OceanMedallion Propels Princess Cruises Into the Future

Click! Our stateroom door unlocked automatically; my wife and I never had to reach into our pockets for a key card. In fact, the most effort we had to exert was strolling down the cabin corridor and approaching our accommodations onboard Princess Cruises’ Regal Princess. The ship is one of several MedallionClass vessels employing OceanMedallion technology — waterproof, quarter-size medallions that, in addition to other features, unlock cabins hands-free.

With its current features, OceanMedallion — the latest endeavor from Princess’ parent company Carnival Corporation & Plc — is already impressive, but it promises even more in the future. For now, the medallions are exclusive to the Princess brand and its guests. They are individually issued and can be pocketed, worn with a complimentary plastic lanyard or worn decoratively (jewelry accessories are available for purchase onboard).

Replacing traditional cruise cards, OceanMedallion is, first and foremost, a device for stateroom access, checking in and out of the ship and making drink and retail purchases. But its overall ecosystem is far more elaborate: It wirelessly ties in with the ship’s super speedy MedallionNet Wi-Fi access, thousands of proximity sensors and a half-dozen mobile apps.

These apps include OceanReady (for initial cruise registration); OceanNow (for ordering food and drinks); OceanCompass (for navigation around the ship and chatting with fellow cruise passengers); Ocean Casino (for virtual gaming/gambling); OceanView (to watch television series); and PlayOcean (for free, family-friendly games). It may seem at first a daunting array of apps, but the beauty is that clients only need to download those that apply to their vacation.

“For the sake of speed, ease and efficiency in our launch phase, we thought it was best to launch the various functionalities with individual apps,” said John Padgett, chief experience and innovation officer for Carnival Corporation.

However, according to John Chernesky, senior vice president of sales and trade marketing for Princess and Cunard Line, the company is working on combining the six apps into one.

In fact, Princess has just announced that the separate apps have now been consolidated into the singular MedallionClass app.

In the meantime, whether clients want to order a glass of wine to their favorite reading nook, find exactly where their companions are onboard the ship or get detailed directions to the next activity (not to mention to their stateroom and public bathrooms), all they have to do is use their smartphone.

As a fervent adopter of Apple’s HomeKit smart home system, I appreciate extensive automation. But I also recognize that it can function imperfectly. While mostly marvelous, OceanMedallion does have some flaws.

Although the automatic unlocking of cabin doors is very consistent — as is embarkation, disembarkation and room service — we found the accuracy of beverage ordering and delivery to be somewhat hit or miss.

Because cruisers can order drinks on-demand and don’t need to wait for a server to come around, beverages arrive within just a few minutes. However, we found that the app sometimes struggled to pinpoint the closest bar, and drinks were not deliverable to every location on our sailing. Still, the crew-facing GuestView app helps with triangulating guests and suggesting drinks for them.

I found the PlayOcean app to be rather buggy. As an alternative, guests can access a voyage timeline via public portals throughout the ship (not yet available for mobile, but coming soon to OceanNow). They can also access gaming from these portals — such as a shipwide interactive scavenger hunt — and even customize a Tagalong animal avatar during play. 

Additionally, dining reservations and daily menus are not available in-app, and guests must still manually place a “do not disturb” sign on their stateroom door handle. There was also a lack of outlets in our cabin, and few to no USB charging ports.

Nonetheless, OceanMedallions allow cruisers to proudly show their loyalty status and can be a fun conversation starter. Via the tech, the status, occupant names and onboard celebrations are displayed outside staterooms and suites. And if clients meet new friends onboard, they can chat virtually during their journey via the OceanCompass app.

Caribbean Princess, Regal Princess and Royal Princess became MedallionClass this year; Crown Princess received the tech in July, and the new Sky Princess will have it beginning Oct. 12. For 2020, the following ships will be equipped: Ruby Princess (Jan. 27), Grand Princess (March 29), Enchanted Princess (June 15), Emerald Princess (Aug. 16), Coral Princess (Oct. 16) and Island Princess (Dec. 20).

“The system is not perfect today — we know that,” Chernesky said. “It’s being developed and evolved day after day, and it gets better every week. Every week, there’s something new coming out.”

In fact, during a follow-up tour of sister-ship Royal Princess — docked for the first time in San Diego — we learned that retail and housekeeping items such as pillow requests will be available on the OceanMedallion apps, and digital drink menus will be expanding. Additionally, color coding will help accurately locate and streamline guests’ drink orders.

OceanMedallion is a glimpse into the future, and I predict that all cruise ships will eventually adopt some form of the technology. What’s more, increased competition is already on the horizon, which will ensure continued innovation.

The Details
OceanMedallion
www.princess.com

Princess Cruises
www.princess.com