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

[Jeter02]

I'm the queen with The Medallion it. The cheapest form to do it it specially if your Elite wait till embarkation day when you get on the ship it's actually cheaper I like $6-$8 compared to the pre-cruise purchase that claims to be the cheapest. I've done it several times on the Regal and it has not failed. And planning to do the same today when I leave on the Caribbean Princess.

[Coral]

On 6/26/2019 at 4:48 AM, 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?

 

On 6/26/2019 at 12:21 PM, 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. 😉

Oh - this is so confusing. Looking at 22 night cruise and I was offered $129 unlimited for one device which is less than $6 a day. I took it. I guess I can cancel. I am afraid it is going to go up. 

 

I wish Princess which be clear on this. So frustrating on how they are keeping Elite cruisers in the dark.

 

BTW - I hate the new drink packages. And the Classic soda package is nothing like the old soda package which I consider a Classic. I know, another rant.

[Astro Flyer]

3 hours ago, Coral said:

 

Oh - this is so confusing. Looking at 22 night cruise and I was offered $129 unlimited for one device which is less than $6 a day. I took it. I guess I can cancel. I am afraid it is going to go up. 

 

I wish Princess which be clear on this. So frustrating on how they are keeping Elite cruisers in the dark.

 

BTW - I hate the new drink packages. And the Classic soda package is nothing like the old soda package which I consider a Classic. I know, another rant.

 

I agree...it’s frustrating.

 

It would be best for platinum/elite passengers to get a discount in exchange for the free minutes when booking in advance without the uncertainty of receiving a discount onboard.  I am unaware what it’d take to program their system to allow that to happen.  Another factor could be that Princess wants to receive a chargecard payment before a cruise & not having us use OBC with a further 25% discount onboard.

 

Because our cell provider has free texting & data in our ports, the 500 free minutes each of us receives should be enough to use on the ship.

[Coral]

59 minutes ago, Astro Flyer said:

 

Because our cell provider has free texting & data in our ports, the 500 free minutes each of us receives should be enough to use on the ship.

I am guessing we have different cell providers. I am with Verizon.

[Astro Flyer]

49 minutes ago, Coral said:

I am guessing we have different cell providers. I am with Verizon.

Sprint...also $0.25 per minute calls which are free when in Mexico & Canada.

[Coral]

9 minutes ago, Astro Flyer said:

Sprint...also $0.25 per minute calls which are free when in Mexico & Canada.

Just rub it in!

 

I can't get a Sprint signal in the building where I work. :(

[Astro Flyer]

12 minutes ago, Coral said:

Just rub it in!

 

Sorry ☺️

Edited July 1, 2019 by Astro Flyer

[pms4104]

27 minutes ago, Coral said:

Just rub it in!

 

I can't get a Sprint signal in the building where I work. 😞

T-Mobile has same plan as Sprint ... very handy in ports.

Edited July 1, 2019 by pms4104

[cattman]

On 6/10/2019 at 5:58 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.

 

Whoa! I was only offered 150 minutes on my Royal SB Alaska cruise in May... I just figured Princess had lowered the amount for Elite and Platinum members! I guess I should have contacted the internet guy...

 

However, I was offered unlimited for only $49.95 for the week... and this was available until day three. Go figure

[idahospud]

25 minutes ago, cattman said:

Whoa! I was only offered 150 minutes on my Royal SB Alaska cruise in May... I just figured Princess had lowered the amount for Elite and Platinum members! I guess I should have contacted the internet guy...

 

However, I was offered unlimited for only $49.95 for the week... and this was available until day three. Go figure

150 is the correct number of minutes for a seven day cruise. The 250 minutes came because it was a B2B cruise of 14 days.

[cattman]

13 minutes ago, idahospud said:

150 is the correct number of minutes for a seven day cruise. The 250 minutes came because it was a B2B cruise of 14 days.

Whoops... sorry, missed that. Thanks

[ptk]

I will be traveling with two friends on the Crown soon. I pre-purchased the four-device plan with intent to share. So far, so good but I am rethinking the purchase because one of the friends is Platinum. It looks like the better route for the group would be for her to use her minutes to for a discount on the four-device plan on embarkation. Right? Until I read this thread and saw the screen shots, it wasn’t clear to me that the discount applies to the four device plan as well as the single device plan.

[kywildcatfanone]

59 minutes ago, ptk said:

It looks like the better route for the group would be for her to use her minutes to for a discount on the four-device plan on embarkation.

Yes, would likely be cheaper onboard.  I know it is for elites, not sure if it's the same price for platinum or not, but probably is.

[Steelers36]

1 hour ago, ptk said:

I will be traveling with two friends on the Crown soon. I pre-purchased the four-device plan with intent to share. So far, so good but I am rethinking the purchase because one of the friends is Platinum. It looks like the better route for the group would be for her to use her minutes to for a discount on the four-device plan on embarkation. Right? Until I read this thread and saw the screen shots, it wasn’t clear to me that the discount applies to the four device plan as well as the single device plan.

YES - the discount applies to all plans.

 

9 minutes ago, kywildcatfanone said:

Yes, would likely be cheaper onboard.  I know it is for elites, not sure if it's the same price for platinum or not, but probably is.

The discount is the same for Platinum & Elite - as are the free minutes that was the original benefit (at least the one prior to MedallionNet).

[Steelers36]

On 6/30/2019 at 3:29 PM, Coral said:

 

Oh - this is so confusing. Looking at 22 night cruise and I was offered $129 unlimited for one device which is less than $6 a day. I took it. I guess I can cancel. I am afraid it is going to go up. 

 

I wish Princess which be clear on this. So frustrating on how they are keeping Elite cruisers in the dark.

 

BTW - I hate the new drink packages. And the Classic soda package is nothing like the old soda package which I consider a Classic. I know, another rant.

Your pre-cruise offer is $130.  Your on-board offer is $112.50.  Cancel the Personalizer booking and wait to save something.

 

[Coral]

26 minutes ago, steelers36 said:

Your pre-cruise offer is $130.  Your on-board offer is $112.50.  Cancel the Personalizer booking and wait to save something.

 

You dragged up an old post over a sailing that happened last year. My next sailing has the Best Sail Ever and has internet included.

[Steelers36]

2 minutes ago, Coral said:

You dragged up an old post over a sailing that happened last year. My next sailing has the Best Sail Ever and has internet included.

I'm always getting fooled by an old post that pops up with a star in the list and I click on it to get the newest posts, not realizing that the previous posts are that old.  I do need to pay more attention to the dates!!!  😧

[Coral]

Just now, steelers36 said:

I'm always getting fooled by an old post that pops up with a star in the list and I click on it to get the newest posts, not realizing that the previous posts are that old.  I do need to pay more attention to the dates!!!  😧

I appreciate the help. We were all figuring out the costs of internet back in June of last year. 🙂

[catsdinner]

Does the Island Princess have the fast internet?  We are going to be boarding in a little over a week.  We got an offer to pre-purchase unlimited but don't know if it a Medallion.net ship.  We are elite and since we are btb will get about 500 minutes anyway.  We have my sisters coming with us so it may be more beneficial if we buy a four device package on board.  Thanks

[Centsless_Cruiser]

Per Princess website Island Princess is a MedallionNet ship which means it has the fast internet but not all the other Medallion features.

 

[ptk]

7 hours ago, kywildcatfanone said:

Yes, would likely be cheaper onboard.  I know it is for elites, not sure if it's the same price for platinum or not, but probably is.

 

7 hours ago, steelers36 said:

YES - the discount applies to all plans.

 

The discount is the same for Platinum & Elite - as are the free minutes that was the original benefit (at least the one prior to MedallionNet).

Thank you!

[Times Prince]

On 6/10/2019 at 6:12 PM, Hlitner said:

Forgive me in advance for asking this question (which has probably been asked before).  We have an upcoming cruise on the CB.  Normally we get a lot of free minutes because both DW and I are Elite.  But now we are being offered Medallion Net unlimited..for the usual pre-cruise discount.  Should we buy Medallion Net pre-cruise and fight at Guest Relations to get some kind of refund onboard, or are we better off just waiting until we board to even purchase Internet?

 

Hank

My advice based on our own experience on a 10 day Medallion  cruise is this:  If you normally operate within your Elite minutes budget then don't bother buying the Medallion Net package.  It is designed for people who just *have* to stream videos and such.  We didn't come close to using up our Elite minutes.

 

[sunsetme]

13 hours ago, Times Prince said:

My advice based on our own experience on a 10 day Medallion  cruise is this:  If you normally operate within your Elite minutes budget then don't bother buying the Medallion Net package.  It is designed for people who just *have* to stream videos and such.  We didn't come close to using up our Elite minutes.

 

If we use the Elite minutes is the internet as fast as Medallion net or the old fashioned slow kind?

[Astro Flyer]

2 hours ago, jdechter said:

If we use the Elite minutes is the internet as fast as Medallion net or the old fashioned slow kind?

 

On the Sky my wife used her free platinum/elite minutes & I exchanged mine for an unlimited plan and didn’t notice any difference between the speed on the same type of smartphone.

[thinfool]

4 hours ago, jdechter said:

If we use the Elite minutes is the internet as fast as Medallion net or the old fashioned slow kind?

All ship internet is the same.