Innovation has been a big part of the cruise experience for quite some time. Exclusive travel experiences available only at sea have been introduced by just about every cruise line operating today. No stranger to invention, Carnival Corporation’s helpful OceanMedallion™ technology has won an interesting award from an unlikely source. Oh, not familiar with OceanMedallion? Let’s start there.

Ocean Medallion is a wearable device that affects every moment before, during and after your Ocean Medallion Vacation (cruise). Basically, on ships so equipped, your Ocean Medallion opens the door to on-demand food and drinks, interactive gaming, custom entertainment and smart navigation around the ship.

In the world of technology the IoT Breakthrough Awards recognize innovative technologies that are driving innovation in the Internet of Things (IoT) market around the world.

The IoT awards sees thousands of nominations globally in a range that includes categories like industrial and enterprise , smart city, connected home and home automation, connected car and more. Hi-tech stuff but, oddly, never something from a cruise line.

“Carnival Corporation is the first non-traditional technology company that we’ve recognized with one of our IoT Breakthrough Awards, and it’s well-deserved because of the significant innovation it has created”- James Johnson, managing director at IoT Breakthrough.

2019 IoTWearables
Innovation of the Year

Carnival Corp’s award is substantial: 2019 IoTWearables Innovation of the Year. They earned that by the way the OceanMedallion is already transforming the travel experience and the high bar it has set for how IoT will be delivered to mainstream society in the coming years.

Unveiled by Carnival Corp CEO Arnold Donald at CES 2017, the Medallion device is persistent. Features Include:

• Keyless Stateroom Entry: Access to stateroom becomes a seamless experience where each guest is securely validated and the door automatically unlocks, with personalized greetings and loyalty level recognition on the welcome portal.
• OceanNow™: Using smart devices, guests have the ability to place a food or drink order and have it delivered directly to them in food and beverage locations throughout the ship.
• MedallionPay™: An easy-to-use payment experience, enabling crew members to focus on guest interactions.
• Ocean Casino™: On smart devices and select portals, guests can wager real money on a portfolio of games, including slots, poker, bingo, roulette, keno and lottery from anywhere on board.
• OceanCompass™: Leverages the Ocean Medallion to enable point-to-point wayfinding throughout the ship. Ocean Compass guides guests throughout their journey, providing directional information so they can seamlessly navigate to their next point of interest.
• JourneyView™: On portals throughout the ship, guests can access a real-time look at their itinerary, along with events and activities taking place during their cruise.
• OceanView™: Guests can stream more than 100 hours of award-winning Ocean Original travel content – which airs nationally on weekends on ABC and NBC – to their smart device anywhere on the ship at no cost.
• PlayOcean^TM: On portals located shipwide, guests are able to play family games, including trivia, word jumble, a matching game and Ocean Treks Adventure – an interactive, shipwide digital scavenger hunt.

OceanMedallion is currently available on Caribbean Princess and Regal Princess from Princess Cruises