Medallion mailed or at the pier?

[Kay S]

I have done a couple of Medallion cruises before, and they always mailed it to me beforehand.  Now the app is telling me I have to pick it up at the pier because we are too close to sailing (October)?  

[infoteknerd]

As mentioned, getting it mailed usually saves a lot of time and effort at the port. Those minutes that they take looking for the old cruise cards felt like wasted vacation, lol. 2 minutes felt like an eternity. 
 

Like others, on my last cruise I had the medallion mailed, and the on-boarding process seemed seamless, a quick glance at the passport and I was in past checkin within 5 minutes. Only to sit in the holding area for 2 hours due to delays, lol. 

[StrawberryHill]

We got on the Majestic Princess on August 8.  One of our party picked up their medallion at the terminal.  We had to wait a couple of extra minutes for them.  The only stop we had to make was to show our passports and vaccine certs. They saw our medallions were all "green lane " except for one after he got his, we walked right on to the ship.

[jwattle]

Not to mention the "ooooh, ahhhhh" moments of opening the package and getting the bright shiny medallion to look at while you're still at home! Vacation starts early!

[Musky Ike]

Just got our "medallions have been shipped" email a few minutes ago for our Sept.05 cruise 😁 getting more real!

[Roberto256]

On 8/15/2021 at 5:04 PM, CineGraphic said:

 

We've been on 2 medallion cruises, and having the medallion saved us plenty of time at the cruise terminals. The line for picking up medallions was long, while we had zero wait.

 

From the posts I have read here...

 

If each passenger just showed up at the terminal, and spent two hours checking in, getting a medallion, and getting on board...

 

It would be a huge win for most passengers over the time spent trying to set up everything with the medallion app, so they

could just race onboard...

 

 

[Kay S]

5 hours ago, Musky Ike said:

Just got our "medallions have been shipped" email a few minutes ago for our Sept.05 cruise 😁 getting more real!

Excellent!  I still get the app message that it is too close to cruise date to mail it (that's October.)  I guess I will just wait and see.  A line at the terminal probably won't kill me.

[Tedferg]

Someone said the battery was dead, Does Medallion have a battery ? My smart pass Toll sensor does not, it is just pinged by tower.

[barrykel]

17 minutes ago, Tedferg said:

Someone said the battery was dead, Does Medallion have a battery ? My smart pass Toll sensor does not, it is just pinged by tower.

As per this article, it actually does have a battery. Seems unnecessary - why didn't they just use the standard NFC technology that's in toll sensors, smart credit cards, employee badges, and the like?

[Tedferg]

16 minutes ago, barrykel said:

As per this article, it actually does have a battery. Seems unnecessary - why didn't they just use the standard NFC technology that's in toll sensors, smart credit cards, employee badges, and the like?

Interesting aside, they say it is as big as a two pound or two euro coin. On another video they spoke of Autumn and Queue - I tend to think of PCL as primarily US. Just shows how one can be mistaken.

[beg3yrs]

3 hours ago, barrykel said:

As per this article, it actually does have a battery. Seems unnecessary - why didn't they just use the standard NFC technology that's in toll sensors, smart credit cards, employee badges, and the like?

 

Near-Field Communication (NFC) is a set of communication protocols for communication between two electronic devices over a distance of 4 cm (11⁄2 in) or less.^[1] NFC offers a low-speed connection with simple setup that can be used to bootstrap more-capable wireless connections.^[2]

NFC devices can act as electronic identity documents and keycards.^[2] They are used in contactless payment systems and allow mobile payment replacing or supplementing systems such as credit cards and electronic ticket smart cards. This is sometimes called NFC/CTLS or CTLS NFC, with contactless abbreviated CTLS. NFC can be used for sharing small files such as contacts, and bootstrapping fast connections to share larger media such as photos, videos, and other files.^[3]

 

If the medallion were to use NFC, it would have to be within only four centimeters of a sensor to work. It would be useless for locating it on board and for many other purposes such as operating your cabin door when it's in your pocket.

[mtnesterz]

6 hours ago, barrykel said:

Seems unnecessary - why didn't they just use the standard NFC technology that's in toll sensors, smart credit cards, employee badges, and the like?

The Medallion employs more than one technology. NFC is used for tap-and-go. Only good a few inches away.  The Medallion also uses active RFID, which is good for 80 yards, if I remember correctly. The function is so they can locate a passenger on the ship if they order a drink or someone wants to find them using the Navigator panels. Active RFID is used in cordless home phones connecting the handset with it's base station. Needs power for that.

The message it sends out has been compared to an automobile license plate in complexity.

 

[AF-1]

Hotels allow you to use your smartphone for NFC to open your door verses using a key card.

[Tedferg]

Is there a line for Green Line passengers who just need to pick up Medallion versus passengers who need help loading passport data etc.

[AF-1]

Tedferg,  I would think yes to your question.

[Roberto256]

On 8/18/2021 at 8:36 PM, mtnesterz said:

The Medallion employs more than one technology. NFC is used for tap-and-go. Only good a few inches away.  The Medallion also uses active RFID, which is good for 80 yards, if I remember correctly. The function is so they can locate a passenger on the ship if they order a drink or someone wants to find them using the Navigator panels. Active RFID is used in cordless home phones connecting the handset with it's base station. Needs power for that.

The message it sends out has been compared to an automobile license plate in complexity.

 

 

I don't think that's correct.

 

From what I have read, the medallion uses Bluetooth Low Energy, and NFC.

 

BLE will allow princess to monetize passenger behaviour...

 

As you walk by the casino, you might get a message: "Slot tournament starting in 5 minutes", etc.

 

Princess has said that monetizing passenger behaviour is their goal:

 

https://www.orlandosentinel.com/business/os-carnival-te2-orlando-20170109-story.html

 

In the word(s) of every smarmy maitre d' ... enjoy!

 

 

Here is a tear-down of a medallion, showing the coin-cell battery:

 

https://fccid.io/2ANQX-01042017/Internal-Photos/Internal-Photos-3614296

 

And, an autopsy by a poster here:

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2654619-dissection-of-a-medallion-doodad-thingy/

 

 

And, this thread has a comparison of the medallion ble to an iBeacon:

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2660085-ocean-medallionthe-ultimate-data-mining-tool/

 

 

Edited August 21, 2021 by Roberto256

[barrykel]

4 hours ago, Roberto256 said:

From what I have read, the medallion uses Bluetooth Low Energy, and NFC.

Yep. See this LinkedIn post from Thilo Horstmann, who is CTO for Costa, and appears to have been deeply involved with the development of the medallion.

Edited August 21, 2021 by barrykel

[Roberto256]

1 hour ago, barrykel said:

Yep. See this LinkedIn post from Thilo Horstmann, who is CTO for Costa, and appears to have been deeply involved with the development of the medallion.

 

Thank you for the link.

[JF - retired RRT]

On 8/17/2021 at 6:47 PM, Kay S said:

Excellent!  I still get the app message that it is too close to cruise date to mail it (that's October.)  I guess I will just wait and see.  A line at the terminal probably won't kill me.

Try calling Princess to get it straigtened out...I know, I know, you'll be on hold, but you might get lucky.