Wellieh

Thanks for your confirmation.

I'll be taking on a Celebrity cruise in Sep and planning to book flight now.  Celebrity Edge will return Civitavecchia port at 5:00 am as per schedule.  Understand that it will take an hour for a cab from Civitavecchia to Rome Fiumicino (FCO ) airport.  Can someone confirm if it is save to book a 11:35 am departure international flight ?

Completed a 2 weeks Southern Caribbean cruise on Caribbean Princess which is an Ocean Medallion class ship.  It was a technology I was looking forward to since I heard of it a few years ago.  I was so glad that I had an opportunity to experience it on Caribbean Princess.  Here is 2 cents worth of our experience and findings.

1 - Our terminal check-in was a breeze, it took only a few mins.  Once we presented our Xpress Pass, we were presented with a small package which contains an Ocean Medallion token which is approx half size of a wallet with our name on it as well as the regular Sail Pass.  What is good about it that it also comes with a carrying plastic pouch and strap to hang around our neck.

2 - Each stateroom is equipped with a small screen approx 7x4".  Once we are close to the stateroom, it displays the guests photo and an animated door unlocked as it is shown by the green light above the door.

      *** Concern:  We did a number of testing, we noticed,regardless which direction we approach the stateroom, the door lock was unlocked even when we are 8+ feet away from the stateroom door.  Our concern (as other guests have the same view) that it is a potential security risk as someone who is closer to the door can enter the stateroom BEFORE us. You can image a number of scenarios of risks.

     *** I provided a suggestion while onboard to improve this by unlocking the door ONLY when the guest is just 2-3 feet from the door but NOT further away.

3 - You can basically use the Medallion token for anything from opening the door to pay bill, play game, casino and purchase at store.

4 - There is a feature allowing you to look for your partner by logging in any of the station and then click "My Partner", it shows location where is your partner.   I tested it with my wife and it works but with delay if my partner is moving.

5 - Medallion.Net onboard works well only if it stays connected and properly disconnected (logout).  Otherwise, you'll loose all your internet time.  This happened to me as I lost connection and did not realized that it did not log me off. This results in lost of my remaining 100 minis.  After reporting it to my Internet Manager, he restored my balance mins.

     *** I suggested to the Internet Manager that there should be a 2-3 minutes auto log off when detected in-activities.

My overall experience is very positive of this Ocean Medallion deployment, I fully understanding that this is a teething time for this technology and I'll sure it'll thrive once iron out all the bugs and issue.

Great job Ocean Medallion team