Ocean Medallion App - Part 3

[Steelers36]

54 minutes ago, Bex1015 said:

Apparently there was a huge glitch and IT working round the clock

Not aimed at you, but I really get tired with Princess calling major system faults, bugs, and data corruption as glitches.  Seems to me an attempt to minimize. 

 

Reminds me of an IT project I was on a long time ago where project issues were termed opportunities.

 

[jdellachiesa]

30 minutes ago, Steelers36 said:

Not aimed at you, but I really get tired with Princess calling major system faults, bugs, and data corruption as glitches.  Seems to me an attempt to minimize. 

 

Reminds me of an IT project I was on a long time ago where project issues were termed opportunities.

 

 

Exactly - Princess not being able to have secure information consistently appear in the app is very concerning.

[jsn55]

4 hours ago, Steelers36 said:

Not aimed at you, but I really get tired with Princess calling major system faults, bugs, and data corruption as glitches.  Seems to me an attempt to minimize. 

 

Reminds me of an IT project I was on a long time ago where project issues were termed opportunities.

 

So true!  I already have a chip on my shoulder with all this Medallion baloney ... Royal Princess will have to be outstanding to impress me on our Christmas cruise.  If she's 'worth it', I'll consider Princess in the future.  But right now, not a chance.  And this technology overreach has been going on for YEARS????  Ridiculous.

Edited December 1, 2022 by jsn55
edit

[Bex1015]

I spoke too soon. My DH is no longer on my reservation. This will be our last cruise with Princess. I’m cancelling our two Alaskan cruises we had scheduled for Fall. And yeah, I’m with you Steeler, this is beyond ridiculous. 
 

 

[Thrak]

2 hours ago, Bex1015 said:

I spoke too soon. My DH is no longer on my reservation. This will be our last cruise with Princess. I’m cancelling our two Alaskan cruises we had scheduled for Fall. And yeah, I’m with you Steeler, this is beyond ridiculous.

 

Sorry you let the stupid app drive you away. It's not really needed and far to many people have had far too much angst because of the app. For me, it initially was total garbage but I conversed (via email) with the Medallion App team and it has worked quite well for me for some time. On our cruise in May the main issue was with the crew trying to get their end to work. It really didn't cause me much of an issue other than a very minor hassle. If one has an older (cheap) phone like my wife has it doesn't work nearly as well but I did most of the stuff anyway and, when ordering room service, we just used the TV which worked really well.

 

Yes, I think the app is a horrid piece of garbage but, as I said above, it really isn't necessary to use it so I fail to understand why people would be "done with Princess" over the app. (Personally, I blame pretty much all of the problems post-shutdown on John Padgett. I'm actually quite serious.)

 

We sailed on Royal Princess in May and, while there were minor issues, there was nothing to drive us away from Princess. We actually had our absolute worst cruise as our last cruise just  before the shutdown. Worst cabin, worst steward, worst CD, and Worst CD Staff. Hands down the absolute worst we have ever encountered in all those categories. Out cruise in May - our only post-shutdown cruise to date - was vastly superior to the last one before "the pause". We board Ruby Princess in two days (December 2nd) and expect to have a wonderful cruise. The app has worked quite well for me for this cruise. (There were issues but they were minor and, as of this time, have all been resolved.) I simply can't see letting the stupid app drive me away from Princess. It reminds me of the Shakespeare title, "Much Ado About Nothing".

[VibeGuy]

Same.  
 

The app is a smouldering turd in off-ship mode, and one of the best things to happen to Princess since Aaron Spelling once onboard.   The difference is night and day.  
 

Many of the day to day problems (login, disappearing information, mangled sailings) are due to them endlessly bolting web and mobile services onto POLAR, which has origins that probably date back to 1988, possibly earlier.   There’s also, I suspect, a very challenging n-way data synchronisation thing at play.  
 

Princess blew the launch and expansion and blamed waaaaaaaay too much on users and their device:OS combination.  They were idiots for not bringing up the web interface simultaneously with the app (they should have held the app until a web UI was available, period, full stop).  They should not have used a Big Bang approach to feature deployment.  They should have had more subject matter experts and real-world users in the development process.  
 

Woulda, shoulda, coulda.  It’s still bad pre-cruise.  Multiple issues that I bugged in November 2021 are still a problem today.  Customers who like the onboard product so much that they book B2Bs are still having routine problems.  Customers with extensive cruise histories or changed addresses have glitches with pre-boarding tasks.  It’s all unacceptable AF. 

 

But the problems disappear once you’re past check-in and hit onboard WiFi.  That part generally exceeds my expectations.  Crew Call chat is probably my absolute favourite feature from a customer service perspective because it lets me set clear expectations with a paper trail, and being able to reliably get a drink by the Lotus Spa pool (without having to hope a waiter wanders by) makes my cruises with the app better than they were before.  
 

So go ahead and take your ball and go home after your little fits of pique.  Chuck your wooden shoe in a power loom on your way out the door. 
 

 

[PaperSniper4]

7 hours ago, Thrak said:

... I simply can't see letting the stupid app drive me away from Princess."...

 

 

 

What he said.

 

 Doug😎

[Roberto256]

9 hours ago, Thrak said:

Yes, I think the app is a horrid piece of garbage but, as I said above, it really isn't necessary to use it so I fail to understand why people would be "done with Princess" over the app. (Personally, I blame pretty much all of the problems post-shutdown on John Padgett. I'm actually quite serious.)

 

I think Arnold Donald deserves some 'love' for signing up for this.  Although, that was per-pandemic.

 

[Roberto256]

11 hours ago, Bex1015 said:

I spoke too soon. My DH is no longer on my reservation. 

 

Paaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrr-taaaaaaaay!

 

🙂

I added the smiley face for the humor impaired gramarians here...

[Steelers36]

7 hours ago, VibeGuy said:

The app is a smouldering turd in off-ship mode, and one of the best things to happen to Princess since Aaron Spelling once onboard.   The difference is night and day.

Love the turn of phrase. 

[Steelers36]

7 hours ago, VibeGuy said:

Same.  
 

The app is a smouldering turd in off-ship mode, and one of the best things to happen to Princess since Aaron Spelling once onboard.   The difference is night and day.  
 

Many of the day to day problems (login, disappearing information, mangled sailings) are due to them endlessly bolting web and mobile services onto POLAR, which has origins that probably date back to 1988, possibly earlier.   There’s also, I suspect, a very challenging n-way data synchronisation thing at play.  
 

Princess blew the launch and expansion and blamed waaaaaaaay too much on users and their device:OS combination.  They were idiots for not bringing up the web interface simultaneously with the app (they should have held the app until a web UI was available, period, full stop).  They should not have used a Big Bang approach to feature deployment.  They should have had more subject matter experts and real-world users in the development process.  
 

Woulda, shoulda, coulda.  It’s still bad pre-cruise.  Multiple issues that I bugged in November 2021 are still a problem today.  Customers who like the onboard product so much that they book B2Bs are still having routine problems.  Customers with extensive cruise histories or changed addresses have glitches with pre-boarding tasks.  It’s all unacceptable AF. 

 

But the problems disappear once you’re past check-in and hit onboard WiFi.  That part generally exceeds my expectations.  Crew Call chat is probably my absolute favourite feature from a customer service perspective because it lets me set clear expectations with a paper trail, and being able to reliably get a drink by the Lotus Spa pool (without having to hope a waiter wanders by) makes my cruises with the app better than they were before.  
 

So go ahead and take your ball and go home after your little fits of pique.  Chuck your wooden shoe in a power loom on your way out the door. 
 

 

Well done.  Pretty exactly echoes my sentiments since day one of this App.  It is very clear that there was a lack of true SME's and end users involved.  It was old school "build a system and the users will get used to it".  Clearly no thorough testing, not regression testing as stuff kept coming out buggy with obvious issues.

[h20cruzer]

I am new to Princess and never read anything about the Medallion prior to my cruise on the Sky Princess Trans Atlantic 10/30/22. I picked mine up at the pier in Southampton. I had no issues it always worked for me.I didn’t book shore excursions,  spa treatments etc. on it. Now if I want something to complain about it’s the internet. I’m sure there is a special thread for that. Glad I wasn’t cruising when there were so many issue with the medallion, I feel your pain.

Norma

[VibeGuy]

2 hours ago, h20cruzer said:

I am new to Princess and never read anything about the Medallion prior to my cruise on the Sky Princess Trans Atlantic 10/30/22. I picked mine up at the pier in Southampton. I had no issues it always worked for me.I didn’t book shore excursions,  spa treatments etc. on it. Now if I want something to complain about it’s the internet. I’m sure there is a special thread for that. Glad I wasn’t cruising when there were so many issue with the medallion, I feel your pain.

Norma

The Medallion is mostly fine.  Anything wrong with it can usually be fixed at guest services with a replacement. 
 

The problem is the accompanying phone app. 

[NownZen]

More app humor. We are on the way to San Pedro and according to the app, the ship has sailed and is on its way to Cabo. The bar code and boarding time has disappeared. The app does not understand that there are time zones other than GMT. It thinks we are right hours later than we are.

[In_Steerage]

Not wishing to enter a bunch of passport and other data on a tiny phone keyboard, I opted to use the web version of the checkin process for my upcoming cruise.  I kept getting as far as the "Ocean Ready" screen with the photo of the family of four at the top, then logging in from there would just hang forever with a "Loading" message.

 

I finally found my way around this.  It worked for me, so I thought I'd share:

 

What worked:

Princess main web page / Booked Guests / Access Cruise Personalizer / Already Registered - Login / Continue / Check-In / Try our web version

 

What was causing the dialog to hang:

Princess main web page / My Account / Login / Booked Guests / Access Cruise Personalizer /  Already Registered - Login / Continue / Check-In / Try our web version

 

In other words, logging in first on the main Princess web page caused the Ocean Ready dialog to hang.

Going to “Booked Guests”, and then logging in worked.

 

Couldn't re-create this problem once I completed my checkin.  Go figure.

[1965]

If I read correctly beginning in Dec. Princess will charge for shipping our medallions unless we buy a plus or premier pkg. I find that kind of annoying. 

[rjack22]

Or, you just pick them up at the port.   Takes no time at all.

[PurpleHays]

10 hours ago, 1965 said:

If I read correctly beginning in Dec. Princess will charge for shipping our medallions unless we buy a plus or premier pkg. I find that kind of annoying. 

Yeah, that's kind of stupid to add something to a package upgrade that was free before. I'll just pick mine up in port. You know, when I show them the credit card that I can never get to take on the app.

 

On 12/2/2022 at 9:22 PM, In_Steerage said:

Not wishing to enter a bunch of passport and other data on a tiny phone keyboard, I opted to use the web version of the checkin process for my upcoming cruise.  I kept getting as far as the "Ocean Ready" screen with the photo of the family of four at the top, then logging in from there would just hang forever with a "Loading" message.

 

I finally found my way around this.  It worked for me, so I thought I'd share:

 

What worked:

Princess main web page / Booked Guests / Access Cruise Personalizer / Already Registered - Login / Continue / Check-In / Try our web version

 

 

What was causing the dialog to hang:

Princess main web page / My Account / Login / Booked Guests / Access Cruise Personalizer /  Already Registered - Login / Continue / Check-In / Try our web version

 

 

In other words, logging in first on the main Princess web page caused the Ocean Ready dialog to hang.

Going to “Booked Guests”, and then logging in worked.

 

Couldn't re-create this problem once I completed my checkin.  Go figure.

I've never been able to log in to the web-based version. I tried your method, and I still can't. I get a "this booking has already been claimed" message. 

[jsn55]

I am shocked to report that we now have everything complete for 12/22 Royal Princess on my phone.  I finally got our arrival time entered and a QR code appeared on my phone screen. 

 

Princess says to have this code plus passport ready when boarding.  Since I banged around for ten minutes to get the arrival time entered, I have no idea where this QR code resides.  How do I pull it up on my phone when we get to the pier?  

[ericosmith]

2 hours ago, jsn55 said:

I am shocked to report that we now have everything complete for 12/22 Royal Princess on my phone.  I finally got our arrival time entered and a QR code appeared on my phone screen. 

 

Princess says to have this code plus passport ready when boarding.  Since I banged around for ten minutes to get the arrival time entered, I have no idea where this QR code resides.  How do I pull it up on my phone when we get to the pier?  

It just pops up on my phone whenever I open up the app.  You do have to scroll down instead of up though.  

[that]

How many cruises can fit on app at a time?

[Scotmay]

On 7/13/2021 at 4:49 PM, KLM3164 said:

I was able to print our luggage tags today for our August 29th cruise. You still print these through the Cruise Personalizer on the Princess website.

Unless things have changed, we were always able to just bring our luggage to the dock and the handlers were able to write out luggage tags right there. Is this no longer happening?

[Honolulu Blue]

Hi guys.  I've decided to post my tale of woe about the Medallion App here.

 

I booked a cruise on my computer in August and linked it in the app.  It worked fine.

I booked another room on the same cruise on my computer on Sunday.

I canceled the first booking (the one from August) by phone on Monday (no way to cancel online, grrr 🤬)

I can see the new booking fine on my computer

I can only see the OLD booking on the app and CANNOT link my new booking

I've logged in and out multiple times

I've also uninstalled and reinstalled the app twice

Same results - I can only see the new booking and can't link the new booking

I can't do anything with the old booking because when I do it gives me the message that it's canceled

Calling Princess is the ABSOLUTE LAST THING IN THE WORLD I WANT TO DO for several reasons

This is my next-to-last option - and a longshot at that

 

Can anyone help my out of this sticky situation?  Thanks.  I'll also accept sympathy and commiseration.

 

[NownZen]

19 minutes ago, Scotmay said:

Unless things have changed, we were always able to just bring our luggage to the dock and the handlers were able to write out luggage tags right there. Is this no longer happening?

Things have changed. You print out your tags and attach them to your luggage. The tag has more information on it that helps the delivery speed.

[Steelers36]

26 minutes ago, Honolulu Blue said:

Hi guys.  I've decided to post my tale of woe about the Medallion App here.

 

I booked a cruise on my computer in August and linked it in the app.  It worked fine.

I booked another room on the same cruise on my computer on Sunday.

I canceled the first booking (the one from August) by phone on Monday (no way to cancel online, grrr 🤬)

I can see the new booking fine on my computer

I can only see the OLD booking on the app and CANNOT link my new booking

I've logged in and out multiple times

I've also uninstalled and reinstalled the app twice

Same results - I can only see the new booking and can't link the new booking

I can't do anything with the old booking because when I do it gives me the message that it's canceled

Calling Princess is the ABSOLUTE LAST THING IN THE WORLD I WANT TO DO for several reasons

This is my next-to-last option - and a longshot at that

 

Can anyone help my out of this sticky situation?  Thanks.  I'll also accept sympathy and commiseration.

 

NEVER try and link a booking in the App.  

 

There has always been a couple of days (approx) delay between a booking change in POLAR and having it reflect in Princess (a.k.a. MC) App.  Just give it some time and the old booking will go away and the new one will appear.