’s no way to know for certain if your cruise or mine will also be reduced by 25% onboard.

 

Past experiences are no guarantees about future experiences particularly with the new MedallionNet system.  I’ll receive 500 free minutes & if I decide to purchase an unlimited plan onboard can pay with OBC.  If that’s 25% less than purchasing in advance that’s another bonus for me.

 

My crystal ball tells me to wait until boarding the ship but that might be different for other passengers. 😉

[Gracie115]

6 minutes ago, Astro Flyer said:

 

For our cruise last month the prepurchase price was $120 and was reduced by 25% ($90) to purchase during the first 24 hours of our cruise in exchange for our free minutes.  Our November 28-day cruise on the Sky is the same $130 as for you for our mostly port intensive cruise.  There’s no way to know for certain if your cruise or mine will also be reduced by 25% onboard.

 

Past experiences are no guarantees about future experiences particularly with the new MedallionNet system.  I’ll receive 500 free minutes & if I decide to purchase an unlimited plan onboard can pay with OBC.  If that’s 25% less than purchasing in advance that’s another bonus for me.

 

My crystal ball tells me to wait until boarding the ship but that might be different for other passengers. 😉

 

 

Thanks for your response.  We have no free minutes so that's not a factor for us.  If I had 500 free minutes I'd just make that work.  

[Astro Flyer]

Just now, Gracie115 said:

 

 

Thanks for your response.  We have no free minutes so that's not a factor for us.  If I had 500 free minutes I'd just make that work.  

 

Lacking the free minutes that platinum & elite level passengers receive then it’s highly unlikely you’d receive any discount by purchasing onboard.  The marketing of MedallionNet pricing could change & if you’re happy with the price then decide about purchasing it in advance.

[Steelers36]

21 hours ago, Colo Cruiser said:

Dizzy

It would be "Dingbat" if Archie Bunker was a member here.  At least for one of the D's.

Edited June 27, 2019 by steelers36

[Colo Cruiser]

5 minutes ago, steelers36 said:

It would be "Dingbat" if Archie Bunker was a member here.  At least for one of the D's.

“Oh Archie”!