What Exactly Is Princess Cruises’ Ocean Medallion?

 Royal Caribbean are known to be at the forefront of technological advances in the cruise world, however Princess have come along and developed something very technologically advanced to make your life on board the ship much easier. I bet Royal caribbean wish they had thought of this first! It’s called Ocean Medallion. So what exactly is it and what does it do?

Here’s what Princess say: “The complimentary OceanMedallion™ is the size of a coin and can be worn in a variety of ways: in a clip, sportsband, bracelet, or pendant. It’s your key to opening doors: to your stateroom and a world of possibilities aboard your ship”. Intriguing. So from this statement we know you can wear it as a piece of jewellery and open your cabin door with it!

The Medallion works in conjunction with a series of mobile phone apps, with each app offering a different function, such as checking in at embarkation, ordering food and drinks, playing games and navigating the ship.

Here are the main functions available:

Ordering food, drinks or shopping from wherever you are on the ship The medallion app allows you to order food and drink items as well as goods from the shop and have them delivered directly to you. The app allows the staff to find your exact location. Brilliant!

Navigating your way around the ship & keeping in touch: Let’s face it we’ve all had those moments when you exit a lift and think ‘Hmmm…left or right? Walk forward or double back’? Well the Ocean Compass portals have interactive ship maps as well as the ‘Shipmates’ function, allowing you to connect with other people in your party on board, so if you lose them you can track them down. No telling your other half you’re in the gym if you’re actually off on a shopping spree. You’ll get busted! The portals also show you all the entertainment and activity options throughout your cruise and have fun little games you can play – a big hit with the kids.

Speedy check-in: You can get your holiday started faster by getting ‘Ocean Ready’ at home. By completing all the steps ahead of time and having your Ocean Medallion ready, you’ll get through embarkation faster, so able to hot-foot it straight to the buffet or bar. You need to ensure you have checked in and uploaded your photo. Full instructions are given on how to do this.

Accessing super-fast wifi: Ok – so this isn’t directly linked to your Ocean Medallion disc and there is still a charge for wifi packages, however having such advanced technology on board means that the wifi is very fast and not extortionately priced. For a package it’s $10 per day for unlimited internet, which is at a 50% discounted rate. You do need to buy it the first day to get the discount.

Ocean Concierge: This replaces the former Princess@Sea messenger service, which is a way to message other passengers on the ship for free, so if you don’t want to use the internet while you are on a cruise you can still benefit from messaging your family members or any new ‘Shipmates’ you befriend on board.

Ocean medallion Room Service: If it’s too much of an effort to get out of bed and get the room service menu do not fear! You can simply order directly from the app on your phone without even lifting your head off the pillow. Happy days.

Tagalong Avatar: On the Play Ocean App, when setting up your profile, you can create a personalized Tagalong avatar. You can choose your desired character and then customise it with your favourite colours and patterns. As you walk by the Ocean Compass portals, your Tagalong often appears. Another feature the kids will love.

I have to say that for those of us that aren’t the most techy of people it may strike a little fear. I worry that my phone wouldn’t have enough memory for all the apps needed. I worry that I might lose my little disc and be unable to get in to my cabin. I worry that I might have a ‘Big Brother Is Watching’ feeling and most importantly I worry that I wouldn’t be able to sneak off to a quiet corner with a cocktail and a good book for an hour without someone being able to track me down. I also actually like the fact that when I’m on a cruise with no wifi connection I actually put my phone away for hours on end some days.

Having said all that it’s just the ramblings of an old technophobe. We must move with the times or get left behind. There has been really good feedback from the guests that have used the Ocean Medallion features, saying that it has really enhanced their experience. I guess it’s time to face my technophobia head on and drag myself in to the 21st century. I will be testing this out on Sky Princess in October. I’ll let you know how I get on.

You can read more about Ocean Medallion here.

TTFN!