Star Princess: MedallionClass First-Timer Guide

What is Princess MedallionClass, and what does a first timer actually need to do before boarding Star Princess in Seattle? In short: MedallionClass is Princess’s wearable-and-app system built around the Ocean Medallion, a quarter-sized disc that opens your stateroom hands-free, lets you skip the check-in queue, helps you find your travel party anywhere aboard, and handles payments without a card. You set it up in the Princess app before you sail, order the Medallion to arrive by mail or collect it at the pier, and from the moment you reach Pier 91 it quietly runs the practical side of your cruise. This guide walks a first timer through what the Medallion is, how OceanNow, Dine My Way and JourneyView work, and exactly how to get ready so your Alaska sailing starts smoothly.

What the Ocean Medallion actually is

The Ocean Medallion is a small, quarter-sized wearable that every guest on Star Princess carries. It is a passive disc that the ship recognizes as you move around, not a screen or a smartwatch. Princess sells clips, wristbands, pendants and lanyard holders so you can keep it on you without thinking about it. On an Alaska cruise where you are constantly adding and shedding layers, a clip on a belt loop or an inside jacket pocket is more reliable than an outer coat you will take off the moment you step into The Dome.

The Medallion does four core things for a first timer, and it is worth understanding each one rather than treating it as a single gadget.

Hands-free stateroom access

As you approach your cabin door, the lock senses your Medallion and unlocks. There is no card to swipe, no fumbling in a wet jacket after a rainy morning in Ketchikan. A small reader by the door lights up with a greeting and the door releases. For families this is a genuine relief: kids do not need to carry and lose a keycard, and you can walk up with your arms full of camera gear and still get in. You still open the door yourself, so it is not automatic, but you never have to find and present anything.

Keyless, faster boarding

Because your identity, photo and payment are already tied to the Medallion, embarkation at Seattle’s Pier 91 is far quicker than a traditional check-in. Terminal staff verify you against the photo linked to your profile, and you walk aboard without filling out forms at the counter. The more OceanReady steps you complete at home, the shorter your time in the terminal, and first timers who finish everything in the app the week before often walk from curb to ship in a fraction of the time they expected.

Locating your travel party

The app can show you where your linked companions are on a deck map. If your partner wandered off to the International Café while you watched for whales on the forward deck, you can see roughly where they are and message them, rather than texting into the void with patchy signal. On a big ship carrying around 4,300 guests across 21 decks, this is one of the features first timers use most, and it also helps you keep track of children old enough to roam.

Touchless payments

Every onboard charge runs on the Medallion against the payment method you registered. Buy a drink, book a specialty dinner, pick up something in the shops, and it is added to your folio without you handing over anything. Onboard accounts run in US dollars, and you can review your running charges anytime in the app, which is the honest way to avoid an end-of-cruise surprise. Confirm current costs in the app, since specialty dining, drinks packages and excursions all vary.

OceanNow: delivery anywhere aboard

OceanNow is the feature first timers fall for hardest on an Alaska sailing. Through the app, you order food and drinks and have them brought to wherever you are on the ship. You are not tied to a bar stool or a table. If you are parked on a forward deck or up in The Dome watching Endicott Arm open toward Dawes Glacier, you can order a hot chocolate, an Irish coffee or a bowl of chowder and have it arrive without giving up your spot. Warm drinks while glacier-watching is exactly the use case OceanNow was built for, and it changes how you spend a scenic-cruising day.

To use it, you set your location in the app or let the ship place you, then browse the menu and order. Delivery is not instant on a busy sea day, so order a little ahead of when you want the drink, especially during a glacier approach when half the ship has the same idea. There may be a per-order delivery charge and drinks are charged unless covered by a package, so check the app for current details. For a first timer, the mental shift is the point: you plan your day around the best view rather than the nearest bar.

OceanNow also works in your stateroom, which is handy for a quiet morning coffee on a covered balcony while the ship slips through the Inside Passage. Learn the menu on your first sea day so you know what is quick, then lean on it during the scenic days when you least want to move.

Dine My Way: flexible or traditional

Dine My Way is how Princess handles dining choice through the Medallion and app, and it is one of the first decisions a first timer should make. Star Princess has three main dining rooms plus the Horizons buffet, and Dine My Way lets you choose your approach to the main rooms.

You have two broad paths. Traditional dining keeps a set time and the same table and waitstaff each evening, which many returning cruisers love for the routine and the relationship you build with your servers over a week. Flexible dining lets you reserve times that change night to night, so you can eat early before a show one evening and late after a long day ashore the next. You can book, move and manage these reservations in the app, and you can pre-book across the whole cruise before you sail.

For an Alaska itinerary, flexible dining has a real advantage: port days end at different times and scenic-cruising days can run late into the long northern daylight, so being able to shift your dinner around the day’s rhythm is genuinely useful. That said, if you are traveling as a larger group or you simply like knowing exactly where you will be at 6:30, traditional set dining removes a daily decision. Neither is wrong; the mistake is not choosing at all and then finding your preferred times are full.

Beyond the main rooms, Star Princess carries a large specialty and casual lineup you can reserve the same way: The Catch by Rudi for seafood, a natural fit when fresh Alaskan catches are in season; the Crown Grill steakhouse; Sabatini’s Italian Trattoria; Makoto Ocean for Edomae sushi; The Butcher’s Block by Dario; Love by Britto with its wake views; the Alfredo’s and Gigi’s pizzerias; O’Malley’s Irish pub; and the 24-hour International Café between excursions. Specialty venues carry a cover charge, so confirm prices and book the popular nights early in the app.

JourneyView: planning your days

JourneyView is the planning layer of the app. It lays out your voyage day by day, showing ports, scenic-cruising days, arrival and departure times, and what is on aboard, so you can build a loose plan before you even pack. For a first timer this is where the trip becomes real: you can see which day is your glacier day, when you are in Juneau versus Skagway versus Ketchikan, and how much time you actually have in each port to book tours around.

Use JourneyView to line up shore excursions, dining reservations and onboard activities against the itinerary. Alaska tours, in particular, sell out early, so seeing your port times clearly helps you commit to the whale-watching trip in Juneau or the White Pass railway in Skagway before they fill. Because itineraries and exact ports vary by sailing, treat JourneyView as your single source of truth for your specific voyage and confirm anything time-sensitive there.

Setting it all up before you sail

The single biggest thing a first timer can do to make embarkation painless is complete the setup at home. It takes maybe twenty minutes spread across a few sessions, and it is the difference between strolling aboard and standing in a line. Here is the sequence.

• Download the Princess app (the MedallionClass app) and sign in or create your account, then link your booking.
• Complete the OceanReady check-in: add your photo, travel documents, passport details, emergency contact and arrival information.
• Add a payment method so every onboard charge runs on your Medallion automatically.
• Order your Ocean Medallion, choosing to have it shipped to your home ahead of time or to collect it at the terminal in Seattle.
• Set your dining preference in Dine My Way and pre-book any specialty restaurants and popular times.
• Review JourneyView and book shore excursions, especially the Alaska tours that sell out early.

Do the OceanReady steps early rather than the night before. Photos and documents sometimes need a second attempt, and you want any issue sorted while you have time. If you order the Medallion to your home, it arrives in a small package before the cruise; unpack it, decide how you will wear it, and pack it somewhere you will not forget. If you collect it at the pier, that is fine too, it just adds a step at the terminal. A passport is required for this itinerary because the cruise sails from a US port and calls at Victoria in Canada, so make sure those details are entered correctly and follow the ship’s immigration guidance.

Wi-Fi aboard is a paid plan, often bundled into fares or packages, and the app works best when connected. Confirm your connectivity plan in the app; many first timers add it so OceanNow, messaging and location features run smoothly throughout the sailing. For deeper planning of the whole ship and her itinerary, the complete Star Princess cruise guide is a useful companion to this MedallionClass walkthrough.

Embarkation day in Seattle

Star Princess sails her Inside Passage season round-trip from Seattle’s Pier 91. The smartest move a first timer can make is to fly in a day early. Alaska weather and flight delays are real, and arriving the night before removes the risk of missing the ship while giving you an evening to enjoy the city. Pike Place Market, the Space Needle, the waterfront and, on a clear day, the sight of Mount Rainier are all easy to fit in, and a relaxed start beats a frantic same-day dash to the terminal.

On boarding day, you will have selected an arrival window during check-in; try to keep to it, as it spaces out the terminal flow. Bring your passport and have the app open. Because your Medallion carries your identity and payment, the terminal process is largely a verification against your photo rather than a paperwork session. If you ordered your Medallion to the pier, you collect it here. Then you walk aboard, tap nothing, and you are on the ship. For more on the wider arrival logistics and pre-cruise options, see the guide to sailing Star Princess to Alaska from Seattle.

Your first hours aboard

Once aboard, resist the urge to head straight to your cabin; on many sailings staterooms are not ready until the afternoon anyway. Use the first hours to get oriented. Test your Medallion by walking past your cabin door once it is available and watching it recognize you. Find the Piazza, the three-deck atrium at the heart of the ship with its glass-walled suspended Sphere, which becomes your natural meeting point all week. Wander up to The Dome, the glass-enclosed retreat atop the ship, so you know where the warm, weatherproof viewing space is before the first scenic day.

This is also the time to place your first OceanNow order, even just a coffee, so you learn how it works while nothing is urgent. Confirm your Dine My Way plans, check JourneyView, and attend the safety muster, which the Medallion streamlines by checking you in at your station. A calm, curious first afternoon sets up the whole week and lets the technology fade into the background where it belongs. For a fuller sense of the onboard experience, the overview of what to expect on Star Princess fills in the daily rhythm.

Packing warm layers for Alaska

This is not a warm-weather cruise, and the most common first-timer packing mistake is dressing for a Caribbean sailing. The Alaska summer is cool and changeable: mild days, cooler mornings and evenings, frequent rain in the rainforest ports like Ketchikan, and genuine cold near the glaciers where the air coming off the ice bites. The long northern daylight is glorious but does not mean warm.

Pack in layers you can add and remove: a base layer, a warm mid layer like fleece, and a waterproof, windproof shell on top. Comfortable waterproof shoes matter more than anything stylish, because you will be on wet decks and uneven port streets. Bring a hat and gloves for the glacier day; standing on deck as the ship approaches Dawes Glacier is cold in a way photographs never convey. Binoculars and a camera earn their space for whales, bears, sea otters, eagles and salmon. The Medallion helps here too: OceanNow keeps warm drinks coming without leaving the rail, and hands-free access gets you into a warm cabin without digging for a key with cold fingers.

Because Star Princess alternates port days with scenic-cruising days, her warm indoor spaces come into their own. The Dome, with its glass roof and pools, is a warm vantage whatever the weather, and the forward decks give you the open-air view when you can bear the cold. For a deeper look at the natural side of the voyage, the guide to the Star Princess Alaska Inside Passage itinerary explains what unfolds on each kind of day.

Common first-timer mistakes to avoid

A few missteps come up again and again with MedallionClass first timers, and every one is easy to sidestep.

• Leaving the app setup until the last minute, then arriving at the terminal with incomplete OceanReady steps and a longer wait.
• Not deciding on a Dine My Way approach, so preferred dining times fill up before you get to them.
• Ignoring OceanNow on scenic days and trekking to a bar instead of ordering a warm drink to your viewing spot.
• Packing for warm weather and shivering through the glacier day without a proper waterproof, windproof layer.
• Booking Alaska shore excursions too late, after the whale-watching and railway tours have sold out.
• Not linking travel companions in the app, then losing time hunting for each other across 21 decks.
• Forgetting to check the running folio in the app, then being surprised by the total at the end of the week.

None of these is serious, but avoiding them turns a good first cruise into a smooth one. The through-line is simple: do the setup at home, make your dining and excursion choices early, and let the Medallion handle the small logistics. To go deeper on the ports, the guide to Juneau, Skagway and Ketchikan helps you plan the days ashore that the app will schedule around.

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Get the complete Star Princess playbook

If you want every MedallionClass tip, dining strategy and Alaska packing detail in one place, “The Ultimate Guide to Sailing on Star Princess” walks you through the whole voyage step by step. It is part of the Ultimate Ship Guides series by Leo Sotropa, with clear action steps in every chapter so a first timer knows exactly what to do and when.

Frequently asked questions

Do I have to wear the Ocean Medallion all the time?

You do not have to wear it, but you should keep it on you, because it unlocks your stateroom, handles payments and lets your party locate you. Most first timers use a clip, wristband, lanyard or pocket holder so it stays with them without any effort. On an Alaska cruise where you change layers constantly, attaching it to something you keep close, like a belt loop or an inner pocket, is more reliable than tucking it into an outer coat.

What is the difference between OceanNow and Dine My Way?

OceanNow delivers food and drinks to wherever you are on the ship, so you can order a warm drink to a forward deck or to The Dome during glacier cruising. Dine My Way is how you manage your main and specialty dining, choosing either flexible reservations that change night to night or a traditional set time and table. One brings the food to you anywhere; the other organizes your sit-down meals.

When should I download the Princess app and set everything up?

As soon as you have booked. Download the Princess app, complete the OceanReady check-in with your photo and passport details, add a payment method, and order your Medallion well before you sail. Doing this early means embarkation in Seattle is quick, and it leaves time to fix any photo or document issues without pressure.

Do I need a passport for a round-trip Seattle Alaska cruise?

Yes. Even though the cruise begins and ends in Seattle, it calls at Victoria in British Columbia, so a passport is required. Enter your passport details accurately in the app during OceanReady check-in and follow the ship’s immigration guidance for the Canadian call.

Can I use OceanNow while watching the glaciers?

Yes, and it is one of the best reasons to learn it early. From The Dome or a forward deck you can order hot chocolate, coffee or a warm meal to your spot as the ship approaches the tidewater glacier. Order a little ahead on busy scenic days, since many guests have the same idea and delivery takes longer during a glacier approach. Delivery and drink charges may apply, so check current details in the app.

Should I choose flexible or traditional dining?

It depends on how you like to travel. Flexible Dine My Way suits Alaska well because port days and scenic days end at different times, so you can shift dinner around the day. Traditional set dining gives you the same time, table and waitstaff each night, which larger groups and routine-lovers prefer. Either way, decide and book early through the app so your preferred times are available.

What should a first timer pack for the weather?

Warm layers, not warm-weather clothes. Bring a base layer, a fleece mid layer, and a waterproof, windproof shell, plus comfortable waterproof shoes, a hat and gloves for the glacier day. Add binoculars and a camera for wildlife and glaciers. The Alaska summer is cool and changeable with frequent rain in the rainforest ports and real cold near the ice, so dress to add and remove layers through the day. For the wider ship overview, the Star Princess Sphere-class ship guide covers the spaces that keep you warm aboard.