A Call From Princess

[satxdiver]

2 hours ago, Doug R. said:

 

What is the mania about being tracked? Is there shady stuff going on? No one is sitting at a terminal tracking your every move. The data is probably going to be used to determine venue use and make changes to better use space available and even plan in future builds. Princess even through the card knows your purchasing habits and what ports have the least number of interested passengers. There is a day coming when they are going to say no more cards, then what?

 

I worked as an IT consultant and I have heard this complaint mostly from the older ones at the particular sight so many times before.  I like the "it will never work" followed by "it will fail and be replaced" crowd wishing for the past which of course will never happen.  The world moves on and those who refuse will be left behind. 

 

My other form of entertainment is those who do not want to be tracked as they slide their cell phone into their pocket/purse.  How many times have we heard that the police found the perp by tracking his cell phone to locate him.  Your cell phone is being tracked and recorded every minute.  Welcome to the new world. 

 

There are around 4000 pax on every new Princess ship that now are being tracked.  The data collected is put into a large database and then used to determine what venue is most popular versus what is not.  Where are the queues being formed, when and how big.  From that data Princess can alter their ship designs, add popular venues and delete those not used.  This is industry wide, has been around for decades and is called "data mining" by the industry.  

 

Carnival Corp picked Princess to be the first cruiseline to implement what is called OM and will have a different name as it is migrated to the other 8 cruiselines Carnival owns.  In the IT world this is called living on the "bleeding edge" of technology and Princess is finding it out.  

 

There will be a day in the too not distant future when all Princess ships will have OM and OM will be stable.  At that time the cards will join the dustbin of history.   Escaping to another of the 9 Carnival cruiselines will be fruitless as they all convert.  

 

[Reader0108598]

4 hours ago, voljeep said:

 better than having all your laundry 'stuff' in hand then realizing that the machine only takes the medallion and not your ( and why is it that almost everyone that wants to 'opt out' ) "BLACK CARD" ??? 

I had a black card have never opted out of gratuities nor do I care if they track me on board ! I They would be very bored! have yet to use the free laundry ,I wash just like the regular folks! lol  (Tongue  firmly planted in

cheek )

Edited October 17, 2019 by Reader0108598

[myfuzzy]

I too, don't care if I'm tracked.  I'm on a ship...what can I possibly do. where can I be?  IF I am being tracked and if they find me in the "facilities", I just hope they make sure the TP is full.

[XBGuy]

8 hours ago, CineGraphic said:

That works for you because you get free laundry.....for those of us who are not elite yet, we still need the medallion to buy laundry tokens.

 

Are you sure about that?  It seems to me that all those medallion readers--to open cabin doors, the various public kiosks, the readers in the shops--also read the cards--which are now RFID, not mag stripe.

 

As a test why don't you hold up your RFID card to the reader for the tokens and see if it works?  If you are saying that you tried that, and it didn't work, then color me embarrassed.  I apologize for my presumption.

 

We sailed on our first Medallion Class cruise last month.  In addition to e-mails we started receiving robo-calls from Princess urging us to become Ocean Ready.  We never received a call from a live person.  I'd read here on Cruise Critic that there had been an update to the Ocean Whatever applications--all the various apps were combined into one--we downloaded it.  It took about an hour of futzing, but we were able to get both of us squared away.  A week, or so, later, we received our medallions.  As somebody previously noted, there is no way that I was going to regain that hour in the embarkation process.  We still had to have our passports checked--twice.  We still had to go through the security scanners.  The security agent who intercepted me as I was picking my tote off the belt pointed to the wine table where I signed for my corkage fee.  Instead of seeing an agent to pick up our medallions we saw another agent who had us hold our medallions to a reader,  OK, that saved us five minutes.  I'm still 55 minutes in the hole.

 

I have to say, however, the medallion worked fine for us on the cruise.  I absolutely loved the opening of the cabin door as I approached feature.  I am definitely going to miss that on our next cruise in January.

[bemis12]

4 hours ago, Doug R. said:

I think you  are swimming against the tide and the I want my cruise card rebellion is doomed to failure.  I believe the caring is limited to the few who have posted here. On the screens the pictures that will pop up are those of our pets, so you can make that change to disguise your identity.

 

Every new technology is hated by a small subset who will never want things to change.  It doesn't particularly matter what the tech is, just that it's different.

[WAMarathoner]

Bemis, you're assuming that change is good.  Not always. I love some technological advances; just not ones that violate my privacy.  I doubt that the option to opt-out will ever go away -- why in the world would Princess choose to alienate its customers, regardless of how small you think that subset is (I'm guessing it's not as small as you think)?

[Mike45LC]

50 minutes ago, XBGuy said:

We sailed on our first Medallion Class cruise last month.  In addition to e-mails we started receiving robo-calls from Princess urging us to become Ocean Ready.  We never received a call from a live person.  I'd read here on Cruise Critic that there had been an update to the Ocean Whatever applications--all the various apps were combined into one--we downloaded it.  It took about an hour of futzing, but we were able to get both of us squared away.  A week, or so, later, we received our medallions.  As somebody previously noted, there is no way that I was going to regain that hour in the embarkation process. 

 

* * * I'm still 55 minutes in the hole.

 

 

Did you read those threads of over 50 pages and 17 pages respectively about the Medallion?  If so, you are a lot more than one hour in the hole!  

[XBGuy]

6 minutes ago, Mike45LC said:

 

Did you read those threads of over 50 pages and 17 pages respectively about the Medallion?  If so, you are a lot more than one hour in the hole!  

 

 

🤣🤣🤣

 

Well, I certainly did not read all 67 pages worth of whining, but, you do have a point.

 

[CruiseVA]

9 hours ago, CineGraphic said:

That works for you because you get free laundry.....for those of us who are not elite yet, we still need the medallion to buy laundry tokens.

Do they actually sell you real tokens to use, or, can you use the Medallion to pay for the machines?

PS - owe you a drink 😉

 

[CruiseVA]

4 hours ago, satxdiver said:

 

I worked as an IT consultant and I have heard this complaint mostly from the older ones at the particular sight so many times before.  I like the "it will never work" followed by "it will fail and be replaced" crowd wishing for the past which of course will never happen.  The world moves on and those who refuse will be left behind. 

 

My other form of entertainment is those who do not want to be tracked as they slide their cell phone into their pocket/purse.  How many times have we heard that the police found the perp by tracking his cell phone to locate him.  Your cell phone is being tracked and recorded every minute.  Welcome to the new world. 

 

There are around 4000 pax on every new Princess ship that now are being tracked.  The data collected is put into a large database and then used to determine what venue is most popular versus what is not.  Where are the queues being formed, when and how big.  From that data Princess can alter their ship designs, add popular venues and delete those not used.  This is industry wide, has been around for decades and is called "data mining" by the industry.  

 

Carnival Corp picked Princess to be the first cruiseline to implement what is called OM and will have a different name as it is migrated to the other 8 cruiselines Carnival owns.  In the IT world this is called living on the "bleeding edge" of technology and Princess is finding it out.  

 

There will be a day in the too not distant future when all Princess ships will have OM and OM will be stable.  At that time the cards will join the dustbin of history.   Escaping to another of the 9 Carnival cruiselines will be fruitless as they all convert.  

 

I've been in IT for over 40 years and agree completely.  I'm sure there are some folks here that wish for the days of 'real' keys, and, not the keycards they use in older ships & hotels. 

[CruiseVA]

10 hours ago, CineGraphic said:

Sorry - can't delete the reply, so, ignore, nothing to see here, move along...

 

Edited October 17, 2019 by CruiseVA

[CruiseVA]

What does it seem like every thread under Princess seem to deteriorate into a 'I hate the Medallion' posts?

 

[CineGraphic]

41 minutes ago, CruiseVA said:

Do they actually sell you real tokens to use, or, can you use the Medallion to pay for the machines?

PS - owe you a drink 😉

 

You use the medallion to activate the token vending machine. The washers and dryers use tokens, not medallions.

PS - The longer I wait for this drink, the more expensive it'll get, lol!

[CruiseVA]

16 minutes ago, CineGraphic said:

You use the medallion to activate the token vending machine. The washers and dryers use tokens, not medallions.

PS - The longer I wait for this drink, the more expensive it'll get, lol!

I'm hoping you'll join AA - LOL.

[Geoffa30]

12 hours ago, RRFan said:

Each to his own!  I’m just not crazy about my face and name popping up as I walk by each of the readers for everyone to see. They may decide the expense of the medallion is not cost effective enough to continue, especially if they continue to have guests ask for cards too. I don’t think the whole OM program was well thought out. Cost of cards vs cost of producing and shipping OM’s. You’re welcome to your opinion Doug R. and I’ll keep mine!  Thanks!  

Just curious - you say you don’t want your face popping up on readers for everyone to see when you walk pass but surely they see it anyway in person as you walk pass. Or do you wear a mask whilst onboard?

[Hlitner]

12 hours ago, CruiseVA said:

What does it seem like every thread under Princess seem to deteriorate into a 'I hate the Medallion' posts?

 

Perhaps knowing folks are trying to tell Princess (and future customers) something :).

 

Hank

[PrincessLuver]

On 10/16/2019 at 8:06 PM, RRFan said:

I’m with you!  Give me my black card and keep your tracking device. 

 

So you do not use a cell phone either.....talk about tracking device....and never go out in public because cameras are everywhere tracking us....and do not let them scan your groceries at the checkout counter either...etc.....all of this fear or rejection of OM is ridiculous because that is going to be what is used on all Princess ships in the future....and the future is now!!!!

[PaperSniper4]

14 hours ago, bemis12 said:

 

Every new technology is hated by a small subset who will never want things to change.  It doesn't particularly matter what the tech is, just that it's different.

 

....or many here might hate it because it doesn't work so well........😎

 

We're on an OM ship for the next cruise, but I am not expecting much. I probably will get at least one old fashioned card once we're on board because I collect them. If the medallions open our cabin door I'll be a happy camper. We don't carry our phones with us so hopefully we won't get those "nuisance emails" I read about here. I do plan to check for texts and emails each day, so it I have to delete a couple of "Princess Ads" each morning so be it.....heck, I'm doing that now! 😉

[XBGuy]

4 hours ago, PaperSniper4 said:

 

....or many here might hate it because it doesn't work so well........😎

 

We're on an OM ship for the next cruise, but I am not expecting much. I probably will get at least one old fashioned card once we're on board because I collect them. If the medallions open our cabin door I'll be a happy camper. We don't carry our phones with us so hopefully we won't get those "nuisance emails" I read about here. I do plan to check for texts and emails each day, so it I have to delete a couple of "Princess Ads" each morning so be it.....heck, I'm doing that now! 😉

 

What "nuisance emails" have you read about here?

 

As I posted above, I have a whole single experience on a Medallion Class cruise.  I did not receive any nuisance emails (or nuisance text messages) during our 12-day cruise other than the 1 or 2 hundred that I normally get--many, as I am sure you are aware, from Cruise Critic.  Also, I had no reason to check emails on my cruise.  I'm not that important.  It seems that the world is able to get along just fine without me.  In the two days after the cruise I spent quite a bit of time deleting the usual nuisance emails and catching up on multiple on-line forums in which I participate.

 

I predict that you will be a happy camper.  The cabin door opening feature worked great for us.

[Go-Bucks!]

On 10/18/2019 at 1:16 PM, XBGuy said:

The cabin door opening feature worked great for us.

 

If you're walking down the hall but not going into your cabin, does the door automatically unlock? Or do you have to get up close to the door for it to unlock?

 

BTW, your comment says "door opening feature", but I'm assuming that you meant "unlock"...can't imagine that it would open by itself. 

[XBGuy]

23 minutes ago, Go-Bucks! said:

 

If you're walking down the hall but not going into your cabin, does the door automatically unlock? Or do you have to get up close to the door for it to unlock?

 

I really don't know,  Our cabin was all the way forward on the B deck.  I would have no reason to walk past it.

 

Good question, though.  I would think there would be a time-out where the door would lock if not opened after N seconds.

 

 

23 minutes ago, Go-Bucks! said:

 

BTW, your comment says "door opening feature", but I'm assuming that you meant "unlock"...can't imagine that it would open by itself. 

 

Yes, your description is much better.

 

👍👍👍

 

[rdsqrl]

30 minutes ago, Go-Bucks! said:

 

If you're walking down the hall but not going into your cabin, does the door automatically unlock? Or do you have to get up close to the door for it to unlock?

 

BTW, your comment says "door opening feature", but I'm assuming that you meant "unlock"...can't imagine that it would open by itself. 

Sometimes it doesn't even do that -- I had to hold mine to the screen almost all the time.  I think it read it once, but I was holding it in my hand at the time, so I'm not sure why that's any better than holding and inserting a cruise card into the slot . . .  And yes, it unlocks but does not open -- you still have to push down on the door handle. 

 

It also doesn't relock immediately, so don't walk too quickly away down the passageway unless you're cool with leaving your door unlocked behind you for a brief time.  In short, the OM saves you zero time and actually costs you a little bit.  But it's new technology, so we're all supposed to uncritically embrace it.  Because Progress.