Internet for Platinums with Medallion

[Ektrax]

I need some help.  My question is about whether or not Platinums get a discount on internet access with new Medallion system.  We used to get 250 free minutes.  Anything with Medallion?  Here’s where I need help.  I’ve searched many times but can’t find the answer.  Could one of you experts help me and show me the query or search terms that will take me to the answer?  I know the info is available... but I can’t figure out the right search terms.  Maybe a quick primer on searching?  Thanks in advance.

[ehogan]

I spoke to a Princess rep yesterday about this.  We will not be using the Medallion apps so were concerned about our free (Platinum or Elite) minutes.

 

She said we will still get our free minutes and do not need to use them via the Medallion apps.

[JF - retired RRT]

The search engine on Cruise Critic doesn't work well...use Google.

[paul929207]

When we were on the Royal around South America (49 days), as elite or platinum, we got unlimited internet for $100.

 

For our upcoming Crown trip, I am told that we will get a 25% discount on the different packages. These will only be available on the ship.

[VaCruzers]

Hello,

 

I can't help with referring you to a link, but can relay our experience on Caribbean Princess on the 5/14 and 5/18 sailings. It is a Medallion Class ship with Medallion Net internet. We are Platinum Captain's Club members. On 5/14 embarkation day, when I first attempted to log on to the internet, I was offered two options: one was for 250 minutes of internet, and the other was for $44.95 for unlimited internet. I was confused because I wasn't expecting that many minutes for a four night cruise but I was expecting a lower rate for the unlimited package with the 25% Platinum discount. We were in the Piazza area so we walked . over to the internet cafe and spoke with the manager, Alan. I showed him my phone's screen and questioned what I was seeing. Because we were on back to back sailings, I was offered the 250 minutes for 11 nights or $44.95 for the 11 nights. I chose the unlimited option. My husband wanted to think about it and later went to select his package but inadvertently chose the 250 minutes. This happened after the internet cafe was closed so we went the following morning to make the switch but were denied as the offer was only for embarkation day. He was locked into using his 250 minutes, but unlike in the past, when logging off and logging back in, the number of minutes was never displayed. When the 2nd cruise began on 5/18, he went back to the internet cafe to ask about selecting the unlimited package for that sailing. The response was that internet access is no longer linked to each booking, but to your "voyage" which is the total number of days you will be onboard. Eventually Alan conceeded that this new process is confusing and is not explained prior to making any selection so he did give my husband a 25% discount on the remaining days, but it was still more than I had paid for the 11 days. Bottom line, you can choose the number of included minutes based on your loyalty status, but will not know how many remain unless you track it yourself or you can choose unlimited with a 25% discount on embarkation day only. If you plan to use at all, the unlimited is a great deal and the speed is very fast. The embarkation day Platinum discount is a better deal than the pre-cruise purchase through your cruise planner. The Captain's Club benefits section has not been updated to reflect any of this for the ships with Medallion Net. I hope this is helpful. 

 

Also, internet is not needed for the Ocean Conceriege, Ocean Compass, Ocean Now and other apps. You only need to connect to the ship's wifi in airplane mode. This is confusing for some. It's also confusing to have multiple apps rather than have everything in one and trying to find what you need. 

 

On a side note, the coffee package is also linked to your voyage, not your bookings, so our 15 specialty coffees could be used over the 11 days of the two bookings rather than all needing to be used during the 4 night booking, then having to purchase another one. That was a nice surprise!

 

I think it will take some time for the working definition of "voyage" to become familiar to everyone. However, it's irelevant unless you are on multiple consecutive sailings. 

Edited May 26, 2019 by VaCruzers

[Greg3322]

We were on the Royal in mid-April and like the post above, were given a choice between minutes or a discount on an unlimited package.  We chose the package.  With the platinum discount, it was $120 for unlimited internet on four different devices.  I thought it was reasonable and it worked very well throughout the ship.   Only thing is the purchaser had to log into each of the four devices when signing into the WiFi on the first time.

[idahospud]

Here's the pricing when Platinum and Elites apply their 250 minutes towards the unlimited plan on a 14 day MedallionNet cruise.

[donswife]

I used only my free Platinum minutes on both the Caribbean Princess last October (medallion net), and on the Star this month (not medallion net) and both showed me how many minutes remained every time I logged out. It is important to type logout.com in the browser bar every time, or your minutes will get eaten up.

[VaCruzers]

13 minutes ago, donswife said:

I used only my free Platinum minutes on both the Caribbean Princess last October (medallion net), and on the Star this month (not medallion net) and both showed me how many minutes remained every time I logged out. It is important to type logout.com in the browser bar every time, or your minutes will get eaten up.

We were on the Caribbean Princess last October as well (with Medallion Net) and the remaining minutes were shown, but not this time. The internet cafe manager confirmed this is a change and suggested havingng your device "forget" Medallion Net and then re-add it. When you do this, the number of minutes are shown, but it's mighty inconvenient. 

[Steelers36]

58 minutes ago, VaCruzers said:

Hello,

 

I can't help with referring you to a link, but can relay our experience on Caribbean Princess on the 5/14 and 5/18 sailings. It is a Medallion Class ship with Medallion Net internet. We are Platinum Captain's Club members. On 5/14 embarkation day, when I first attempted to log on to the internet, I was offered two options: one was for 250 minutes of internet, and the other was for $44.95 for unlimited internet. I was confused because I wasn't expecting that many minutes for a four night cruise but I was expecting a lower rate for the unlimited package with the 25% Platinum discount. We were in the Piazza area so we walked . over to the internet cafe and spoke with the manager, Alan. I showed him my phone's screen and questioned what I was seeing. Because we were on back to back sailings, I was offered the 250 minutes for 11 nights or $44.95 for the 11 nights. I chose the unlimited option. My husband wanted to think about it and later went to select his package but inadvertently chose the 250 minutes. This happened after the internet cafe was closed so we went the following morning to make the switch but were denied as the offer was only for embarkation day. He was locked into using his 250 minutes, but unlike in the past, when logging off and logging back in, the number of minutes was never displayed. When the 2nd cruise began on 5/18, he went back to the internet cafe to ask about selecting the unlimited package for that sailing. The response was that internet access is no longer linked to each booking, but to your "voyage" which is the total number of days you will be onboard. Eventually Alan conceeded that this new process is confusing and is not explained prior to making any selection so he did give my husband a 25% discount on the remaining days, but it was still more than I had paid for the 11 days. Bottom line, you can choose the number of included minutes based on your loyalty status, but will not know how many remain unless you track it yourself or you can choose unlimited with a 25% discount on embarkation day only. If you plan to use at all, the unlimited is a great deal and the speed is very fast. The embarkation day Platinum discount is a better deal than the pre-cruise purchase through your cruise planner. The Captain's Club benefits section has not been updated to reflect any of this for the ships with Medallion Net. I hope this is helpful. 

 

Also, internet is not needed for the Ocean Conceriege, Ocean Compass, Ocean Now and other apps. You only need to connect to the ship's wifi in airplane mode. This is confusing for some. It's also confusing to have multiple apps rather than have everything in one and trying to find what you need. 

 

On a side note, the coffee package is also linked to your voyage, not your bookings, so our 15 specialty coffees could be used over the 11 days of the two bookings rather than all needing to be used during the 4 night booking, then having to purchase another one. That was a nice surprise!

 

I think it will take some time for the working definition of "voyage" to become familiar to everyone. However, it's irelevant unless you are on multiple consecutive sailings. 

Thanks for your well detailed in-person report.

 

I have some items to explore further:

 

1) I think the "voyage" concept is because Princess is gradually phasing in Medallion Net across the fleet and the old internet thing will be a ghost.  The longer the voyage, the better the unlimited full trip rate is (on a per day basis). 

 

2) You should have seen the $44.95 price offer in your Cruise Personalizer pre-cruise.  We are about to go on first Medallion Cruise (Regal - June 1) and I inquired about the Personalizer offer of $75 (rounded) for full cruise (11 nights).  Your price is amazing by the way for the full voyage you took.  I was informed that the regular price was $100 (rounded) - in other words a non-Platinum/Elite passenger would be offered the package pre-cruise for $100.  Our Platinum discount is 25%.  I fully intend to check the package pricing offered at embarkation for both regular new cruisers and Platinum/Elite.  If it is lower I will cancel and ask for a refund and take the on-board offer (it should not be any different).  If the regular cruisers can book for the same price, I will have an issue with Princess as our Platinum benefit will be effectively nullified.

 

3) On the old minutes system, the pre-cruise offer was very good with a bonus minutes and it wasn't better upon boarding.  I hope this has not changed.  I discussed this with Princess in detail.  I have not read anything definitive here on CC that indicates the Platinum discount is anything different pre-cruise versus Day 1.  I also don't know if internet pricing varies depending where the ship is, but your rate is a lot lower than for our cruise.  Princess isn't very clear on Medallion pricing policy/algorithms, but your price for 11 days is a heck of a lot lower then my price for 11 days.

 

4)I agree that Princess is behind the 8-ball and ought to have a new section in the Captain's Circle program info, explaining the Medallion Net benefit.

 

5) You stated that the pre-cruise offer in Personalizer is not as good.  Did you check it before sailing?  How much different was it from $45?  Were you ever aware of what the "list price" was for Medallion Internet unlimited package either on board or pre-cruise for regular passengers (below Platinum status).

 

Thanks.  Hope to see an answer because if your Personalizer price was like my $75, I want to cancel before we sail and then re-book internet on board.  ;-)

 

 

Edited May 26, 2019 by steelers36

[Astro Flyer]

1 hour ago, idahospud said:

Here's the pricing when Platinum and Elites apply their 250 minutes towards the unlimited plan on a 14 day MedallionNet cruise.

That’s the same option I had on my Royal Princess 14-day cruise last month which was 25% less onboard by exchanging the free minutes than in advance which was $120.

 

For our Sky 28-day cruise unlimited internet access costs &130 in advance but will wait until boarding to learn if that will also be discounted by 25% and we can pay with OBC.  It’s a port intensive first 2 weeks followed by a 2 week transatlantic cruise.  I’m guessing it’s less per day due to the itinerary & will decide onboard about an unlimited plan.  Both of us each receive 500 free minutes & our cell phone gets free data & text in ports so we’ll likely just keep our free minutes.

Edited May 26, 2019 by Astro Flyer

[idahospud]

4 minutes ago, Astro Flyer said:

That was from my Royal Princess 14-day cruise last month which was 25% less onboard by exchanging the free minutes than in advance which was $120.

That screen capture is from my two 7 day B2Bs on the Royal to Alaska this month. For MedallionNet purposes it was considered one 14 day cruise.

[Astro Flyer]

6 minutes ago, idahospud said:

That screen capture is from my two 7 day B2Bs on the Royal to Alaska this month. For MedallionNet purposes it was considered one 14 day cruise.

My bad & corrected my post...looked just like my previously posted screenshot until noticing the times were different...sorry. ☺️

Edited May 26, 2019 by Astro Flyer

[idahospud]

10 minutes ago, Astro Flyer said:

My bad & corrected my post...looked just like my previously posted screenshot until noticing the times were different...sorry. ☺️

 

No worries. I only pointed it out because I didn't want you to think I was reposting something belonging to you. 

[VaCruzers]

To address the OP's question about pre cruise pricing, in our personalizer, for the 4 night it said $9.99 per day and for the 7 night it was $59.99. Basically, about $100. Neither of those reflect a Platinum discount. I also thought it was odd that it was a per day price on one booking and a package price on the other. I wish I had thought to screenshot the offer on embarkation day. The math still doesn't work, but I was happy with $4.50 a day to stay connected to family at home versus paying for an international phone plan that I could only use on port days. We had a total of five sea days so FB messenger was great.

[rdsqrl]

I'm sorry; I'm completely confused by this thread.  Can someone please answer this with a simple yes or no:  do we still get free internet if we're Elite?  In my case, 250 free min. on a 13-day CB cruise. 

 

[voljeep]

6 minutes ago, rdsqrl said:

I'm sorry; I'm completely confused by this thread.  Can someone please answer this with a simple yes or no:  do we still get free internet if we're Elite?  In my case, 250 free min. on a 13-day CB cruise. 

 

yes

[rdsqrl]

Just now, voljeep said:

yes

Thank you! 

[Astro Flyer]

7 minutes ago, rdsqrl said:

I'm sorry; I'm completely confused by this thread.  Can someone please answer this with a simple yes or no:  do we still get free internet if we're Elite?  In my case, 250 free min. on a 13-day CB cruise. 

 

Yes

Edited May 27, 2019 by Astro Flyer

[rdsqrl]

Just now, Astro Flyer said:

Yes

and thank you, too. 

 

[Ektrax]

Thanks to all.  I think I now understand the new system.  

[tailspintom]

1 hour ago, Ektrax said:

Thanks to all.  I think I now understand the new system.  

Just to address another aspect, you may not need the unlimited option(s).  On our April trans-Atlantic on the Regal, the internet speed was sufficient for us to use our complimentary minutes to do everything we needed.  I am not a heavy user of internet on cruises.  I just check our e-mails, reply to some and maybe do a transaction or two.  I do no social media, streaming or video. We used my 250 minutes and about 100 minutes of my spouse's on the 16 day cruise. CB's internet should be similar.

[Ken the cruiser]

This is great thread OP. Thanks for starting it!! We make Platinum after our Jan 2020 cruise on the Island and have a 16 day cruise on the Island in Jul 2020 and a 33 day B2B on the Crown in Nov 2020. We just got finished this morning pre-booking the MedallionNet Unlimited packages for the July and Nov 2020 cruises (before we found out about this 25% off Platinum deal).

 

But it sounds like we'll be cancelling them now and repurchasing the 25% off package on embarkation day. The great news from the way it sounds is that our B2B will be treated as one 33 day cruise rather than 2 separate ones as was the case when we pre-booked the packages today. That will save a chunk of $$$ as we each pre-purchased a package as we are both avid internet users.

[hooked cruiser]

We are doing a B2B2B in July on the Sapphire.  When we were on her at Easter this year we asked a similar question albeit that the |Sapphire is not yet Medallion.

We were told that any OBC left from the 1st cruise will be carried over to the 2nd and again to the 3rd.  We always exchange our mini-bar for a coffee card and were informed that we will have 15 coffees credited to our card at the beginning of each voyage.

Also told that an additional OBC will be received because we are doing 3 cosecutive cruises.  Good news all around for us. Roll on July.