And the Medal Goes To….

1/19/26

For those of you who have not cruised, you’ll find this interesting.  Please read on.  If you’ve cruised before but not on Princess, you’ll find this interesting.  Please read on.  If you’re loyal to Princess, you can skip the next 3 paragraphs.

The title suggests there’s a medal but actually, it’s a medallion and it’s your identification while you've entrusted your vacation dreams and safety to Princess.  If you haven’t cruised before, every cruise line has an identification mechanism you carry at all times while on board.  It serves many purposes including but not limited to approving you to disembark and reembark at ports, access to your stateroom and to charge your folio when you do anything that costs extra.  Most cruise lines use a credit-card-like plastic card with a magnetic strip and you swipe it EVERYWHERE I just mentioned above.

But Princess uses a medallion (trademarked as OceanMedallion) which is so much better and it’s AMAZING.  It is one of the main reasons we decided to select Princess as our cruise line of choice.  There’s no swiping. I think it’s Bluetooth, but candidly, I don’t know how the magic works.  You wear your medallion around your neck or clipped on to your clothes or just put it in your pocket.  It’s multifaceted.  When entering your stateroom, it’s like your car fob.  It just unlocks the door when you approach.  So easy.  When you approach the bar for a drink, your associated picture pops up on their tablet and they greet you with a hearty “Hello Mr. Swimmer”.  If contact with the medallion is required, like at disembarkation, it’s just a tap, not a swipe.  It may seem minor but on a cruise, you’d be swiping dozens of times a day and a tap is easier.  Think about the evolution of the credit card, which has also gone from swipe to insert to tap.  It’s all about the consumer and passenger experience, which Princess has surpassed all other cruise lines, even their sister brands under Carnival Corp. 

Princess is owned by Carnival; yet despite that, the medallion is exclusive to Princess and has not been rolled out their sister brands, Holland America Line, Seabourn, P&O Cruises (Australia), Costa Cruises, AIDA Cruises, P&O Cruises (UK), or Cunard.  If you’re not familiar with the brands, Cunard owns the Queen Elizabeth and the Queen Mary ultra luxury ships.  My maternal grandmother loved cruising and she was on both of those ships.  I suspect the technology was incredibly expensive to develop and implement.  Bravo, Princess.  It’s a game changer.

As for the first of 2 sea days, it was really nice again.  The next to the last sea day of a segment is always bittersweet.  We must start saying goodbye to fellow passengers and staff we’ve connected with.  Princess usually makes it a formal night, and everything is just a notch better as this will be many people’s last impression of their cruise.  Princess is one of the cruise lines that still serves lobster on a formal night without an upcharge.  Bravo again. 

Other than that, the sea day is much like most sea days.  I did however start it with a weekly men’s bible study from home.   Mondays at 8am east coast time was 6am ship time and so it gets harder and harder to participate as we traverse the globe, but it’s a good group of guys I’ve been worshipping with and studying with for longer than I can remember.  And frankly, it’s nice to have some familiar activities when you’re on an adventure such as this.

A little pickleball, a little reading, a little swimming, a little chatting and some time in the fitness center ensuring I exceed 10,000 steps and suddenly it’s time for dinner. 

As Elite members, we get canapes delivered to our room in advance.  Nice touch.  After dinner, we went to the Captain’s Reception, also for Elite members, where we met all the officers and heard about plans and options for future cruises.  They serve hor’dourves and open bar, which is exciting if you don’t have a beverage package. 

Between the stocked mini-bar and nights like these, it’s almost counterintuitive as we really don’t need the drink package…..but at the same time, it’s nice to be able to order a drink whenever without a cha-ching in my head’s calculator.

One more sea day till our friends from Idaho join us and the fun-o-meter goes thru the roof. Thanks for your time reading my blog. I hope you find it interesting.