In a major leadership change, Carnival Corporation is reshuffling executives across three of its premium cruise brands. The moves, announced last week, will see Holland America Line President Gus Antorcha take the helm at Princess Cruises, while Beth Bodensteiner steps up from chief commercial officer to president of Holland America. Mark Tamis, a veteran cruise and luxury hotel executive, rounds out the changes as the new president of Seabourn. Current Princess president John Padgett will remain until February, 2025.
Will Princess MedallionClass Change?
The changes come at a pivotal time for Princess Cruises’ signature MedallionClass technology. Padgett, who led the development of this personalization system as Carnival’s CXO before becoming Princess president in 2021, was designed to change how guests experience everything from embarkation to onboard services. His departure could signal evolution ahead for the uniquely Princess platform.
What is Princess MedallionClass?
MedallionClass changed the traditional cruise experience through a combination of wearable technology, a smartphone app, and shipwide digital systems. The quarter-sized medallion device, worn or carried by passengers, acts as a digital key that enables touchless cabin entry, contactless payment, and personalized service throughout the ship. The system helps crew members identify guests by name and remember their preferences.
The medallion also allows passengers to order food and drinks that can be delivered anywhere onboard. Through a companion app, guests can also locate traveling companions, schedule activities, and navigate the ship. Since 2021, all Princess ships have the technology installed and operational. The technology has become Princess Cruises’ key differentiator in the market, earning praise for reducing common friction points like embarkation and onboard purchases.
As the MedallionClass technology has matured, it has also garnered awards. Last year’s recognition includes “Best Shipboard Tech” from Travel Weekly and “Best Innovation” from the Cruise Critic editors.
Princess Medallion – Room to Improve
Despite its awards, the novel technology hasn’t been as transformative as hoped. Passengers often report problems in using the app and/or medallion. I’ve used the system on multiple cruises and found that the personalization feature didn’t perform as well as I expected. I was rarely greeted by name by a server or maitre d’. One cause might be technical – there could be a dozen or more guests close to the maitre d’ or bar that appear on the screen, making it difficult to quickly identify the particular guest. In other cases, it might be more of a human problem, such as a server who doesn’t bother to check their device before greeting a guest.
On my most recent cruise, despite the MedallionClass technology, I was constantly asked to verify my suite number for beverage orders. In theory, that should be unnecessary since the server should know exactly who I am. Was this lack of training? Did they not have a device that identified me? Or, was it a precaution to avoid errors in the server’s guest identification? Whatever the reason, the typical order experience wasn’t the, “Hello, Mr. Dooley, do you want your usual?” initially promised.
On another cruise, while sitting in the ship’s atrium I tried to order a cocktail with the app. I couldn’t, because the app incorrectly thought I was ordering from a restroom! (But, give it credit for not expecting a server to make a restroom delivery.)
Some friction points seem hard to explain. For example, the medallion didn’t open the door of the Concierge Lounge for eligible guests. Authorizing the medallions for these guests would seem like an easy task, but instead they were issued separate cards.
Online communities like Cruise Critic and Reddit have seen discussions of various app glitches and failures. An anonymous cruise agent said they spent “half their time” sorting out Medallion issues, many of them pre-boarding. That’s no doubt a huge exaggeration, but the frustration was real. At the same time, many guests report no problems once they are on board.
In my own experience, despite the various shortcomings, the technology mostly worked as expected. Touchless cabin unlocking was dependable and convenient. Other features, like locating other members of your party on the ship, worked reliably.
The Future of Princess MedallionClass
The current Medallion technology offers convenient features and real benefits, many of them not possible with the traditional plastic cruise card. It seems that the user experience has improved since its introduction. But, in 2024, it’s not delivering the combination of “frictionless” and “personalized” as fully as expected. We haven’t reached the point where large numbers of customers are switching to Princess from other brands because of the service improvements from the technology.
One measure of MedallionClass’s mixed results is that there seems to be no push to install the technology across its entire fleet. Surely guests on Carnival’s luxury line, Seabourn, would enjoy a frictionless, highly personalized experience. And, since MedallionClass is designed to deliver personalization at scale, it could transform the experience even on the biggest Carnival-branded ships. Rolling out fleet-wide was likely the original concept, and it might still be planned for the future.
It’s too early to tell what the management changes will mean for MedallionClass on Princess. Despite the departure of its architect, John Padgett, I think it’s highly unlikely that the company will abandon the technology and go back to plastic cruise cards.
Rather, the new Princess president may bring a sense of urgency to eliminating glitches, further improving reliability, and better integrating the human component until it delivers on the promise of a frictionless, personalized experience.