Princess Cruises to launch the Ocean Medallion

This weeks week saw Princess Cruises announce that they will be the first in the Carnival brands to launch the new Ocean Medallion. The Medallion is going to be the size of a 10 pence coin and you will be able to wear it either as a pendant on a necklace, as a wristband or just be carried loosely in a bag or pocket.

The purposes of the Ocean medallion are as follows:

Open and lock your cabin door Make the Embarkation and disembarkation quicker and more streamlined Instead of swiping your key card for any purchases such as drinks, excursions, goods from the shop etc. – you will be able to use the medallion instead.

It is supposed to give you a more enhanced dining experience as it will know your food and drink preferences It will create interactive gaming and other personalised entertainment

The Ocean medallion will not need charging and as the guest you will be able to supply as much information as you wish to create a more personalised cruise experience.

Apparently if you are sitting by the pool you will even be able to order food and drinks to be delivered to your sun lounger, or you can pre-order drinks etc. for a certain time to be waiting for you – so if you wanted a drink to take into the theatre you would be able to pre-order one and it will be delivered to your seat in the theatre.

Princess Cruises will also be introducing an Interactive Ocean Compass – and can be accessed via an app on your smart phone, via points located around the ship, and via TV. The Ocean compass will list the daily programme, maps to help you find your way round the ship, view any photos you have allowed to be taken, make dinner/spa reservations and book excursions. This will all be launching on the Regal Princess in November this year and then being rolled out across Royal Princess and Caribbean Princess.

Reading all of this, most of this has already been done by another cruise line already – Royal Caribbean introduced the WOW bands to open cabin doors, purchase items on board etc, and they also have the interactive daily compass/ deck maps etc. So, are Carnival now trying to move with the times and catch up with their competitors? What are your thoughts on this? Would you still prefer to use a key card to open cabin doors and sign for purchases on board?

Have a good couple of weeks

Kerry xx