Ocean Medallion Questions - Part 2

[MissP22]

46 minutes ago, RocketMan275 said:

Do you give your medallion to an employee for them to charge your account?

Do you give your cruise card to an employee for them to charge your account?

If you order a drink you'll have to surrender you Medallion to charge it.

Same difference. 

[Daniel A]

On ‎2‎/‎28‎/‎2020 at 8:56 AM, 1965 said:

I know zero about the mind of a criminal, but wouldn't there be enormous risk using a found medallion to get into a cabin? One of the occupants might be inside. An occupant might return. And there seems to be very little criminal element on a cruise ship. 

Most residential burglaries occur during the daytime hours when people are up and moving about.  If there wasn't a concern about property crime on cruise ships then why would the cruise lines spend all that money putting a safe in each cabin?  What if DW were to walk in on an intruder or an intruder came into the cabin while DW was in the shower?

 

1 hour ago, RocketMan275 said:

I cannot agree more.  I think this isn't about fear of illicit entry but more about a aversion to the medallion concept.  I think many do not like medallions and are looking for as much fault as they can find to justify this dislike. 

I sailed on Regal this month.  At no time was I warned that if I were to misplace my medallion somebody could just walk up to any board and see which cabin door the medallion would open.  I didn't believe Princess would even have that as an option.  I had no problem with the medallion but this is a major security flaw that needs to be corrected.  I enjoyed the medallion concept overall but the 'find your cabin' option is one gimmick that compromises the security of the passengers and should be discontinued.  IMHO.

[RocketMan275]

8 minutes ago, MissP22 said:

If you order a drink you'll have to surrender you Medallion to charge it.

Same difference. 

18. How do I pay for purchases, if I don’t have a cruise card?

Your Medallion disk functions the same way as your cruise card, so you will just tap your medallion to pay for purchases throughout the ship.

 

Can you pay by taping your cruise card?

If  you can put your medallion on a wrist band, do you have to remove the band to 'surrender' your medallion?

Edited February 29, 2020 by RocketMan275

[1965]

Lordy! Whatever! Be afraid! Be very afraid! 😄

[dreaminofcruisin]

Just off the Sky and now I wish I had paid more attention....

I know when I set up the app, it asked me to create a pin which I did.

The first time I tried to use one of the big boards on the ship, it asked for my pin which I didn't remember, (but I had written down in some of my paperwork buried in my cabin). I just thought oh well....and then forgot about it. I noticed later people were using the boards and I didn't see it asking for a pin or even their medallion. I think you can use the boards to check things that are not associated with you (schedule / map / etc.) , but if you put your medallion up to it, I think it might ask for your pin? I don't even remember what I was doing when it asked for my pin....maybe someone on the ship can play with it a bit and report back....

[GonzoWCS]

Well I forgot to order the Medallion and had 21 days until sail away.  Ordered the Medallions Sunday and received them Thursday.  Very nice response Princess!  Ready to roll to FLL soon.

 

Cheers

Steve & Vicky

[AF-1]

You are correct;  any sensitive info requires a pin code

[MissP22]

2 hours ago, RocketMan275 said:

18. How do I pay for purchases, if I don’t have a cruise card?

Your Medallion disk functions the same way as your cruise card, so you will just tap your medallion to pay for purchases throughout the ship.

 

Can you pay by taping your cruise card?

If  you can put your medallion on a wrist band, do you have to remove the band to 'surrender' your medallion?

 

Until the waiter brings a drink & asks for you medallion. He'll bring it back in a few minutes later. 

Everything they say sounds good on paper until you sail & find out differently. 

54 minutes ago, dreaminofcruisin said:

Just off the Sky and now I wish I had paid more attention....

I know when I set up the app, it asked me to create a pin which I did.

The first time I tried to use one of the big boards on the ship, it asked for my pin which I didn't remember, (but I had written down in some of my paperwork buried in my cabin). I just thought oh well....and then forgot about it. I noticed later people were using the boards and I didn't see it asking for a pin or even their medallion. I think you can use the boards to check things that are not associated with you (schedule / map / etc.) , but if you put your medallion up to it, I think it might ask for your pin? I don't even remember what I was doing when it asked for my pin....maybe someone on the ship can play with it a bit and report back....

It wasn't like that 3 weeks ago but now this does sound like they've changed the system since.  

[MissP22]

2 hours ago, Daniel A said:

I sailed on Regal this month.  At no time was I warned that if I were to misplace my medallion somebody could just walk up to any board and see which cabin door the medallion would open.  I didn't believe Princess would even have that as an option.  I had no problem with the medallion but this is a major security flaw that needs to be corrected.  I enjoyed the medallion concept overall but the 'find your cabin' option is one gimmick that compromises the security of the passengers and should be discontinued.  IMHO.

We were on the same trip & I can say for certain that no pin number is required to find the cabin number associated with your medallion. It's the first thing I check each time we sail.

dreaminofcruisin seems to think that they recently modified their program to correct this security flaw. 

We shall see. 

[cruisingram1]

Does anyone from Princess monitor these boards? Seems like all it would take is a word or two from them to clarify whether or not a pin is required to find a cabin by tapping the board with a lost medallion. Or if those boards in the corridors or at your door have facial recognition as some have suggested. How few bad guys roam the ship is not the point. Is the medallion compromised if lost is.


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[Daniel A]

On ‎2‎/‎28‎/‎2020 at 8:56 AM, 1965 said:

I know zero about the mind of a criminal,

Agreed.

[Kmkub]

So the features listed I see you can order drinks right from the app. Is that right? Does this include getting a beer or drink delivered to the cabin? 

[idahospud]

1 hour ago, cruisingram1 said:

Does anyone from Princess monitor these boards? Seems like all it would take is a word or two from them to clarify whether or not a pin is required to find a cabin by tapping the board with a lost medallion. Or if those boards in the corridors or at your door have facial recognition as some have suggested. How few bad guys roam the ship is not the point. Is the medallion compromised if lost is.


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@AskOceanMedallion would be a good resource.

[Thrak]

Never mind...Realized my response didn't really answer the question.

Edited February 29, 2020 by Thrak

[AF-1]

2 hours ago, idahospud said:

@AskOceanMedallion would be a good resource.

From time to time Princess and Carnival reps monitor this.  Although Princess has ocean medallion; Carnival tech is responsible for the program. They do monitor this board

[shrewsdog]

Helpful Hint -

Guest Services can make you an old style cruise card.  It has all the same capabilities as your medallion, and you can use both.  It is much more convenient to carry when going ashore.  It's also an option if you just plain don't like the medallions.

 

On Medallion.net -

It's not always clear from the description, but if you buy a "one device" package it's really one device at a time.  You can use it on multiple platforms.  When you switch to another device it will ask you if you want to log off the last one that was using it.  No big issue.  The 4 device package isn't that much of a premium over the single.  With that you can still share across devices as above, but you can keep some or all (e.g. 2x cell, 2x tablet) logged in the entire voyage.  The packages aren't really priced per day.  My last one was priced for 7 days, but good for a voyage of 7-30.

[leck57]

14 hours ago, RocketMan275 said:

 

If  you can put your medallion on a wrist band, do you have to remove the band to 'surrender' your medallion?

 

No, you don't have to hand it over. I use a wrist band with the Medallion and you just hold your wrist against the reader if they ask you to do that. 

[RocketMan275]

7 hours ago, leck57 said:

 

No, you don't have to hand it over. I use a wrist band with the Medallion and you just hold your wrist against the reader if they ask you to do that. 

So, the crew member doesn't touch your medallion?  Doesn't that mean there is less risk of contamination?

[MissP22]

29 minutes ago, RocketMan275 said:

So, the crew member doesn't touch your medallion?  Doesn't that mean there is less risk of contamination?

Yes if there's no touching involved but I've seen many times that they take you medallion to charge it & then return it later. ie. drinks

Perhaps things have changed after all. 

[RocketMan275]

1 minute ago, MissP22 said:

Yes if there's no touching involved but I've seen many times that they take you medallion to charge it & then return it later. ie. drinks

Perhaps things have changed after all. 

Hopefully so.  It would be relatively simple to change the procedure to avoid touching by the crew member.

[1965]

54 minutes ago, RocketMan275 said:

So, the crew member doesn't touch your medallion?  Doesn't that mean there is less risk of contamination?

Yes. In Oct. I bought a watch onboard the Caribbean. I wore my medallion on a lanyard. I pressed it against the circle on the counter without even having to remove it from around my neck. 

[RocketMan275]

36 minutes ago, 1965 said:

Yes. In Oct. I bought a watch onboard the Caribbean. I wore my medallion on a lanyard. I pressed it against the circle on the counter without even having to remove it from around my neck. 

Pretty obvious that one can charge without surrendering the medallion.  After all, they can be worn on a watch band.  Would it be expected to take your watch off to buy a drink?

[ecs66]

On 2/29/2020 at 7:58 AM, RocketMan275 said:

I think this isn't about fear of illicit entry but more about a aversion to the medallion concept.

I do know that on Sky Princess in February my husband lost his medallion (fell out the opposite end of the lanyard connection) on his way to the gym about three doors from our cabin.  He noticed it was gone as he left the gym two hours later.  An intruder would've had two hours to enter our cabin, and do who-knows-what.  It's creepy.

 

The Medallion was very convenient for charging corking fees, buying coffee at International Cafe, embarking/disembarking, and even entry to cabin.  The security IS an issue.  I think it would be super easy for Princess I.T. gurus to combine the door opening feature with the facial recognition feature (which they already have in their database), as a double-check for opening a cabin from the hallway.

[MissP22]

49 minutes ago, ecs66 said:

I do know that on Sky Princess in February my husband lost his medallion (fell out the opposite end of the lanyard connection) on his way to the gym about three doors from our cabin.  He noticed it was gone as he left the gym two hours later.  An intruder would've had two hours to enter our cabin, and do who-knows-what.  It's creepy.

 

The Medallion was very convenient for charging corking fees, buying coffee at International Cafe, embarking/disembarking, and even entry to cabin.  The security IS an issue.  I think it would be super easy for Princess I.T. gurus to combine the door opening feature with the facial recognition feature (which they already have in their database), as a double-check for opening a cabin from the hallway.

It would involve a facial recognition camera at each cabin location.

Hardly possible without a complete revision of the whole ships system.

A simple pin code at the boards around the ship seems more likely. Then it would at least require approaching each cabin door to see if the medallion worked or not.  

[RocketMan275]

2 hours ago, ecs66 said:

I do know that on Sky Princess in February my husband lost his medallion (fell out the opposite end of the lanyard connection) on his way to the gym about three doors from our cabin.  He noticed it was gone as he left the gym two hours later.  An intruder would've had two hours to enter our cabin, and do who-knows-what.  It's creepy.

 

The Medallion was very convenient for charging corking fees, buying coffee at International Cafe, embarking/disembarking, and even entry to cabin.  The security IS an issue.  I think it would be super easy for Princess I.T. gurus to combine the door opening feature with the facial recognition feature (which they already have in their database), as a double-check for opening a cabin from the hallway.

I don't think incorporating facial recognition into every cabin door would be as super easy as you think.  The processing would have to be in a central computer and would require some very big pipelines to move the data to the computer.  It would be very expensive to put that processing power in each cabin.

BTW, facial recognition is rather controversial with claims that it discriminates against various groups.