nho9504

No email confirmation from Zac the person or Zac the robot.

But the App robot sent an email on OBC successfully applied at 12:51pm, but did not arrive until after 2:30pm US EST.

Just went on Princess site, the OBC posted.

Glad to learn about the 10% rebate on Excursion as an elite benefit.  Where can we find such benefit's description on Princess site?

3 hours ago, teacherplus said:

I got the app and uploaded picture of stock proof with my account information blocked out. I did have to try multiple times before it worked but it did and I got an email saying it was received and would hear back in 2 days.  It’s the third day and nothing so I have now sent an email and got an automated reply from Zac so now I am waiting.  I agree with others that wonder why Princess had to change what was working.

4 hours ago, cr8tiv1 said:

Already "spent" the OBC on excursions.  lol.  Still showing up until I actually take the excursion...with 10% back in OBC for elite.

I don’t have your luck.  Other than the robot reply,  The actual human “Zac” has not replied on my inquiry.

You mean elite booking excursion would receive a 10% rebate in the form of OBC?  I don’t know about that.  How does it work?

3 hours ago, teacherplus said:

I got the app and uploaded picture of stock proof with my account information blocked out. I did have to try multiple times before it worked but it did and I got an email saying it was received and would hear back in 2 days.  It’s the third day and nothing so I have now sent an email and got an automated reply from Zac so now I am waiting.  I agree with others that wonder why Princess had to change what was working.

Similar here, only have robot “Zac” reply.  No email from real human “Zac” yet.  

Still no OBC in account.

Sent an email like @cr8tiv1 has done since s/he got positive result super quick. 

As of now a robot reply has arrived.

What is interesting is,  at the bottom of the robot reply, the SIGNATURE IS THE SAME PERSON, Zac! 

Usually robot email the "signature" would be Team at xxxxx,  Customer Service at xxxxx"  that kind of thing.  So seeing the name of a person who manually handles the incoming email on the robot remail, is a surprise.

This almost confirms my speculation, that everything is still manually handled, App or no App, AND, there might be only one person or very few persons,  handling the shareholder benefits function at that Stockperks outfit... 

Will update if I ever get a manual handling on the follow up request.  Per the App the OBC should either show up on Fri or Next Mon the latest.  Else they would ask for more info, per the 2 outcomes after redemption.  It  would be one way or the other.

Thanks for the Play by Play on Steps.

I have not had the drama you endured.  It did take me a while to figure out how to work the App which I downloaded on iPad.

Only need to go thru the manual submission once using the Alinea as broker as described upthread, to avoid giving access to the brokerage account.

I used a PDF file which sailed thru.

Got the 2 business day process email. 

That was Thursday before 2pm.

Meanwhile I suppressed the urge to use the email to resubmit it.  (but it looked to me that worked for you because you got the OBC posted quickly).

Nothing came on Friday.

Monday morning, got the email informing the submission was validated.  Meaning now I can redeem the perk.

Went to the App - fiddle a while to eventually figure out the redemption is under Eligibility, which is what you chose at the initial submission, i.e. Carnival.  Now all brands under Carnival ownership show on the screen.

Picked Princess, input all the necessary info.  Submit the claim.

Received an email after submission, before noon Monday, about the 5 business days processing time.

Today Wednesday, still no OBC in account.

Hence I think your follow up with the email channel actually worked to your benefit because you did not have to wait 5 business days, actually you did not even need to wait - as the application of OBC was 3 minutes  after you redeemed the perk!   That must be the person at the other end manually posted the OBC once he received your submission.  The App generated emails were just the steps he went thru to process your OBC.

I suspect I should shoot them an email tomorrow morning to inquire the status, as it is Day 4 after successful validation of the proof.

Again, thanks a lot.

One more tome, until the email channel dies, this IS the way to request OBC.  The App is just a Sham.  I wish I have done what you have done and not keep waiting.

I forgot to point out this date discrepancy.

I ordered the Medallion buttons on January 10th US EST 8:58PM.

The confirmation came back from Princess site, shows January 11, 2024.

Folks, this is a proof the order handling outfit locates somewhere outside US, or at least the processor is outside US, in a time zone that is already January 11 when it is still Jan 10 in North America.  The processor of the Medallions is in Asia for all I could speculate, probably inside China - with all the crappy accessories Princess tries to make money from - they are most likely Made in China in some small town called Yi Wu. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yiwu

15 minutes ago, getaway101 said:

Why not use the email which is so, so simple

 

Yes.  But if you have read my posts in this thread before, I MISSED this method.  Submitted thru the App an hour before reading the email method. 

That reinforces the notion that the App is no more than just a Sham.  Everything is still done manually just like in the past.  Princess always reinvents something stupid to break what worked well in the past.  Just look at the Medallion (the button itself) and the App.  After years struggling with the Medallion App, they now replaced it with just Princess, even ditching the silly name that keeps confusing people - the App and the button, both have totally different functions.

After having 250 days on Princess, I honestly wish Royal has their new ships to Europe but alas, except Odyssey, all other ships are junks.  We normally just use the cruise as a very comfortable yet very reasonably priced way to go between both Continents.  None of the ports on TATL matters as we have been at them many many times.  The ships are what matter to us.  Royal has better ships, better App, far superior internet onboard.  Except! They dont do TATL. 

3 hours ago, wallyj said:

It can depending upon the port. I believe most ports should have 3 lines/lanes, green, if you already have Medallion, blue, if picking up Medallion and Grey, special assistance, wheelchairs, etc., so with your mobility issue, I suggest you use grey lane.

 

Are you saying living in the UK means you will most like be using Southampton?

 

Check the Southampton port section on cruise critic for more specific info regarding that ports info.

If you are elite, even picking up the Medallion at the pier, you will still be in Blue Lane.

I just ordered ours from the web version of the Medallion App.  The web version does have the shipping to home option, but of course it is exactly what I suspected, you need to enable the Shore Payment by linked to the shipboard CC.  Otherwise pick up is the only option, but it does indicate to pick up at Blue Line.  So picking up at the pier would not lose the status that entitles to Blue Line. 

This is only fair for those elites who live outside Canada and US, those who entitle to priority boarding, i.e. Blue Lane.

Though the whole thing just gets very silly to me.  I wish Royal would deploy their new mega ship(s) to Europe.  Alas, they are much smarter because they make far more money doing the short cruises in the Caribbeans.  The stock prices of RCL and CCL aptly reflect which company is the smarter one.

Oh, of course RCL does not bother with the silly Medallion type of gadget yet their App / Interactive TV on board is light years ahead of Princess, long before Princess even has an App.

18 minutes ago, cr8tiv1 said:

Done...but left scars.  I "think" it was the app that worked, although I also sent communications to hello@stockperks.com

 

Received 4 emails from stockperk asking for this and that within 22 minutes of request, I had my OBC credited to my account.  After transmission (again) it says it may take up to 5 days.  It is already on my account.  This was NOT fun, but worth the hefty OBC.

 

 

Do you mind to elaborate in more details on exactly how you received the 4 emails, and what did they ask for? 

Were those emails from after you did it thru the App or after you also sent request to hello@stockperks.com?

Did you sent email request AFTER submitting request thru the App?

What did they want from you, despite (I assume) you gave them the stock ownership proof?

So far I only received 2 emails -

1st one acknowledged receiving manual submission of stock ownership proof thru the App using Alinea, informing it would take 2 business days to get a eligibility decision.

2nd one came exactly after 2 business days, informing the request was eligible and has been submitted to Princess.  It would take 5 business days to reach 1) OBC posted,  2) Need to ask you more information.

I assume you fell into the 2) before they posted the OBC ?

Thanks a lot for your patience and further information. 

Submitted the proof last Friday thru the App.  Rec'd acknowledgement of receipt immediately, informing 2 business days wait to receive verification status.

Mon received approval of eligibility.  Informing it will take 5 business days to 1 or 2 outcomes as posted in No.315.

Wed just checked My Princess.  OBC not posted yet.

I am surprised by what Post 315 said, the poster has NOT submitted any statement, yet the OBC posted within 2 days, including the Xmas holidays!

Based on that I would speculate the App is a sham.  Things not only are still processed MANUALLY by human, but the human may NOT even know the proper processing.  Otherwise WHY someone never included a stock statement via the app as ownership proof, yet have the OBC posted within 2 days, WITHOUT stock ownership proof?

I am happy for the poster who got lucky and received the OBC without the need to submit the proof, and in such a quick manner.

But I feel the App is a bad set up, almost a failure because it does not ensure better and quicker processing.  The outcome is so all over the place, including no proof is submitted yet OBC posted!

=========================================================

For my April 10, 2024 cruise downlowed the app, requested 12/24/23, and on 12/26/23 received confirmation that it was posted to my account.   I never included a stock statement via the app.  The first email did note the following and I fell into group A.

We will be in touch with you in the next five (5) business days to either: 

A.  Confirm that the credit has been applied to your cruise booking by Princess; or

B.  Request for more information regarding your application.

Edited Saturday at 02:08 PM by Kari and David

Route deviation needs to be pre-approved BEFORE boarding the ship.

The text is for the actual process in preparation for early disembarkation.  You cannot do early disembarkation unless you have been pre-approved by the HQ before sailing.

We did it right before Pandemic that stopped all cruises.  Our cruise would end at St. Petersburg.  Russia announced it would deny entries of certain nationalities after Covid broke out.  The previous port was Tallinn.  We went thru the motion, had our TA asked Princess (a special dept handled it because they had to coordinate with the port authority where you disembarked), and came back with an approval, with the information that we would not get refund on the last day we were not on the ship.

A week later, ALL cruises were suspended and subsequently canceled.

I think it is still possible to do, except you need to talk to the right dept. 

1 hour ago, Thrak said:

 

With Capital One I get both an email and a text almost immediately any time I have a charge on my account. No need to hassle with checking the CC statement.

EVERY Banks do that provided the cardholders set up such Alerts within EACH card.  That is how Chase, Citi and AMEX are operating. 

On one Chase card I forgot to set up text alert but only email alert.  As a result I received email alert the moment German train DB charged my purchase, but no text alert.  It was my own oversight. 

Once you set up the alerts there is no need to frequently check your statement.

You can also set up balance update on a fixed interval.  Cap One has that function, so as Chase.  I just find it too much for daily / weekly update.  All I need is to be notified promptly when a transaction is put on the card, especially it is online/over the phone/ international.  Regular charges I honest dont care to get frequent updates.

When will you see the Lane" to use at boarding, as in how many days before sailing?

The app correctly shows our status being elite, with the black color medallion, which we could order but the only option is to pick up at the pier because our fare is Standard.  It would not even give me an option to pay the scam mailing fee of $10, but it did remind me to order for all passengers at once to save the shipping cost..  LOL.

So I figure I would ask in this forum first before ordering it.  It is indeed the CC needs to enable the shore charges so get the green check mark on all, then you can pay the $10 to have it mailed. 

Not a biggie.  We will pick it up at the pier.  Since this is a 16 days of TATL sailing, the worst to happen at the pier is to miss the short one hour dining room operation for embarkation lunch served at the dining room.  I cannot think of anything else we might miss.  In fact we might arrive the pier after 2pm to avoid lines.

Standard because DH does not drink, even myself only drink a little but Princess requires all passengers buy the package.   We will not pay for something that a big portion is no use to us.

Pick up at the port then.  No biggie.  At worst we miss the short one hour opening time of the embarkation dining room. 

I found on the New App where to order the Medallions.  It even tells me to order for other guest on the same booking to save on shipping cost.

Then on the Shipping Option the Ship to Home Address is grayed out.  It defaults to the option of Puck Up at pier.

Is it because I chose to remove the CC info from Shoreside, because Medallion is handled by 3rd party?  And now shipping is no longer free?

So basically this is worthless information because you can ALWAYS refare as long as it is before the final payment deadline regardless whether it is fully paid or not.  
 

Such heading is VERY MISLEADING.   When I open the thread I thought wow, you can refare after final payment?  Then the nugget if the truth came out towards the end, the cruise is November 2024!  
 

And you fully acknowledge there is a big difference.  Then why use a misleading title?

On 1/8/2024 at 11:01 AM, 57eric said:

I haven't read all 850 posts. so apologies if this is a repeat.  I entered my payment method for on board only and checked the box to use the same method for my wife.  She now shows complete for payment method whereas I, of course, don't. 

 

I am holding out until Princess removes shoreside payment as a requirement, along with many of the rest of you.  I am not sure there are any enrolled merchants on our itinerary anyway.

It is because in your wife’s account, she is automatically enrolled to shoreside CC payment.  You need to log in HER account, and manually remove the shoreside enrollment.  That is how I have done with my husband’s account.

5 hours ago, Thrak said:

 

A while back I was required to change my password on the Princess site as it didn't contain a "special character". I never had another issue. No idea if this is related to your problem but, if you don't have an Upper Case, Lower Case, and a Special Character it can cause issues with your login.

I have ALL of the above plus a number.  Princess website even gives a green mark indicating the password is strong.   Yet I cannot log in the App, plus every time when we have booked a cruise I go to Princess, it would not recognize my credentials, that I suspect it is due to the absence between log in is longer than a time frame the system allows.  Since these days we only cruise on Princess May be once every 18 to 20 mints, the system purges my log in credential.

Medallion App never recognizes the website credential, ever.  It takes the booking number though.  Since it serves the purpose, I can live with that.  

27 minutes ago, Happiest when cruising said:

I should have been more clear about using the app. App or website, I do see differences, for sure. I just don’t understand why people want to use email for such things. 

If I know there are things I can’t do on an app, but I can do online, then I just go to the website, instead. 
It sounds like you have quite the adventure planned, I’m pretty jealous. 

Yeah, whatever catches the fly, as the old cliche says, then it is a good tool. LOL.

We normally use the TATL as a cheap way to get across the pond in comfort at much lower cost.  A land trip before or after, would always the main focus because we visited those cruise ports many times over the years.  In years past, the TATL ports were very generous - as in the sense that 2/3 of the Med ports would be part of a TATL.  Except for the Greek Isles and the Adriatic and Aegean Coast, you can visit nearly all the Med ports in 2 to 3 TATL cruises, with much lower costs.   Of course the cruise lines got wised up and now you only get the Spanish coast + may be a few ports along the French Riviera.  Sometimes you also get southern Italy ports. 

We really feel pity for passengers who do the cruises in Europe alone - they hardly have enough time to see anything more beyond the ports.  Land trips are must if one enjoy traveling in Europe, whether fly among cities, self-driving, or doing train trips.  We have done all such forms and then some (incl overnight ferries in the Baltic, and lesser visited Greek Isles).  The premise of such is Time.  Either you retire or you are digital nomad, else it is hard to do.

Have a good time on your upcoming cruise, regardless where you are sailing to. 

2 hours ago, Steelers36 said:

I presume the steps you are doing are the following:

 

1. Login to App using Name, BD, Booking Number
2. Tap on Profile icon at the bottom right.
3. From Profile Menu, do you have "Change Password"?
4. That screen then asks for old password and entry of a new password 2X.

 

Wondering what error you get.

 

The other option is from the App Splash Page (not logged in yet), have you tried "Forgot My Password"?

That takes you to a screen where you enter Name, BD, Email and presumably you get an email from Princess.  The next screen indicates you receive an email if the account exists.  I would venture that no email received means that what you think your email address is does not agree with what Princess has and therefore making a change this way is not going to work.

 

All this said, with others reporting similar challenge, it could be a bug.  We should all be able to have same ID/Pswd combination for website and App.  ID is normally one's email address.

 

PS - I did try the last process and as of posting this note, I have not received an email and there is nothing wrong with my info AFAIK since I can login to both Apps and the Website with no issue.

 

 

 

 

I cannot go thru the step 3 because it would NOT accept the existing password that has been used on the website.  Therefore there is NO WAY to even change password.

The "Forgot My Password" function, does not even work well on Princess website -

For whatever unknown reason, Princess seems ALWAYS rejects my log in - may be I only went there as needed, when we booked a cruise.  The time span in between log in might be too far apart and the system deletes the credential.  I am just guessing.

So I need to go thru the "Forget My Password" very frequently to get the Password Reset email, which does NOT always come!

Here is the "fun" part - when I finally was able to reset the password (usually is the Same old password) Princess site would say, Password Reset Successful, or something to that effect.  Now continue to log in your My Princess.  However, when I followed the lead to log in - the first time it would AGAIN give me error message!   I often have to wait a few minutes and try a couple more times, before being able to log in.  It has been like that for at least 2 or 3 years.  Since I only need to go to Princess site when we have an upcoming cruise, I just endure such stupidity of the web site malfunction. 

1 hour ago, Happiest when cruising said:

It works just fine to use the app. 
My guess is they are only keeping that email option for a length of time to keep people happy. The app works, it’s quick and efficient and is the future. 
People don't generally wait until the last week or so to submit for the OBC, unless they didn’t know about it, anyways. It’s still less than a week for it to show up. That’s plenty of time for most people. 

I did not submit anything other than what they asked for, and gave no access to my financial accounts. 
I have read many posts where people are anxious and apply for the OBC more than a year early. I have no idea why they were accepting that, and maybe this is a new way to make sure people are actually holding the shares. 

 

Right, many folks submitted their request MANY months before their sailings, some even for 2015!  We always book our cruises (with any lines), about 2 to 3 months before sailing, so we do have the need to get the OBC request going as quick as possible.  I should have done it right after we paid for the cruise back in first week of Dec when there was a flash sale.  Other things get in the way to delay this chore till Jan 2024. 

Those lucky ones received their notification a few hours or within a day after submitting their proofs.  I haven't gotten anything, yet.  The acknowledge receipt email said 2 business days, so I would give them this time lapse.  If by next Mon or Tue still no response, I guess I would have to send in the proof via email channel.  I would prefer to take care of this sooner than later.  We have a lengthy land trip post cruise - I am still finalizing the itinerary, because once train tickets are purchased, if we want any change, the $ spent would be down the drain.  All 3 weeks hotels are booked with fully cancellable rates, so as the flights which are mileage tickets that do not cost anything to cancel up to 24 hours before departure.  But I need to concentrate in figuring the trains.  Hence one more thing checked off the To Do List, like making sure the OBC would post, would be a necessity to me.

As far as the Apps concerned - it has a lot of Pros but also a lot of Cons.  It will not do away with the tried and true websites for many things, from banking to hotels to airlines.  The oddity is, there are things that would perform far better on website but have no way to even try to do it on an App.  That happened last night when I was trying to modify a room booked at a Marriott hotel - website has the function of Edit Room,  App has no where such function to be found.  I went on Flyertalk to ask the Marriott forum where to find the function on the App - the answers are, Nope, it does not exist!  So when the rates or the point levels went down, or you want to change a room type - the only way to do it on the App is CANCEL and REBOOK!  Yet on the website you can do Edit Room, then Update.  Voila, you have a screen with options to choose from.

So no, App is not the future until it can be much perfected.  Companies want to push it as the future, but all you need to look at, is the advertisements from the banking industry - they no longer plaster the TV screen touting how convenient it is to bank using the App on your phone.  Further more, Chase literally DISABLES certain notifications thru text - now it is via Email only! 

There are personal preference arises from real need for wanting to use a Website than an App on the phone.

Many people, myself included, really dont want to use the tiny phone keyboard to do things if we can avoid it, plus I seriously dont want any rarely used app cluster my phone and takes up memory.  I usually uninstall any cruise line's apps after we finished the sailing.  No reason to keep them on the phone when the next time the need arises would be who knows how many months away.

Well, thank you for letting me to rant. 

2 hours ago, Steelers36 said:

Yes, you can sail without the App, but I would just go with the new App and login using Name, BD, Booking Number.

 

Have you tried going into Profile in the App and doing a password change?   Then see if you can login that way.  As long as you get to your voyage, you are fine.

 

PCL Is using new satellite service now and all reports indicate much improved internet service.  Yes, buy it on board for same price and it will be discounted.  The best/easiest way is to enroll via the device you intend to access the internet with.  Your daily cost for full voyage is $7.50/day for single device plan.  If you purchase individual random days, your cost is $10/day for single device (that one did not increase last time for whatever reason).  Your cost is 50% of list.  So you can do the math of full voyage day count times $7.50 versus however many individual days you might want times $10.

 

You can use the web version of the App to setup your pre-cruise information so you are ready to board in either Green Lane or Blue Lane.

 

 

Like last time, I could only log in with the booking number.  Changing log in credentials on the App does not seem to resolve anything.  But going thru Booking Number works well.  The previous photo also transferred to the current App profile.  I dont know where to check the CC info but I suspect we would use a different CC this time. 

BTW, is the Slot Machine method still working?

Where can I find the website link of the App, so I can enter the travel paper / CC etc those kind of things using the website versus going thru the tiny keyboard of the phone? 

Or we can just use the regular website for the above function? 

I did not find the internet package to purchase but that no longer matters.  Mostly I would use iPad for net access, so that would be the device.  I imagine the mechanism of to log off one device and let a different device to log in, still works on Princess cruises.  I read about MSC system does not allow such. 

Can't remember which lines, but there are several lines using Musk's Starlinks now and are reportedly lightning fast.  RCL has always been very fast long before Starlinks become exist. 

The previous 2 TATL cruises internet were extremely slow, and completely failed for the last 4 days as we sailed back to Everglades.  Princess gave everyone 4 days refund on that.  Going over to Europe we also lost several days of access.  Can't remember we got a refund that time.  As we all can imagine, when you expect to have access yet it would not happen, is a very frustrating experience.  On one such cruises I did not head out at Livorno (been at this port many times) just stayed at the terminal building to use the port wifi.  However in the Nov 2022 return Regal docked at a totally different area, the terminal looked completely different from previous crossing.  No wi fi either.  My suspicion was, Regal was the only ship that passed the port due to Regal returned trip was almost mid November - ports she visited were largely semi-shut down for passenger ship traffic.  It was in the period that seemed only MSC was still sailing the Med water.

One positive to report -

For all the difficulties people reported on booking dining reservation, I was shocked that the App allows me to book a 7:40pm private table for the whole duration of the cruise, at the Estrella dining room.  Cant remember exactly how the option showed up but after I chose the time and the dining room, the App prompted me whether I would like to book the same thing thru the whole cruise.  Whether the reservations would stick of course is a different story.

The National Express coach running regular coach from LHR to Southampton Coach Station.  It is around 25 GBP per person.  Your bags are stored underneath the coach - much like the $64 one way Princess would transfer you.  From there is is a 20GBP or less taxi(good for 4 passengers) ride to the dock.

We did the reverse a couple years before Covid.  It is a convenient coach ride.  While you need to add the taxi between dock and Southampton coach station, it is not much extra effort as there are lots of taxis available on both embarkation / disembarkation days going between the dock and the Southampton Coach Station.

Alright, downloaded the New App.  Once again, it does not recognize the log in credentials that works on the website!  It is the same issue as the Medallion App in Nov 2022.  Never got fixed.  😕

Try the Chat feature on website - there are 76 persons ahead of me!!! 

Hell with the App.  I dont believe we cannot sail without the App!

Questions for the community -

Our last cruise on Princess was Nov 2022. 

I have since uninstalled the Medallion app from my Android phone.  DH never wants to use the app and he never has the app installed on his phone. 

So now we booked a Sky Princess TATL sailing on March 9. I guess I would need to download either the Medallion App or this new App.

My recollection is, I was not able to log in the app using the website credentials - the only way to make the App worked was to use Booking reference.  Since we only have 1 booking, so this is not an issue to us unlike many of you who have multiple bookings to manage.

1)  Should I just download the current App and completely forget about the old Medallion App?

2)  I remember in Nov 2022 we could only make internet purchase thru the App, and at that time that was the only way to ensure elite discount.  Now since whether you buy internet package ahead of sailing or buy it when onboard (or even go day by day as TATL connection often is awful for days on end, plus we dont need to access the net everyday),  you still get the elite discount.  There is no extra discount for buying ahead.  Then I dont really need to worry about the App working or not, correct?

That is of course we dont need to make dining reservation before sailing.

3) What else I need to know about stuff that can only be handled by the App?

4) ANY other matters on the App I forget about or have no idea about,  PLEASE chime in. I need your helps!

Thanks A Lot!