Am I the Only One?

[Iamcruzin]

17 hours ago, tip said:

Am I the only one who is questioning the value of the ocean medallion program?   I don’t find the need to have all the latest technology at hand 24/7.  Yes, it may save a minute or two here and there, but what other value does it really have?  It would seem that you would be more apt to lose it than you would a key card.  Of course Princess would be more than happy to sell you a special wrist band or lanyard at an additional charge.  As for using your cell phone, we turn it off and lock it in the safe as soon as we call our loved ones to let them know we are on board safely.

 

I'm not opposed to it but it's a lot of hype for a device that's been used on other lines and amusement parks for years. They act as if they discovered electricity or invented the wheel. They only get away with the hype because their demographic  only views a cell phone to make a call.  That's the function I use the least. 

[HappyCruiserettu]

11 hours ago, dog said:

I do not want other passengers seeing where I am. (female, alone sometimes)

Huh?

11 hours ago, dog said:

 

 

[caribill]

19 hours ago, PrincessLuver said:

 

People are really simplifying the Medallion program down to just having a device that is used to open their door.  It is much more then that and we love Medallion ships because we think the technology really enhances our cruising experience on Princess ships.  We especially love the faster internet speeds.  

 

 

 

 

Although the Medallions do require the faster Intranet/ Internet speeds, the faster Intranet/Internet speeds do not require Medallions.

 

In other words, Princess could have updated the Intranet/Internet equipment and wiring and not introduced Medallions at all.

[caribill]

17 hours ago, Bwana Tom said:

The OM system was sold as a benefit to the passengers, but in reality it is met to benefit the cruise line. Tracking every movement and purchases of the passengers is a great benefit to Princess.

 

Per CCL Corp stockholder conference call:

 

"We are beginning to see a lift in ticket price from our MedallionClass as we ramp up our marketing efforts in that trade and as we continue to expand Medallion throughout the Princess fleet"

[caribill]

12 hours ago, dog said:

 I do not want other passengers seeing where I am. (female, alone sometimes)

 

 

The only passengers that can use the system to locate where you are are the passengers that you gave explicit permission to do this.

[caribill]

7 hours ago, Bwana Tom said:

 I suppose if a person really wanted to get in your room after finding your OM he or she could walk down the passageway and listen for the lock to snap open and if all else fails you can simply look at the names next to the door.

 

Whether you had a cruise card or a Medallion, if you name is on it, it is easy to find out what cabin it is associated with. No need to walk up and down the ship traying every door.

 

With a cruise card or Medallion, once you report it lost, it can be inactivated. At least with the Medallion, Princess can tell you where it is as long as it is still on the ship.

[dog]

*******

Edited October 1, 2019 by dog

[dog]

6 hours ago, walkingsoon said:

Yes. The first person I spoke to at guest services said not, but the second removed my name from the screen with a few keystrokes on his computer. 

The old paper entryway nametags were my bookmarks. Now I have to use the time zone change reminder card.

Ok, I did not know it was on a screen at your door. Thanks, I appreciate your help. dog

1 hour ago, caribill said:

 

The only passengers that can use the system to locate where you are are the passengers that you gave explicit permission to do this.

How do you give permission to them? Please direct me to a link where I can learn more. Appreciate your help. dog

1 hour ago, caribill said:

2 hours ago, HappyCruiserettu said:

Huh?

 

 

 

Edited October 1, 2019 by dog

[dog]

13 hours ago, dog said:

Thanks, tailspintom.

Appreciate hearing about your experience.

My concern is about my cabin door being unlocked before I am standing in front of it and I am not sure if this is accurate, but I do not want other passengers seeing where I am. (female, alone sometimes)

 

 

Here is the whole post.

What is your point?    dog

 

HappyCruiserettu said:

13 hours ago, dog said:

I do not want other passengers seeing where I am. (female, alone sometimes)

Huh?

Edited October 1, 2019 by dog

[sleepless]

22 hours ago, CineGraphic said:

It would be of great value to Princess if they used it correctly.

Imagine if they could use it to detect long lines at a bar or event, or to see that a certain public restroom has had a large amount of traffic and needs servicing. As for now, it's a fancy fridge magnet. Too bad most fridges these days are stainless steel and magnets don't stick to them.

I have a stainless steel fridge, magnets do stick to it.  

[Iamcruzin]

21 hours ago, billco said:

ATM? I hardly ever use that outdated technology. Apple Pay is the only way to go. If the store doesn't support it, I always have my Apple Card.

Good for you. I don’t keep more than $20 in my wallet for coffee and if the line at Panera is too long I use the tablet and Apple Pay. On the very rare occasion I receive a check I deposit it using my phone. Princess finally made it to the 21st century with improved internet service. If that’s the result of the medallion then it was worth it. 

[Iamcruzin]

18 hours ago, JimmyVWine said:

 

There are many, many reasons for converting to this system that go beyond your own personal usage of it.  The cruise industry has to change with the times and market to the "currently under 30" crowd.  This is a great way to do that.  The 'Apple-Pay" crowd and share economy crowd will eat this stuff up even if you are "meh."  And as noted above, it will eventually have a profound impact of crew staffing.  People may think that their whereabouts are private matters, but when you are out and about in a public venue, not so much.  The cruise line very much wants to know where you have been, what services you have availed yourself of, how long you spent at the pool, how many bars you visited.  None of this is state secret information when you are a paying customer consuming their product.  You have no expectation of privacy when you walk into an MDR.  It's not as if you can whisper to the head waiter that you don't want anyone to know you are there.  Pre-Medallion-you gave the head waiter your cabin number when you arrived.  Current state-you have your Medallion on your person, but still give the head waiter your cabin number when you arrive.  Future state-no need to give them your cabin number because the system records which MDR you went to, what time you arrived, and how long you stayed for dinner.  PCL collects the exact same information that they collected before, only in real time, and more accurately.  And if you are waiting for a table in ATD, no more need for a light-up UFO to go off notifying you that they are ready to seat you.  You will get a text.  This saves the cruise line the cost of purchasing and maintaining those silly light-up discs.  Small savings, but just an example of how this system will pay for itself in the long run.  It's no different than handing the cashier your customer card at the grocery store.  Sure, you do it to take advantage of "cardholder savings."  But the real purpose of those cards is so that the company can track your purchasing patterns.  

Perfectly stated. 

[Iamcruzin]

14 hours ago, Bwana Tom said:

Another thing to be concerned about is the fact that your OM will unlock your door from inside your cabin as well. Get it too close to the door and the lock will snap off. For this reason I would advise you to remove the OM from around your neck when you walk inside and store it on the far side of your cabin when inside.

Tom

Well that needs to be debugged. We had a similar device on Royal Caribbean which didn’t open doors from the inside.  

[Doug R.]

16 hours ago, dog said:

Thanks, tailspintom.

Appreciate hearing about your experience.

My concern is about my cabin door being unlocked before I am standing in front of it and I am not sure if this is accurate, but I do not want other passengers seeing where I am. (female, alone sometimes

You can only be seen by those you allow to see you.

[Haboob]

16 hours ago, JimmyVWine said:

 

Man-overboard scenarios cannot possibly occur frequently enough to support the introduction of a multi-billion dollar initiative.  I don't doubt that accounting for the whereabouts of passengers is made easier through OM.  But the cost savings associated with the electronic accounting system times the number of situations each decade that this is necessary cannot possibly move the financial meter.    

 

Make that multi-million dollar, then remember that Medallion is being developed for the entire Carnival Corp & PLC fleet (http://ocean.com), and their 10 brands have had something like 130 MoB incidents since 2000 -- well north of $50 million when you include the costs of having to stop and search the sea for folks who hadn't been seen for 12 hours.  Nevermind the bad press or the chance of saving a few of the folks who survived the fall itself.

[Shoalwater]

Correct me if I am wrong, but I think the OM app lets you play casino games from the comfort of your cabin or wherever on your smartphone, 24/7 as long as the ship is not within zones where the casino cannot operate.  CHACHING!!!  Forget about all the other smokescreen reasons for OM, this has real revenue potential.  "Yes dear, I'll put the phone down and go to sleep as soon as I recover my money in one last game.".

Edited October 1, 2019 by Shoalwater

[JimmyVWine]

16 minutes ago, Haboob said:

 

Make that multi-million dollar, then remember that Medallion is being developed for the entire Carnival Corp & PLC fleet (http://ocean.com), and their 10 brands have had something like 130 MoB incidents since 2000 -- well north of $50 million when you include the costs of having to stop and search the sea for folks who hadn't been seen for 12 hours.  Nevermind the bad press or the chance of saving a few of the folks who survived the fall itself.

 

“The cost is in the hundreds of millions of dollars, and, over time, more than that,” Mr. Donald said."

 

So what is "more than hundreds of millions of dollars"?  It is a word that starts with a "b".  By your statistic, MoB costs have been about $2.5 million per year across 10 brands.  A literal drop in the bucket that in no way could account for the decision to employ the OMs.  I've gone back and looked at the press releases and statements made at the time of the roll-out and I have seen reference to: a) people ordering more drinks because doing so is "cool" with the app; b) people gambling more because using the app to do so allows them to multi-task instead of being in the casino; c) smooth out the boarding process at embarkation and at ports allowing for staffing decreases, as well as a few other reasons.  But given that "safety" is the number one goal of the cruise line, if passenger safety were a hallmark of the OM, you't think it would be mentioned time and time again in these releases and/or the patent application.  Can't find reference to it.

https://www.travelagentcentral.com/running-your-business/carnival-corporation-awarded-three-u-s-patents-for-oceanmedallion

https://www.wired.com/2017/01/carnival-ocean-medallion-wearable/

[JimmyVWine]

5 minutes ago, Shoalwater said:

Correct me if I am wrong, but I think the OM app lets you play casino games from the comfort of your cabin or wherever on your smartphone, 24/7 as long as the ship is not within zones where the casino cannot operate.  CHACHING!!!  Forget about all the other smokescreen reasons for OM, this has real revenue potential.  "Yes dear, I'll put the phone down and go to sleep as soon as I recover my money in one last game.".

 

BINGO!  Oops. That's s different game! 😂

[jangor]

On 9/30/2019 at 7:42 PM, dcruisers said:

I totally agree and if we had a choice - I’d get the key card.

We lock our cell phones up too.  No need to use them for their apps.

Interesting  how they sell wrists bands, bracelets and necklaces for the Medallion.

Don't  need anything special for the key card..... hmmmm

Except a pocket, unless of course, like myself, very few of your clothes have pockets.  So then you needed to get a lanyard (even a cheap one) or carry a purse or beach bag with you everywhere you went.  To me a wrist band sounds easy peesy!

[Thrak]

1 hour ago, jangor said:

Except a pocket, unless of course, like myself, very few of your clothes have pockets.  So then you needed to get a lanyard (even a cheap one) or carry a purse or beach bag with you everywhere you went.  To me a wrist band sounds easy peesy!

 

They do provide a free lanyard with the Medallion if one doesn't have pockets. If we ever sail on a Medallion class ship I think the clip sounds like a reasonable way to carry the thing if one doesn't have pockets. As a guy, I always have pockets and will likely just carry the Medallion in a pocket - the same as I have always done with the card. It might not be as convenient though as I always carried the card in a back pocket and I don't think sitting on the Medallion sounds particularly comfortable.

[caribill]

On 9/30/2019 at 4:49 PM, Haboob said:

 

Ocean Medallion is not for us pax, it's primarily for reduced operating costs (especially in man-overboard scenarios) and secondarily for more sales opportunities.  The hype is to get us to wear the thing.

 

I do not understand how the Medallion can possibly help in man-overboard scenarios.

 

If someone has the Medallion with them when they go overboard, the ship will not be able to detect them in the water.

 

If somehow it detects a Medallion falling from the ship, it cannot tell the difference between a person with the Medallion or just a Medallion that someone cast into the ocean.

 

For determining who is still onboard, it is useless because it can detect the medallions onboard (unless hidden in a case that hides its presence), that does not mean the persons associated with those medallions are onboard since it detects the medallions, not the persons.

 

 

[caribill]

20 hours ago, dog said:

 

How do you give permission to them? Please direct me to a link where I can learn more. Appreciate your help. dog

 

 

I do not remember the posts' location, but there have been posts in other threads telling how to setup permission for specific people to locate you. (Of course, some Princess staff will have the ability to locate anyone with no permission needed.)

[Haboob]

8 hours ago, caribill said:

 

I do not understand how the Medallion can possibly help in man-overboard scenarios.

 

If someone has the Medallion with them when they go overboard, the ship will not be able to detect them in the water.

 

If somehow it detects a Medallion falling from the ship, it cannot tell the difference between a person with the Medallion or just a Medallion that someone cast into the ocean.

 

For determining who is still onboard, it is useless because it can detect the medallions onboard (unless hidden in a case that hides its presence), that does not mean the persons associated with those medallions are onboard since it detects the medallions, not the persons.

 

 

 

If a Medallion was last detected on a weather deck, it either was tossed overboard (which will earn a chat with Security) or carried overboard.  The idea is to avoid "Well, the last time anyone remembers seeing him was yesterday evening at desert".   Search time is the major expense.

[Yehootu]

On 9/30/2019 at 5:33 PM, walkingsoon said:

The old paper entryway nametags were my bookmarks. Now I have to use the time zone change reminder card.

How do you stick a bookmark in a Kindle?😀

[Yehootu]

11 hours ago, Thrak said:

 

They do provide a free lanyard with the Medallion if one doesn't have pockets. If we ever sail on a Medallion class ship I think the clip sounds like a reasonable way to carry the thing if one doesn't have pockets. As a guy, I always have pockets and will likely just carry the Medallion in a pocket - the same as I have always done with the card. It might not be as convenient though as I always carried the card in a back pocket and I don't think sitting on the Medallion sounds particularly comfortable.

Just think, the Medallion in your back pocket might give a signal when it's time to return to your cabin to poop. That way Princess could close down all the public restrooms, and Noro cases would decrease. Brilliant!