Can you request a cruise card if you don't want to use the medallion?

[hapster85]

On 11/23/2022 at 12:17 AM, skidroe said:

Not every one can use an Medallion, my wife has a pacemaker and it is NOT recommended  for her.

I go by what my wife's heart doctor says.

Do what you feel comfortable with, of course, but it would be the RFID reader, rather than the device with the RFID chip, that would be the source of possible electromagnet interference. Changing to a card will not remove the reader that is controlling your cabin door, or any other location that scans the medallions. 😉

[NownZen]

2 minutes ago, hapster85 said:

Do what you feel comfortable with, of course, but it would be the RFID reader, rather than the device with the RFID chip, that would be the source of possible electromagnet interference. Changing to a card will not remove the reader that is controlling your cabin door, or any other location that scans the medallions. 😉

The card reader has a range of a couple of inches at most. It would be hard to get close enough to have an effect on the pacemaker.  The bluetooth is the only longer range  part of the medallion (that is what unlocks the door as you approach) but everyone already has that in their phones and the level is too low to cause a problem.

The thing they might be warning about is the magnets in the medallion. Those are used to hold it in the wrist bands and on your refrigerator afterwards.  I do not know what a safe distance for that is.

[hapster85]

21 minutes ago, NownZen said:

The card reader has a range of a couple of inches at most. It would be hard to get close enough to have an effect on the pacemaker.  The bluetooth is the only longer range  part of the medallion (that is what unlocks the door as you approach) but everyone already has that in their phones and the level is too low to cause a problem.

The thing they might be warning about is the magnets in the medallion. Those are used to hold it in the wrist bands and on your refrigerator afterwards.  I do not know what a safe distance for that is.

Had not realized the medallions also had a Bluetooth component. I thought they were strictly RFID. Interesting. 🤔

[NownZen]

40 minutes ago, hapster85 said:

Had not realized the medallions also had a Bluetooth component. I thought they were strictly RFID. Interesting. 🤔

If you put your phone on settings and look for bluetooth devices, you will see SEOS. That is why there is a battery inside and why they do not send the medallions out too far in advance. I had one go dead on a cruise.

The only way to get the range is with bluetooth. This is where the tracking is done for locating ship mates. An interesting thing to is to look at you in the locate function and you can see which way the medallion is pointed. As you rotate it, the symbol will also rotate. Also being bluetooth the signal can get shielded fairly easily. If you put it on a lanyard and have it next to your chest, it may not work for location. That may be why we had poor luck in getting anything delivered. The people who reported that drinks were delivered to their rooms when they were not there was probably because it used the last reported location for the delivery.

If you download NFCtools you can read the medallion. It shows up as a Mifare Plus with a 7 byte CSN.

 

 

[Roberto256]

7 hours ago, Torfamm said:

I am pretty sure that today’s key cards use RFID technology not magnetic stripes. The Medallion also uses it 

Thanks.

[Roberto256]

On 11/23/2022 at 3:49 PM, Doug R. said:

I got no "targeted" advertising on my last two cruises with the medallion. 

 

I believe you.    Even if princess wanted to do this, I doubt they could pull it off.

 

If people want to do things to protect themselves ... go for it!

If people want to do nothing ... go for it!

 

What others do doesn't affect me.

 

A few years ago, there was a lot of advertising like this:

 

 

People took him up on it!

 

His identity was stolen at least 13 times.

 

https://www.wired.com/2010/05/lifelock-identity-theft/

 

https://www.wired.com/2010/03/lifelock-accused-of-running-con-operation/

 

If only he had had an aluminum foil hat!

 

 

 

[The Greater Fool]

I have a pacemaker and have never been bothered by the Medallion or other similar devices which seem ever so common these days.  The Medallion is the same technology that allows me into my office every day.  Maybe I can parley the life-threatening nature of the technology into working from home somehow.  Yeah, I think it just might work.

 

My problem with the Medallion is that it's size makes swallowing it problematic.  Of course, regardless of the size, swallowing it the first time is a whole lot easier than swallowing it the second time.  The things we endure when we embrace technology.

 

Now that I ponder it, since our Covid shots make us magnetic, I can just place the Medallion on my forehead and it should stay in place throughout the cruise without worry.  If my status isn't high enough I can place it more discretely, perhaps on a butt cheek.  I wonder if this was planned or it's just a happy accident?

 

[cr8tiv1]

18 minutes ago, The Greater Fool said:

Now that I ponder it, since our Covid shots make us magnetic, I can just place the Medallion on my forehead and it should stay in place throughout the cruise without worry.

 

Perfecto!

[MissP22]

16 hours ago, tipofthehook said:

Hate the discrimination against Canadians, UK, NZ, Australia and any other nationality than US residents. ‘Line up and get yer damn device at the dock’ as a lowlife after paying thousands of dollars. Princess should go back to the key cards and be all inclusive treating everyone with equal terms and conditions again or send the medallions out to EVERYONE regardless of nationality, race or creed. 
 

I agree that they should ship Medallions everywhere but even with the larger numbers now being shipped out it, means a shorter lineup at the terminal for those that have to pick them up.

[PaperSniper4]

16 hours ago, NownZen said:

If you put your phone on settings and look for bluetooth devices, you will see SEOS. That is why there is a battery inside and why they do not send the medallions out too far in advance. I had one go dead on a cruise.

The only way to get the range is with bluetooth. This is where the tracking is done for locating ship mates. An interesting thing to is to look at you in the locate function and you can see which way the medallion is pointed. As you rotate it, the symbol will also rotate. Also being bluetooth the signal can get shielded fairly easily. If you put it on a lanyard and have it next to your chest, it may not work for location. That may be why we had poor luck in getting anything delivered. The people who reported that drinks were delivered to their rooms when they were not there was probably because it used the last reported location for the delivery.

If you download NFCtools you can read the medallion. It shows up as a Mifare Plus with a 7 byte CSN.

 

 

It amazes me what a great source of information is CruiseCritic. I learn something new everyday. Often it's of the "trivial pursuit" variety, but it's information nonetheless. No offense intended, I like learning new things, painful as it is at times!😎

 

 Doug

[NownZen]

8 hours ago, MissP22 said:

I agree that they should ship Medallions everywhere but even with the larger numbers now being shipped out it, means a shorter lineup at the terminal for those that have to pick them up.

As I posted before, they cannot just ship the Medallions to places where they do not have government approval for the bluetooth interface.  That can be a real nuisance since the harmonics fall into some sensitive frequency bands. Mailing them to only US addresses is simpler.

If you are having trouble sleeping you might read patent number US10,304,271 which describes in detail the Medallion contents and functions. Particularly look at figure 6 which is a block diagram of the functions in the Medallion. Notice also that John Padgett is listed as the inventor.

[VibeGuy]

The medallion magnet is several orders less powerful than a pacemaker device control magnet, but it’s literally not worth finding out.  It’s too easy to slip it into a breast pocket or around your neck.  
 

What makes the Medallion a particular regulatory nightmare is that it is always awake and transmitting from the moment the battery is installed at the factory.  So it’s not just offering a device for sale which *might* emit RF in a band with regulatory impacts - for its entire life, it emits said energy.   
 

Some customs broker somewhere must have an incredible song and dance routine. 

[beg3yrs]

8 hours ago, VibeGuy said:

......
What makes the Medallion a particular regulatory nightmare is that it is always awake and transmitting from the moment the battery is installed at the factory.  So it’s not just offering a device for sale which *might* emit RF in a band with regulatory impacts - for its entire life, it emits said energy.   
.....

I haven't read the patent but ... as a retired electrical engineer I'd submit that a design where this device is always transmitting is very poor indeed. Rather a device which has to depend on a battery should always be in listening mode as a receiver has much less drain on a battery than a transmitter. In listening mode, once an appropriate signal is detected (like a ping), then the transmitter could be activated to respond with the chip ID.

 

[NownZen]

3 hours ago, beg3yrs said:

I haven't read the patent but ... as a retired electrical engineer I'd submit that a design where this device is always transmitting is very poor indeed. Rather a device which has to depend on a battery should always be in listening mode as a receiver has much less drain on a battery than a transmitter. In listening mode, once an appropriate signal is detected (like a ping), then the transmitter could be activated to respond with the chip ID.

 

The Medallions do run in listener mode but that still uses power even with BLE. A hotel chain had an issue with the lock bluetooth batteries running down near the elevator as they got pinged by everyone that went down the hall.  If I am board on a sea day, maybe I will walk up and down the corridor to see if I can run down the battery in my medallion. It would still work for the door (up close) and the bars but tracking would no longer work. That way, except for my breath, my wife will not know that I am not in the gym.

[CruiseVA]

On 11/22/2022 at 11:03 PM, Sprocket said:

Until they got demagnetized 🤔

My wife's keycard was constantly getting demagnetized.  At least they're NFC cards now. 

[VibeGuy]

Sorry, I should have been clearer.  I did not mean to imply constant BT beaconing.  I meant that the device always emits RF by being a powered-on electronic device.   While any one Medallion hopefully isn’t much of an emitter when the radio is off, some jurisdictions get very upset about unregistered devices emitting any detectable RF just from a microcontroller, for example. 

 

[NownZen]

31 minutes ago, VibeGuy said:

Sorry, I should have been clearer.  I did not mean to imply constant BT beaconing.  I meant that the device always emits RF by being a powered-on electronic device.   While any one Medallion hopefully isn’t much of an emitter when the radio is off, some jurisdictions get very upset about unregistered devices emitting any detectable RF just from a microcontroller, for example. 

 

The approvals are done under FCC part 15. One part of the testing is for the unintentional radiation. From something as low powered as the medallion, there is very little clock emissions. I just put one on the spectrum analyzer and could not see anything above the noise floor.

The bluetooth circuitry is an intentional radiator and the testing is much more complicated but it is BLE and done on a low duty cycle so not much power is emitted there.

[Thrak]

According to this post you likely won't be able to get a cruise card.

 

 

[VibeGuy]

Even with FCC registration they’d still need registrations in every jurisdiction where the device is offered in commerce.  There’s no upside to shipping them directly to non-US passengers and a world of regulatory and documentary hassle. 

[ontheweb]

10 minutes ago, Thrak said:

According to this post you likely won't be able to get a cruise card.

 

 

What if someone claimed they had a pacemaker and their doctor said to absolutely not have the Medallion, would they still refuse a card and risk a major, major lawsuit?

[NownZen]

35 minutes ago, Thrak said:

According to this post you likely won't be able to get a cruise card.

 

 

This was from a disgruntled passenger who did not seem to understand the difference between the medallion and the app.

He provides no details on the alleged refusal. They were giving them out at the PSD a couple of months ago. Has anyone else been refused a card?

[VibeGuy]

The crew access is all with the cards, as well. 
 

The First Ventilation Officer on Ruby might still be looking for his. . .  

[Thrak]

1 hour ago, NownZen said:

This was from a disgruntled passenger who did not seem to understand the difference between the medallion and the app.

He provides no details on the alleged refusal. They were giving them out at the PSD a couple of months ago. Has anyone else been refused a card?

 

He does seem to have issues that don't agree with my experience. Hopefully he will be happier on his new cruise lines.

[beg3yrs]

3 hours ago, VibeGuy said:

The crew access is all with the cards, as well.

....

Not sure why you say this when I see much of the staff running around with medallions attached to their uniforms.

[VibeGuy]

Because I literally have an officer’s NFC card, and the steward who has let me in to my cabin has used a card.   The medallions have a service life of about four weeks onboard, and that starts adding up to a lot of ewaste to manage.