SANTA CLARITA, Calif., Dec. 3, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Princess Cruises announced that upon approval to return to service in 2021 its global fleet will feature the MedallionClass Experience, offering a number of new features that leverage touchless technologies and significantly enhance and personalize the guest experience, as well as support new health protocols.

The line of smart ships is expanding as ship transformation has continued during the pause. Coral Princess, Diamond Princess, Emerald Princess, Grand Princess, Island Princess, Majestic Princess, and Sapphire Princess will return as MedallionClass ships along with the new Enchanted Princess.

The cruise line's OceanMedallion™ wearable device replaces the traditional cruise card and pairs with embedded IoT ("Internet of things") -driven innovative technology to significantly expand touch-free options and personalization on board Princess MedallionClass™ ships including:

• touchless embarkation and disembarkation
• keyless stateroom entry
• completely contactless commerce
• simplified safety training
• on-demand food, beverages and retail items delivered anywhere on board
• guest service requests via mobile device chat
• location-based gaming and wagering
• entertainment content via smart devices

Princess MedallionClass ships also offer the best Wi-Fi at sea, MedallionNet™, so guests can stay connected to the things and people they love and share vacation memories with ease. MedallionNet  offers unprecedented connectivity that's fast, unlimited and affordable, so guests can stream favorite movies, shows, games and music; connect to favorite social media sites; and video chat from anywhere on the ship. 

"Innovation is allowing us to pair guidance from public health experts with the unparalleled touch-free capabilities of the OceanMedallion honoring our commitment to health and safety, while continuing to reinvent and simplify the experience all together," said Jan Swartz, president of Princess Cruises. "During this down-time we've worked behind the scenes to re-engineer our operation to give guests maximum control of their cruise vacation, as well as to activate the Princess MedallionClass Experience on all of our ships."

A noted breakthrough in the vacation industry, the OceanMedallion™ connects guests and crew to an experiential "IoT" platform through a network of sensors and readers that help recognize individuals in locations throughout the ship, facilitating extraordinary touchless capabilities that include highly-personalized service and interactive entertainment, while also reducing contact between guests and crew on board and in ports.

"The same technology we've used to simplify and personalize the guest experience on our Princess MedallionClass ships for the past three years is now being further leveraged to safeguard our guests and crew as well," said John Padgett, chief experience and innovation officer for Carnival Corporation. "That means that the smartest ships at sea are now enabling intelligence-driven safety processes via the OceanMedallion."

Medallion-Enabled Touchless Experiences

TrulyTouchless™ Arrival and Embarkation
Princess is transforming embarkation day by leveraging OceanMedallion technology to reduce friction, remove contact, and avoid crowds, streamlining arrival and check-in, as well as completely reinventing the traditional muster drill.

OceanReady
Upon return, all guests will be required to become OceanReady before leaving home, creating a touchless, expedited arrival experience and embarkation. Guests will use the MedallionClass app to upload travel documents (i.e. passport information) and complete a health questionnaire in advance as well as provide important emergency information and form of payment, take a security image, personalize their Medallions and order accessories to be shipped to their home or ready for pick up upon arrival.

Simplified Safety Training
A new approach to the safety assembly on embarkation day lets travel parties watch an important safety video on their mobile device anytime on embarkation day or from the comfort of their cabin via their stateroom TV and verify their designated muster station with a quick, contactless check-in at their convenience anytime between boarding and sail away. The OceanMedallion and xIoT provide the verification needed by the ship's captain to confirm muster drill check-in while strengthening safety and security operations onboard, safe-guarding guest and crew health, and increasing operational efficiency.

Keyless stateroom entry
Access to staterooms is a seamless experience where each guest is securely validated as their cabin door automatically unlocks as they approach – no fumbling for a phone or key card.  The traditional do-not-disturb sign also becomes a thing of the past as the feature is integrated with the personalized portal outside each cabin, allowing guests to request privacy or designate their room for service by touching the display or using the MedallionClass app.

TrulyTouchless Commerce
MedallionPay transforms shopping on vacation by eliminating the need to carry cash and credit cards on board and in Princess Cays. MedallionPay allows for effortless payment when purchasing anything on the ship – food, beverages, merchandise, excursions, even laundry tokens. Because the proximity of the Medallion associates a guest's photo with their location, crew members can quickly transact purchases without requiring the guest to handover, tap, swipe or insert a card, sign or enter a pin number.

OceanNow™ Service On-Demand
Food, beverage, retail orders and service are delivered directly to a guest's location.  Guests can place orders using their smart device, their stateroom TV or with a crew member, as the Medallion continuously ensures great service wherever a guest may go on board.

Service Always Available
The location-based capabilities of the Medallion are allowing Princess to completely reinvent onboard guest service. Instead of queuing at the guest service desk for help or support, guests sailing on MedallionClass ships will now be able to request assistance from their mobile device, stateroom TV or any crew member using OceanNow. Requests will then be routed to a crew member to chat or locate the guest to provide personal assistance.  

"Our guests have always loved the convenience of OceanNow, but because the pandemic has expanded people's appreciation of direct delivery, we think even more guests will embrace the ability to order food, drinks and more to meet them where they want to be - whether that's a meal or a request for service," added Swartz. "Not only does it prevent unnecessary queuing, it elevates our service delivery."

Contactless Experiences Accessible from the MedallionClass App
On board Princess MedallionClass ships and throughout the guest journey, a portfolio of exceptionally fun and convenient experiences put guests in control.  Contactless capabilities are accessible from guests' smart phones and tablets, and include shipboard wayfinding, family and friends locator, first-run movies, an interactive events and activities planner, wager-based gaming, and interactive fun.

• Locate Travel Companions, Chat Using OceanCompass™: The Medallion helps guests easily locate and chat with friends and family on board, as well as enables proprietary and industry-exclusive person-to-person wayfinding throughout the ship.
• First-run movies on the go*: With OceanView™, guests can watch recently-released films, the world's most popular travel series, and live TV featuring broadcasts of select onboard events and more, from anywhere on board using their smart phone or tablet at no additional cost.
• Reserve Events/Interactive Voyage Timeline*: An interactive timeline within JourneyView™ lets guests see all ship events scheduled during their voyage and reserve activities they are interested in attending, adding it to their own personalized itinerary.
• Wager-based gaming*: With Ocean^® Casino guests wager real money on games including slots, poker, bingo, roulette, keno and lottery from anywhere on board, blackjack on stateroom TVs.
• Interactive fun*: PlayOcean™ puts entertainment at guests' fingertips with interactive trivia, a ship-wide bar adventure, customizable avatars and more. PlayOcean also transforms guests' mobile devices into game controllers for interactive gaming on the massive Movies Under the Stars screen near the ship's main pool.
   
  *Experiences are also available on portal displays around the ship or via stateroom TVs

About Princess Cruises
One of the best-known names in cruising, Princess Cruises is an international premium cruise line and tour company operating a fleet of 15 modern cruise ships, carrying two million guests each year to 380 destinations around the globe, including the Caribbean, Alaska, Panama Canal, Mexican Riviera, Europe, South America, Australia/New Zealand, the South Pacific, Hawaii, Asia, Canada/New England, Antarctica and World Cruises. A team of professional destination experts have curated 170 itineraries, ranging in length from three to 111 days and Princess Cruises is continuously recognized as "Best Cruise Line for Itineraries." In 2017 Princess Cruises, with parent company Carnival Corporation, introduced MedallionClass Vacations enabled by the OceanMedallion, the vacation industry's most advanced wearable device, provided free to each guest sailing on a MedallionClass ship. The award-winning innovation offers the fastest way to an effortless personalized vacation giving guests more time to do the things they love most. The company is part of Carnival Corporation & plc (NYSE/LSE: CCL; NYSE:CUK).

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SOURCE Princess Cruises