Medallion App Updated and Working Now

[coo359a2]

29 minutes ago, Tedferg said:

There are three points here.

1. Apple stops supporting devices and/or adds new features that only work on newer devices. This topic is important but outside of this discussion.

2. There are problems related to Medallion Class that possibly do not need latest device / OS but those problems do not appear on new devices, giving the impression that new devices are mandatory.

3. Medallion Class is not introducing ground breaking technology and could / should be written and tested on old devices to ensure  the largest base of users.

 

The point is, that Princess IT has done a disgraceful job of implementing this new App. The worst aspect is taking down the previous on-line features before making sure the new App works !

 

I would never have used the App previously, the fact that I could make dinner reservations pre-boarding, would entice me to do so and use smart phone onboard to make changes. Outside of that the phone would be in the safe. Just as 90% of the time it sits unused on my kitchen counter.

Didn't mean to imply we upgraded our iPhone 6 to use the app.  We didn't!  Sorry I posted so just disregard the post.

Edited July 9, 2021 by coo359a2

[memoak]

1 hour ago, billco said:

One doesn't need the latest smart phone to use the Medallion App. There are many supported smart devices tha that are much cheaper than the latest smart phone. The Medallion App can work on devices that are several years old.

 

Princess has been working toward a market for several years. It is called the Medallion Class market. It is my opinion that Princess knows what they are doing. 

You are making the assumption that the app works correctly - in my opinion it does not and needs to have an alternative

[mom says]

Although weve cruised for years, we've recently booked our first Princess cruise (it doesn't sail until Nov '22). But from what I've been reading here about the complete mess with this app, and the ridiculous hoops people are having to repeatedly jump through just to board, I'm having second thoughts about keeping this booking. Should I just forget about even downloading the app for the next year, in the hope these IT people get their act together?

[ceilidh1]

3 hours ago, AF-1 said:

Princess will have customer service reps at the port to help you and other passengers who have not completed their cruise documentation on a smart device.  No worries.  Not everyone owns a smartphone like yourself; and Princess knows that; hence the extra customer service reps at the port to help you.  Have a great weekend.

It's not just about the pre-cruise stuff, though. If your device doesn't support the app then you also can't take advantage of many onboard features either - I loved being able to order drinks, locate my kids, and use the messenger feature on my previous Medallion cruises. Sure, I could use those huge screens on the ship...but this is meant to be about convenience. In the past, my iphone 6s had no issues with the app and I have been a HUGE fan of Medallion class. Now it looks as if I need to purchase a whole new phone just to enjoy the features...

[dog]

27 minutes ago, mom says said:

Although weve cruised for years, we've recently booked our first Princess cruise (it doesn't sail until Nov '22). But from what I've been reading here about the complete mess with this app, and the ridiculous hoops people are having to repeatedly jump through just to board, I'm having second thoughts about keeping this booking. Should I just forget about even downloading the app for the next year, in the hope these IT people get their act together?

Wait it out 

and Princess has told us they will have agents at terminal to assist in completing checking. 

[greenie082756]

What I found interesting on one of their Medallion Mondays on YouTube was that

they said if there was something you wanted or needed an employee would be happy

to assist you. 

So, lets say you want a cocktail and don't want to use your phone or one of the many big interactive screens to order it, you can ask an employee to do that for you. Hmmm...

 

We are not cruising again until next Spring so I will continue to read the comments here as time goes on and people are actually on board and their experiences.

[kiwimum]

On 7/7/2021 at 2:33 PM, kiwimum said:

Deleted 

Edited July 9, 2021 by kiwimum

[billco]

39 minutes ago, mom says said:

Although weve cruised for years, we've recently booked our first Princess cruise (it doesn't sail until Nov '22). But from what I've been reading here about the complete mess with this app, and the ridiculous hoops people are having to repeatedly jump through just to board, I'm having second thoughts about keeping this booking. Should I just forget about even downloading the app for the next year, in the hope these IT people get their act together?

I would wait until a few Medallion Class ships have sailed before making any decisions about the app. Since I haven't been having problems with the app, it would be hard for me to call it a mess. 

[kiwimum]

Just now, billco said:

I would wait until a few Medallion Class ships have sailed before making any decisions about the app. Since I haven't been having problems with the app, it would be hard for me to call it a mess. 

I am another one who has not had any real issues with the app.   Only minor issue was San Diego showing up with a corporate airfield code.   
October & November cruises are fine.   December does not show the flight info, no biggy it’s months away.  

if I remember correctly John mentioned in one of his webinars they were focusing on the early months and to be patient.

[JF - retired RRT]

1 hour ago, mom says said:

Should I just forget about even downloading the app for the next year, in the hope these IT people get their act together?

Good plan.

[kywildcatfanone]

I log into princess.com, and it still wants me to complete some registration information.  It's been happening for 4 months now. When are they going to fix that?

[caribill]

3 hours ago, t&atravel said:

 I also don’t understand why some people think you will have to be tied to your phone while on the ship.  You won’t .  The medallion is just a glorified cruise card and can be used as such.  No phone required. 

 

These threads have nothing to do about needing a smart device while on the ship.

 

The Medallion Class has been promoted from the start as a way to enhance the on-board experience and users can choose to embrace that new experience on board or ignore many of its features. Either way, they will likely have the cruise expected they expected.

 

But Medallion Class was not promoted to totally change the way you prepared for a cruise. It was not promoted as requiring an appropriate smart device to do simple things in a complicated way to select bed configuration, select type of dining, enter passport info, etc.

 

What used to be a 5-10 minute experience on your home computer or on the phone with a TA to totally set up to cruise has now become an excruciating multi-day exercise that has to be repeated multiple times as new required activities such as health questionnaires become available.

 

The amount of time required to check-in in the past at the cruise terminal was determined more by the length of the line you were on, not by the amount of help you needed when you reached the front of the line.

 

The counters are manned by port employees, not by Princess, and these employees do check-in for different cruise lines on different days. When you get to the front of the line, I doubt these non-Princess employees will call over a Princess employee to help you complete what you could not do in advance without an acceptable smart device. So the ability to quickly check-in a passenger will depend how much training these non-Princess contract employees have had.

 

For those without acceptable smart devices, the check-in time at the terminal may be significantly longer than it has ever been in the past. What a way to start your cruise vacation!

 

 

[caribill]

2 hours ago, dog said:

Wait it out 

and Princess has told us they will have agents at terminal to assist in completing checking. 

 

Has Princess said that you will be able to complete the information at check-in or did they actually say Princess employees would help you do this?

 

The only actual Princess employees that are usually at the terminal are some staff from the ship and I would not expect them to be well trained in pre-cruise activities.

 

And the "agents" in the terminal are not Princess employees, but port contract employees who service multiple cruise lines, not likely well trained to assist with the import of information that is usually set up far in advance of reaching embarkation day.

[Tedferg]

@caribill Tiny clarification - on line booking still has bed configuration. It also says 'Coming soon: Use the MedallionClass App to select dining options.' So they don't think DMW is here yet 🙂

[Dave from Ont]

21 hours ago, AF-1 said:

Dave from Ont,  everyone gets a fuzzy ship when the app is opened.

Unfortunately that's about all I get.

I will just wait it out, try to get into the app weekly, bring my paperwork and proof of vaccination and hope for the best that we don't get denied boarding because we have left something out. Perhaps call Princess again to have them fill in the blanks or our travel agent.

 

[Dave from Ont]

7 hours ago, Daniel A said:

It is incomprehensible to me that any business would be actively turning away the bulk of the population unless they purchase the latest (and most expensive) digital devices just to purchase their product.  Sometimes we, on Cruise Critic think that we represent the totality of the cruising population but we aren't.   Think about how many people are in attendance at a Cruise Critic Meet & Greet compared to how many passengers are actually aboard a particular cruise.  How many special interest groups may decide to have their annual meetings aboard a cruise ship, or the people who purchase the one cruise as a bucket list celebration of a life event (special birthday, retirement, anniversary, etc...)? These people are not going to go out and spend the extra money for a new state of the art digital device just to register for one cruise.  If Princess continues to go down this path, they will be turning away a large percentage of people planning their first cruise or organizations from special interest groups.  Those potential customers will take the path of least resistance and book with a more user friendly cruise company.  Whoever at Princess is foisting this new technology on the customers needs to be taken to the woodshed, (or to the train station with a one way ticket...)  JMHO.

Agree with your opinion 100%. This is no way to run a business. The general population that cruises probably doesn't want to have to update a phone, spending several hundreds of dollars or more on an upgraded phone. All this just so they can use an app for a week or two a year maybe more. They would rather be putting that money towards another cruise or another type of vacation etc.

[Roberto256]

6 hours ago, billco said:

One doesn't need the latest smart phone to use the Medallion App.

 

I agree.  Based on posts here, the app fails for people on a wide variety of hardware.

 

[billco]

1 hour ago, caribill said:

 

These threads have nothing to do about needing a smart device while on the ship.

 

The Medallion Class has been promoted from the start as a way to enhance the on-board experience and users can choose to embrace that new experience on board or ignore many of its features. Either way, they will likely have the cruise expected they expected.

 

But Medallion Class was not promoted to totally change the way you prepared for a cruise. It was not promoted as requiring an appropriate smart device to do simple things in a complicated way to select bed configuration, select type of dining, enter passport info, etc.

 

What used to be a 5-10 minute experience on your home computer or on the phone with a TA to totally set up to cruise has now become an excruciating multi-day exercise that has to be repeated multiple times as new required activities such as health questionnaires become available.

 

The amount of time required to check-in in the past at the cruise terminal was determined more by the length of the line you were on, not by the amount of help you needed when you reached the front of the line.

 

The counters are manned by port employees, not by Princess, and these employees do check-in for different cruise lines on different days. When you get to the front of the line, I doubt these non-Princess employees will call over a Princess employee to help you complete what you could not do in advance without an acceptable smart device. So the ability to quickly check-in a passenger will depend how much training these non-Princess contract employees have had.

 

For those without acceptable smart devices, the check-in time at the terminal may be significantly longer than it has ever been in the past. What a way to start your cruise vacation!

 

 

Medallion Class definitely enhanced my TA cruise on the Regal in April 2019. Fortunately, I have had few problems with the app and like the changes/additions. I don't think we will know how well checkin works until the ships actually start boarding. For myself, I'm only forming an opinion each step of the way. Currently, I am having no problems preparing for my next cruise in September. As we get closer to my cruises in October and November I'll pay a little more attention to them.

[t&atravel]

1 hour ago, caribill said:

These threads have nothing to do about needing a smart device while on the ship.

I added that to my post because the poster I was replying to said be did not want to be tied to his phone on the ship or be seated with people who were.  

[ceilidh1]

2 hours ago, caribill said:

 

Has Princess said that you will be able to complete the information at check-in or did they actually say Princess employees would help you do this?

 

The only actual Princess employees that are usually at the terminal are some staff from the ship and I would not expect them to be well trained in pre-cruise activities.

 

And the "agents" in the terminal are not Princess employees, but port contract employees who service multiple cruise lines, not likely well trained to assist with the import of information that is usually set up far in advance of reaching embarkation day.

You make an excellent point - speaking from personal experience as someone that was a port agent! Back 14 years ago, I actually worked for Princess Cruises as a port agent at Canada Place, Vancouver - we were Princess employees and only worked Princess embark/debark. I did this for about 5 years. Then the work was contracted out to (in our case) Destinations North America and the staff became employees of this company, not Princess. We now handle multiple lines and, while experts in the port operations no one is an expert in a specific cruise line/policy/procedure. There are usually a small handful of ship staff that come off the ship for check in - often an IT/computer person (usually only 1), sometimes someone from administration/purser office, and occasionally someone from guest services. None of them stay the entire time as they are often busy on the ship during turnaround. It will be interesting to see who will be "assisting" with things that were not completed before arriving at the port! I have no idea how other ports work, and can only speak for Vancouver. Obviously, we won't have any ships for some time there and, by that time, all might be fixed with the app...

[AF-1]

t&atravel,  I agree with everything you said above.  Daniel A I understand what you are saying. For those who don't have a smart phone or don't want to use it onboard; they can put it in the safe and use their medallion onboard; they can also use the ships digital screens to check things.  To answer your comment about making dining reservations prior to sailing; if you don't have the app downloaded, then I suggest you contact your travel agent or Princess agent and have them make your reservations.  billco, I use my iphone for the same things as you; it makes my life easier, and I like to have the newest technology at my fingertips.  Tedferg, I agree with your comments too.

[caribill]

18 hours ago, AF-1 said:

 I use my iphone for the same things as you; it makes my life easier, and I like to have the newest technology at my fingertips. 

 

And I think we can all agree that the Princess app is the very newest technology there is.

[dog]

On 7/9/2021 at 4:14 PM, Dave from Ont said:

Unfortunately that's about all I get.

I will just wait it out, try to get into the app weekly, bring my paperwork and proof of vaccination and hope for the best that we don't get denied boarding because we have left something out. Perhaps call Princess again to have them fill in the blanks or our travel agent.

 

Sounds like a plan

 

if you have all documents required and your Travel Summary you should be ok. 

[dog]

On 7/9/2021 at 5:14 PM, billco said:

Medallion Class definitely enhanced my TA cruise on the Regal in April 2019. Fortunately, I have had few problems with the app and like the changes/additions. I don't think we will know how well checkin works until the ships actually start boarding. For myself, I'm only forming an opinion each step of the way. Currently, I am having no problems preparing for my next cruise in September. As we get closer to my cruises in October and November I'll pay a little more attention to them.

Same here.  Give it time and we will get answers how it goes in a few months 

[dog]

On 7/9/2021 at 7:04 PM, ceilidh1 said:

You make an excellent point - speaking from personal experience as someone that was a port agent! Back 14 years ago, I actually worked for Princess Cruises as a port agent at Canada Place, Vancouver - we were Princess employees and only worked Princess embark/debark. I did this for about 5 years. Then the work was contracted out to (in our case) Destinations North America and the staff became employees of this company, not Princess. We now handle multiple lines and, while experts in the port operations no one is an expert in a specific cruise line/policy/procedure. There are usually a small handful of ship staff that come off the ship for check in - often an IT/computer person (usually only 1), sometimes someone from administration/purser office, and occasionally someone from guest services. None of them stay the entire time as they are often busy on the ship during turnaround. It will be interesting to see who will be "assisting" with things that were not completed before arriving at the port! I have no idea how other ports work, and can only speak for Vancouver. Obviously, we won't have any ships for some time there and, by that time, all might be fixed with the app...

I was told they would have Princess Agents there to assist with check in for those who could not do check in on app   Line/ wait could be longer. This was from customer relations at Princess cruises