Are you off on a Princess cruise soon? If you are due to travel then look out for the “Medallion” which is basically (in a nutshell) your new key card, but so much more!
As Princess cruises claim and I quote “this promises to transform your cruise experience with a package of holiday enhancing features.” Firstly let me tell you when this marvel is going to be introduced. The Caribbean Princess was the first ship to debut this last September. It has since been introduced on the Regal Princess and later this year it will be on Royal, Crown and then the new Sky Princess before eventually on the other ships. It is as I mentioned earlier your new key card but has such fantastic technology that when you combine it with some apps it comes into it’s own. The apps can be downloaded on your phone or another mobile device.
So, what are these “holiday enhancing features?” There is the Ocean Ready where you can download your own passport, photo and credit card at home giving you a much speedier embarkation. Then there is the Ocean Now, this is a great one. You can actually order food and drink from around the ship using menus. The waiters are guided to you by your picture and where you are on the location details. We then have Ocean Compass which helps you find your way around the ship. This is also combined with a “shipmates” feature where you can locate your family or friends.
Another feature is the Play Ocean where you can play games around the ship and take part in games under the stars on the big movie screen on deck. Good one for the children!. There is also the Ocean Casino – you can play bingo for example wherever you are. Last one is Ocean View which lets you stream a TV show from your cabin.
Princess naturally are very confident that this technology and investment will be a major game player in the cruising world and of course enhance your experience at sea with them. As always there are other cruise lines trying to be the best and Royal Caribbean and MSC are others who are/will be offering similar experiences.
I for one think it sounds a great idea, I particularly like the idea of ordering a drink from anywhere on the ship. It will be interesting to hear though from anyone who has experienced this how long you have to wait for that drink to arrive? I also love the idea of a quicker embarkation, let us get rid of those long queues at check in!
Time will tell how good this will be, but I think it will be a good one!
Till next time x