Does one HAVE to use the Medallion?

[wowzz]

4 hours ago, Phantom of the Seas said:

If you order 2 drinks at the bar do you need both medallions if you & partner have Plus or can you order with just 1 medallion the 2 drinks?

You  can order two drinks with a single Medallion.  No problem at all.

[wowzz]

2 hours ago, Megamixer said:

So we can just request a card from the desk?  Even if we have and use the medallion?  I've yet to sail on a ship with medallions and was a bit disappointed to find out I wouldn't get another key card to add to my collection.  I have every key card from 20+ years of cruising.

Out of interest, what do you do with all your key cards, other than let them gather dust and then be thrown away ?

[JimmyVWine]

12 hours ago, Anubi said:

Why does Princess need to know EXACTLY where we are on the ship? 

Princess isn’t really interested in where YOU are on the ship as much as they are interested in where passengers GENERALLY are on the ship. No one is sitting in a security booth watching your every move. They are collecting data in the aggregate. By the end of the cruise they might run a diagnostic to see which venues you visited and for how long. But no one on the ship is staking you out like you are a mob boss whose communications are being tapped. 

 

6 hours ago, Phantom of the Seas said:

If you order 2 drinks at the bar do you need both medallions if you & partner have Plus or can you order with just 1 medallion the 2 drinks?

You can tell the bartender that the second drink is for your traveling companion and they can look up their account and charge them. Sometimes they might want visual evidence that the other person is in the area and a point and a wave will suffice. Other times they don’t care. 

[Anubi]

12 minutes ago, JimmyVWine said:

Princess isn’t really interested in where YOU are on the ship as much as they are interested in where passengers GENERALLY are on the ship. No one is sitting in a security booth watching your every move. They are collecting data in the aggregate. By the end of the cruise they might run a diagnostic to see which venues you visited and for how long. But no one on the ship is staking you out like you are a mob boss whose communications are being tapped. 

 

Talking out of both sides of your mouth.  They want to know what I have done, where I have been, how long I been there.  They aren't interested in ME particularly no, but they are interested in what I have done.  That's tracking by any definition.  Perhaps its time to get an RDIF wallet and drop the little medallion in it.  

[JimmyVWine]

1 minute ago, Anubi said:

Talking out of both sides of your mouth.  They want to know what I have done, where I have been, how long I been there.  They aren't interested in ME particularly no, but they are interested in what I have done.  That's tracking by any definition.  Perhaps its time to get an RDIF wallet and drop the little medallion in it.  

Two different things. Yes, they want to know where you WERE. They aren’t tracking where you ARE. They can’t follow 3,500 people at the same time in real time. And they were already doing this and will still do it even if you use a card instead of a medallion. It just makes it more difficult. If you buy a drink at a bar and tap your card to pay, they have a record of which bar you went to, what time you were there and how much you spent. If you buy cologne at the Princess Shop tapping with your card, they know where you were, when you were there and how much you spent. Unless you use cash on board (which is impossible) you are leaving a digital trail at every venue where you spend money. The only difference with the medallion is that they might be able to see which venues you visited where you didn’t spend money.  It is mystifying why one would not care if Princess knew they went to the Outrigger Bar and bought a drink but would care if Princess knew that they went to the magic show and didn’t buy a drink.  Why does the latter bother you but the former does not?

[Anubi]

10 minutes ago, JimmyVWine said:

Two different things. Yes, they want to know where you WERE. They aren’t tracking where you ARE. They can’t follow 3,500 people at the same time in real time. And they were already doing this and will still do it even if you use a card instead of a medallion. It just makes it more difficult. If you buy a drink at a bar and tap your card to pay, they have a record of which bar you went to, what time you were there and how much you spent. If you buy cologne at the Princess Shop tapping with your card, they know where you were, when you were there and how much you spent. Unless you use cash on board (which is impossible) you are leaving a digital trail at every venue where you spend money. The only difference with the medallion is that they might be able to see which venues you visited where you didn’t spend money.  It is mystifying why one would not care if Princess knew they went to the Outrigger Bar and bought a drink but would care if Princess knew that they went to the magic show and didn’t buy a drink.  Why does the latter bother you but the former does not?

No, its the same thing.  We just don't agree on this.  I have my opinion and you have yours.  Leave it at that.  

[wowzz]

6 hours ago, JimmyVWine said:

You can tell the bartender that the second drink is for your traveling companion and they can look up their account and charge them.

They don't even do that.  With Princess Plus, everyone in the cabin has to purchase the package.  So, when the bartender inputs your order, the fact that you have PP  shows up, so there is no issue in ordering two drinks.

[MissP22]

11 hours ago, Musky Ike said:

My life is boring enough that I don't worry about being tracked. I am certainly no expert, but wouldn't the cruise card have also recorded where and when in the system each time you made a purchase, or maybe even opened your cabin door?

 

Of course it does but the medallion also keeps track of others you've come in contact with who might test positive for Covid as some point.

Whether this is a good point or not is debatable since you might get quarantined for just being close to someone who was later positive even though you might still be negative. 

I'm still undecided about it although it is easily defeatable. 

[JimmyVWine]

5 hours ago, wowzz said:

They don't even do that.  With Princess Plus, everyone in the cabin has to purchase the package.  So, when the bartender inputs your order, the fact that you have PP  shows up, so there is no issue in ordering two drinks.

But each person has their own 15 drink per day maximum.  So if that is an issue, you would want to draw down each persons' separately.  Also, if you travel with three adults in the cabin, the third does not necessarily have the package.  Or the person whom you claim is going to get the second drink could be a friend you met on board who doesn't have a package.  So you shouldn't be ordering two drinks, one for yourself, and one for the person who doesn't have the package.  I don't know if they follow the protocol to the letter, but they are supposed to identify the other person who will be receiving the second drink by sight, match their profile photo with the person they are physically seeing, and confirm that the drink shouldn't be charged.  Again, this is how the system was built out, but I don't really know if the bartenders so that.

[wowzz]

23 minutes ago, JimmyVWine said:

I don't know if they follow the protocol to the letter, but they are supposed to identify the other person who will be receiving the second drink by sight, match their profile photo with the person they are physically seeing, and confirm that the drink shouldn't be charged.

That certainly isn't what is happening,  and is obviously unworkable. 

Similarly,  if you order two drinks to your cabin, the server never checks to see if there are actually two people in the cabin at the time of delivery.  

[JimmyVWine]

52 minutes ago, wowzz said:

That certainly isn't what is happening,  and is obviously unworkable. 

I agree with the first part.  The second is debatable, but you are probably right that they have created rules that are easily circumvented.  In practice, it would take too much time to enforce and the servers/bartenders have no skin in the game as far as enforcement is concerned and don't need the aggravation of confrontation.  The Terms and Conditions clearly state that: "Packages may NOT be shared and are NON-transferable..."  So delivering two drinks to a person where one is going to be consumed by a person with a Package and the second will be consumed by someone who does not (a third guest who didn't buy a Package, or a friend who is visiting your cabin who does not have a Package) is certainly within the contemplation of enforcement, and the medallion system is supposed to be set up to verify who is who.  But nothing is perfect.  In the end, the 15 drink per person per 24 hour period is such that they probably don't care if there are irregularities.    

[wowzz]

9 minutes ago, JimmyVWine said:

In the end, the 15 drink per person per 24 hour period is such that they probably don't care if there are irregularities.    

I think that is the key point. Even at 15 alcoholic drinks a day, PP is profitable to Princess, so if the odd individual abuses the system, it is of little consequence. 

[MissP22]

2 hours ago, wowzz said:

I think that is the key point. Even at 15 alcoholic drinks a day, PP is profitable to Princess, so if the odd individual abuses the system, it is of little consequence. 

Among the people we sat with (trivia)  they were ordering drinks for others that didn't have the package each night since few of them came close to the 15 drink max. The servers don't care one way of the other since their tips accumulate on the total number of drinks served. 

[leck57]

9 hours ago, wowzz said:

That certainly isn't what is happening,  and is obviously unworkable. 

Similarly,  if you order two drinks to your cabin, the server never checks to see if there are actually two people in the cabin at the time of delivery.  

 

Correct, and on our recent cruise I ordered 4 beers (to be put in the fridge for later) and two wines to my cabin and they were all delivered no problems.

[Tiggerontheseas]

On 7/8/2022 at 12:02 PM, ontheweb said:

Third, why are there so many posts reflecting frustration with using the medallion if it is such a great invention? 

 

Honestly, I don't think that there are so many posts reflecting frustration with using the medallion unless they are blending it together with the app.   Almost all the complaining I read about concerns the medallion app features and has nothing to do with using the medallion at all which is just a glorified version of the cruise card.  Which I actually really LOVE, but I also love the Disney magic bands which are the same thing so I guess I was predisposed to happily have my little tracker open doors and pay for things without my having to do anything more than just stand there.  LOL!

 

[trbarton]

After reading many of the posts I see where some people are really upset with the Princess Medallion & the Medallion process. 
 

Knowing that Princess now uses the Medallion I wonder why these people people still want to cruise on Princess that are upset with the new process?

 

Tom😀

[wowzz]

7 hours ago, Tiggerontheseas said:

Honestly, I don't think that there are so many posts reflecting frustration with using the medallion unless they are blending it together with the app.   

Exactly. The Medallion works perfectly. The app has issues.

 

5 hours ago, trbarton said:

Knowing that Princess now uses the Medallion I wonder why these people people still want to cruise on Princess that are upset with the new process?

 

If people were happy to cruise with Princess before, there is no reason to stop cruising because of the app.  Don't use the app,  and your cruise experience will be the same as previously.

[caribill]

On 7/10/2022 at 7:08 AM, Anubi said:

I am a huge fan of NOT being tracked.  We have cruised since the 80's without being tracked and have always had a great time.  Other than marketing and possibly selling that information to third parties, what use does Princess have for it?  Why does Princess need to know EXACTLY where we are on the ship? 

 

o One feature of the tracking is (with the person's permission) you can locate someone who is traveling with you. For example, if your spouse is out and about on the ship and you need to meet him/her, the technology allows you to find the person.

 

o One Princess use is to locate people on disembarkation day who have not yet left the ship even though they should have.

[MissP22]

3 hours ago, caribill said:

o One feature of the tracking is (with the person's permission) you can locate someone who is traveling with you. For example, if your spouse is out and about on the ship and you need to meet him/her, the technology allows you to find the person.

This feature alone is worth using the Medallion. 

It beats leaving messages in the cabin by a long shot. 😉

[Z0nker]

We’ve been on two cruises that used the medallion. The device itself worked well during embarkation and onboard the ship. It’s a good system, better than a keycard. The OceanMedallion phone app was a little wonky both trips, but we managed. Being able to order drinks from anywhere was a treat, but hardly essential. 
 

You do need the app precruise to enter vaccination and passport data. If it doesn’t work right on your phone, try installing it on an iPad. And make sure you have the latest update (don’t be a dummy like me before our first voyage and suffer bugs that were already fixed). 

[Megamixer]

On 7/10/2022 at 4:04 PM, wowzz said:

Out of interest, what do you do with all your key cards, other than let them gather dust and then be thrown away ?

That's a good question 🙂  They're banded together in a drawer now.  Once I wanted to do a shadow box with the key card and the little ship magnet we also get above it.  But that was before I had so many.  Now it's just a matter of "I've always done it."  Sort of like keeping several thousand vinyl albums because I've had them for so long even though for the most part they've all been digitized.  

[YWW]

On 7/11/2022 at 5:48 PM, trbarton said:

After reading many of the posts I see where some people are really upset with the Princess Medallion & the Medallion process. 
 

Knowing that Princess now uses the Medallion I wonder why these people people still want to cruise on Princess that are upset with the new process?

 

Tom😀

Tom, we are so fed up with the Medallion Class app numerous issues that after our next two Princess cruises in August and September, we'll say goodbye to Princess despite the fact that we are Elite members. We take cruises to relax and to be away from stress and this Medallion Class app definitely is not what we want on a cruise. We first encountered problems with the Dine My Way feature in the MC app when we made dinner reservations at the desired time with private table at one of the main dining rooms. It asked "Reserve for the same time each day?" and we naively said yes. We thought that was easy and hassle free since it gave us a confirmation. Unfortunately that confirmation was a lie and we found out a week later no dinner reservations were made each day of our voyage except just the second day of the cruise. We called Princess customer service and talked to an expert on Dine My Way and he admitted there were issues with this app and one of them was the lack of warning to let the customers know only certain days were available. To make a long story short, the rep had to do it manually to reserve each day for us. If you have used the app to book your dinner reservation, double check it on your daily calendar to make sure your reservation is there.

 

Another "convenience" feature of this Medallion is to unlock your cabin door when you are 6 or 7 cabins away. My cousin and her aunt just came back from a Princess cruise and they were totally freaked out with this feature. Their cabin door was unlocked when they were walking towards to their cabin still a bit of distance away and one guest who apparently had a bit too much to drink was walking towards them in the hallway. When he heard my cousin's cabin door unlocked, he thought he had reached his own cabin and went right in. When they finally went in to their cabin, this guest had vomited over the floor and bed and passed out on the bed. My cousin had to call security to have him removed. She asked security whether there was a way to make the Medallion less sensitive and security said no. In their case they were so disgusted with this incident and it was very fortunate that it was not deliberate that Princess upgraded them to a mini suite plus they got room key card instead. Bottom line is this type of technology is too new and we are the guinea pigs. Another feature of this app that's not working is the "Arrival Group" where you get to choose your preferred arrival time. It works on and off but more frequently off. We don't need this type of technology to add complications to our lives.

[memoak]

Once onboard we only use the medallion not the app. Have not found any real use for the app once we have sailed

[MissP22]

2 hours ago, YWW said:

Tom, we are so fed up with the Medallion Class app numerous issues that after our next two Princess cruises in August and September, we'll say goodbye to Princess despite the fact that we are Elite members. We take cruises to relax and to be away from stress and this Medallion Class app definitely is not what we want on a cruise. We first encountered problems with the Dine My Way feature in the MC app when we made dinner reservations at the desired time with private table at one of the main dining rooms. It asked "Reserve for the same time each day?" and we naively said yes. We thought that was easy and hassle free since it gave us a confirmation. Unfortunately that confirmation was a lie and we found out a week later no dinner reservations were made each day of our voyage except just the second day of the cruise. We called Princess customer service and talked to an expert on Dine My Way and he admitted there were issues with this app and one of them was the lack of warning to let the customers know only certain days were available. To make a long story short, the rep had to do it manually to reserve each day for us. If you have used the app to book your dinner reservation, double check it on your daily calendar to make sure your reservation is there.

 

Another "convenience" feature of this Medallion is to unlock your cabin door when you are 6 or 7 cabins away. My cousin and her aunt just came back from a Princess cruise and they were totally freaked out with this feature. Their cabin door was unlocked when they were walking towards to their cabin still a bit of distance away and one guest who apparently had a bit too much to drink was walking towards them in the hallway. When he heard my cousin's cabin door unlocked, he thought he had reached his own cabin and went right in. When they finally went in to their cabin, this guest had vomited over the floor and bed and passed out on the bed. My cousin had to call security to have him removed. She asked security whether there was a way to make the Medallion less sensitive and security said no. In their case they were so disgusted with this incident and it was very fortunate that it was not deliberate that Princess upgraded them to a mini suite plus they got room key card instead. Bottom line is this type of technology is too new and we are the guinea pigs. Another feature of this app that's not working is the "Arrival Group" where you get to choose your preferred arrival time. It works on and off but more frequently off. We don't need this type of technology to add complications to our lives.

You aunt & cousin must be real slooooow walkers. LOL 😁😁

 

We've used the medallions on numerous cruises and have yet to find one problem with them on the ship. Every feature they claim works like a charm. 

[leck57]

44 minutes ago, MissP22 said:

You aunt & cousin must be real slooooow walkers. LOL 😁😁

 

 

 

Yes, I was thinking that as well. A little stretching of the truth with that story.