Ocean Medallion Question Thread - Part 1

[jeanandjim]

On 6/21/2019 at 5:30 AM, paul929207 said:

I have started setting up the Medallion for our end of August sail on the Crown Princess. Wish me luck.  🙂 

Good luck Paul.

Jim😎

[voljeep]

once you have become 'ocean ready' and had the OM's mailed to you pre-cruise on a prior cruise ... do you still have to go thru the complete process again for an upcoming OM cruise ... or is all the information from your current personaizer, and the info from the previous OM cruise magically rolled over ?

[AF-1]

voljeep,  your personal info will be in your app profile.  The only additional stuff you add is your cruise reservation number. Depending on how far apart you are cruising you may not be able to add your new cruise info into the app.  We cruised in Feb and we cruise again next oct.  Too early for the app to accept my new cruise reservation number. 

[crows nest club]

UK cruiser - maybe it's just me  but trying to enter my address details and is asking for zip code in.. Tried putting my postcode in but won't accept it. Anyone else?

[cruiserdru]

Are you trying to enter an address to order your medallions? Currently, Princess 'mails' the medallions to places in side the US.

[crows nest club]

53 minutes ago, cruiserdru said:

Are you trying to enter an address to order your medallions? Currently, Princess 'mails' the medallions to places in side the US.

I'm trying to enter the info in my "personal information". 

[trrn2016]

Can you still use cash In a slot machine on a Ocean Medallion ship? Also, can you still set up an account on a slot machine and transfer money to get cash from your account? 

Thanks.

[Ms SailAway]

Does anyone know if they've fixed the issue of lost medallions being found by someone else and being able to locate and access that person's cabin?

[richmke]

11 hours ago, Ms SailAway said:

Does anyone know if they've fixed the issue of lost medallions being found by someone else and being able to locate and access that person's cabin?

 

I would think it is no different from a cruise card. Report your medallion as lost, and they deactivate it.

[PMGS247]

1 hour ago, richmke said:

 

I would think it is no different from a cruise card. Report your medallion as lost, and they deactivate it.

 

This.  Until it's possible for the OM to recognize when it has been lost, the onus will be on the owner of said medallion to report it lost.  The only other option would be for them to bail on the entire concept of using location functionality for on-board navigation, but I don't see that happening.

[Ep010835]

1 hour ago, richmke said:

 

I would think it is no different from a cruise card. Report your medallion as lost, and they deactivate it.

 

Unfortunately it’s a very different situation.  A “found” Medallion would enable the “finder” to go to any Ocean Compass display and get directions to the associated cabin. Complete with a dandy set of “green brick” turn by turn directions. And upon reaching said cabin, the “finder” will be able to enter the cabin. 

 

Can’t do this with a cruise card. 

 

Of course, both the cruise card and the Medallion can be deactivated by notifying the purser’s desk. The problem comes if the owner of the Medallion does not realize  he/she has misplaced the OM device. 

[Ep010835]

2 hours ago, richmke said:

 

I would think it is no different from a cruise card. Report your medallion as lost, and they deactivate it.

 

Our last OM cruise was on the CB last December. During this cruise I discussed this flaw in the system with one of the Navigators. She said they were aware of the issue and were “working on it”. 

 

If no one else chimes in, I’ll report back on what we find on our next OM cruise that departs on 7/13. 

[HotBranch]

1 minute ago, Ep010835 said:

 

Unfortunately it’s a very different situation.  A “found” Medallion would enable the “finder” to go to any Ocean Compass display and get directions to the associated cabin. Complete with a dandy set of “green brick” turn by turn directions. And upon reaching said cabin, the “finder” will be able to enter the cabin. 

 

Can’t do this with a cruise card. 

 

Of course, both the cruise card and the Medallion can be deactivated by notifying the purser’s desk. The problem comes if the owner of the Medallion does not realize  he/she has misplaced the OM device. 

 

You can disable the location functionality in the Ocean Compass app, but that would be the best way to actually find your medallion if you lose it. I don't recall any of the Ocean Compass displays showing my room number when I'd touch my medallion to the reader. It displayed my name and my avatar, but I don't recall seeing my room number displayed.

 

Anyone finding a medallion could try to purchase things using the found medallion, but even that would probably fail, as the service staff have access to the photo of the medallion's rightful owner and should be in a position to initiate a "lost medallion"-type of protocol. The medallion owner's photo is how the staff are able to find you and deliver food and drinks to the correct person.

[lx200gps]

25 minutes ago, HotBranch said:

 

You can disable the location functionality in the Ocean Compass app, but that would be the best way to actually find your medallion if you lose it. I don't recall any of the Ocean Compass displays showing my room number when I'd touch my medallion to the reader. It displayed my name and my avatar, but I don't recall seeing my room number displayed.

 

Anyone finding a medallion could try to purchase things using the found medallion, but even that would probably fail, as the service staff have access to the photo of the medallion's rightful owner and should be in a position to initiate a "lost medallion"-type of protocol. The medallion owner's photo is how the staff are able to find you and deliver food and drinks to the correct person.

 

I tested for this when we were on the Royal last month. I was certainly able to hold my disk against a reader and have it show me my name, picture and cabin number. It didn't default to showing my personal details, I had to select something on the screen, but the info was easily accessible.

[Ep010835]

29 minutes ago, HotBranch said:

 

You can disable the location functionality in the Ocean Compass app, but that would be the best way to actually find your medallion if you lose it. I don't recall any of the Ocean Compass displays showing my room number when I'd touch my medallion to the reader. It displayed my name and my avatar, but I don't recall seeing my room number displayed.

 

Anyone finding a medallion could try to purchase things using the found medallion, but even that would probably fail, as the service staff have access to the photo of the medallion's rightful owner and should be in a position to initiate a "lost medallion"-type of protocol. The medallion owner's photo is how the staff are able to find you and deliver food and drinks to the correct person.

 

Purchasing things with a found Medallion isn’t the issue.  The security hole is the illustrated path any Ocean Compass screen provides to the stateroom associated with the OM device. 

I can appreciate that you don’t recall the function but it’s there. 

[HotBranch]

6 minutes ago, lx200gps said:

 

I tested for this when we were on the Royal last month. I was certainly able to hold my disk against a reader and have it show me my name, picture and cabin number. It didn't default to showing my personal details, I had to select something on the screen, but the info was easily accessible.

 

2 minutes ago, Ep010835 said:

 

Purchasing things with a found Medallion isn’t the issue.  The security hole is the illustrated path any Ocean Compass screen provides to the stateroom associated with the OM device. 

I can appreciate that you don’t recall the function but it’s there. 

 

I stand corrected. I didn't use the Ocean Compass screens much, relying mostly on the app on my phone. 

 

That said, as soon as someone realizes they've lost their medallion, I am sure that there are ways to track previous medallion activity/movement and there are enough cameras that an intruder wouldn't be too hard to identify. Doesn't take away the flaw in the system however, nor does it do anything to undo that kind of privacy invasion.

 

I am both in awe and terrified by the medallion technology, and fully expect my next Princess cruise to be fine tuned to my interests and previous activities (I wouldn't be surprised to get push notifications from the app in the future, based on my history and location on a ship).

[richmke]

Seems like the obvious answer is to NOT display private information on the public screens.

 

Even companion information can be limited. If they are in a public place, then the screen can show where they are (not that much of an invasion of privacy when you are in a public place). If they are in their cabin, the screen reports only "in their cabin", and not the location of the cabin. If they are in a different cabin, it can just say "other cabin", and you have to figure the rest out yourself.

[HotBranch]

19 minutes ago, Thrak said:

I don't understand why one would need to have directions to their own cabin. Are people really that lame? This is the sort of "help" that shouldn't have been available in the first place. It should be pretty simple to remove this stupidity from the system.

 

The functionality is more to find a specific location on the ship or one of your travel mates. On the Royal, there are 3 main staircases, and the aft staircase does not connect to the mid or forward areas of the ship at deck 6, which could lead to confusion if you want to go to anything other than the dining room.

 

The directions are helpful (especially the 3D modelling) to get to an area of the ship that isn't your stateroom, but if a medallion owner's room number appears on the Ocean Compass screen, it's easy enough to figure out how to get to the room. I could also understand someone who is unfamiliar with the ship looking for the most direct route to their cabin in the first few days on board.

[voljeep]

46 minutes ago, Thrak said:

I don't understand why one would need to have directions to their own cabin. Are people really that lame? This is the sort of "help" that shouldn't have been available in the first place. It should be pretty simple to remove this stupidity from the system.

[Marie83]

I have read on this topic listing that Medallion Net does not work as well in the Alaska region as in the Caribbean due to the northern location.  Excuse me if this has already been asked, but does Medallion Net work any better on New England/Canada cruises?  Thank you.

[oncruisecontrol]

Not sure I'm going to like this new medallion.  I will want to put it in my purse when we go ashore, but I'm worried about having it near my credit cards since the thing is magnetic.  All my cards have a chip, but might it be possible for this medallion to erase the info from my credit cards' magnetic stripes?  If so, would that be a problem? I also don't like the screen outside the cabin door that shows our full names; anyone know how to erase the names from the screen?  

[Ep010835]

2 hours ago, oncruisecontrol said:

Not sure I'm going to like this new medallion.  I will want to put it in my purse when we go ashore, but I'm worried about having it near my credit cards since the thing is magnetic.  All my cards have a chip, but might it be possible for this medallion to erase the info from my credit cards' magnetic stripes?  No. If so, would that be a problem? I also don't like the screen outside the cabin door that shows our full names; anyone know how to erase the names from the screen?  How is this any different from the printed name info put on you cabin mailbox on non-Medallion Cruises?

 

[SargassoPirate]

9 hours ago, Ep010835 said:

 

 

The paper tag is easily removed and one of the first things we do when we arrive at our cabin.

 

 

[PaperSniper4]

I just thought of another Medallion issue: departing a port, such as St Thomas, Cozumel, etc. Port security has always asked to see our cruise ship card, and occasion a photo ID. I wonder how port security is reacting to these little medallions in place of the typical card. Either would be very easy to counterfeit I suppose.

 

Doug

[AF-1]

22 minutes ago, PaperSniper4 said:

I just thought of another Medallion issue: departing a port, such as St Thomas, Cozumel, etc. Port security has always asked to see our cruise ship card, and occasion a photo ID. I wonder how port security is reacting to these little medallions in place of the typical card. Either would be very easy to counterfeit I suppose.

 

Doug

Not a big deal.  When you come back on the ship; you place medallion on the scanner and your security photo pops up on the security officers screen.  Same as when you used a key card.  We were in Cozumel in Feb on Caribbean Princess;  did not have any additional id with us, just the medallion

Edited June 27, 2019 by AF-1