Ocean Medallions Vacation Update Direct From Princess

[Near PDX]

We’re taking a b2b in Nov ‘18 with first leg on Royal and second on Crown. We received the letter that the Royal probably would not have *****. But have not heard anything about the Crown. And its Nov ‘18 cruises are still being marketed as ***** vacations.

 

What’s the story about the Crown.

[BGabel]

We will be on Regal in February. Do you find out prior to arriving at check in whether you will have ***** or not?

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

[riclop]

Not a big deal.

[whirledpeas]

I will tell you it was a nice thing once it was finally working well on our sailing to not have to fumble to the door to open it when coming back from the IC with coffee. You still had to press down on the door handle but at least you didn't have to get your card out, put it in the door slot and then open the door.

 

hi there! was this on the Regal? Wait, are you still onboard? December 22? That was two days ago. i have hope!

[ssbeagle]

I heard something about people with pacemakers can't use the medallion. Is that true?

[floridalover5623]

I heard something about people with pacemakers can't use the medallion. Is that true?

No it's not

[azbirdmom]

How quickly did the door respond when approaching?

 

It happened when I was a few steps from the door. There would be an access granted message on the iPad-like thingy on the wall and then a green light would appear on the door. Sometimes there was a few second delay between the two but it worked pretty well most of the time.

[satxdiver]

Is the ipad like thingy similar to the thingy pax use to exit the ship on a port call? Just wondering. :D:D:D

[floridalover5623]

It happened when I was a few steps from the door. There would be an access granted message on the iPad-like thingy on the wall and then a green light would appear on the door. Sometimes there was a few second delay between the two but it worked pretty well most of the time.

Good to hear ! :D

It can't be installed fast enough for me on all the ships.

Makes it so convenient.

[latserrof]

Marketing is always full of BS. .

 

Unfortunately, a lot of folks bought the hype. And continue to do so.We may see even more Princess backpedaling as new problems surface.

[Todd320]

It happened when I was a few steps from the door. There would be an access granted message on the iPad-like thingy on the wall and then a green light would appear on the door. Sometimes there was a few second delay between the two but it worked pretty well most of the time.

 

What is your feeling on ***** regarding the Regal as I know you just got off. Are they continuing to increase the number of cabins. How was embarkation different. You had perviously mentioned things that worked but what if anything did not work?

 

Thank You!

Edited December 26, 2017 by Todd320

[expom]

We’re taking a b2b in Nov ‘18 with first leg on Royal and second on Crown. We received the letter that the Royal probably would not have *****. But have not heard anything about the Crown. And its Nov ‘18 cruises are still being marketed as ***** vacations.

 

What’s the story about the Crown.

 

Have been following the threads regarding the *****. Amazing that you are booked on the Royal in Nov 2018 and have received an advice already. We are booked on Royal May 2018 and have not heard a thing!! Nothing like keeping ALL booked passengers fully informed.

[expom]

I have been reading in amazement that booked passengers have been receiving notifications from Princess that their booked cruise will NOT have the Ocean Medallion. Why am I amazed? The postings all appear to be from folks in the US, the email from Princess came from the North America Sales, and us folks here in good old Australia who are booked on the Ocean Medallion cruises have heard nothing about this. We most certainly have received no advice whatsoever.

 

The Big Question is : Why have Princess made the decision to advise some of the booked passengers and not ALL of the booked passengers on the affected cruises?

[Lucky TGO]

Unfortunately, a lot of folks bought the hype. And continue to do so.We may see even more Princess backpedaling as new problems surface.

 

I totally agree with you. I only have one question if I walk up to the door will it open or just unlock and I still have to open it with my hans full.:o:o:o

The Captain of The Rowboat,

Tony

[ceilidh1]

Have been following the threads regarding the *****. Amazing that you are booked on the Royal in Nov 2018 and have received an advice already. We are booked on Royal May 2018 and have not heard a thing!! Nothing like keeping ALL booked passengers fully informed.

 

I am booked on Royal in March 2019 and received a notification that ***** would not be onboard!

WOW!

 

 

 

 

We look forward to welcoming you aboard Royal Princess for your upcoming cruise. It’s sure to be a memorable vacation that will leave you with lifelong memories to treasure. In anticipation, we wanted to provide you with some updates, news and opportunities regarding your voyage:

1) Ocean Medallion TM

 

The creation of Ocean Medallion Vacations is an all-encompassing project that is currently being activated onboard another Princess ship. We had hoped to have it launched in time for your cruise aboard Royal Princess. However, we have identified refinements and enhancements that require more time for us to fully realize our aspirations to elevate the guest experience by way of this new technology. We hope you’ll experience Ocean Medallion on a future cruise with Princess. We apologize for any disappointment this news may cause for you.

[mthomp5]

We also received notification that our cruise on the Royal (April 2019) will not be ***** like originally planned. We received our notification in mid December.

 

Must be a bigger project than they thought to anticipate it not being available in Spring 2019! More than a year later than the planned ***** launch on the Royal (was supposed to be January 2018).

[beauty1492]

Oh No that awful. We want to try so bad , I had hopes to have on the Regal in Nov. lets hope

[Thrak]

We’re taking a b2b in Nov ‘18 with first leg on Royal and second on Crown. We received the letter that the Royal probably would not have *****. But have not heard anything about the Crown. And its Nov ‘18 cruises are still being marketed as ***** vacations.

 

What’s the story about the Crown.

 

Not a chance in the world that Crown will have the Medallion technology when you cruise.

[mamaboss]

And I'm guessing no chance for Island Princess in Feb. 2019. Luckily not why I booked it. It would be nice to dabble with it but I don't care one way or the other.

[AF-1]

Have you ever heard the saying; "It looks good on paper". The engineers and IT department put this program together and did computer models of how it should work. This was all done on paper or in this case computer software. Then when trying to implement in live scenario's it didn't work. Trial and error. Yes the program will work; it was oversold; but give it time and within 18 months it should be ready to roll on all the ships; or at least that is the intention. People who have been to Disney know how their wristbands work for everything. I believe Princess wanted the same type of program; however, Disneyworld is a large park that is situated in one area. They wire the rooms, the theme parks, the restaurants, and its all good. When trying to do the same thing at sea you are relying on the fiber optics to work alongside the wifi or broadband Bluetooth. However you are sea based and not landbased which throws it off kilt. The same fiber optics at Disney or even at your house don't have to rely on a Satelitte and moving ship. Same thing happens when you have wifi on aircraft. Flying at 600mph you won't have consistent wifi signal like you do at home. Or even Bluetooth; which is what the Ocean Medallion program is using to perform all its magic. This is just me speaking and I am not a tech person nor am I an electronics engineer. However, it seems more testing will be done over the next year to year and a half. Patience is what we all need. The regular room key or seapass works fine

[sassyredhat]

I have been reading in amazement that booked passengers have been receiving notifications from Princess that their booked cruise will NOT have the Ocean Medallion.

 

 

We are booked on the Ruby for March 2018 and have NOT received any notification about this.:o

 

Patti

[pablo222]

When trying to do the same thing at sea you are relying on the fiber optics to work alongside the wifi or broadband Bluetooth. However you are sea based and not landbased which throws it off kilt. The same fiber optics at Disney or even at your house don't have to rely on a Satelitte and moving ship. Same thing happens when you have wifi on aircraft. Flying at 600mph you won't have consistent wifi signal like you do at home. Or even Bluetooth; which is what the Ocean Medallion program is using to perform all its magic.

 

Royal Caribbean seems to have had some success.

 

https://www.******************.com/questions/what-wow-band

 

It just doesn't seem that hard to use an RFID chip to open cabin doors.

[satxdiver]

The ***** technology that Princess is using does not directly need the internet. Rather it relies on the intranet which means it is self contained on the ship using the same technology as the internet. All communication with the individual medallions is done locally and accesses the onboard computer system's database. While the technology has been in use for years, the problem on a ship is that it is made of metal. The walls are metal which is great for the magnets we bring to use in our cabin. Metal shields electrical signals making reception sometimes very difficult. On land our buildings are not 100% metal even though large buildings and commercial buildings certainly use some metal in their construction. The problem then for the ship is getting the signals to every inch of the ship.

[dides]

Have you ever heard the saying; "It looks good on paper". The engineers and IT department put this program together and did computer models of how it should work. This was all done on paper or in this case computer software.

 

It wasn't designed totally "on paper" though - they tested it inside an unmarked building in suburban Miami "an Experience Center" where they built a replica set of staterooms, corridors and other ship facilities to test concepts.

 

Obviously it didn't match the reality enough though!

 

Sandra

[fishin' musician]

Thinking by the time this gets rolled out Disney will have moved on to the latest and greatest and this ***** stuff will be rendered obsolete ??? As slow as this has gone there must have been some major unforeseen stumbling blocks.