Drinks Package Questions (Princess PLUS x 2 Adults).

[DANCING GRANDMOMMY]

1 hour ago, CruisinFinsUp said:

Just got off Enchanted.   
 

The wait staff and bar staff did not use the medallions and scanners.  
 

Everyone asked for our cabin number.  They keyed that into the computer and saw our packages and allocated to them.  It didn't matter if we carried both medallions or just one.  Cabin number was used.  We just told them it was one drink for each. 
 

The wait staff carried a scanner, sometimes they tried to scan our medallion, but even if they scanned it, they just wrote down our order and wrote down our cabin number - it was paper and pen all the time.  
 

Our experience was that the medallion was our room key, and as far as the staff were concerned, our cabin number was the only thing they wanted.  
 

Same at all bars, all restaurants, and all shops.  Cabin number.  
 

Medallion is a joke.  
 

edit to add:   Enchanted was out of stock of A LOT!  Many wines (we'd ask for one on the menu and it was always out of stock so they'd offer another), San Pellegrino was out at many bars, many whiskeys & bourbons were "last bottle on the ship".   They restocked a few things in St Thomas (Bombay Sapphire Gin was one) but the bartender told many of us that he ordered this and that but didn't receive it.  

Hopefully supplies improve.  
 

Also, if we were at the bar, heading to dinner we would ask for a cocktail and a wine to go and had no issue getting everything.   The bartenders would key it all in at once when they had a break between orders.  It was no problem to get and carry out two drinks.   

I am baffled. Anyone can say any cabin number. It is not like a Folio number which is different. Do people have issues with drinks being charged to their cabin that they did not receive? Do you sign a receipt, where you may add additional gratuities?

[memoak]

19 hours ago, DANCING GRANDMOMMY said:

You can have more than 15 alcoholic drinks per person if you pay for them? Not that I ever exceed 5 or 6 a day. But on Carnival even without the drink package you can not have more than 15 alcoholic beverages. I am assuming the soda, coffee, tea, juice and water are unlimited with the package, is that correct?

You can pay for more drinks after hitting 15 but only if the bar staff feels you are not falling down drunk. All non alcoholic drinks are unlimited 

[SNJCruisers]

29 minutes ago, DANCING GRANDMOMMY said:

 Do you sign a receipt, where you may add additional gratuities?

I would assume no.  You don't sign on Celebrity, NCL or MSC.  You do sign on Carnival.  I forget regarding RCI.  

The Medallion even with all of its flaws is the heart of doing away with pen and paper and turning towards electronically doing everything including drink count and opening your cabin door.

[CruisinFinsUp]

5 hours ago, DANCING GRANDMOMMY said:

I am baffled. Anyone can say any cabin number. It is not like a Folio number which is different. Do people have issues with drinks being charged to their cabin that they did not receive? Do you sign a receipt, where you may add additional gratuities?

They crew input the cabin number into their POS system, verified our identity (photo, names) then verified we had the drink package. 
 

My point is that the medallion was advertised as being the auto sensored way we would interact with bar staff - they would know who we were and what our preferred drink was before we sat down.  That was in the ads.  

in reality it is Not the case. The crew largely ignored the tablets with the faces of passengers in the vicinity of the bar. 
Instead they asked for our order and our cabin #. 
 

 

Edited April 3, 2022 by CruisinFinsUp

[MissP22]

5 hours ago, DANCING GRANDMOMMY said:

I am baffled. Anyone can say any cabin number. It is not like a Folio number which is different. Do people have issues with drinks being charged to their cabin that they did not receive? Do you sign a receipt, where you may add additional gratuities?

A lot of it is based on their memory.  Also if you give them a wrong number the correct face won't show on their screen.

[insidecabin]

17 hours ago, capriccio said:

Maybe.  I think the Medallion may be trying to correct two weaknesses with the 'ask the cabin number' routine because an incorrect cabin number may be given or heard and then charged.  We've had that happen in the pre-Medallion era.  With the Medallion at least the bartender or shop staff can compare the photo to the person doing the ordering/buying.  Also a paper receipt needs to be entered into the accounting system.  I have no idea if they are scanning them which would be preferable (faster, fewer data entry errors) than manual data entry. The latter may be what lead to so many issues in the past.

When they enter the cabin number the pictures of the cabin occupants come up on the POS, tablet or portable device.

On sky now the tablets on the stands at the bars have the pictures of those sat at the bar.

Whatever they use they can do the visual checks do you look like your security picture.

 

As to the question(on sky now) no problems ordering  2 from 1 or having multiple drinks each on an order.

No idea how close to the limit, sea days I have gone over 10 they may be just allocating them to each of us to keep away from the limit.

[skynight]

20 hours ago, DANCING GRANDMOMMY said:

I am baffled. Anyone can say any cabin number. It is not like a Folio number which is different. Do people have issues with drinks being charged to their cabin that they did not receive? Do you sign a receipt, where you may add additional gratuities?

No paper receipts. If you were to add an additional gratuity it would go into the pool. Best way to handle additional gratuities is cash.