Ocean Medallion App - Part 3

[BamaVol]

On 7/11/2023 at 1:10 AM, donaldsc said:

 

The port guides on Medallion and also on any paper copies that you may get from Princess are less than useless.  Don't bother.

 

With regard to 659SCF's post about only using the Medallion only to open your door, I would bet that you can go to guest services and demand a cruise card.

 

DON

I bet you can get one by asking nicely as well.

[voljeep]

51 minutes ago, BamaVol said:

I bet you can get one by asking nicely as well.

lost me at 'demand' 😈

[Roberto256]

On 7/9/2023 at 6:10 PM, Thrak said:

You need at least Android 8 or higher OS. (No idea what version of iOS is needed.) I just purchased an unlocked Samsung S10e for my wife for less than $200.

This link says the phone can be upgraded to Android 12:

 

https://www.gsmarena.com/samsung_galaxy_s10e-9537.php

 

As does this page:

 

https://www.androidupdatetracker.com/p/samsung-galaxy-s10e

 

 

 

[Crystaltipps67]

We are recently off Sky Princess and were surprised to find that on every single occasion where we ordered something the waiter/server asked for our room number (even when we were the only passengers in sight). Sometimes we were also asked for our names. Nobody ever seemed able to identify us from the app. I was led to believe that we would be identified automatically on the waiter's device and would not have to give our room number unless we were in a crowded situation. Anyone else have the same?

[BamaVol]

1 hour ago, Crystaltipps67 said:

We are recently off Sky Princess and were surprised to find that on every single occasion where we ordered something the waiter/server asked for our room number (even when we were the only passengers in sight). Sometimes we were also asked for our names. Nobody ever seemed able to identify us from the app. I was led to believe that we would be identified automatically on the waiter's device and would not have to give our room number unless we were in a crowded situation. Anyone else have the same?

I’ve been asked for my cabin number but assumed it was a second level of identification. I’ve not yet been charged for anything in error. 

[bafinegan]

2 hours ago, Crystaltipps67 said:

We are recently off Sky Princess and were surprised to find that on every single occasion where we ordered something the waiter/server asked for our room number (even when we were the only passengers in sight). Sometimes we were also asked for our names. Nobody ever seemed able to identify us from the app. I was led to believe that we would be identified automatically on the waiter's device and would not have to give our room number unless we were in a crowded situation. Anyone else have the same?

I believe you are asked cabin number/name to verify its you.  Those medallions are small and easily lost.

[Doug R.]

3 hours ago, Crystaltipps67 said:

We are recently off Sky Princess and were surprised to find that on every single occasion where we ordered something the waiter/server asked for our room number (even when we were the only passengers in sight). Sometimes we were also asked for our names. Nobody ever seemed able to identify us from the app. I was led to believe that we would be identified automatically on the waiter's device and would not have to give our room number unless we were in a crowded situation. Anyone else have the same?

Secondary verification, same as when you are asked to verify your date of birth at medical appointments,

[Jayhoaps]

Hi all got a question regarding the medallion, do you use the medallion if you want to do laundry? Is that how you pay for the laundry using the medallion? Thanks in Advance. 

[Teechur]

31 minutes ago, Jayhoaps said:

Hi all got a question regarding the medallion, do you use the medallion if you want to do laundry? Is that how you pay for the laundry using the medallion? Thanks in Advance. 

You can use your medallion to purchase laundry tokens in the laundry room. The cost will be added to your shipboard account. $6.00 for a wash/dry. An additional cost for detergent. Be sure to check the machines before you buy. There are many reports of them operating token-free. 😁

[jsn55]

12 hours ago, Crystaltipps67 said:

We are recently off Sky Princess and were surprised to find that on every single occasion where we ordered something the waiter/server asked for our room number (even when we were the only passengers in sight). Sometimes we were also asked for our names. Nobody ever seemed able to identify us from the app. I was led to believe that we would be identified automatically on the waiter's device and would not have to give our room number unless we were in a crowded situation. Anyone else have the same?

The medallion app hasn't worked properly since its inception ... there are 223 posts in this thread.  Sometimes it's fine, sometimes it's not.  All depends on various factors.  I found the medallion worked quite often onboard, but before the cruise left, it was a nightmare trying to get everything settled on the website and/or the app.  Pax should expect to have to verify their IDs occasionally, but obviously the system wasn't functioning at all during your cruise.  

Edited July 17, 2023 by jsn55

[Jayhoaps]

3 hours ago, Teechur said:

You can use your medallion to purchase laundry tokens in the laundry room. The cost will be added to your shipboard account. $6.00 for a wash/dry. An additional cost for detergent. Be sure to check the machines before you buy. There are many reports of them operating token-free. 😁

Thanks for the reply, that was very helpful and I appreciate it so much. 

[Crystaltipps67]

12 hours ago, Doug R. said:

Secondary verification, same as when you are asked to verify your date of birth at medical appointments,

Mmm, it looked and felt much more like it was primary verification rather than secondary and it wasn't until they had keyed in the room number that they knew who we were. Also found the medallions to be not 100% reliable in unlocking the door without actually holding it to the sensor. DH always had to hold his to the sensor. I guess I had to about 20% of the time. Medallion always in the same place - clipped to my waistband.

 

[HiCCCs]

11 hours ago, Crystaltipps67 said:

Mmm, it looked and felt much more like it was primary verification rather than secondary and it wasn't until they had keyed in the room number that they knew who we were. Also found the medallions to be not 100% reliable in unlocking the door without actually holding it to the sensor. DH always had to hold his to the sensor. I guess I had to about 20% of the time. Medallion always in the same place - clipped to my waistband.

 

Things that make you go...."Hmmmm." I'm no expert on the matter (nor have I ever played one on TV) but that never stops me from offering my two cents worth. I wonder if a weak battery could result in a weak signal? On the final day of our 14-day cruise, my travel buddy's medallion battery died that afternoon before departure. We were told that guest services would change the battery. You know how long the line at guest services was on the final day, right? When we eventually got to the front of the line, they suggested it was a glitch and should eventually start working. 🤣  Look, I get it.  Perhaps not their top priority on the last day of the cruise to be fussing with batteries. But it seems to be the party line response when it comes to medallion problems. "It will correct itself." For sure....when pigs fly. Next time, we'll know to ask for the plastic card as a replacement option.

[Steelers36]

I thought they just issued a new one as those things do not open easily.

[Tedferg]

18 hours ago, Teechur said:

You can use your medallion to purchase laundry tokens in the laundry room. The cost will be added to your shipboard account. $6.00 for a wash/dry. An additional cost for detergent. Be sure to check the machines before you buy. There are many reports of them operating token-free. 😁

I mistakenly thought one token was for Washer and the other, smaller, was for Dryer. Could not work out why Dryer would not work, until a fellow passenger pointed out the Small token is for Detergent. We had our own Detergent so did not think of that.

[GoHuskies!]

On our October 2022 cruise our medallions worked great.  Every day on our return to the cabin I tried to see when the medallion unlocked our door, but I never could get within eyeshot before it welcomed me and unlocked the door!  Several feet away, at least, in the doorway alcove.  And every time I came into the elevator/stairway areas, the big screen congratulated me on my birthday!  Also, I was never asked for my room number when ordering anything--just flip the medallion.  

So you never know.  Maybe it was the ship itself (Sapphire Princess) or our medallions themselves.  I don't doubt that there are lots of problems with them--witness this thread--but they worked for us.

 

[vampiress]

i know i placed an order for my medallions when i made final payment, so why is princess sending me mail about making sure i order my medallions becuas ei only have a week left to do so.  they have to know i ordered, they should be able to target emails to just users who haven't ordered the medallion who are eligible.  i know my company can make cohorts like that for our email targeting.

 

also the app doesn't make it really obvious that i did already place my order, it just says shop.

 

i like the medallions, its the marketing and communication around it.  also the app is painfully slow.

[memoak]

56 minutes ago, vampiress said:

i know i placed an order for my medallions when i made final payment, so why is princess sending me mail about making sure i order my medallions becuas ei only have a week left to do so.  they have to know i ordered, they should be able to target emails to just users who haven't ordered the medallion who are eligible.  i know my company can make cohorts like that for our email targeting.

 

also the app doesn't make it really obvious that i did already place my order, it just says shop.

 

i like the medallions, its the marketing and communication around it.  also the app is painfully slow.

It sounds like they didn’t get your order. I would resend the request 

[whataboutport]

On 7/17/2023 at 11:36 AM, HiCCCs said:

Things that make you go...."Hmmmm." I'm no expert on the matter (nor have I ever played one on TV) but that never stops me from offering my two cents worth. I wonder if a weak battery could result in a weak signal? On the final day of our 14-day cruise, my travel buddy's medallion battery died that afternoon before departure. We were told that guest services would change the battery. You know how long the line at guest services was on the final day, right? When we eventually got to the front of the line, they suggested it was a glitch and should eventually start working. 🤣  Look, I get it.  Perhaps not their top priority on the last day of the cruise to be fussing with batteries. But it seems to be the party line response when it comes to medallion problems. "It will correct itself." For sure....when pigs fly. Next time, we'll know to ask for the plastic card as a replacement option.

I thought the medallions were using RFID technology? No actual battery, similar to a pet microchip? Sounds expensive to have so many batteries, when all they are really doing is replacing a swipe card. With all the cutbacks I find it hard to believe all the medallions have batteries in them. RFID chips are cheap. I used to work for Lululemon. Every single tag on every item in the store had an rfid chip in the tag for inventory purposes.

 

Anyway, they should have just issued you a new one! Or given you a swipe card for the last night.

[whataboutport]

Can anyone help  me figure out how to start checking in for a child on my reservation? I remember when I signed in the first time after booking my cruise it asked if I wanted to link my child's profile too to check in for them. I cannot figure out where to do it in the app.

[Steelers36]

2 hours ago, vampiress said:

i know i placed an order for my medallions when i made final payment, so why is princess sending me mail about making sure i order my medallions becuas ei only have a week left to do so.  they have to know i ordered, they should be able to target emails to just users who haven't ordered the medallion who are eligible.  i know my company can make cohorts like that for our email targeting.

 

also the app doesn't make it really obvious that i did already place my order, it just says shop.

 

i like the medallions, its the marketing and communication around it.  also the app is painfully slow.

You can review order in the App.  At least the App would show this information as of late last year and IDK why it would be removed.  I don't have any current bookings to check myself.

[vampiress]

oh the order is there, but the way it is displayed is just not obvious.  it looks like i still should order something and the receipt involved too many clicks to get to the point where i can see what i ordered.  i work with a bunch of ux people, so this kind fo thing jumps out at me.  mobile apps should be optimized to least amount of clicking.  but really it is sending me an email after i have already made my order that says i still need to order.  it wasn't a race condition, i placed my order over a month ago, this email shouldn't have been sent to me.

[Steelers36]

13 minutes ago, vampiress said:

oh the order is there, but the way it is displayed is just not obvious.  it looks like i still should order something and the receipt involved too many clicks to get to the point where i can see what i ordered.  i work with a bunch of ux people, so this kind fo thing jumps out at me.  mobile apps should be optimized to least amount of clicking.  but really it is sending me an email after i have already made my order that says i still need to order.  it wasn't a race condition, i placed my order over a month ago, this email shouldn't have been sent to me.

PCL IT Team is about the worst I have ever encountered with any vendor - especially a travel sector vendor.

[HiCCCs]

12 hours ago, whataboutport said:

I thought the medallions were using RFID technology? No actual battery, similar to a pet microchip? Sounds expensive to have so many batteries, when all they are really doing is replacing a swipe card. With all the cutbacks I find it hard to believe all the medallions have batteries in them. RFID chips are cheap. I used to work for Lululemon. Every single tag on every item in the store had an rfid chip in the tag for inventory purposes.

 

Anyway, they should have just issued you a new one! Or given you a swipe card for the last night.

Perhaps when they said "battery" to this layperson because they could tell how clueless I am. They probably meant a new RFID chip. Do you suppose they recycle those RFID chips? Why would a chip suddenly stop working effectively? Perhaps beyond the scope of this thread. But be assured, next time I will push to get a replacement or a card instead of accepting the "blow-off" party line that it will start working again soon.

[Steelers36]

41 minutes ago, HiCCCs said:

Perhaps when they said "battery" to this layperson because they could tell how clueless I am. They probably meant a new RFID chip. Do you suppose they recycle those RFID chips? Why would a chip suddenly stop working effectively? Perhaps beyond the scope of this thread. But be assured, next time I will push to get a replacement or a card instead of accepting the "blow-off" party line that it will start working again soon.

The Princess Medallions do have an internal battery, but they don't replace dead ones.  Relatively short lifespan and those things are garbage.  I have advocated for a recycle bin at the exit gangway for those guests who don't want a souvenir or a fridge magnet (yes, they contain a magnet as well).