Dave from Ont

Thank you for your help Inside Cabin. I noticed that I had not updated my OS on the ipad . I went ahead and did that. As soon as I tried the HAL site after updating voila it worked. Problem solved.

Problem solved updated the ios and it is now working.

For some reason I am not able to book shore excursions for an upcoming. I log into my HAL account select my booked cruise, choose shore excursions and then the screen disappears and there is nothing. Any ideas what could be going on. On the other hand my wife has the same ipad mini 6 and she has no trouble at all getting to the excursions and checking them out. I'm puzzled.

We will continue to wait patiently.

We had to cancel our Greek, Italy & Istanbul cruise. Just wondering if anyone knows when HAL will release it's lineup for Europe 2025. Perhaps it has already been announced and I've missed it. Thanks in advance for your help.

We will be cruising to Alaska out of Vancouver. We have a stop in Victoria the day before we return to Vancouver. Will we have to have the ArriveCan done and submitted to the CBS before we stop in Victoria rather than Vancouver. Would Victoria be considered an in transit stop on our way to the final destination Vancouver? Alternatively do we just submit the ArriveCan 72 hours out from are return to Vancouver showing Vancouver as our final stop/port of entry? I'm guessing we just submit it showing Victoria as our port of entry and not worry about Vancouver since we have already been cleared at Victoria. Would we be making our Customs declaration at the stop in Victoria even though we do not have baggage with us in case CBS wants to check anything. Any insight would be helpful. Thanks in advance.

3 hours ago, Fouremco said:

The announcements today didn't change the existing regulations for embarkation in Vancouver:

• Passengers must take a COVID-19 molecular test within 72-hours before boarding a cruise ship or take an antigen test within one day of the scheduled departure.
• Before their cruise departs, a traveller will need to enter their trip information into the ArriveCAN website.

What has changed is the deletion of the requirement to be tested prior to disembarkation in Vancouver at the conclusion of your cruise.

 

 

 

Thank you for the clarification on the testing. At first I had read only the one day prior antigen test was to be used. There is still a long time till we get to our June Alaskan cruise so there may be further changes upcoming.

Just wondering if a PCR test out no more than 72 hours before boarding still okay too. Since we are coming in to Vancouver one day ahead of our cruise. I can imagine that the test centres in downtown Vancouver could be very busy with the influx of all the cruise passengers.

38 minutes ago, gnome12 said:

But the cruise line could still have stricter qualifications. 

Hopefully they will get on the same page. I think the Canadian Government has been stricter than the cruise lines. We will just have to wait and see I guess. Hopefully sorted by June.

1 hour ago, cmich068 said:

 

I would just make sure that the cruise line will be accepting 72 hour PCRs before you make arrangements for that, but sounds like a stress free option. If you don't have a place to get them done already, Medionerx has a location in St Catharines that does them for $85 each. 

Passenger obligations

• Pre-boarding a cruise ship
  • Passengers must take a COVID-19 molecular test within 72-hours before boarding a cruise ship or take an antigen test within one day of the scheduled departure.

The quote above is from the newly released rules on Monday for passengers boarding a cruise ship in Canada.

Thanks for the tip on Medionerx in St, Catharines

We live in the Niagara region so we have decided to just go ahead and get the PCR test here before we leave for Vancouver. It's good for 72 hours so that will cover us for our travel time and boarding. We do have our iPads with us but we just don't want to be messing around in a hotel room doing a proctored test. Besides as I mentioned before the rules could change yet again.

We staying overnight in Toronto on June 9th, flying to Vancouver on June 10th. We will be staying overnight there and boarding our cruise on June 11th. We need a covid antigen test no more than 1 day before the cruise so we can board. Does anyone have any idea on where to get an antigen test in downtown Vancouver. We will be staying near Canada Place. Would it just be better to get a pcr test at home before we go? We are already getting anxious over this step, that needs to be done before we can board our cruise. Any help or suggestions would be appreciated. At the same time with the way things are changing this could all change again.

ArriveCAN

Cruise travellers must use the ArriveCAN website to provide mandatory travel information before embarking on their cruise and after their entry into Canada to report on signs or symptoms of COVID-19. 

No sure why we have to have ArriveCan filled out before we embark on a cruise, I thought that was only done when coming back into Canada, thus the name ArriveCan.

We also had shore excursions saved for 2 upcoming cruises. We were waiting to narrow them down and purchase as we got closer. Checked yesterday and poof they were gone. Hope they get that option going again soon. It's very handy to have.

It has for us.

2 minutes ago, Dar & Bob said:

My time is worth a lot, which is why Princess needs to get their act together.  On the personalizer I do not see a checklist of what is required it refers you to the non functioning app.  How much is it worth if I drive 4 hours to the port and lack a document that could have been uploaded moths prior.  
Sorry but NOPE this would not fly in other businesses. The poor Ocean Navigators have said they can not even contact the IT people, yet they get to take the flack. Note that the booking and payment systems on the website work 🤣. They don’t mess with their cash flow!
As I said mine is finally working after sending an email that if it wasn’t working that I needed an extension of time to pay my balance due.  

I mentioned the cash flow factor many weeks ago on one of the other 40 page Medallion Class app threads. I think I said wasn't it interesting that you were still able to book the cruise, pay the deposit, buy shore excursions etc. online. however you couldn't check-in online. It truly is all about the cash flow. LOL.

31 minutes ago, Kay S said:

Do you remember which thread that was?  I would like to see that official announcement.

I will look into it tomorrow. It may have been in the Medallion thread with 50pages or so. I'm sure someone if not me will come across it tomorrow.

27 minutes ago, dog said:

Was it from the cc member who talked to Jan S on Alaska cruise?

I remember it being mentioned about then 

It might have been.

After thousands of complaints about the Medallion Class app Princess announced a few weeks ago that they were re-implementing their desk top computer check-in program again, after abandoning it. They said it was due to be available for use by the end of October/mid November. Someone on a previous Medallion Class app thread had posted the official announcement by Princess. We can hope.

17 hours ago, mellon1 said:

I did the same thing, $1,300 later a new phone I didn't need or want!

We held off buying a new iPad and I'm glad we did. I feel so sorry for you and others who probably didn't want that kind of out of pocket expense just to go on a cruise.

Finally some common sense. Now check-in will be available to all cruisers whether you have the latest Apple or android devices or not. 

Apparently all our emails etc., finally did knock something loose at Princess. LOL.

So true.

On 8/8/2021 at 5:51 PM, JF - retired RRT said:

I'm one that can't get all of my boxes ✔️d, but I don't sail till 1/22, so not too stressed about it.

BTW: I remember the old saying, "if one person complains, 10 are not saying anything". This seems to be a little reversed here. Lots of us are complaining, but we're a small segment of the full cruise ship pax. 

I'm following the "live from" threads (3 and counting) and from what's been reported, most people are in the green lane (meaning no problems with the app) and very few in the blue lane.

I remember my marketing classes back in college. Our teacher taught the complaint theory a bit different. He used to say if one person calls, writes etc., there are 500 other people that don't bother or just can't be bothered. They will go elsewhere the next time they want the product.

On 8/2/2021 at 3:05 PM, barrykel said:

Limiting the supported smartphone OS versions would have been fine, if they'd just continued to support the pre-cruise data entry requirements via the Personalizer website. And as one who has been a professional software developer for over half a century, I find it hard to believe that the cost of adding one new data entry page and any required new database interfaces would have been that significant. 

I agree completely. What was Princess thinking not making their app usable on many OS versions. I refuse to add another $600 (in Canada) to the cruise cost, just so we can update an iPad to use the Princess App. Everyone doesn't go and buy the newest phone or iPad just because the manufacturer says we should, just to be current.

With over 60 pages of mainly problems & frustration with the Medallion Class App and many more threads, again with mainly problems, I think Princess should take a step back and rethink this a bit. With all these problems do they really think things are going to be that sped up at the port. There are going to be long lines, whether you are yellow, blue or green. And then there are the people who have had grandparents, children or travel agents help with the check-in. Then the couple has flown into FLL a few days early just in case of bad weather etc.. Now they aren't able to do those last minute (24, 48,72 hrs.), health check, vaccination check etc., because they don't have the means or the app isn't working. 

If Princess wanted to do the right thing and be inclusive for all  they should run the app in tandem with their online presence till ALL the kinks have been worked out of this app and it works in some manner for all those who have devices. Again as I have mentioned in previous posts Princess has left on line things like booking a cruise and booking excursions, drink packages etc. to help their cash flow but have taken off other things like check- in. Interesting. 

My wife and I have never really minded waiting a 1/2 hour or so to get checked in etc. at the cruise terminal. It all adds to the excitement of going away and getting on board. At that point we are "already where we want to be", going on a cruise.

Just my 2 cents worth.

3 hours ago, Daniel A said:

I was fine with setting up my Medallion Class cruise for February 2020.  The app worked fine on my devices and it was kind of fun to use some of the features.  I'm not fine with the concept that now Princess is requiring me to purchase a newer expensive device and to use it to reserve seats at dinner, shows, etc.  I liked the medallion itself but they are 'upgrading' us to death.  I certainly appreciate that you like to use the current technology, but not all of us are as enamored with getting rid of devices that still do everything wanted.  To each their own.  I hope you get the app on your watch, I'm sure it will enhance your onboard experience.

 

(BTW, I was posting tongue in cheek earlier.  🙂)

Funny we were on a cruise in February 2020 that got cut short because of a large norovirus outbreak. We too had downloaded the medallion app and it worked great. We used it for a few different things. Agree that we are not happy having to buy newer devices just so we can use this new app. Our current older iPad does everything else we need to do.