Australians on holiday will only tolerate being without internet access for a maximum of three days, a shock survey by Princess Cruises reveals.

One in two people surveyed said they will take a cruise holiday – but only if they had access to high speed internet at a “reasonable cost.”

Conducted by YouGov, the survey found 58 per cent would only tolerate being offline for a maximum of three days during their holiday, but 27 per cent said  they were unwilling to spend more than 24 hours without internet access.

More than 90 per cent of the 1,000 people surveyed said it is important to have WiFi access while on holiday, with almost a quarter admitting that internet access is one of the key considerations when choosing a holiday destination.

While Australian holidaymakers want to be online, more than 80 per cent said there are still “barriers to using the internet”,  blaming the high cost and slow internet speed.

“The survey underlines just how important technology now is in our choice of holidays, with one in two people surveyed saying they would be more likely to take a cruise if they had access to high speed internet,” said Stuart Allison, Princess Cruises Senior Vice President Asia Pacific.

In 100 days, the first “smart” ship, the Ruby Princess, equipped with the MedallionClass Holiday technology, returns to sail in Australian waters on 27 January 2020.

“It’s clear that Princess Cruises’ new ground-breaking technology will represent a seismic shift in how our guests travel and interact with their ship.

“In the same way that smart phones have simplified our daily lives, our new “smart ships” will help remove the friction points from travel, allowing us to deliver a more personalised service to our guests and ultimately give our guests more time to relax on their cruise holiday,” Mr Allison added.

The OceanMedallion is a complimentary wearable device that enhances guests experience onboard. With the smart device, passengers are able to order drinks, food and retail items such as sunscreen which can be delivered directly anywhere on the ship, including their stateroom.

The OceanMedallion can also be used to find family members and friends, open their stateroom, find their way around the ship and even play interactive games.

Passengers will enjoy experiences designed specifically for them, including:

• Expedited Arrival – From kerbside to poolside in a breeze: Guests who arrive at the terminal with travel documents (i.e. passports) uploaded to their profile enjoy a streamlined and expedited check-in process that gets their holiday started even sooner. Personalisation starts pre-cruise as guests become OceanReady before arriving at the port.
• On-Demand Services – Food, beverage, retail order and hospitality services delivered to your location: Using smart devices, guests have the ability to order drinks, food and retail items like sunscreen with OceanNow and have them delivered directly anywhere on board, including to their stateroom.
• Family and Friends Locator – Finding travel companions and directional ship information is easy: Accessible on portals throughout the ships and via guests’ smart devices, OceanCompass leverages the OceanMedallion to easily locate and chat with friends and family on board, as well as enabling point-to-point wayfinding throughout the ship. OceanCompass guides guests, providing directional information along the way.

Other innovative features of the Princess MedallionClass experience include:

• Keyless stateroom entry: Access to staterooms is a seamless experience where each guest is securely validated as the door automatically unlocks. Personalised greetings, including loyalty level recognition and celebrations, welcome the guest on their door portal.
• Interactive voyage timeline: Available now on ship portals, JourneyView is an interactive timeline that lets guests scroll through all of the events available on board during their voyage.
• Interactive game play: On portals located ship-wide and using smart devices with PlayOcean, guests can enjoy a new level of fun with interactive games, a digital scavenger hunt, customisable avatars and more. PlayOcean also transforms guests’ mobile devices into game controllers for interactive gaming on the massive Movies Under the Stars screen.