Regal Princess TV / Internet issues

[Wishing on a star]

They might not be planning, or able, to do further work on the ***** systems this summer, while in Europe. But, I am thinking that ***** and the basic satellite internet intranet TV etc... should be considered as two different things.

 

If basic internet, intranet, TV, etc... are not working at all... They need to be flying in some technicians to get these operating ASAP.

[neverbeenhere]

This thread is quite humorous. People are always complaining about millennials being attached to their phones. 😀

[jrzebird]

I heard that about the Ocean Medallion folks, too... Caribbean Princess? Look out! ;p

 

 

 

But the OceanMedallion tech and techs have nothing to do with getting Regal's

 

spiffy new MedallionNet internet to play nicely with a new set of satellites the first

 

time that new equipment sees them.

 

 

 

 

 

BTW, Regal's 2019 eastbound trans-Atlantic is still branded a "***** Vacation".

 

 

 

I’m on the 11/1 repo on the Regal and it is also branded an ***** Vacation. I was on the Regal repo leaving NYC this past October. They were working feverishly to get ***** up and running. The internet was horrible the entire cruise and the TV was out for several days, mostly only in the forward cabins. If you went to customer service and reported the outage of the TV you received a sizable OBC. I believe we got $200.00. MORE THAN FAIR.

[judydoc]

We were on the Regal April 8th cruise and loved the 24/7 free internet. We never encountered any challenges. We appreciated the service as some serious challenges arose back home and we were able to stay connected. Hope they are able to get things running smoothly soon.

[DougH]

Quick update, I had a message the last night that Princess gave me a $100 refundable credit for the problems. I did not ask for any compensation but had called the pursers desk several times during the cruise with problems. As far as Ocean Medallion I could care less for any of its so called benefits.

[Lynniepoo]

I just contacted Princess (explaining this post to them) asked them if the internet issues would be fixed by my trip in late July to Copenhagen. I explained that spotty is okay and to be expected on satellite internet, but I cannot be out of touch for 11 days. They told me they have no record of any internet issues on the Regal. SAY WHAT?....

 

Too stunned to process. :confused:

[Haboob]

Oops! I did some research and either I'm missing something (always possible, but I don't see how in this case)

or else MedallionNet on the Regal in the Baltic is box-of-rocks dumb.

 

Back in February, Regal managed 1,500 simultaneous video streams down from a mix of geosynchronous and

medium-Earth-orbit satellites. (https://www.satellitetoday.com/mobility/2018/02/26/watch-ses-ceo-setting-new-bandwidth-capacity-record/) The MEO statelites are

the "O3b" constellation, a tech wonder with each satellite having a dozen dishes to track ships just like ships

have dishes to track satellites across the sky.

 

The O3b satellites are the backbone of MedallionNet, and here's their coverage map:

[Astro Flyer]

I just contacted Princess (explaining this post to them) asked them if the internet issues would be fixed by my trip in late July to Copenhagen. I explained that spotty is okay and to be expected on satellite internet, but I cannot be out of touch for 11 days. They told me they have no record of any internet issues on the Regal. SAY WHAT?....

 

Too stunned to process. :confused:

I’d be more stunned if they had any accurate current status about problems or any other current onboard experiences.

 

It’s not their representative’s fault if Princess does not keep them informed with current updates to share with passengers. They can only provide information available on their computer monitor & Princess is not keeping them informed.

 

Maybe that’s because they don’t want to disclose the problems after overhyping new shipboard technology that’s still being developed.

[Haboob]

⋮

Maybe that’s because they don’t want to disclose the problems after overhyping new

shipboard technology that’s still being developed.

 

The shipboard technology is mature and works amazingly well.

 

The problem is that current ultrahigh-bandwidth satellites are in MEO

equatorial orbit and unable to reach north of the Mediterranean Sea.

[Astro Flyer]

The shipboard technology is mature and works amazingly well.

 

The problem is that current ultrahigh-bandwidth satellites are in MEO equatorial orbit and unable to reach north of the Mediterranean Sea.

 

Thanks for sharing your knowledge about the cause of the problem.

[pablo222]

The shipboard technology is mature and works amazingly well.

.

 

That's a rather broad statement that I don't think many will agree with.

 

Princess @ Sea Messenger App. Never worked properly. Was withdrawn.

 

Princess @ Sea Messenger -- constant complaints about the lack of notification.

 

Princess Medallion roll-out -- works amazingly well? I don't think so.

 

Princess Medallion Ocean Apps - though not actually shipboard, work no better than

any of the above.

 

I think the only people who are amazed by how well all this works are in the princess marketing department.

[Haboob]

That's a rather broad statement that I don't think many will agree with.

 

Princess @ Sea Messenger App. Never worked properly. Was withdrawn.

 

Princess @ Sea Messenger -- constant complaints about the lack of notification.

 

Princess Medallion roll-out -- works amazingly well? I don't think so.

 

Princess Medallion Ocean Apps - though not actually shipboard, work no better than

any of the above.

 

I think the only people who are amazed by how well all this works are in the princess marketing department.

 

Those are OceanMedallion (agreed) and Princess@Sea (which is otherwise useful).

 

 

I was talking about MedallionNet's 1.5Gbps shipboard uplinks.

Edited April 30, 2018 by Haboob

[sergeant655]

Looking at the map. There will be no fast internet in the baltics and they are sending emails about the fastest internet at sea. If ***** requires fast internet then those people in ***** cabins will have lots of issues. Medallion net should now be advertisiled on Northern European, Alaska, trans pacific cruises via Russia and some South America cruises as those regions are outside of the coverage area. I am on Regal on May 10 and will check both TV and Internet

[Haboob]

Looking at the map. There will be no fast internet in the baltics and they are sending emails about the fastest internet at sea. If ***** requires fast internet then those people in ***** cabins will have lots of issues. Medallion net should now be advertisiled on Northern European, Alaska, trans pacific cruises via Russia and some South America cruises as those regions are outside of the coverage area. I am on Regal on May 10 and will check both TV and Internet

 

I'm assuming that "now" should be a "not"? ;p If so, agreed.

 

***** is shipboard based and doesn't need off-ship connectivity. It's problems are

something else. My suspicion, repeat: suspicion, is that the radio signals bounce

off the corridor walls so your medallion (and you) appear to be down the alleyway

instead of in front of your cabin door.

[caribill]

That's a rather broad statement that I don't think many will agree with.

 

Princess @ Sea Messenger -- constant complaints about the lack of notification.

 

This works as designed. Many do not like the design. Others are thankful their days on the ship are not constantly interrupted by the sounds of other people receiving audible notifications.

[caribill]

Looking at the map. There will be no fast internet in the Baltics and they are sending emails about the fastest internet at sea. If ***** requires fast internet then those people in ***** cabins will have lots of issues.

 

***** requires a fast intranet, not a fast internet.

[Haboob]

... Others are thankful their days on the ship are not constantly interrupted by the sounds of other people receiving audible notifications.

 

That's so easy to fix.

 

But it would get you talked about because you're not supposed to fling stuff

overboard. :halo:

[Haboob]

***** requires a fast intranet, not a fast internet.

 

Actually, it doesn't even require more than dial-up intranet speed.

 

All that's in the ***** something like a 45ft-ish-range Gen2 RFID chip, which implies

the only bandwidth need is for the sensors send a small packets saying "Sensor

123 here: ***** 456 replies with signal strength 789" and do it every second or three.

 

Of course that requires you figure out how to maintain a smooth signal strength

field with all those right angles in the corridor walls for the cabin door alcoves.

[pablo222]

This works as designed.

 

It does not. The original design include GCM messaging for notification.

If you disassembled the original android app, you could easily see this.

 

If you look at the javascript being loaded by the messenger web page,

it is constantly polling for message.

 

...like every 10 seconds. If I wrote code like that, I'd be looking for a new job.

 

This isn't any great revelation, princess uses Drupal for a lot of stuff.

Princess Messenger is an implementation of Drupal chat.

 

You can read up on that, and see how notifications are handled.

 

It may work as you wish, but that doesn't mean it works as designed.

 

Princess doesn't even agree with you in principal, as medallion will

be littered with notifications:

 

"Guests will be able to opt in to getting alerts via the medallions about more than 100 activities on the ship, everything from pilates to poker classes and shopping events. "

http://www.adweek.com/digital/princess-cruises-is-using-sensor-based-technology-to-personalize-your-experience-onboard/

Edited May 1, 2018 by pablo222

[pablo222]

I was talking about MedallionNet's 1.5Gbps shipboard uplinks.

 

This whole thread is about how that failed on the regal ta.

And other problems encountered in europe.

 

That's why is odd when you write: "The shipboard technology is mature and works amazingly well."

[Haboob]

This whole thread is about how that failed on the regal ta.

And other problems encountered in europe.

 

That's why is odd when you write: "The shipboard technology is mature and works amazingly well."

 

At that point the thread was talking about whether Lynniepoo could expect

to have MedallionNet fixed in time. My point was that we've been tracking

satellites from moving and pitching ships for a long time and nothing aboard was going to fix Regal having moved out of range of the O3b satellites.

 

Sorry I didn't drift-proof the context.

[pablo222]

My point was that we've been tracking

satellites from moving and pitching ships for a long time and nothing aboard was going to fix Regal having moved out of range of the O3b satellites.

.

 

What's the excuse for the failure of shipboard television?

 

Previously, this worked in europe and the TA. Pretty reasonable of people to expect it to continue to do so...

[stevenr597]

I remember the good old days when the only thing you could get on T.V. were some local T.V. stations from Denver and CNN International. After several days, I wanted the T.V. removed from my cabin.

[firecrewcapt]

Here's my .02 worth.

We were on the Regal for the past 2 weeks also and have to say the internet was pretty much what other people have posted. We did not have any TV service of any kind for 9 of the 14 days, continually getting bumped off the Medallion Net, took 1 1/2 hours to print out boarding passes for our return flight, continually be told by the front desk "We apologize for any inconvenience and our techs are working on it and that management is aware of the situation and will contact you when the problem is resolved. 40 cabins are affected by the glitch." Finally I told our room steward about the problem and low and behold the problem was fixed, moral of the story, room steward does a better job getting issues fixed while front desk blows smoke up your A**. Management finally called me back on the last day and gave us $100 pp "Goodwill Credit" for our inconvenience and also while talking to him I told him we were on last years TA on the Regal with absolutely no problems with tech, he stated that they had changed servers for tech, I told him I hope the bugs are worked out before Sept. because we are flying back to Copenhagen and sailing back to NYC on the Regal. So IMHO I believe the ***** itself is junk and affects more than what they lead you to believe

[Haboob]

What's the excuse for the failure of shipboard television?

 

Previously, this worked in europe and the TA. Pretty reasonable of people to expect it to continue to do so...

 

I would have speculated that since TV comes down to the same antennae

that do the internet uplinks that everyone else was complaining about...

 

But then firecrewcapt said that a cabin steward could fix his, so.. ::shrugs::