What do you do with the Medallion after the cruise?

[4x4bob]

On 8/17/2022 at 6:31 PM, memoak said:

Garbage. But if you do b2b cruises you use the same one for both. Not sure how the battery will last on too many cruises 

My Medallion came with a weak battery.  It was slow to open the cabin door and often when I ordered a drink it would not read and the bar tender had to ask my cabin.  After I returned home I read on CC that I should have gone to Passenger Service desk and had them install a battery, something that I had not read about before the cruise.

Bob

[Techwizardress]

On 8/17/2022 at 6:00 PM, namowal said:

I've gotten a different one with each cruise.  If you take them out of the little lanyard case they make decent fridge magnets.

 

I have ours are on the frig as well.

[spookyfudge]

I put on a post and shoot at it.  It makes a great bullseye and then when you do hit it on its side, it rockets off the post! Lots of fun

[eclue]

Right in the trash......

[1965]

I'm a silly, cruise loving, sentimental fool. I save our expired passports, old cruise key cards, & now medallions. No need to shame me. I own who I am. 😁

[Thrak]

My wife found hers in a suitcase the other day when she got it out for an overnight trip. Mine is stuck on the refrigerator but it's a pretty weak magnet.

 

I have some pretty powerful magnets on the fridge. I took coins from Aruba, St. Kitts, Tahiti, etc. and glued bits of hard drive magnets to the back of them. Very powerful magnets and the coins remind us of cruises.

[AE_Collector]

I haven’t opened one up but I would doubt that there is a battery inside. Electronics yes so proper handling would be to send it for electronic recycling. The technology has existed for decades eliminating the need for. A battery in things like access cards for work etc. The readers all over the ship emit a RF signal that Is picked up by an antennae winding in the card or medallion. This charges a small capacitor inside which allows the tiny microchip inside to broadcast its ID which the reader picks up. Thus they can track your location around the ship and when your reader outside your cabin door sees a medallion that it knows is associated with this cabin, it unlocks the door.

 

I would far rather that stuff like this were issued once and reprogrammed for each cruise you are going in. The cost of producing all these medallions and mailing them all over the place in presentation cases seems a bit over the top to me not to mention wasteful. They can certainly reissue them if you’ve lost yours or when you step up to a different level but there is no reason to print sailing info on them and then issue new ones for every cruise. We live in such a wasteful world!

[ekka49]

On 8/18/2022 at 11:31 AM, memoak said:

Garbage. But if you do b2b cruises you use the same one for both. Not sure how the battery will last on too many cruises 

Will they last the length of a world cruise. 110 days

Asking for a friend

[caribill]

26 minutes ago, AE_Collector said:

 there is no reason to print sailing info on them and then issue new ones for every cruise

 

Like the old cruise cards which also had your name and sailing info on them, the Medallions with your name and sailing info allow port authorities to know you are authorized to enter the cruise terminal and return to the ship.

 

(Ports do not have equipment that could read the reference number on the chip and check it against a database of passengers on the current cruise.)

[AE_Collector]

They did in Alaska in May. But yes it will take some time to become more widespread. 

[station10fd]

They surround the future cruise door decorations.  Nice reminder when we're in the kitchen 🙂

[DCThunder]

7 hours ago, ekka49 said:

Will they last the length of a world cruise. 110 days

Asking for a friend

It didn't last for a 36 day TA B2B2B.  I needed a new Medallion at about day 25.  It takes about 5 minutes in Guest Services for them to swap it out.

[paradiselivin1]

Refrigerator magnets.

[Steelers36]

On 8/18/2022 at 4:13 AM, Esprit said:

Mine is an excellent ball marker when playing golf.

If you are serious about that, I wouldn't appreciate it since they are quite thick and still present a barrier to a ball and would disturb the travel of a ball hit by another player.

[lx200gps]

Ours get dropped into a drawer with all our other cards and Medallions. Fridge magnets aren't an option for us with a stainless steel fridge and I'm disinclined to attach adhesive to them to make them stick.

[Steelers36]

8 hours ago, AE_Collector said:

I haven’t opened one up but I would doubt that there is a battery inside. Electronics yes so proper handling would be to send it for electronic recycling. The technology has existed for decades eliminating the need for. A battery in things like access cards for work etc. The readers all over the ship emit a RF signal that Is picked up by an antennae winding in the card or medallion. This charges a small capacitor inside which allows the tiny microchip inside to broadcast its ID which the reader picks up. Thus they can track your location around the ship and when your reader outside your cabin door sees a medallion that it knows is associated with this cabin, it unlocks the door.

 

I would far rather that stuff like this were issued once and reprogrammed for each cruise you are going in. The cost of producing all these medallions and mailing them all over the place in presentation cases seems a bit over the top to me not to mention wasteful. They can certainly reissue them if you’ve lost yours or when you step up to a different level but there is no reason to print sailing info on them and then issue new ones for every cruise. We live in such a wasteful world!

Sorry to be bearer of bad news, but you are wrong about the battery.

[AE_Collector]

What is the battery… thing in bottom shown with yellow around it? Seems odd to me since I was installing the proximity card reader technology in the late 80’s that didn’t need a battery. I assume the battery isn’t easily replaceable? Our second medallion cruise was in May and my wife’s medallion didn’t work properly from the beginning. First clue was after the third time she watched the safety drill video in our cabin it still didn’t credit her with having done it which generated a letter to our cabin the next day. It was either the third or fourth day before we finally tracked down the right person after numerous “wrong persons” who had us go to passenger services for a replacement.

[ekka49]

12 hours ago, DCThunder said:

It didn't last for a 36 day TA B2B2B.  I needed a new Medallion at about day 25.  It takes about 5 minutes in Guest Services for them to swap it out.

Thank you

[scott4020]

12 hours ago, Steelers36 said:

If you are serious about that, I wouldn't appreciate it since they are quite thick and still present a barrier to a ball and would disturb the travel of a ball hit by another player.

Ball markers are used to mark where your ball is so you can clean the ball before putting. They should never be in the way of another putts path. You move the marker in that case so the thickness is not a problem. 

[scott4020]

Mine are on the fridge. I was going to make a special plaque to hold them but after the Alaska fiasco, collecting more won't be a problem. 

[Steelers36]

10 minutes ago, scott4020 said:

Ball markers are used to mark where your ball is so you can clean the ball before putting. They should never be in the way of another putts path. You move the marker in that case so the thickness is not a problem. 

Most guys - and gals - I have golfed with use quite thin markers that don't disturb a running ball.  Of course another player could ask you to move it sideways, but that should be an exception IMO since it is difficult to accurately mark and get it back where it was.  Of course, in casual play, normally other players don't sweat some fractions of an inch.  Anyway, suit yourself I guess, but I have never seen anyone use something so thick.

[Redwing55]

1 hour ago, Steelers36 said:

Most guys - and gals - I have golfed with use quite thin markers that don't disturb a running ball.  Of course another player could ask you to move it sideways, but that should be an exception IMO since it is difficult to accurately mark and get it back where it was.  Of course, in casual play, normally other players don't sweat some fractions of an inch.  Anyway, suit yourself I guess, but I have never seen anyone use something so thick.

I think that using them as a ball marker is a great idea.  And FWIW, there isn't a ball marker out there that won't change the direction of a putt... unless maybe it's aluminum foil.  Even then it might still move the ball due to it not being grass.  I've played with others that have used poker chips, thick coins, whatever.  To each their own.

[MissP22]

15 hours ago, AE_Collector said:

What is the battery… thing in bottom shown with yellow around it?

That's the battery. 

[cr8tiv1]

On 8/17/2022 at 6:31 PM, memoak said:

Garbage. But if you do b2b cruises you use the same one for both. Not sure how the battery will last on too many cruises 

 

On 8/19/2022 at 12:37 PM, 4x4bob said:

My Medallion came with a weak battery.  It was slow to open the cabin door and often when I ordered a drink it would not read and the bar tender had to ask my cabin.  After I returned home I read on CC that I should have gone to Passenger Service desk and had them install a battery, something that I had not read about before the cruise.

Bob

 

On 8/19/2022 at 10:14 PM, AE_Collector said:

I haven’t opened one up but I would doubt that there is a battery inside. Electronics yes so proper handling would be to send it for electronic recycling. The technology has existed for decades eliminating the need for. A battery in things like access cards for work etc. The readers all over the ship emit a RF signal that Is picked up by an antennae winding in the card or medallion. This charges a small capacitor inside which allows the tiny microchip inside to broadcast its ID which the reader picks up. Thus they can track your location around the ship and when your reader outside your cabin door sees a medallion that it knows is associated with this cabin, it unlocks the door.

 

I would far rather that stuff like this were issued once and reprogrammed for each cruise you are going in. The cost of producing all these medallions and mailing them all over the place in presentation cases seems a bit over the top to me not to mention wasteful. They can certainly reissue them if you’ve lost yours or when you step up to a different level but there is no reason to print sailing info on them and then issue new ones for every cruise. We live in such a wasteful world!

 

17 hours ago, DCThunder said:

It didn't last for a 36 day TA B2B2B.  I needed a new Medallion at about day 25.  It takes about 5 minutes in Guest Services for them to swap it out.

i was on a b2b 25 day cruise.  My Medallion died on me at dinner time, the night before disembarkation (24 days).  Dinner table was being “held” for me because I had to go back to my room.  Door didn’t open.  Visit to Customer Service Desk.  Wait in short line.  Replaced Medallion with brand new one.  I had asked to keep the old one.  New one had all the “engravings”. Back to my room.  Finally arrived in dining room.  Staff had a good laugh.  
 

I don’t know if battery is dependent on often you enter room, order something, etc.  short by 14 hours. Ha Ha

 

BTW…Princess phone agent told me not to worry, I would be SENT a new Medallion for the second half of the b2b.   Think about that, I’ll wait !

[Roberto256]

21 hours ago, AE_Collector said:

What is the battery… thing in bottom shown with yellow around it? Seems odd to me since I was installing the proximity card reader technology in the late 80’s that didn’t need a battery. I assume the battery isn’t easily replaceable? 

 

This thread has pictures of a medallion being disassembled by a poster here:

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2654619-dissection-of-a-medallion-doodad-thingy/

 

From that thread, this picture shows the coin cell:

 

 

 

This page has the FCC approval for the medallion, and thus contains the technical details:

 

https://fccid.io/2ANQX-01042017

 

Here's a picture of the battery:

 

 

 

...just as Mr. Steelers36 posted.

 

One more tidbit from the FCC:

 

 

 

Edited August 21, 2022 by Roberto256