cruisingaussies

FYI.  I just checked DH and me in for our Azamara cruise in April.  It took all of 5 minutes, which included time spent searching for our passport details.

I logged straight in, entered details for both and had our boarding passes immediately.

Princess, take note, it can be done.

I meant 'save' button BTW!!  Now confusing myself 🙄

12 minutes ago, jsn55 said:

I'll do almost anything to avoid Guest Services ... but on our Royal P cruise in December they had a huge number of techies the first couple of days, so the wait was never more than a few minutes.  I probably made 5 trips up there the first 3 days, and the number of techies decreased every day.   Obviously the ship was aware of all the pax with problems with medallion.

You made 5 trips to the techies!  Your patience deserves an award!

On 3/4/2023 at 2:06 AM, Eamon Chute said:

We haven't sailed (on Princess or anyone) since before the pandemic and the before the creation of the Medallion App. All I have to say is WOW! What a glitchy, inconsistent, slow, piece of technology to be forced to use. It's such a bad experience so far, we could very possibly be looking at other cruise brands.

Really the worst thing about it is that Princess choose to ignore all the problems.  We've taken around 50 cruises, haven't cruised with Princess in quite a few years.  Can't believe the problems I've had - and ongoing - trying to get our info accepted by the app.  It just won't work, have tried filling in details on the app and on line, the 'confirm' button remains greyed out.  Deleted and reinstalled the app.  Same thing.  Certainly doesn't make me want to cruise with Princess again.  I just hope our actual cruise experience is a whole lot better than the experience we've had with the useless Medallion!  Have now given up, I've wasted enough time on it.

7 hours ago, Dunnedg said:

As I said in the other post, in October we docked in Sarayburnu. 
Stayed in Radisson Hotel Istanbul Sultanahmet. Less than a mile from the Sarayburnu. 5 minutes walk from lots of restaurants. 10/15mins from Blue Mosque. 
Nice clean hotel overlooking the Bosporus. Right beside a ferry stop to take you to the East. 
Only issue we had was taxi drivers trying to take advantage of us. Tried to charge TL880 approx €45?  The last driver we approached only charged €5. He got a nice tip. 
Wherever you choose to stay, have a note of the address of your hotel and insist on taximeter.

Thanks for all the info.  We've been to Istanbul a couple of times before, our flight arrives in at 7.00 pm and we board the ship the next day. The departure port info is more important to us so we can find an hotel near that, we don't need to be near the popular sights.  However, departure from Sarayburnu means we'll book an hotel near there, with the bonus of being near Sultanahmet if we want a stroll round in the morning.

Shall be very wary of the taxi drivers!  The hotel our TA has proposed has an airport shuttle so we may book that.

On 2/14/2023 at 10:24 AM, Dunnedg said:

Are you sure ship is docking at Galataport? Disembarked in Istanbul in October and whilst initially we were told we would dock in Galataport we actually docked in the much smaller TDI Sarayburnu. It is a tiny port and we were less than 100 yards from the gangway to taxis via passport control and luggage collection. 

I've just started a new thread on this subject as I'm getting conflicting information on which port we'll be embarking in April.  Need to find out before we book an hotel.

I hope it's Sarayburnu, as Galataport is gigantic, we were there last year on Celebrity, it takes over 15 minutes to walk from the ship to the street.

Please can someone who embarked on Seabourn in Istanbul last year (2022) tell me where the ship docks?  Am getting conflicting information for this year – is it the big, new terminal at Galataport, or the old one in town, Sarayburnu Port?

11 hours ago, terry&mike said:

I hope you post how your Azamazing Evening in Kotor goes when you return. We are on the September 3 sailing of the Onward, and have an evening event "Mystical Tales at...." in Kotor. 

Shall try to remember to do so.  If you've not been to Kotor before, the sail in and out is stunning.

5 hours ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

They got messed up in Kotor by an infrastructure issue. They wanted all 4 ships to dock simultaneously, but Kotor couldn’t provide 4 pilots!   So maybe Kotor can’t cater an event with 4 ships full of passengers, and they don’t want to favor some over the others. 

Actually, that did cross my mind and makes perfect sense.

7 hours ago, Prefdavid said:

On board Crown Princess and for the first week the app seemed to work pretty well. Then we found that if you were using the app, went to do something else on the phone (a Samsung using Android all up to date) the app went to a black screen and the only way back was to close the app and then re-open it.

Went to see the Ocean Force techies and they've never seen this fault before, have no idea how to fix it and 4 days later have still had no response from the app developers!

Up until this happened we were pleasantly surprised with how well the app worked for us.

I hope your problem is fixed now.  

Maybe you'd like to draw the attention of the Ocean Force techies to these three threads!!  Keep them busy for a while.....😉

49 minutes ago, Lynnewob said:

We're booked on Journey 28 Sep 2023 and previously booked the Azamazing evening in Koper when the 4 ships meet.   Received an email cancelling this so not sure if they will be doing anything special for the 4 ships meeting now.

 

The new Azamazing evening is showing in Sorrento as a "Caruso evening" on board. It seems there may be two sessions as it offers one at sunset and one under the stars.

 

We may not bother as we had this same evening in Oct 2021 on board (in the Vista lounge) on the Pursuit. It may be different on deck but it is a shame that the Koper evening was cancelled.

Plenty of time for it to be switched back to Kotor, as ours has just been.  Seems they wouldn't miss out on such a special occasion of the 4 ships meeting to promote it to the max.  Wonder if the new owners are still feeling their way around!

On 2/23/2023 at 8:59 AM, Travelingwithstyle said:

Anyhow, I wanted to let you know I wrote Azamara and asked them why they are having the Azamazing Event during the day.  I also asked them why they changed it from the Night event they had in Marseilles.  If they ever write back I will let you know.  Have a great rest of the day.

On the Journey 22 April cruise they originally had the Evening as Kotor, then changed it to a Day.  Now they’ve changed it back to an Evening in Kotor. 

26 minutes ago, Steelers36 said:

You can say that again.

Tempted to say that and a lot more.

On 2/20/2023 at 1:27 PM, Bill B said:

 

I found (by accident) that if I went 'back' (<) on my phone, things that had appeared - like the Passage Contract - would disappear, the 'Save' box on the app would change shading... and it would work!

 

Try it.

Thanks, tried this but - just to be sure I'm doing this correctly - I fill in all the fields under 'Information' - but the save button is still greyed out.

I've discovered that as we're in a Club Mini Suite we can board at any time so I'm not stressing over that bit but it would be nice to be able to input all our info.

This thread - all 3 parts - must be the longest running with the most problems in the history of cruise critic.  Please correct me if I'm wrong.

39 minutes ago, jsn55 said:

And perhaps the week before you booked, Princess hired some real IT guys and fixed medallion ... who knows?

No, they didn't as it still doesn't work for me!  Tried DH's almost new iPhone, Ipad, website.  Still will not save anything.

Thanks for all the replies on Club Mini Suite dining, two good one not!  We only booked it because we found a good price but are glad we'll be seated, hopefully with no delays, in a small part of the dining room.  We enjoy meeting other people, so having the same people in that part most evenings should also be a bonus.

34 minutes ago, caribill said:

 

It worked real well for us on a recent cruise.

 

We showed up when we wanted (although it usually was about the same time for most evenings) and were always seated essentially immediately. At most there were two people ahead of us in line.

 

We did want a table for just the two of us and for all the breakfasts, lunches and dinners we are there, we had the same table except for two times. And we had the same great waitstaff for every meal but one.

 

It is Anytime Dining that works as it should!

Thanks, that is very good to know.

And apologies, I realise I've committed the sin of a thread creep 😳 although the conversation was leaning towards dining questions!

We have a Club Mini Suite, which apparently means we dine in a smaller part of the dining room, any time, with no wait.  Has anyone had experience of this, does it work?

Thank you PacknGoNow.  Will certainly give the medallion a go when on board.
I’ve already tried filling in details on both on the app and on the web using the blue hyperlink “Try our website version”.  Neither allows me to save anything.
When I have more time I may email and ask for help, thanks for the address.  At the moment I have a lot more travel arrangements to make and don’t intend to spend even more time playing around with this thing. 

As cappricio says, right now we’re planning to just get to the ship with our hard copy paperwork.  At least my ordering of the medallions was a breeze.

Jsn55 – yes!  It is patently obvious by the number of people posting on CC who are having problems (and who knows how many others who don’t post on here), that there is a big flaw.  Princess should acknowledge this and fix it.  It is mind boggling they've let this go on for years.
 

56 minutes ago, Bill B said:

 

How exactly does the medallion work? I know it replaces the old key cards and it's based on radio frequency. However, how is it used to order drinks etc.? Is it used in conjunction with my phone? Do I order on my phone and use the medallion to 'pay'? If I'm in a bar, do I have to use my phone to order?

 

I don't want to have to carry my phone - it's not welded to my hand, and unlike most people I don't spend 16 hrs./day staring at the screen and start to withdrawal symptoms if I'm accidentally separated from it.

 

I so agree with you about the phone Bill.  I believe you can use the medallion for all kinds of things but we plan to stick to good, old fashioned methods.   I occasionally carry my phone on a cruise if I think there may be something worthwhile to take a photo of.  Otherwise I don't need it as an attachment 24/7.

Brenda 

56 minutes ago, BamaVol said:

Don’t you have to use it every time you order a drink?  I plan to give mine a workout.

I don't believe you have to.  I figure I have two good legs and can walk to a bar to order a drink!  Although DH usually does that for me. 

44 minutes ago, Bill B said:

 

Hi there!

I'm in Vietnam and can change the country code for my mobile to +84; however, the app won't 'Save' it - it reverts to +1. What I did was 'untick' the SMS Messaging box (so it won't send messages to phones I can't answer/wrong numbers) and left it at that. It took me 10 hours to enter all the info. required to get to 'Green Line' status - one of the most frustrating exercises I've ever experienced!  😖

 

EDIT: It took 5 minutes to enter the information. It took 10 hours of 'screwing around' to get the app to accept the information.

😱I've given up with trying to get our info saved for the moment.  If I have the time and - more to the point - the patience, I'll try again.  At least I feel some kind of victory having successfully, or so it seems,  ordered the medallion.  Even though I don't plan to use it except, maybe, to open our stateroom door.

5 minutes ago, PacnGoNow said:

Good. Sorry you’re having issues.  Just ask if you have more questions.

 

Thanks! 😊

13 minutes ago, PacnGoNow said:

When you are on the App, under

personal information and documents…

Next line…

Choose your medallion wearable…

You would click on that, order the medallion, the free one and choose pick up at port.

 

 

Thank you!  I didn't notice that.  Have done it and it has been confirmed.  At least something works!

1 hour ago, Bill B said:

Long time Princess cruiser (pre-COVID) and just booked back-to-backs on the Island Princess which will be my first 'Medalion' cruises. I HATE this Medallion App thing! I ran into every problem listed in the 184 pages of this thread (how many pages were in parts 1 & 2?) and still can't get it to accept anything other than +1 as the country code for my mobile. I can't use the web version because when I try to log in, it tells me my email address is not valid - I know my friggin' email address (and it's correct).

 

Medallion (cr)App! 😡

Hi Bill

So sorry you're having problems but welcome to my club.  I absolutely detest this Medallion thing!  It is mind boggling that the problems continue and Princess seem impervious to any of it.  Good question, how many pages in parts 1 & 2 of the thread!!

Where On Earth are you trying to fill this thing in?  We're in Australia and trying to get our country code accepted required many tries.  Still wouldn't save the info anyway!