Do you need the medallion to order drinks at the bar

[Oddsbet1029]

If you have Princess Plus, which includes the drink package, do you need to have the medallion with you to order drinks at the bar?

Thanks  

[gidewey52]

Room number . . . Medallions are worthless.

 

Jerry

[Bgwest]

Our experience has been that Medallions are decidedly NOT worthless as some naysayers would have you believe.  
 

That said, one can simply provide name and stateroom number to the server. 

[VibeGuy]

The medallion is helpful but certainly not required.  It does make things a bit easier on the bartender / server as they only have to glance at the screen to identify who belongs to what and where they’re seated. 

[FlaMariner]

The bartender asked us our cabin number and never asked for a medallion.  The Medallion was our room key only. 

 

(Sky cruise 3/12 thru 3/28)

[riffatsea]

It is really not a big deal

The medallion is the same as carrying your old room card

 

 

[Oddsbet1029]

Thanks for the quick replies!

[john watson]

19 minutes ago, riffatsea said:

 

The medallion is the same as carrying your old room card

 

 

I should say this is not an accurate statement.  With a medallion on your person the bar staff and drinks waiters know who you are, your drinks package status and where you are sitting.  When attending the bar they did not even ask me anything, just served the drinks. Often they knew what drink that was.  There seems to be an order history on their modules.  In the Vista Lounge on Sky Princess they had a team of drinks waiters who carried modules on which you had your orders recorded. They had illuminated units a separate team of drinks delivery waiters delivered the drinks but did not take orders. The only glitch was leaving a medallion in the cabin as that was where they wanted to deliver! When arriving at strategic points the guys knew a lot more than you would think and say "Good Evening Mr Watson".  This would be when entering restaurants, where they knew your booking also and passing bars near the medallion net station. The restaurant staff accepted variance to your regular booking without question and were very helpful.

 

Regards John

Edited April 20, 2022 by john watson

[wowzz]

If you don't have your Medallion with you, how will you get back into your cabin after your drink ?

[VibeGuy]

Bang loudly until my DH relents and opens the door, in my case. 

[wowzz]

3 minutes ago, VibeGuy said:

Bang loudly until my DH relents and opens the door, in my case. 

In my case, the door stays locked !

[FlaMariner]

2 hours ago, john watson said:

I should say this is not an accurate statement.  With a medallion on your person the bar staff and drinks waiters know who you are, your drinks package status and where you are sitting.  When attending the bar they did not even ask me anything, just served the drinks. Often they knew what drink that was.  There seems to be an order history on their modules.  In the Vista Lounge on Sky Princess they had a team of drinks waiters who carried modules on which you had your orders recorded. They had illuminated units a separate team of drinks delivery waiters delivered the drinks but did not take orders. The only glitch was leaving a medallion in the cabin as that was where they wanted to deliver! When arriving at strategic points the guys knew a lot more than you would think and say "Good Evening Mr Watson".  This would be when entering restaurants, where they knew your booking also and passing bars near the medallion net station. The restaurant staff accepted variance to your regular booking without question and were very helpful.

 

Regards John

 

This reads to me like what the sales folks who sold Princess the Medallion laid out.......None of this happened or was capable of happening on our Princess Sky cruise (3/12 thru 3/28).  That must be something to experience but alas, not for us on our "one and done" Princess cruise.  The Medallion worked just like the key card did...nothing more.

 

When you wanted a drink, you found a bar waiter and he asked for your cabin number.  When you entered the MDR restaurant at your reservation time, you had to scan your medallion and beg, plead for the same table you had yesterday.  When you looked at your app to try to make a reservation at Alfredos it does not exist so you needed to arrive at 11:35am for lunch.  No app to take your burger order so you stood in line.  It's like we cruised in some other universe from what you describe....but I like what you experienced...just wish it existed when we cruised Princess.  Incredible. 

[wowzz]

7 hours ago, FlaMariner said:

you had to scan your medallion and beg, plead for the same table you had yesterday.  When you looked at your app to try to make a reservation at Alfredos it does not exist so you needed to arrive at 11:35am for lunch.  No app to take your burger order so you stood in line.  

Alfredos does not allow reservations,  so you cannot blame the Medallion for that.  And the new Princess dining system does not allow you to book the same table every night -  you might not like the fact ,  but again, you cannot blame the Medallion per se.

We ordered drinks through the Medallion with no issue. And burgers can be ordered with the Medallion as well.

Personally we thought the Medallion was great. We have just returned from a cruise with a line that uses "old" technology.  It was awful - can't wait to get back to a Medallion cruise next month !

[VibeGuy]

Right?  I can’t imagine cruising without it on a mass-market line. 
 

It’s also entirely possible for the MDR managers to assign you to a specific table at a specific time with a specific server and have it show up in Dine My Way.  They did it for us without our even making a specific request. 

[john watson]

8 hours ago, FlaMariner said:

 

This reads to me like what the sales folks who sold Princess the Medallion laid out.......None of this happened or was capable of happening on our Princess Sky cruise (3/12 thru 3/28).  That must be something to experience but alas, not for us on our "one and done" Princess cruise.  The Medallion worked just like the key card did...nothing more.

 

 

We were on the sailing that followed on from this.  Things were not perfect by a long chalk. We waited in a queue for three and a half hours before we were allowed in the terminal.  Nobody was happy at all but we were mainly British so the queueing was a good conversation opportunity at the time or thereafter. They said a large number of people had contracted Covid (300?) and Port Authorities had called on a massive deep clean operation.  When we started the cruise the App worked but after two days it failed almost for the rest of the cruise.  The rest of the cruise the medallions worked fine.  These disclosed who you were etc.  I lost track of daughter at one point but if you login at a noticeboard and press "Find shipmates" you can locate people despite the App not working. The medallion was a great thing but when backed by the app even better but this was not happening on our latest cruise.

 

Regards John

[Lady Arwen]

5 hours ago, VibeGuy said:

Right?  I can’t imagine cruising without it on a mass-market line. 
 

It’s also entirely possible for the MDR managers to assign you to a specific table at a specific time with a specific server and have it show up in Dine My Way.  They did it for us without our even making a specific request. 

This made me smile.  We’ve been cruising for over 30 years without an app, without a Medallion and with basically zero technology.  It’s been wonderful!  I think people who haven’t had the pleasure of cruising without being tied to an app have missed out on the best part of being on a cruise……shutting off from the world and enjoying it.  We managed to make dining reservations,  get a drink from a bar and order take away food all by ourselves!  To each their own.

[VibeGuy]

*shrug*  I like getting a fruit plate and a beverage to my lounger by the lotus spa pool.   Drink service at that location (let alone a nosh) has been a historical weak point and nothing indicates Princess had any interest in addressing it (aside from adding the forward bar on Royal class ships with the Retreat pool branding, but it’s not the same).  The app enables a thing that makes my vacation better - and I say that as someone who has been cruising for over 40 years at this point. 
 

The app lets me deal with my near-carnal desire for chilled melon from the comfort of a reclined position.   I’m technically savvy enough to make sure the annoying real-world intrusions don’t make it in front of me while I’m on vacation. 

[wowzz]

29 minutes ago, Lady Arwen said:

 It’s been wonderful!  I think people who haven’t had the pleasure of cruising without being tied to an app have missed out on the best part of being on a cruise……shutting off from the world and enjoying

You can have the app and still be cut off from the outside world.  

[Lady Arwen]

12 minutes ago, wowzz said:

You can have the app and still be cut off from the outside world.  

Yes you can.  When it works and very often it does not.  My feet always work.  Before the Medallion, did you have someone trotting along behind you to fetch you a drink whenever you wanted one?  Doubt it.  You walked to a bar/restaurant all by yourself, right.  Was it so painful that you prayed for a device that would do this for you so you would never have to leave your lounge chair?  I prefer to just get things myself, but I guess that’s just me.

[wowzz]

6 minutes ago, Lady Arwen said:

Yes you can.  When it works and very often it does not.  My feet always work.  Before the Medallion, did you have someone trotting along behind you to fetch you a drink whenever you wanted one?  Doubt it.  You walked to a bar/restaurant all by yourself, right.  Was it so painful that you prayed for a device that would do this for you so you would never have to leave your lounge chair?  I prefer to just get things myself, but I guess that’s just me.

Well, it's a lot easier to order food and drink to be delivered to your location, rather than wandering around the ship with two drinks and plates of food, negotiating sun beds, running kids etc.

Having said that, if I just want a drink, I'll go to the bar and get my own, just like in the good old days !

[Lady Arwen]

20 minutes ago, wowzz said:

Well, it's a lot easier to order food and drink to be delivered to your location, rather than wandering around the ship with two drinks and plates of food, negotiating sun beds, running kids etc.

Having said that, if I just want a drink, I'll go to the bar and get my own, just like in the good old days !

Yes, all that wandering around the ship and avoiding the obstacle course was brutal!  How did we ever manage to enjoy ourselves?  Whew, glad that’s done with.

[cruzin4us]

Need?   No

Convenient?   Yes, when it works

 

My experience on the Majestic is this:    I usually carry around my iPhone because I use it for pictures, not because I'm texting/calling/internet browsing.   So, having my phone with me wasn't the issue.   Most of the time I could use the app to order drinks, but there were a few spots that I couldn't connect.   I found "usually" if I moved around a bit I got a signal.    Most of the time however it worked.   I noticed the farther I was from the center of the ship, the more difficulty I had getting a good connection.

 

The pros:   ordering drinks was awesome!   Being able to scan thru the drinks and finding new things to try was fun and I enjoyed this.   Ordering my cafe latte in the morning while lying in bed was terrific, my coffee arrived hot and was delivered extremely quickly.

 

The negative:   Finding a server when the app wasn't working.   Servers were far and few between (at least where I was sitting).

 

Overall:   I loved the medallion and the app.   I recently got off a HAL cruise and I kept thinking "I wish they had the medallion app on this cruise"