A few weeks ago, WIT Agent Lindsay embarked on a 7-Night Princess Cruise to Puerto Vallarta on the Pacific Coast of Mexico.
She set sail from Los Angeles on the Royal Princess down to Cabo San Lucas, Mazatlán and Puerto Vallarta. She also had a chance to try out the new Ocean Medallion. Read on for her insider tips on how to use this new device.
The Royal Princess is a beautiful ship, voted the Most Popular Cruise Ship by Cruise Critic. Boasting more than 1300 crew and room for more than 3500 guests, the Royal Princess is a favorite among cruise veterans and newbies alike.
Here’s What Lindsay Had to Say:
The ship was so GRAND, I couldn’t believe how massive it was. At every port we saw them doing maintenance on it as well. The ship staff were wonderful! Ryan Sarera in particular made our trip just amazing, he went over and beyond providing us with a special experience.
Flowers, chocolates and strawberries, party invites and concierge services all helped make our trip extra enjoyable and that much more memorable. We really can’t thank him enough for taking such good care of us, along with our Cabin Attendant Mahdi for being so welcoming and making our stay comfortable.
The Ocean Medallion – What is it?
One of Lindsay’s main missions was to test out the new Ocean Medallions.
The complimentary OceanMedallion™ is your personalized access key onboard. Only as big as a quarter, this tiny accessory is available only on select cruises. It’s your key to Wifi onboard, shopping, drinks, online Concierge, original travel shows, and an OceanCompass that acts as a navigator so you can easily locate your friends and family onboard. The medallion can be delivered to you ahead of your cruise.
Its features include:
- Fast ship boarding with OceanReady: Guests who arrive at the terminal with travel documents (i.e. passports) uploaded to their profile have a personalized check-in process. Personalization starts pre-cruise by guests becoming OceanReady while at home.
- On-demand beverage delivery: Using smart devices, guests have the ability to order drinks using OceanNow and have them delivered directly to them throughout the ship and even in their stateroom.
- Enhanced Wi-Fi: MedallionNet provides fast, unlimited Wi-Fi, allowing guests to stay connected from anywhere on the ship, including staterooms which are each equipped with a Wi-Fi access point, Princess said. With MedallionNet, guests can share vacation experiences with friends and family back home, stream TV shows, movies and sports events, and make voice and video calls.
- Keyless Stateroom Entry: Each guest is securely validated and the door automatically unlocks with personalized greetings displayed on the door portal.
- OceanCompass: OceanCompass leverages the Princess Medallion to enable point-to-point wayfinding throughout the ship. OceanCompass guides guests throughout their journey, providing directional information so they can seamlessly navigate to their next point of interest.
- MedallionPay: An easy to use payment feature, enabling crew members to focus on meaningful guest interactions.
- OceanCasino: On smart devices and select portals, guests can wager real money on games, including slots, poker, bingo, roulette, keno and lottery from anywhere on board.
- OceanView: Guests can stream more than 100 hours of award-winning Ocean Original travel shows to their smart device anywhere on the ship at no cost – content which airs nationally on weekends on ABC and NBC.
- PlayOcean: On portals located throughout the ship, guests play family games, including trivia, word jumble, a matching game and Ocean Treks Adventure – an interactive, ship-wide digital scavenger hunt. PlayOcean also transforms guests’ mobile devices into game controllers for interactive gaming on the Movies Under the Stars screen. And, guests can enjoy Games Under the Stars where players enjoy arcade and trivia fun on the cruise line’s Movies Under the Stars screen.
Lindsay’s Insider Tips – How to Use the Ocean Medallion
- Everyone gets a medallion on the ship, it’s just whether you do it on arrival or beforehand (not all ships have the technology yet but they are slowly expanding). It is best to do it in advance so you get through check-in quicker- we were on the boat in less than 15 minutes after our taxi dropped us off at the tier! Definitely get “Ocean Ready” by ordering the medallion delivery and by downloading the app ahead of time.
- It is definitely worth it, but travelers need to be conscious of their spending. There is a machine that you can go to and print out your bill at any time, next to the front desk.
- Payments are done by scanning the medallion but a lot of time the server’s technology will detect your medallion and the cashier will see your picture on their screen. The server then confirms your name and room #, this was how we knew we were being charged but there were plenty on the boat that had no idea when they were being charged for things.
- Register for shore excursions before on ship, wait lines were a bit crazy the first day onboard and the morning of. This also gave us discounts at the spa.
- Download apps beforehand and get to know them when you have free Wi-Fi, this way you have the apps before and don’t have to get internet just to download. There are 5 apps (yikes) but just pick the ones you need (drinks, map, gambling, etc.). We didn’t use the map, but those we met that were in a group loved it because they could easily find their friends on the ship.
- The Medallions come with free lanyards, which are color-coded based on your standing with Princess (how much you have sailed with them). You can also buy some accessories to hold your medallions–watches, necklaces, etc.
- We met another couple that was with a group of their family members and they loved the Compass App because they could find people from their party anytime which was really nice. You add people from your party by name and they pop up on your map. If you don’t mind location tracking, then it can be a real time saver.
