WHY IT RATES: Travel agents and advisors selling cruise vacations should be showing clients Princess Cruises and the new Wi-Fi coming to additional ships.—Donald Wood, Breaking News Senior Writer.
Princess Cruises, the world’s largest international premium cruise line, announced that MedallionNet, the best Wi-Fi at sea, will soon be enjoyed by guests sailing on more than half of its fleet.
To meet surging demand from guests, Princess will continue its swift expansion of MedallionNet to add the service on additional ships by the end of 2019.
MORE Cruise Line & Cruise Ship
MedallionNet, offering fast, affordable, reliable and unlimited internet service, expands to Coral Princess (April 5) and Island Princess (May 15) in time for the Alaska season, Crown Princess (June 30) and Emerald Princess (August 3) for sailings during Europe this summer and on Golden Princess (December 20) and Sky Princess (October 12) this fall. MedallionNet is currently available on Caribbean Princess, Regal Princess, Royal Princess and Ruby Princess.
“Guests and crew absolutely love MedallionNet. We’re expanding it across the fleet as quickly as we can so that in the very near future anyone who sails with us will experience the best Wi-Fi at sea,” said Jan Swartz, president of Princess Cruises. “While many sail with us to disconnect from their digital life, we realize that offering land-like connectivity from anywhere on the ship is something guests value so that they have the option to stream movies, music, sports or video chat and share their amazing vacation experience as much or as little as they’d like.”
Princess MedallionClass Vacations Launch Dates for Royal, Crown and Sky Princess
The cruise line also announced the formal launch dates for the Princess MedallionClass experience on its next three ships. The hassle-free and personalized voyages enabled by the OceanMedallion will launch on Royal Princess on April 13, followed by Crown Princess on July 24 and will be featured on Sky Princess beginning October 12, when the newest ship in the Princess fleet departs the shipyard as the first to be built from the ground up with the Ocean® Guest Experience Platform.
Considered a breakthrough in the vacation industry and recently honored with a CES 2019 Innovation Award, the OceanMedallion is complimentary for all guests and features leading-edge technology that delivers personalized service through enhanced guest-crew interactions, eliminates friction points and enables interactive entertainment.
In addition to MedallionNet, Princess MedallionClass Vacations also offer guests a portfolio of experiences specifically designed to save precious time and enhance their cruise vacation, including:
—From curbside to poolside in a breeze: Guests who arrive at the terminal with travel documents (i.e. passports) uploaded to their profile have an expedited check-in process that starts their vacation sooner with ease. Personalization starts pre-cruise by guests becoming OceanReady before arriving at the port.
—On-demand beverage order and delivery: Using smart devices, guests have the ability to order drinks using OceanNow and have them delivered directly to them throughout the ship, including their stateroom.
—OceanCompass: Available on guests’ smart devices and portals throughout the ships, OceanCompass leverages the OceanMedallion to easily locate and chat with friends and family on board using ShipMates, as well as enable point-to-point wayfinding throughout the ship. OceanCompass guides guests throughout their journey, providing directional information so they can seamlessly navigate to their next point of interest.
Other innovative features of the Princess MedallionClass experience include:
—Keyless Stateroom Entry: Access to staterooms is a seamless experience where each guest is securely validated as the door automatically unlocks. Personalized greetings including loyalty level recognition welcome the guest on their door portal.
—JourneyView: Available now on ship portals and coming soon to smart devices, this interactive timeline lets guests scroll through all of the events available on board during their voyage. Functionality will also soon give guests the ability to bookmark and add activities that appeal most to them to their own personalized itinerary.
—MedallionPay: An easy to use payment feature, enabling crew members to focus on meaningful guest interactions.
—OceanCasino: On smart devices and select portals, guests can wager real money on games, including slots, poker, bingo, roulette, keno and lottery from anywhere on board.
—PlayOcean: On portals located shipwide and using smart devices, PlayOcean offers guests a new level of fun with interactive games, a digital scavenger hunt, customizable avatars, and more. PlayOcean also transforms guests’ mobile devices into game controllers for interactive gaming on the massive Movies Under the Stars screen.
—OceanView: Guests can stream more than 100 hours of award-winning Ocean Original travel shows to their smart device anywhere on the ship at no cost – content which airs nationally on weekends on ABC and NBC. OceanView is also available on stateroom TVs as well as on Roku, Amazon Prime and Apple TV.
For more information, reach out to your local travel agent.
SOURCE: Princess Cruises press release.
