Get ready for Ocean Medallion Class™

Great trivia question! I don't know the answer for sure, and a quick Google search didn't come up with it, but I do know the very first Princess ship back in the '60s was the Princess Patricia. So that would be my guess for the PP designation.

I think you've got a much better answer than I did ... :eek:

Just so you know... the abbreviation for Pacific Princess is PA. Not sure why. Perhaps there used to be another ship with the designation of PP. (It actually fits me as Portly Passenger.) More experienced folks likely know the reason. :)

 

We are also happy to hear that Princess will be keeping Pacific Princess for a while as we have yet to sail on her and have heard so many good things about the ship.

More than likely, the original Pacific Princess was designated as PP.

More than likely, the original Pacific Princess was designated as PP.

I doubt that. They tend to keep the same designation as new ships with the same name come into the fleet.

I realize times change, and ships are larger. But, as I recall, it wasn't completely an honor system even back then. I believe there were printouts of names and cabin #s kept at points of sale so staff could verify you were who you said you were. Or you showed them your brass key with your cabin # etched on it. Of course on smaller ships, after a few days the staff knew the regulars at the bars and lounges by name anyway. Not that I would know this :).

We stopped by IC on Coral Princess the first day of a 17 day cruise. From that day on I was greeted by name each time I stopped or often when I just walked past. The bartenders in both Wheelhouse and Explorer's were equally good. They didn't know my name but, if I walked in and approached the bar, they asked if I wanted my usual. Princess staff is good. :)

We stopped by IC on Coral Princess the first day of a 17 day cruise. From that day on I was greeted by name each time I stopped or often when I just walked past. The bartenders in both Wheelhouse and Explorer's were equally good. They didn't know my name but, if I walked in and approached the bar, they asked if I wanted my usual. Princess staff is good. :)

And it feels even better when you get to see again the same bartenders and bar staff, and greet you the same way as before on the new sailing, even on a different ship. Happens to us often.:)

And it feels even better when you get to see again the same bartenders and bar staff, and greet you the same way as before on the new sailing, even on a different ship. Happens to us often.:)

We have had a cabin steward greet us by name six months after we had him as our steward even though he was not our steward on the newer voyage.

We have had a cabin steward greet us by name six months after we had him as our steward even though he was not our steward on the newer voyage.

We had a bar tender last year, and 12 months prior (on a different ship) Mrs Gut went to bar he says "She'll have a large Diet Coke plenty of ice, no straw, it'll be for her husband" absolutely spot on, and not even for her, for me.

Blew us away.

:)

You seem to have some knowledge about the RFID Medallions.

How will they link the photo's back to an individual's Medallion?:confused:

I'm thinking possibly by retinal scan since they'll have your photo at embarkation.

You seem to have some knowledge about the RFID Medallions.

How will they link the photo's back to an individual's Medallion?:confused:

I'm thinking possibly by retinal scan since they'll have your photo at embarkation.

Retinal scan? Really? Just where is the hardware required to perform a retinal scan shown anywhere in the marketing information?

It's real simple. The passenger's photo is supplied by the passenger via the personalizer on the web before boarding the ship. This photo is stored in the ship's computer system before sailing and associated with the unique encrypted ID of the medallion issued to the passenger. When the medallion is interrogated by the ship's system, it is simple to pull up the stored photo for verification BY A HUMAN.

If the passenger doesn't submit a photo ahead of time, one is taken at embarkation and entered into the ship's computer system.

Retinal scan? Really? Just where is the hardware required to perform a retinal scan shown anywhere in the marketing information?

 

They didn't mention it.

 

It's real simple. The passenger's photo is supplied by the passenger via the personalizer on the web before boarding the ship. This photo is stored in the ship's computer system before sailing and associated with the unique encrypted ID of the medallion issued to the passenger. When the medallion is interrogated by the ship's system, it is simple to pull up the stored photo for verification BY A HUMAN.

It still has to be linked to the Medallion in some way.

 

If the passenger doesn't submit a photo ahead of time, one is taken at embarkation and entered into the ship's computer system.

Retinal scans are being used by everyone today. Even my simple computer has the ability to pull down photo's based on it.

How else could the numerous photo's being shot be linked back to any individual without it? The photograph's are certainly not going to keep track of people as they shoot pictures.

Retinal scans are being used by everyone today. Even my simple computer has the ability to pull down photo's based on it.

 

How else could the numerous photo's being shot be linked back to any individual without it? The photograph's are certainly not going to keep track of people as they shoot pictures.

Maybe it's just linked too the medallion, which is linked to your name? Like when you go to Disneyland and review your photos through Photopass? If you've registered your card with photopass you can loose it and still have access to those photos

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Or like on celebrity they swipe your cruise card or scan the barcode before they take your pictures. Then you can either hunt for the paper ones ir view them on a kiosk. So if the photographers equipment can be linked to the medallion it will know who is there and link it. I believe even regal princess already had something like this when we were on her in 2015. I remember swiping our card in a kiosk in the photo area and saw some pics. ..then if we liked them we hunted them down and put them with our other ones.

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Maybe it's just linked too the medallion, which is linked to your name? Like when you go to Disneyland and review your photos through Photopass? If you've registered your card with photopass you can loose it and still have access to those photos

 

 

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OK, sounds logical but I guess I don't understand what or how the Photopass system works?

How can an individual photo shot by a photographer be linked to me?

I'm missing something. :confused:

Or like on celebrity they swipe your cruise card or scan the barcode before they take your pictures. Then you can either hunt for the paper ones ir view them on a kiosk. So if the photographers equipment can be linked to the medallion it will know who is there and link it. I believe even regal princess already had something like this when we were on her in 2015. I remember swiping our card in a kiosk in the photo area and saw some pics. ..then if we liked them we hunted them down and put them with our other ones.

 

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I was typing as you posted. :D

I didn't realize the photographers were swiping the cruise cards. (We haven't bought photo's in a long time)

It should make it much easier with the Medallions.

Thanks

I sincerely doubt Princess is using a retinal scan. I agree that the photographer will simply need to associate the photo with your medallion ID.

I was typing as you posted. :D

I didn't realize the photographers were swiping the cruise cards. (We haven't bought photo's in a long time)

It should make it much easier with the Medallions.

Thanks

We have never had our card swiped for a photo. Perhaps on Royal and Regal with the newer technology but we haven't sailed on the new ships yet.

Um no. The resolution from a basic facial image taken by a pc webcam does not even have close to that kind of resolution and also, retinal scans use mostly infrared lasers for max definition.

Now, with a closeup image of the eye you could do an iris recognition scan but that's not the same thing. Also, generally speaking the practical range without specialized equipment is less than 2 meters and requires no additional light like a photo flash.

What the ships use is facial recognition, which takes things like the bone structure, distance between eyes, distance between ears and other metrics to generate a numerical identifier. Similar tech is used by things like google image compare but with different metrics and a lot more processing power than a ship will have on board.

Retinal scans are being used by everyone today. Even my simple computer has the ability to pull down photo's based on it.

How else could the numerous photo's being shot be linked back to any individual without it? The photograph's are certainly not going to keep track of people as they shoot pictures.

I just posted this in the "Disabling Ocean Medallion" thread and am reposting it here.

==========================

There is further information on the Princess site. I suggest reading this Princess release. It is a .pdf file about the medallion.

http://www.princess.com/downloads/pdf/ships-and-experience/ocean-medallion-class/ocean-medallion-class-guide.pdf

I did a search of the document for the word "card". It is mentioned in 3 places. The 3 instances are listed below:

1. Allows you to access your stateroom as you approach the door

(no keycard required)

2. Enables you to purchase merchandise without any

transaction, cards or paper

3. The Ocean Medallion will speed up embarkation as travel documentation will be added to the guest profile in advance along with other preferences provided by guests ahead of time. The Ocean Medallion will also unlock the guests’ stateroom door — replacing the key card and its sign & sail function.

Um no. The resolution from a basic facial image taken by a pc webcam does not even have close to that kind of resolution and also, retinal scans use mostly infrared lasers for max definition.

 

Now, with a closeup image of the eye you could do an iris recognition scan but that's not the same thing. Also, generally speaking the practical range without specialized equipment is less than 2 meters and requires no additional light like a photo flash.

 

What the ships use is facial recognition, which takes things like the bone structure, distance between eyes, distance between ears and other metrics to generate a numerical identifier. Similar tech is used by things like google image compare but with different metrics and a lot more processing power than a ship will have on board.

Thanks. All this time I though it was retinal.

We have never had our card swiped for a photo. Perhaps on Royal and Regal with the newer technology but we haven't sailed on the new ships yet.

Uh, I believe he is talking about when they scan your cruise card and take your photo when you first get on the ship not when they take the photos for resale.

Tom

How many times does it have to be stated in this thread that nothing but a unique ID is stored on the medallion. Everything about every passenger including the medallion ID is stored in a database including the photograph which is uploaded prior to the cruise by the passenger or taken at check in time.

Because the unique ID is stored in the medallion and the database the data for any passenger is accessed by scanning their medallion for it's ID. There is nothing new about this, it is happening now with your cruise card, the folio number is the current unique ID. When your cruise card gets corrupted it won't open your cabin door but you can get a drink at the bar because the scanner on the cash register won't read the card either but the steward will then manually enter you folio number which brings up you account details including the display of the photo taken at check in.

The cruise card and the medallion are merely keys to data held in the database.

How many times does it have to be stated in this thread that nothing but a unique ID is stored on the medallion.

For 16.5 years I explained to a woman at work, twice each year, about using the address bar in her browser instead of putting a known address into the Google search bar. Each time she acted very confused and surprised and once even shouted at me (this was early in the 16th year) that "Nobody ever told me that before!". Yeah, right. Of course I had to just be polite and work with her as it was part of my job to be nice to people no matter how snotty they were and I wasn't allowed to beat them or anything of that sort. :rolleyes:

You will find that it doesn't really matter how many times it is stated here. People will continue to freak about the medallion "storing their info" and someone else "hacking the medallion and getting their info" or "stealing their identity if they lose the medallion" or some other bizarre thing. The fact that there is absolutely nothing stored on the medallion but the unique identifier used by Princess is irrelevant. All one can do is to try to get them to understand and, if it doesn't work, it really isn't going to make much of a difference.

The people in a flap about their privacy and being "tracked" had best not ever visit London as they will be on CCTV almost everywhere they go.

Uh, I believe he is talking about when they scan your cruise card and take your photo when you first get on the ship not when they take the photos for resale.

 

Tom

No i was speaking of when we were on the celebrity summit in 2016 the photographers had laptops when doing the background photos and slid your card like a charge card and then the roving photographers or the ones at port had a scanner attached to the camera and scanned the barcode . Did it always work. ..no but about 90%of our photos were in the kiosk. Now on regal princess i believe they used the facial recognition as me nor dh remember them scanning or swiping the cards...now with the medallion i am sure they would just have some tech added to the camera to read the medallion and then link the photos that way.

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For 16.5 years I explained to a woman at work, twice each year, about using the address bar in her browser instead of putting a known address into the Google search bar. Each time she acted very confused and surprised and once even shouted at me (this was early in the 16th year) that "Nobody ever told me that before!". Yeah, right. Of course I had to just be polite and work with her as it was part of my job to be nice to people no matter how snotty they were and I wasn't allowed to beat them or anything of that sort. :rolleyes:

 

You will find that it doesn't really matter how many times it is stated here. People will continue to freak about the medallion "storing their info" and someone else "hacking the medallion and getting their info" or "stealing their identity if they lose the medallion" or some other bizarre thing. The fact that there is absolutely nothing stored on the medallion but the unique identifier used by Princess is irrelevant. All one can do is to try to get them to understand and, if it doesn't work, it really isn't going to make much of a difference.

 

The people in a flap about their privacy and being "tracked" had best not ever visit London as they will be on CCTV almost everywhere they go.

True. You remind me of a (recently thought to be) reliable source stating that you should keep your hotel key cards and destroy them at home because all your credit card data and personal info are stored there! BS! All your hotel key card has is a temporarily unique number that your room lock can relate. Nothing else.

True. You remind me of a (recently thought to be) reliable source stating that you should keep your hotel key cards and destroy them at home because all your credit card data and personal info are stored there! BS! All your hotel key card has is a temporarily unique number that your room lock can relate. Nothing else.

OK. Now that is hilarious.

Back when I first wangled an Internet account through the local university there was no graphical interface. It was all Unix. Someone I know came over and was checking it out and asked how I knew where in the heck I "was" on the Internet. I told him to look at the end of the URL. I went to nic.funet.fi and told him the fi was for Finland. Next I went to a site that ended in "ru". When I told him it was in Russia he freaked out, said the CIA would be breaking down my door any minute, and fled. He was totally freaked out.

It's amazing what people believe.