Other cruise lines don't use cards. Princess has a medallion (it has the ship and date of the cruise on it), and that worked fine at ports when I cruised in November 2021. Yes, there might be some new technology and training, but it's not a completely new concept for the cruise industry.
How is the medallion better than a card? I'm not familiar with it.
The medallion can be worn on a watch band which is good for kids and easier to swim with, but the really cool feature is their location is tracked. So you can order drinks or food in the app and the servers will being it to wherever you are sitting in the lobby/poolside etc. And you can look up where your cabin-mates are in the app—good if you have kids old enough to be on their own but you don’t want to give them a phone.
You can wear the medallion. You can get a basic lanyard (which isn't different from the cards, I know), or get a watch/necklace (and probably other things) to use it as a wearable. When I was on Princess, you also didn't have to 'swipe' it-once you got close enough your stateroom would unlock, or they would recognize you at the bar, etc. They also were sufficient ID at the ports (at least the ones we visited) because they had the name of the ship and the sailing dates on them (so they would look at that plus your photo ID to get back on the ship). Magic bands as they are now wouldn't work, but if they did something like how Princess does it that should theoretically works (since it works on Princess). You just couldn't reuse a magic band, since I'm guessing it would have to have sail dates on it for ID/security purposes.
Is the medallion a location tracker? I've done the thing where you order food and have it delivered, but I thought it was the app/phone that did the location tracking, not the phone. I could be mistaken, though . . .
I was able to track my kids and none of them have phones, so yes it is the medallion they are tracking.
Oh, interesting! I didn't realize that, good to know.
A free generic lanyard that probably costs $2 is not "chipping away at experiences." Seriously. Why on earth would you want the same lanyard as hundreds of other people, unless for some sort of status symbol?
It's not $2 if I have to buy my own. Disney sells lanyards at the shop for something like $15. Besides, I can't buy this particular lanyard and I quite like collecting them. Nobody's making you wear it.
There's also literally hundreds of Etsy shops that sell lanyards for much less. And honestly, if you're paying for enough Disney cruises to be a high level in the loyalty club then do you really have any room to complain about $15?
And they're identical to everyone else at that level.
I feel like at this point you're just trying to aggravate people. Thanks for your input on my post anyway.
There are no reports of them not being handed out. This whole thread is speculation with almost nothing behind it.
I like the idea of getting in the first cruise you're at a new level. Then you can either keep it to reuse on future cruises or get rid of it if you don't care (and, if you lose them you can request them on future cruises). Not sure about having the tiered ones to purchase, would the cast members in the shops be able to verify your CC level (to ensure people are only buying lanyard for the level they're at)?
