richmke

10 minutes ago, ghstudio said:

is the price for one device.....or is it for one userid/pw which can be used on any device at a time?

 

Is there any way to buy this now using OBC?

If you buy 1 device, you can use it on multiple devices, but only one can be logged in at at time. With the 4 device package, you can have 4 devices logged in at one time.

You can't use OBC to buy in advance. 

Packages could change. Grab it now. If the price goes down, or a better package is offered, you can cancel and buy the new one.

On my last cruise, I was thinking the same thing. Princess offered a $50 (approx) unlimited for 1 device. Then they switched to new pricing, and it went up to $70 for 1 device, but $105 for 4. The 4 device package worked better for us. But, I would have been kicking myself if I only needed 1 device.

17 hours ago, comet87 said:

 If I purchase the 4-device plan, does that mean that 4 of our devices can all be running at the same time?

Yes, But ....

They will all be logged into Ocean Concierge as the person with the Internet Package.

The login credentials will also give you access to Ocean Concierge. That means anyone you login can view your account.

Note: You have to login separately for each Ocean App, so the apps are not affected by who is logged in through Ocean Concierge.

3 hours ago, Globehoppers said:

Ship's WiFi is as secure as your home WiFi IF you set up and use reasonably secure passwords and insure that you have an https handshake connection. 

Not True.

Assuming you have properly configured your home wifi (modern encryption, strong key, etc.), your home wifi is more secure than the Ship's.

First of all, your non-https traffic is broadcast in the clear, and anyone can watch it.

Second, HTTPS traffic is subject to a man-in-the-middle attack - even if you setup and use reasonable secure passwords and insure that you have an https handshake connection. Your https connection could be to the man-in-the-middle, not to the Bank. The man-in-the-middle intercepts your traffic, and connects to the bank with their https connection.

An encrypted home wifi network significantly reduces the likelihood of either of the above.

12 minutes ago, billystanley said:

we just made elite on our last cruise 2 weeks ago. we leave for the next on on 8 9. our medallions arrived yesterday but they have the platinum color ring. when we board I’m thinking I can get someone to change out the plat color ring for black. anyone know where I go to do this?

thank you

Do it when you check-in. If they can't give you a new medallion then, then ask at the Passenger Service Desk. They replace medallions all the time (lost, battery runs out, etc.).

$300/person is not that much different from having booked it that way in the first place. So, no-go for me. I would only have accepted a free cruise, and they could have downgraded me to an inside.

Assuming the EZ Air flight is the one you want, there is no downside. If you want a different airline, then you have to book it yourself. For me, it is Delta via EZ-Air, or Southwest on our own. Unless the EZ Air is significantly less, we go with Southwest for the free bags.

The big positive about EZ Air is that if the flights get messed up, Princess has to make good. - Schedule change, and the flight arrives too late to make the cruise; flight is delayed and you miss embarkation; Debarkation is delayed and you miss your flight; etc.

I prepaid when they raised the rates (May?). When we took the cruise in June, nothing showed up on the on-board statement (one way or the other).

11 hours ago, donswife said:

Does anyone know if the fish I made on my prior Medallion cruise (CB last October) that followed me around will come back on my next medallion cruise, or do I have to make a new one?

I got the Sports band. $12 onboard. While the Fitbit would have been cheaper, the sports band looks nicer, and I can use it on future cruises.

Kind of quirky to put on, but kids will figure it out. The loose strap has to be tucked under.

The Medallion only fits in through the bottom, so it can't fall out the top.

The Band is magnetized, so the Medallion only fits in one direction. The only issue is when Shore Security need to read the name on the medallion. I wore the band backwards to it was easier for other people to read when you hold it up. Otherwise, your name is upside down.

I wore it snorkling, and no issues.

Note: The Princess person told me to wear it tight when swimming so the Medallion does not fall out the bottom. That was too tight. I wore it with a slight gap on the bottom, but not large enough for the Medallion to fall out. In any case, it is held in by magnets, so it would not only have to be pushed down, but also the band raised up so it could fall out the bottom. Not likely.

Today, Alaska is cheaper. The cheapest 7-day Caribbean cruise on Princess is Dec 1, 2019 $569 inside, $699 balcony. The cheapest 7-day Alaska cruise is Aug 31, 2019 $427 inside, $607 ocean view. 
 

It is a matter of supply and demand. If you need a specific date, then book in advance, and hope for a sale. If you are flexible, then wait for last minute sales. I think $427 for Alaska is about as cheap as the Caribbean gets.

FYI: Right now, May 2020 for Alaska is $659 interior, and Caribbean is $699 interior. So, you could say that the Caribbean is more expensive than Alaska. However, a balcony on those same dates is 50% more expensive in Alaska. The main reason for that is that people are willing to pay for the view on Alaska Cruises, and not Caribbean Cruises.

We were on the Caribbean Princess, a Medallion Class ship, a few weeks ago. They still have the printed Patter. In fact, we prefer the printed version so much, that we asked the Cabin Steward to give us 2 copies every day. Each of us could mark up our own.

16 hours ago, CruiseVA said:

The one issue I had using a VPN last spring was that you can't just go to logout.com to logout. You have to disconnect form teh VPN to do that. 

That is because the VPN is trying to lookup the "logout.com" domain name. Once you disconnect from the VPN, you are back to Princess's DNS server. It redirects "logout.com" to their server to log you out.

Note: In theory you could have a similar problem if you name your own DNS servers, and not the default ones of the connection. Not likely, unless you know what you are doing. In that instance, you know what to do.

2 hours ago, silver1 said:

Fabulous, thank you.  Do you know what the cost is please? 

$150, and we did it last month.

June 29, 2019, R305 Balcony. The A/C was fine. We like 70-72 range. We did keep the curtains closed during the day when we were not in the room. It was a very hot cruise - 90's during the day.

Sometimes, we let the room get warm if we are gone for the day (turn up the thermostat), and dialed it down when we returned. It cooled off quickly. 

Note: The 4 device plan is for the Same passenger. You will have Ocean Concierge issues when on board if you are sharing the 4 device plan with someone else (same or different cabin). All the other apps work fine, since you don't need an internet package to use them.

The issue with Ocean Concierge is that you have to login as the passenger with the package. Any feature on the Ocean Concierge see you and not the other passenger. The Chat Feature is one feature most closely tied to the passenger. The easy solution to that is to send e-mails rather than chat. 

4 minutes ago, Bootman4U said:

How many people have had a problem connecting to a bank from a cruise ship?  Do you know of anyone? Ever heard of anyone ?

The main problem with connecting to a site with high security (bank) is that they will see a new location, and may subject you to extra verification steps. A typical one is calling or texting you. That can be a problem when you are on the high seas, or foreign location.

Typically, the App is a better way to minimize the verification problem. Assuming you have accessed the bank from an App, the bank has some comfort that it is you (when you access again from the same app), especially if you have password/finger print enabled on the app.

We were going to use OBC to pay the gratuities. Then Princess announced an increase in Gratuities, and gave you a window where you could pre-pay at the old rate. I decided to prepay to save a few bucks. If there was a risk of not spending all the OBC, then I would have waited to use OBC.

5 hours ago, jkocpa said:

I have a guarantee IF on the Emerald leaving in 5 days and still no cabin! The cruise has been sold out for months. I know that I will get a cabin, but it is frustrating to wait.

I would guess that the longer you have to wait, the higher the likelihood of getting an upgrade. If they had excess inside cabins, I am sure you would have received one by now. If they are out of Inside Cabins, then they will have to give you what is left in the Ocean View, Balcony, or Suites. They could also be actively trying to upsell to free up an inside cabin, and then give that to you.

15 hours ago, Thrak said:

 

Is it not the case that cruise cards now have to be held up to the same scanner that works with the Medallion? I know on Ruby before they got the Medallion going we had cruise cards but had to hold them up to the scanner by the door to get into the cabin. There's a chip in the card.

True. Princess would need to use a chip and antenna with a good Read range, and then install readers throughout the ship to track you. Who knows, maybe they do, and don't tell you (they can hide a big antenna in the cruise card). Better to be up front with the Medallions, and give you a false sense of security with the Cruise Card.

Just now, Colo Cruiser said:

Not secure wasn't for the original question?

OK what am I missing?

The original post was asking if the Ship's Internet is Secure. Not, how to secure an internet connection.

1 minute ago, Colo Cruiser said:

This.....

That wasn't the original question.

The connection to a bank is typically encrypted (https). The risk is then a man-in-the-middle attack: Where you connect to the hacker, (via http) and the hacker connects to your bank (via https). They can then see all your traffic. One way to defeat the attack is to make sure you are connected via https, and not http. Note: A hacker could create their own HTTPS connection (you connect to them via HTTPS, so you don't see HTTP), so looking for HTTPS is not 100% reliable.

Note: I am guessing that the Apps of the various banks force a specific HTTPS connection, so they should be less susceptible to a man-in-the-middle attack. The trojan hacker HTTPS should be rejected by the App.

Note 2: I would suspect that a Crew Member is less likely to try and create an attack. So, you are left with a rouge passenger doing the attack. Not as likely to happen than with a public wifi at a fixed starbucks type location.

Maybe roaming the ship while you are connected could defeat it. The spoofed wifi would likely be highly localized (say a pool area). If you start the connection there, and then roam to the buffet area, you would change to the true ship's wifi, and defeat the hacker. Now, if someone managed to hack the ship's system ...

When we booked a Guaranteed Cabin category, and received a cabin assignment about 35 days prior to departure. The boards here say that the cabin assignment could change. Mine did not. Worst case, you will get an assignment a few days prior to departure.

On 7/20/2019 at 2:03 PM, Northern Light said:

 Just want to know if the card has tracking abilities.

At this time, I am not aware that Princess can actively track you with the Cruise Card. Note: every time it is swiped, there is a record.

In theory though, Princess could put an RFID chip into each Cruise Card and then actively track you like with a Medallion.