Ocean Medallion Questions - Part 2

[CruiseVA]

I didn't think about the ramifications of that, it's my desk mat in the background.

[bookmama22]

So this is the first cruise we have been on in a few years and we are on the Regal Princess, Eastern Caribbean and taking advantage of end of year promotion and so now we are Gold Passenger status as our third cruise on Princess. I knew nothing about Medallion as totally new to us and just read the cruise booking information a few days ago. Reading this thread is already giving me a headache as it seems like a huge amount of work to do in advance for a week vacation. I recall our first cruise on Celebrity in 2002 and another on Holland America in 2009 when they sent you lovely documents in a case. We will be leaving for Florida in about 10 days and the cruise is February 2, Super Bowl Sunday and so I am assuming that we will just have to deal with all of this when we go to pier for departure. I cannot see why this is supposed to make things easier when the boarding cards worked perfectly fine and we are not likely to use the features that this medallion will provide.

[CruiseVA]

You do not have to do anything beyond what you have most likely already done. They will take your photo's and scan your passports at embarkation, and give you your Medallions if you don't already have them. It allows those of us to pre-load the info they need at embarkation so we can have a more seamless embarkation. Just use the Medallions like a cruise card.

BTW - we're on the Feb 2nd cruise as well, See you onboard! 

[Daniel A]

Me too!

 

[C-LAD]

I understand on the Regal the Medallion takes place of your cruise card.  How do they verify your Traditional Dining table assignment?  In the past the table assignment was listed on your cruise card.

[TNTLAMB]

On 11/15/2019 at 5:40 AM, SargassoPirate said:

How does the length of time to download the correct app and get everything loaded at home compare to just printing out your cruise documents and showing up at the pier?

 

How does the check in time at the pier with a medallion compare to checking in with a paper document?

 

If there is a time savings with a medallion or paper document, what percentage of the total cruise length is saved?

 

What is the rush to get on board?  Food?  Alcohol?  

No need for the phone ever unless you use the apps (we loved ordering drinks etc) check in was very simple walked in scanned the medallion, showed our passport walked on board, walked into our cabin. My wife never used her phone the entire cruise.The only time I ever took the medallion out of my pocket was leaving and reboarding the ship on shore days. We were traveling with family and found the app for locating shipmates very helpful... Not sure I'd ever want to cruise another way. It was a bit freaky to be walking down a hall and have a staff member greet my by name the first few times.....

Edited January 3, 2020 by TNTLAMB

[CruiseVA]

7 hours ago, Daniel A said:

Me too!

 

Cheers to that! Let's meet up for a brew!

[CruiseVA]

5 hours ago, C-LAD said:

I understand on the Regal the Medallion takes place of your cruise card.  How do they verify your Traditional Dining table assignment?  In the past the table assignment was listed on your cruise card.

The Medallion has a unique ID on it that their tablet's can read, the tablet's are connected to the backend computers on the ship which contain your info. It will display your photo & other info to the holder of the device. Same at the bars and International Cafe. 

 

Edited January 3, 2020 by CruiseVA

[MissP22]

6 hours ago, C-LAD said:

I understand on the Regal the Medallion takes place of your cruise card.  How do they verify your Traditional Dining table assignment?  In the past the table assignment was listed on your cruise card.

Don't worry. They'll leave a card in you cabin so when you arrive on the ship you'll know which DR/time and what table you're assigned to.

[bookmama22]

So I called Princess today to go over this Medallion as I was able to add apps to both my husband and my phones however we now have to enter all the information we already entered in our Personalizer. The Princess rep I spoke to assured me not a big deal to take care of this at the pier as I have no idea how to upload our passport info to app but that doing it in advance would save about 20 minutes in boarding. You don't have to have your phone on during the cruise as we usually turn off and put away once the ship departs. To me this seems like a solution for a problem that didn't exist. I also am a little bit creeped out by the idea of ship staff or waiters greeting me by name in advance-it is too casual for me. 

[leck57]

3 hours ago, bookmama22 said:

I also am a little bit creeped out by the idea of ship staff or waiters greeting me by name in advance-it is too casual for me. 

 

This never happened to us even once on the medallion cruise we did.

[MissP22]

14 hours ago, bookmama22 said:

I also am a little bit creeped out by the idea of ship staff or waiters greeting me by name in advance-it is too casual for me.

What about called ID? Does that also bother you? 

[bookmama22]

Not sure what called ID means? Is that when someone calls you and their name and number appears on your TV if you are watching TV or your phone? I never answer any calls unless they are from someone I know or might be expecting a call. I let everything else go to voice mail or if at work I might redial the number from my office phone to verify that it is spam.

 

 

[WisCruiser2]

22 hours ago, bookmama22 said:

So I called Princess today to go over this Medallion as I was able to add apps to both my husband and my phones however we now have to enter all the information we already entered in our Personalizer. The Princess rep I spoke to assured me not a big deal to take care of this at the pier as I have no idea how to upload our passport info to app but that doing it in advance would save about 20 minutes in boarding. You don't have to have your phone on during the cruise as we usually turn off and put away once the ship departs. To me this seems like a solution for a problem that didn't exist. I also am a little bit creeped out by the idea of ship staff or waiters greeting me by name in advance-it is too casual for me. 

Just like the first time you had to enter all your info into the Cruise Personalizer and then every time after you just have to confirm or update the info, so too with the Medallion app. Last year I entered all our info into the app, scanned our passports, and uploaded photos for both our "official" id and our "avatar" (the one that shows up on public screens, we used photos of our cat and dog). This year, all I had to do was confirm that everything is the same and we're all set. Easy-peasy!

[bookmama22]

Well we are going to add information on the app but have no idea how to scan the passports or upload photos and we will not be here to receive the medallions before we leave for our trip as the week cruise is just a part of our monthlong vacation with various stops as we are driving to Florida and added this cruise just recently 

[dcruisers]

On 1/3/2020 at 1:53 AM, TNTLAMB said:

No need for the phone ever unless you use the apps (we loved ordering drinks etc) check in was very simple walked in scanned the medallion, showed our passport walked on board, walked into our cabin. My wife never used her phone the entire cruise.The only time I ever took the medallion out of my pocket was leaving and reboarding the ship on shore days. We were traveling with family and found the app for locating shipmates very helpful... Not sure I'd ever want to cruise another way. It was a bit freaky to be walking down a hall and have a staff member greet my by name the first few times.....

There are 8 of us going on the Regal in 2 weeks.  If we don’t use our phones - We usually turn the phone off- and keep it in the safe on the ship- how will we be able to locate each other?
Also- IF you use the app on your  phone- I’m assuming that you keep phone on airplane mode?

Thank you fellow cruisers!

[Daniel A]

24 minutes ago, dcruisers said:

There are 8 of us going on the Regal in 2 weeks.  If we don’t use our phones - We usually turn the phone off- and keep it in the safe on the ship- how will we be able to locate each other?
Also- IF you use the app on your  phone- I’m assuming that you keep phone on airplane mode?

Thank you fellow cruisers!

There are portals in various public areas that you can use to access some of the features of Medallion Class.  I don't know if you can locate others in your party but I believe you can.  Otherwise shout the person's name really, really loudly.

 

Yes, phone or tablet stays in airplane mode and connects to the ships local network only.

[TNTLAMB]

45 minutes ago, Daniel A said:

There are portals in various public areas that you can use to access some of the features of Medallion Class.  I don't know if you can locate others in your party but I believe you can.  Otherwise shout the person's name really, really loudly.

 

Yes, phone or tablet stays in airplane mode and connects to the ships local network only.

You can use the screens to locate IF the others have accepted.  It's the medallion that's tracked. If you just want to get away, you can turn off the locator function temporarily.  I love my family but every once in awhile my wife and I wanted a quiet drink and listen to some amazing jazz....

[CruiseVA]

7 hours ago, Daniel A said:

There are portals in various public areas that you can use to access some of the features of Medallion Class.  I don't know if you can locate others in your party but I believe you can.  Otherwise shout the person's name really, really loudly.

 

Yes, phone or tablet stays in airplane mode and connects to the ships local network only.

Really, Really LOUD!!!!

LOL!!!! MY wife is a champ at that!

 

 

Edited January 5, 2020 by CruiseVA

[DMRick]

On 1/3/2020 at 1:35 AM, C-LAD said:

I understand on the Regal the Medallion takes place of your cruise card.  How do they verify your Traditional Dining table assignment?  In the past the table assignment was listed on your cruise card.

They had computers at the podium on the Regal when you came into anytime dining. The idea was they would ck to make sure you had anytime. The gal got overwhelmed and stopped checking. Several people had missed their regular early dining (slow tenders) and overcrowded our anytime.  They should not have been allowed, but that night it was a free for all. I definitely missed having a room card that night with dining listed. They gave us a card with type and time of dining listed on it but it didn’t say to bring it with you, so people didn’t. Long waits that night. 

[ecs66]

In a couple days I'll be doing the OceanReady stuff on my smart phone for our Feb. 1 cruise on Sky.

 

Do you know ... is there any site or video that shows the process from start to finish -- screen shots, process map, step-by-step text tutorial, etc.?  I find a ton of videos that cover the cuteness of the app once on board, but I'm interested in information. I'd like to know if any step asks for credit card information, as I've read both "yes" and "no". If that's required, then we'll take care of everything at the port. We don't enter anything financial on our devices and it would be annoying to go partially through the process just to have to exit out before completion.  Many mahalos!

[Daniel A]

8 minutes ago, ecs66 said:

In a couple days I'll be doing the OceanReady stuff on my smart phone for our Feb. 1 cruise on Sky.

 

Do you know ... is there any site or video that shows the process from start to finish -- screen shots, process map, step-by-step text tutorial, etc.?  I find a ton of videos that cover the cuteness of the app once on board, but I'm interested in information. I'd like to know if any step asks for credit card information, as I've read both "yes" and "no". If that's required, then we'll take care of everything at the port. We don't enter anything financial on our devices and it would be annoying to go partially through the process just to have to exit out before completion.  Many mahalos!

Have you done your Cruise Personalizer?  That's where you enter the credit card info.

[ecs66]

36 minutes ago, Daniel A said:

Have you done your Cruise Personalizer?  That's where you enter the credit card info.

Oh, yes; it's done.  I'm hoping that'll be enough. Even though Passport, birth date, etc., is entered in to Personalizer, I understand that has to be re-entered in the app for OceanReady, and thought maybe financial would be requested again.  I'll give it a go, and see how far it takes me.  🙂   Thank you.

[mammajamma2013]

On 12/31/2019 at 8:13 AM, C-LAD said:

Anyone having current problems setting up Ocean Ready for an upcoming cruise?  "Travel Documents" section will not complete, circle will not turn green and has an orange circle with an asterisk inside.  Contacted Princess Ocean Ready yesterday and a customer service rep. indicated they were having issues with the App.  Their IT was working on it and should be corrected this AM.  Checked again this morning and issue still exists.

I just downloaded the app and got as far as needing to enter my booking number. I'm getting a message that my "...booking information does not match our records".

[Daniel A]

47 minutes ago, mammajamma2013 said:

I just downloaded the app and got as far as needing to enter my booking number. I'm getting a message that my "...booking information does not match our records".

Are you sure your cruise is on a MedallionClass Ship?  You'll get that message if your booking is on a non MedallionClass cruise.