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what is Princess Cruises ocean medallion
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and what are the pros and what are the
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cons for Cruises I'm Kerri Bembridge
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this is another batch of travelers I'm
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here in my cabin onboard sky princess
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first of all let's talk a little bit
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about what exactly is ocean medallion
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well this is what it looks like it's a
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small round of ice and this replaces
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your cruise cards the actual medallion
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itself integrates with a couple of key
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things first of all this medallion net
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which is the Wi-Fi system which is being
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introduced by princess which claims to
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be the fastest Wi-Fi at sea and
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certainly based on my experience it is
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phenomenally fast its land speed and
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really good land speed capability it
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also integrates with some smart
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interactive screens and a couple of apps
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so let's talk about what do I think the
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big pros are of this system and what are
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the things that you can actually do with
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that whole integrated system there are
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seven things that this whole system does
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some of which are things that are
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important to you as a cruiser some of
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which are more behind the scenes so
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first of all what does it do the first
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thing it does is make you ocean ready so
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through a combination of the app or
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online you can actually upload your
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photograph you can upload your travel
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details like your passport and they have
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all the information that you need
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certainly it was one of the quickest
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experience I've ever had of getting on a
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ship with the medallion because you've
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uploaded everything in advance and you
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are ready to board the ship so you get
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through really really quickly the second
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thing it does is it replaces your old
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traditional cruise cards that'll plastic
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the card and this becomes your device
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that you would use for everything that
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you used to use your card for so it's
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what you log in and off the ship with
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it's what you open your cabin door with
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but importantly what the medallion does
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is it recognizes when you're close to
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the cabin and unlocks the door by itself
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so you don't have to hold your card up
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so particularly handy if you've your
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you're also use it to make all your
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purchases so you use it to pay on board
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and so it does all the things that your
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plastic card does however I personally
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think it's much more convenient than a
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plastic card because first of all it's
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wearable so the standard default
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is you get it as a lanyard but you can
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also buy various devices so you can wear
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it as a watch you can wear it as a
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brooch you can wear it as a pendant
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another big plus is it doesn't get
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demagnetize so you know with a plastic
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card if you put in your pocket or your
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bag or whatever with your mobile phone
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it doesn't get wiped out and you have to
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go and have it a new card issued the
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third thing that it does for you which
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is particularly good for some people I
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know like some of my family with a long
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cruises they found it really hard to
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find their way around a ship either by
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using the screens that are around the
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ship or actually the mobile device is
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you can find your way around the ship
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really easily by using what's known as
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ocean compass so this will help you
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decide where you want to go and tell you
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how to get there but also very
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importantly you can set it up through
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the app to connect you with the people
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in your group so you can actually find
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where people are and go and find them
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now this is particularly important if
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you're with family and friends and you
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lose track of them and want to find them
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so you can either go and ask a member of
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crew to help locate where they are so
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you can go and seek them out or you can
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do it yourself with the feature in one
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of the apps which is around finding your
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another great feature although you do
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have to have the app to user so you do
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have to have your phone with you it's
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very location sensitive ordering so you
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can be by the swimming pool or in the
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hot tub and you can order drink so you
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can order food or you can order
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sunscreen and it's expanding to other
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things so in the shop so wherever you
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are you can then place an order but you
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do have to have your mobile phone app
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with you contest you dude off the actual
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device but then the staff are able to
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locate exactly where you are so even if
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you order a drink in one spot and you
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move somewhere else they can find you
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and deliver the service to you also if
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you want something in your cabin you can
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do the same thing you can just then
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simply place an order and your cabin
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student knows when to come also linked
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to that hole location process is the
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cabin stewards able to tell whether
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you're in the cabin or not in the cabin
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so certainly makes the caverns just life
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much much easier because they know when
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not to disturb you there are a couple of
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other features that are linked to the
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whole system and again it's pointing to
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the fact that the Wildfire is so strong
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so they have a thing called ocean view
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where both before you come on the cruise
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vision or on your app you can watch a
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series of programming which is unique to
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Princess Cruises most of it tends to be
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destination focused up and if you watch
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it say on your before you come on the
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cruise if you put a new television it
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knows where you are and keeps playing so
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good luck if you've got a something like
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Netflix or Amazon Prime video where it
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knows across your different devices
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where you've stopped watching it so you
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can watch all that programming they also
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have a casino app which is a separate
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app so you can also play bingo or gamble
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and then they also have a whole series
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of ocean play which is a series of games
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so you can set up your own little avatar
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which will interact with you and you on
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the various screens around the ship the
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other thing which you don't really see
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as a passenger is there's a huge amount
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of data being collected behind the
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scenes so they know how many people are
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in a particular case so if they need to
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put more crew they can see flow they can
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see where people are but one of the
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things I think is very interesting is
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from a safety perspective so actually
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one of the big things it adds is more
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security and safety onboard so they're
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able to subtract in real time for
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example if there's an emergency they
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know exactly where people are if there's
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people missing they can see exactly
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where they are because of the device
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which tracks them and also they know
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what they look like from their pictures
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so people can go hunting for them if
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there's an issue so certainly they're
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able to track people on must in muster
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stations and around the ship so they're
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able to react and exactly who they're
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looking for so that's the sort of things
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that it does but what do I see is the
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big pros and what do I see as the cons
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of this whole process so let's take a
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look first of all at the pros one of the
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biggest pros of this whole process is
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actually the Wi-Fi so it is incredibly
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fast and it's really efficient and I was
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able to do all sorts of things on the
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ship that I couldn't do before it was
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really really excellent quality its
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streaming quality and I think that's a
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big plus because also that enables you
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to be connected it's unlimited it cost
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$9.99 for one device in a day 1499 for
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up to four devices per day I think the
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the simplicity of the actual medallion
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itself and replacing the plastic car the
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fact that it's wearable and it does have
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some of those features should you decide
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to use it with an app but the simplicity
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on off the ship be able to wear it the
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fact that unlocks your door the fact
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that you're able to do location-based
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ordering I think is all a really big
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plus the third area Pro is obviously
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because the ship is able to start to
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collect lots of data where you are what
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people are doing how often they're doing
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it if they need to move people around to
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provide more service and also the fact
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that they're able to address you by name
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and over time the crew are able to put
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little notes in so they'll know your
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you know these ships are big as three
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thousand six hundred and sixty
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passengers for example on Sky Princess
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if you're on a smaller ultra luxury ship
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the crew have time to learn everyone's
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name this means that the crew are able
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to start to give you a much more
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personal service because they're able to
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build up a more of a profile with you
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using technology so I think that's a
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plus what are the cons well I think one
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of the big downsides is the fact that
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really to unlock a lot of the potential
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you do really need to use an app so if
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some of the big pluses like the
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location-based ordering and some of the
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interactivity like tracking people is
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much more difficult to use if you don't
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have a smartphone it's very you know
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reliant on your using your phone to have
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those extra benefits and features so the
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downside really is that you need a
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device some of the things that you
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probably could use with other apps on
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other cruise lines but the fact of the
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medallion and the location-based I think
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is the thing that really makes the whole
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process different underpinning that with
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phenomenal Wi-Fi at sea if you've had
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the Ocean medallion love to hear what
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you think of it but bear in mind I have
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loads of other videos with tips and
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advice and thoughts about cruising so
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why don't you find something else about
8:13
cruising by watching another video right
