Is it worth getting Medallion Mailed?

[BamaVol]

13 hours ago, Kat915 said:

No. I don't have plus or Premier.

 

I just looked on the app and it said the medallion was complimentary. 

It is. Shipping is not. 

[PMGS247]

Seems like for the most part it's a few minutes, max, but a small percentage of experiences where it is more significant. So really it's entirely personal preference based on your risk aversion.  Not a big risk, but it's not nothing.

 

I always have mine mailed but I also always get at least plus so it doesn't cost me $10. I would probably pay the $10 for peace of mind if I didn't get plus, but that's just me.  I enjoy getting them a few weeks ahead time...vacation gets very real when they ship/arrive.  There's also something uniquely satisfying absolutely flying through check-in..it almost feels like you don't come to a complete stop.

 

I feel like the time saved is much more valuable to Princess than it is to the individual.  Even if it's only 2-3 minutes of your time, if a ship carries 3,700 passengers, the amount of man-hours saved on the check-in process starts to add up real quick.

[555]

8 minutes ago, PMGS247 said:

I feel like the time saved is much more valuable to Princess than it is to the individual.  Even if it's only 2-3 minutes of your time, if a ship carries 3,700 passengers, the amount of man-hours saved on the check-in process starts to add up real quick.

In that case, shipping should be free to everyone since it saves them time & labor at check-in, not only included with the packages.

[voljeep]

if you have medallion in hand, green lane - can you get on board any quicker - even a minute or so ( how many passengers does that put you ahead of ) in order to get to the sanctuary, or to get to a specialty dining venue to secure reservations (with OBC)

[PMGS247]

1 hour ago, 555 said:

In that case, shipping should be free to everyone since it saves them time & labor at check-in, not only included with the packages.

I don’t disagree. They must have decided the time savings wasn’t worth the actual cost of paying everyone’s shipping.

[PMGS247]

1 hour ago, 555 said:

In that case, shipping should be free to everyone since it saves them time & labor at check-in, not only included with the packages.

 

Ran a few numbers on this just for the fun of it, and I guess I can see why they don't ship it to everyone free of charge....

 

I'm entirely making numbers up here but even if they're wrong the premise still applies to whatever the real numbers are....

 

Let's say there's 1500 people on a sailing that aren't on plus/premier.  Let's say those 1500 people are on average traveling as a pair, checking in together, equating to roughly 750 groups to be checked in.  Let's say they save 3 minutes per group. That's 2,250 minutes saved, or 37.5 hours. If they perfectly adjust their staff level for this, at $20/hr, it's a $750 savings. On the flip side, if they paid for these people's medallions to be shipped they'd give up $10 per group since medallions are shipped together, or $7,500 for all 750 groups.  With those numbers, even if you adjust assumptions a little this way or that, they'd be massively out-spending their labor savings.

[555]

6 minutes ago, PMGS247 said:

 

Ran a few numbers on this just for the fun of it, and I guess I can see why they don't ship it to everyone free of charge....

 

I'm entirely making numbers up here but even if they're wrong the premise still applies to whatever the real numbers are....

 

Let's say there's 1500 people on a sailing that aren't on plus/premier.  Let's say those 1500 people are on average traveling as a pair, checking in together, equating to roughly 750 groups to be checked in.  Let's say they save 3 minutes per group. That's 2,250 minutes saved, or 37.5 hours. If they perfectly adjust their staff level for this, at $20/hr, it's a $750 savings. On the flip side, if they paid for these people's medallions to be shipped they'd give up $10 per group since medallions are shipped together, or $7,500 for all 750 groups.  With those numbers, even if you adjust assumptions a little this way or that, they'd be massively out-spending their labor savings.

My guess it that they can still upsell it to many people who don't have the package.  

[carohs]

If you have 4 passengers (in one cabin), but only 1&2 have Plus, does Princess charge for shipping the medallion to 3&4?

[555]

Just now, carohs said:

If you have 4 passengers (in one cabin), but only 1&2 have Plus, does Princess charge for shipping the medallion to 3&4?

Not if all the medallions are at the same address. 

[eclue]

We cruise a lot ----usually every month or so. Always pick up the medallion at the port. Never had to wait......very easy and one less thing to pack.

[BamaVol]

20 hours ago, 555 said:

My guess it that they can still upsell it to many people who don't have the package.  

Of course.  It would be free for everyone if no one saw the value in paying for it.

[asfhgwt]

Does anyone know if the Princess Green lane in Brooklyn terminal saves any time? I cruised from there years ago, and IIRC there was a single, long line for security check purposes, which saved Green lane people nothing. Kind of stupid, Princess!

[Hobbes67]

We picked ours up at the pier last year in Seattle and it took an hour in line.

 

[JF - retired RRT]

On 4/20/2024 at 9:44 AM, artvlay said:

Is it worth it to pay $10 to have the medallion mailed to our house? Is it $10'for both medallions or $10 each?

How much time does it save going in the Green Line vs. the Blue Line?

 

We did the Blue Line once and never again. The Blue Line was out the door. It took at least 45 minutes to get to the check-in. As we watched people who had their Medallions walk up, scan and board (no line at all).

Many will say, "just do the Blue Line, it doesn't take long"...unless you have bad luck and it DOES.

[Sea Hag]

On 4/20/2024 at 9:44 AM, artvlay said:

Is it worth it to pay $10 to have the medallion mailed to our house? Is it $10'for both medallions or $10 each?

How much time does it save going in the Green Line vs. the Blue Line?

 

Only you can say if it would be worth it to you. For me, it absolutely is. My hubby is a really sweet guy, but he really (really, really) hates standing in line. If I can pay only $10 to possibly prevent standing in a line, then I'll do it every last time.

[ebeluga]

My recent 5/26 boarding in San Francisco Pier 27 took probably additional 45 min to pick up the medallion. And I went 2 hrs after the boarding window started.

 

I think it depends on percentage of pax who have the packages which come with free shipping of the medallion. That would be same % + a few others who choose to pay in the green lane and out of the blue lane. The higher % with packages, the faster for the blue lane.

[mickeygirl78]

I’m sailing this Saturday and my medallions still aren’t here, they are showing they’ll arrive after I leave. I’m wishing I hadn’t ordered them now. I called Princess and they said they could issue new ones at the port, but I ordered accessories too. I guess I’ll see what happens.

[jennybenny]

We are doing medallion pick up in Barcelona. Anyone have experience with that wait time?

 

[BamaVol]

1 hour ago, mickeygirl78 said:

I’m sailing this Saturday and my medallions still aren’t here, they are showing they’ll arrive after I leave. I’m wishing I hadn’t ordered them now. I called Princess and they said they could issue new ones at the port, but I ordered accessories too. I guess I’ll see what happens.

Sometimes they cut it too close.  We got our latest medallions 5 days before we sail and 3 days before we leave home. Total shipping time was 16 days.

[555]

14 hours ago, JF - retired RRT said:

We did the Blue Line once and never again. The Blue Line was out the door. It took at least 45 minutes to get to the check-in. As we watched people who had their Medallions walk up, scan and board (no line at all).

Many will say, "just do the Blue Line, it doesn't take long"...unless you have bad luck and it DOES.

Where did you leave from?

What time did you arrive at the terminal? 

 

 

2 hours ago, mickeygirl78 said:

I’m sailing this Saturday and my medallions still aren’t here, they are showing they’ll arrive after I leave. I’m wishing I hadn’t ordered them now. I called Princess and they said they could issue new ones at the port, but I ordered accessories too. I guess I’ll see what happens.

It sounds like they should be giving you a refund of $10 if they don't arrive in time.

Good luck with that. 

[insidecabin]

UK they do passport checks and retake photo.

 

2022 they had runners to go get the medallions while you checked in that could be zero wait if they were quick.

 

Last cruise the check-in person went to fetch them took about a minute extra.

Took longer to get them out of the boxes check them and hand them over.

 

Still really quick as the blue lane was shorter than green

 

[JF - retired RRT]

20 minutes ago, 555 said:

Where did you leave from? San Pedro

What time did you arrive at the terminal? 10:30??

 

 

[mtnesterz]

4 hours ago, mickeygirl78 said:

I’m sailing this Saturday and my medallions still aren’t here, they are showing they’ll arrive after I leave. I’m wishing I hadn’t ordered them now. I called Princess and they said they could issue new ones at the port, but I ordered accessories too. I guess I’ll see what happens.

Having been burglarized while on a cruise, I am wary of having things delivered to the house that are inscribed with the date I will be away on vacation. If it doesn't arrive before you leave, have a friend or trusted neighbor pick up your mail daily. 

[555]

2 hours ago, JF - retired RRT said:

 

I've heard that about San Pedro before.

Ft Lauderdale isn't usually that bad although it can take a little longer if you have to get your medallions at the terminal.

[Itchy&Scratchy]

Last week we boarded Enchanted, and I somewhat regretted not getting the medallions shipped to the house. Granted, lately USPS has been aggravatingly slow (it took a package 4 weeks to get from CA to GA), so I didn't want to risk it.

 

We stood in a very long line to get through the x-ray scanners first. Not sure why. We are Platinum and supposedly have priority at embarkation. Other people were let in without standing in line. Then we got the port agent who was very slow at processing docs. She was perplexed by our "new" passports and kept repeating that they were new and that I used the old ones to check in. They are not new. Two are 10 months old and one is 6 months old, and we already sailed with all three of them prior to this Enchanted cruise. There is no way I used the old passports to check in because they were expired last year, so I am not sure what her problem was.

 

People with medallions in hand just breezed in.

 

P.S. We did NOT have the same slow experience in Nov 2022. It took 1 minute to get our medallions at the port, but we didn't have any choice at that time. Due to some glitch nobody could choose shipping to home.

Edited June 11 by Itchy&Scratchy