Princess Medallion use update

[cruzsnooze]

4 minutes ago, jagoffee said:

IMO touch less transactions are the future trend.  Concerns about COVID infections has certainly expedited this trend.  I try never to hand someone my card.  Perhaps you can find some other touch less methods that are more comfortable to you than the medallion. 
I know that I loved the magic bands at Disney.

I agree touch less seems the way of the future but cards can be scanned with touch less. When we go to muster drill as an example they say hold up your card and scan them touch less. When the pandemic subsides as other pandemics have done and we get back to normalcy it won't be such a big issue. 

[trbarton]

FYI...On my last cruise the Medallion was set up but not activated. To open by door I just tapped my card to the screen at the door & it opened my door. The screen will say “Unlocked” once it’s unlocked. 
 

Here’s what the screen next to your door looks like. 
 

 

Tom😀

[Daniel A]

9 hours ago, jagoffee said:

IMO touch less transactions are the future trend.  Concerns about COVID infections has certainly expedited this trend.  I try never to hand someone my card.  Perhaps you can find some other touch less methods that are more comfortable to you than the medallion. 
I know that I loved the magic bands at Disney.

Speaking of touchless transactions, my last cruise was a medallion class and half the crew/waiters weren't equipped with medallion readers.  When you ordered a drink, the waiter would ask you for your cabin number and merely write it down on a pad.  Medallion seemed to work well on the slot machines though.  ☺️

[isosika]

We used the Medallion for the first time on our 14-day Caribbean cruise that ended on 3/1/20, right before the shutdown.  We wore the medallion on the provided lanyard and it was not a big deal.  If we didn't want it flopping around or visible in port, we simply dropped it down our shirts.  My Medallion did not unlock the cabin door unless i was standing in front of it and a couple of times I had to hold the Medallion up to the screen for it to work.  My wife's Medallion would unlock the door from 8-10 feet away.

 

We did not carry our cell phones with us so we did not use any of the other features around the ship.  For us the Medallion was simply a round cruise card, rather than a flat one.

 

The Medallion did eliminate a lot of touch points though as the Medallion never had to be handed to anyone for any reason.  Hold it up to a reader and it was done.  Given the current COVID situation, I would think that the touch point elimination would be a huge advantage.

[Aulanis]

On our last cruise 10 March  the ship had the screens for medallion but worked on cards

   I wonder though on   "full" medallion ships do they still have  the Patter?  We had

them but as they have also removed the rack from the door if they will be phased out.

Another backward step improvement if you ask me.

[phabric]

On the Sky Oct 2019 a Medallion ship, the cabin attendant put the Patter on the bed each night.  I missed having the mailbox.

[Daniel A]

1 hour ago, Aulanis said:

On our last cruise 10 March  the ship had the screens for medallion but worked on cards

   I wonder though on   "full" medallion ships do they still have  the Patter?  We had

them but as they have also removed the rack from the door if they will be phased out.

Another backward step improvement if you ask me.

 

36 minutes ago, phabric said:

On the Sky Oct 2019 a Medallion ship, the cabin attendant put the Patter on the bed each night.  I missed having the mailbox.

On Regal February 2020, the steward would place the next day's Patter on our bed during the evening turn down.  The heart shaped candies were placed on the Patter.  Yum!

[XBGuy]

4 hours ago, Aulanis said:

On our last cruise 10 March  the ship had the screens for medallion but worked on cards

   I wonder though on   "full" medallion ships do they still have  the Patter?  We had

them but as they have also removed the rack from the door if they will be phased out.

Another backward step improvement if you ask me.

 

On our only Medallion cruise, the Princess Patter was still delivered to our cabin every evening.  However, I can see a scenario where that stops.  In that case, passengers who desire a printed copy of the Princess Patter would be able to find them at the Passenger Services Desk.  It seems to me that I have read reports of that protocol here on Cruise Critic, but that is a pretty fuzzy recollection.

 

I like the printed copy of the Princess Patter.  However, if it is not delivered to my cabin, I am OK with that.  I can see where the room stewards would cheer if this task was taken off their plate.

 

Here is a question.  Who folds the Princess Patters?  Is it folded mechanically in the ship's print shop, or is it folded manually?  If it is a manual operation, is it done by a print shop crewman or is it done by the room stewards?

[gotta cruise again]

There is a folding machine in the print shop; if you ever do the Ultimate Ship’s Tour, you can look for it or ask about it!!

[XBGuy]

16 minutes ago, gotta cruise again said:

There is a folding machine in the print shop; if you ever do the Ultimate Ship’s Tour, you can look for it or ask about it!!

 

Makes sense.  Thank you.

 

I have, in fact, taken the UST a few years ago.  I do not recall them pointing out that device, specifically, and, at the time, the question had never occurred to me.

[Papa Yoda]

5 hours ago, XBGuy said:

 

Makes sense.  Thank you.

 

I have, in fact, taken the UST a few years ago.  I do not recall them pointing out that device, specifically, and, at the time, the question had never occurred to me.

 

The folding machine may only be on Royal class ships, our stewards have folded them and chuckled about it (or some mild whining) when we caught them in the passageway doing it.  Grand and Coral class.  Haven't done UST on Royals so can't verify.

[caribill]

6 hours ago, Ferd Berfle said:

 

The folding machine may only be on Royal class ships, our stewards have folded them and chuckled about it (or some mild whining) when we caught them in the passageway doing it.  Grand and Coral class.  Haven't done UST on Royals so can't verify.

 

Also when I have asked for a copy at the Passenger Services desk they fold it before giving it to me.

[XBGuy]

15 hours ago, Ferd Berfle said:

 

The folding machine may only be on Royal class ships, our stewards have folded them and chuckled about it (or some mild whining) when we caught them in the passageway doing it.  Grand and Coral class.  Haven't done UST on Royals so can't verify.

 

9 hours ago, caribill said:

 

Also when I have asked for a copy at the Passenger Services desk they fold it before giving it to me.

'

Interesting.  I took the UST on the Emerald Princess--a Grand Class ship.

[Roberto256]

16 hours ago, Ferd Berfle said:

 

The folding machine may only be on Royal class ships, our stewards have folded them and chuckled about it (or some mild whining) when we caught them in the passageway doing it.  Grand and Coral class.  Haven't done UST on Royals so can't verify.

 

I have seen someone at the purser's desk folding a stack of patters...

 

[Eaglecw]

On 10/26/2020 at 3:58 PM, Hlitner said:

 

There are other important reasons for travelers to have a cell phone.  The airline apps only work on Smartphones and can provide real time tracking of luggage and any schedule updates.  If you miss a flight due to a connection problem, while folks are waiting in long lines to find other flights we can quickly resolve the issues with our phone (and no waiting).  There are also quite a few hotel chains where a smartphone lets us check-in (hours in advance) and then our phone works as the room key..so we avoid having to deal with a crowded front desk.  Just walk in the hotel and go directly to your room.  In this COVID era that is actually a pretty good benefit.

 

Hank, Thanks for the info.

I find 2 or 3 smart phones a month at my business, we keep them for 90 days and if no one claims it I give them to my grandson. Most are locked, but my 13 year old grandson can unlock them in a matter of minutes. I've never played around with them so I know nothing about them. Do they have to be activated to work with the medallion apps on the ship?

 

[Hlitner]

The onboard apps on Princess all work on the ship's WiFi system.  As long as your phone is able to work on WiFi you would be fine.  We  can all learn a lot from the 13 year olds when it comes to tech :).

 

Hank

[Roberto256]

On 10/24/2020 at 10:34 AM, Daniel A said:

It's not as easy to get the Medallion Class App on the Amazon Fire Tablet but it can be done, and it worked just fine.  Keep  in mind the processor in the Fire is very slow so it will take some time to get everything downloaded onto the tablet.

 

First thing you need to do is get the Google Play Store app on the tablet.  The Fire's operating system isn't fully compatible with android apps but it can be made compatible.  I am attaching the link to a website that will give you step by step instructions on downloading updates to the tablet making it so you can get Google Play on the Fire and then you can download the Medallion Class App from Google Play.

 

I happened to be fooling with a fire tablet the other day, and the first thing I thought was 'no play store'...

...which I see you have already mentioned.

 

So, a user either has to go through several steps to try and install the play store apk (and a couple others)

or, have adb on a PC or Mac, know how to grab the Medallion apk, and install it that way.

 

I would rate this 'fairly difficult' for a novice.

 

Given the hundreds and hundreds posts here about 'how do I put my phone in airplane mode'...

 

Clearly the vast majority of posters here are interested in relaxing on a cruise, rather than being cell phone geeks.

 

In my opinion, it will be orders of magnitude easier to simply buy a cheap android phone on blackfriday, and

install the medallion on that, rather than trying follow the above and install the play store app.

 

Just get some carrier-locked phone that will be cheap.  You will be never be able to use it for cell data

(without carrier specific service) but it will work fine on wifi.