What Did We Do Before Medallion Class

[barrykel]

5 minutes ago, Ombud said:

Except Covid broke it. Months ago I stated my belief that MC was created for contact tracing. I was flamed for it. But I was right. OM couldn't do this, MC can

 

That's actually a good thing. If a cruiser contracts COVID, the last thing you want is someone they infected running around the ship spreading it further. Knowing who they had contact with means those at risk can be tested and quarantined if positive, greatly increasing the chances that any outbreaks can be contained to a small number of victims.

[Steelers36]

12 minutes ago, barrykel said:

That's actually a good thing. If a cruiser contracts COVID, the last thing you want is someone they infected running around the ship spreading it further. Knowing who they had contact with means those at risk can be tested and quarantined if positive, greatly increasing the chances that any outbreaks can be contained to a small number of victims.

Well, what's the definition of contact?  Are they going to weed out passing someone in the passageway or common space deck area versus sitting beside them in a theater for 45 mins?

[Roberto256]

20 minutes ago, barrykel said:

That's actually a good thing. If a cruiser contracts COVID, the last thing you want is someone they infected running around the ship spreading it further. Knowing who they had contact with means those at risk can be tested and quarantined if positive, greatly increasing the chances that any outbreaks can be contained to a small number of victims.

 

Wouldn't 'you' want to quarantine the contacts, at least until their test results are available?

 

This whole thing just seems like there are a lot of opportunities for others to spoil one's fun.

 

[barrykel]

2 minutes ago, Roberto256 said:

Wouldn't 'you' want to quarantine the contacts, at least until their test results are available?

 

This whole thing just seems like there are a lot of opportunities for others to spoil one's fun.

The results of the rapid tests are available in minutes, so quarantine while waiting for the results isn't an issue.

And I'll gladly stay out on my balcony reading for a few days if it might save someone's life. What has created opportunities to spoil others' fun is the Delta variant, and the selfishness of the anti-vaxxers who refuse to deal with it in a responsible manner. 

[Kay S]

21 hours ago, SharkieRools said:

 Perhaps Princess should have just stayed with the original Island, Pacific and Sun Princess, never updating them or building new ships afterwards. 🤣

I would be okay with that. 🙂  I loved the Pacific Princess so much and I'm sad they sold her.

[Roberto256]

Complained about butter!

 

Seriously.  Since Medallion Class, I can't remember any long threads on butter.

[ontheweb]

41 minutes ago, Kay S said:

I would be okay with that. 🙂  I loved the Pacific Princess so much and I'm sad they sold her.

We were never on the Pacific Princess, but were on the Island Princess and loved the ship and the cruise (British Isles).

[Kay S]

2 hours ago, Roberto256 said:

 

Seriously.  Since Medallion Class, I can't remember any long threads on butter.

Don't tempt me.😈

[MMsteffey]

In the before Covid and Medallion times you provided basic info to Princess, either directly or through TA, and a large packet arrived a week or two before the cruise with boarding docs and luggage tags, swag if you qualified.  While Princess is marketing Medallion app and actual Medallion as a convenience for guests, "free" apps and devices are never "free".  With a Medallion Princess gets real time tracking info on every minute you were on board.  When  were you in your cabin, where did you go, how long did you stay there.  This will enable them to refine future cruises to maximize their profit, and maybe optimize their staffing and maybe enhance your future cruise experience.  

[maggie777]

44 minutes ago, Kay S said:

Don't tempt me.😈

Lest we forget the barrel chairs!

 

[jeeper2]

Oh the days of receiving the documents in the mail were exciting!  I really didn’t mind, though, when everything went online.  It was simple!  The Medallion Class app was somewhat of a pain, but I got it worked out on our pre-COVID cruise.  The receipt of that package was very exciting, but I was wondering how much more this one time use item, packaged beautifully, and shipped from the Orient (I think!) cost, as compared to the old way.  The medallion worked well.

Here we are post COVID shutdown, and I can’t even get the app to locate our booking. I’m not ready to try calling Princess, but it is concerning to me that it has become even more important since reservations (ugh!) have become so important.  I know it will all work out… 

[isosika]

I too remember those days when you received your documents in the mail.  It always seemed to be an exciting time when they arrived.  I don't recall when it changed to the Cruise Personalizer but it did and I learned how to use it.  I did hate the drudgery of entering all the same information for both me and my wife, but that's the way it was and it seemed to work.  On our last cruise (ending 3/1/2020 - how's that for close) my Medallion wasn't good for much.  I even had to hold it up to the screen to unlock the cabin door.

 

Now we have the app.  Once again I had to adapt.  I prefer to make entries on my computer because I don't like the screen size on the phone (fat fingering) - even though I have an iPhone X with a large screen.  Everything seems too small and hard to use.  However, I went on with life and made my entries.  I had one question in regards to our renewed passports and got the information from CC.  The entries were made and we are in the green lane for our B2B, 14-day cruises in June/July 2022.  Along the way I have made several checks, because of reported app problems, but we have always remained in the green lane.

 

Thus far the app has worked flawlessly and I look forward to exploring its use on our next cruises.

[Dave from Ont]

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.

[caribill]

23 hours ago, maggie777 said:

Lest we forget the barrel chairs!

 

 

Maybe we can request one using the app.

[skynight]

On 8/8/2021 at 12:42 PM, Tedferg said:

Just one simple question - not wishing to start another Medallion thread. What did passengers do prior to Medallion Class. I am thinking many people did not have PCs and booked and paid via local TA. Just as we did in 2007. I am guessing TA filled in our information and gave us Boarding Passes. So my thought is, there are still many passengers who have no awareness of Medallion App and will just turn up on Sail Day. TA would advise them of need for Covid-19 docs of course.

Stress free. Book it, select dining, book tours, basically in the cruise personlizer or the T.A. would enter the data for you. Print your boarding pass, show up and board. Order drinks from a person that got the drink order correct. No extra special technical knowledge or equipment or operating systems required or needed to have a fun trip. 

[billco]

5 minutes ago, skynight said:

Stress free. Book it, select dining, book tours, basically in the cruise personlizer or the T.A. would enter the data for you. Print your boarding pass, show up and board. Order drinks from a person that got the drink order correct. No extra special technical knowledge or equipment or operating systems required or needed to have a fun trip. 

All that might still be the same if the Covid Pandemic hadn't happened, shutting down the cruise industry and particularly hitting Princess hard. Perhaps Princess thought that since they already had the Medallion App it might be a way to deal with Covid restrictions.

 

Bottom line is Medallion Class is the way it is going to be. People can deal with it or they can find something else. I think there is plenty of room for growth and improvement and as that happens people will come on board.

[ontheweb]

23 minutes ago, billco said:

All that might still be the same if the Covid Pandemic hadn't happened, shutting down the cruise industry and particularly hitting Princess hard. Perhaps Princess thought that since they already had the Medallion App it might be a way to deal with Covid restrictions.

 

Bottom line is Medallion Class is the way it is going to be. People can deal with it or they can find something else. I think there is plenty of room for growth and improvement and as that happens people will come on board.

Princess first rolled out the Medallion before Covid. I think it is pretty safe to assume that they intended to expand on the concept even before the Covid pandemic became a reality.

[caribill]

5 hours ago, skynight said:

Stress free. Book it, select dining, book tours, basically in the cruise personlizer or the T.A. would enter the data for you. Print your boarding pass, show up and board. Order drinks from a person that got the drink order correct. No extra special technical knowledge or equipment or operating systems required or needed to have a fun trip. 

 

5 hours ago, billco said:

All that might still be the same if the Covid Pandemic hadn't happened, shutting down the cruise industry and particularly hitting Princess hard. Perhaps Princess thought that since they already had the Medallion App it might be a way to deal with Covid restrictions.

 

 

 

The Pandemic did not in any way, shape or form force Princess to eliminate basic required check-in information (accept contract, enter passport info, enter emergency contacts, etc.) from the Personalizer.

 

Selecting anytime dining times for each night, reserving a space at sailaway, etc. and other such enhancements did not require them to be added to the Personalizer. But required information to board the ship should have remained there.

[billco]

59 minutes ago, caribill said:

 

 

The Pandemic did not in any way, shape or form force Princess to eliminate basic required check-in information (accept contract, enter passport info, enter emergency contacts, etc.) from the Personalizer.

 

Selecting anytime dining times for each night, reserving a space at sailaway, etc. and other such enhancements did not require them to be added to the Personalizer. But required information to board the ship should have remained there.

Perhaps Princess felt it would be even more difficult to move people over to the app if required checkin could also be done in the Personaizer. The bottom line either way is people are going to be required to use the app at checkin.

[deliver42]

Well Billco, I found something else. Cancelled Alaska on the majestic and went with Royal on the Ovation. While Royal has an app, you can still do everything on line. Thank you Royal for being sane.

[billco]

2 minutes ago, deliver42 said:

Well Billco, I found something else. Cancelled Alaska on the majestic and went with Royal on the Ovation. While Royal has an app, you can still do everything on line. Thank you Royal for being sane.

Glad you found another option. I have long felt that if people don't feel comfortable with the direction Princess is going they have other options. Once my FCCs are used up I will most likely be sailing with NCL again. Not because of the MedallionClass,  but by following the recent live streams. The Princess Patters posted are making these cruises sound rather boring. I imagine the Ovation has a lot of things to do. I was envious at posts about the NCL Encore being in Seattle. I sailed on her in 2019 and had a great time.

[ontheweb]

4 hours ago, caribill said:

 

 

The Pandemic did not in any way, shape or form force Princess to eliminate basic required check-in information (accept contract, enter passport info, enter emergency contacts, etc.) from the Personalizer.

 

Selecting anytime dining times for each night, reserving a space at sailaway, etc. and other such enhancements did not require them to be added to the Personalizer. But required information to board the ship should have remained there.

That makes so much sense. If they would only go back to letting you do all that basic stuff on the personalizer.

[caribill]

4 hours ago, billco said:

Perhaps Princess felt it would be even more difficult to move people over to the app if required checkin could also be done in the Personaizer. The bottom line either way is people are going to be required to use the app at checkin.

 

Even those who have successfully used the app to prepare for the cruise say it is more difficult to do so than it was on a desktop computer. I am referring to the info needed to get green status for check-in, not the added app features for scheduling your time.

 

Why would Princess be pushing its customers to do what was relatively simple to do in the past to something not so simple to do the future?

 

The information needed to check-in could have been entered faster on a desktop than the time it takes to locate the app and download it to a smart device one time, and this does not include the time it takes to type in the needed information on the smart device which does not have an actual keyboard.

 

And people are not required to use the app at check-in. Someone else enters in the information for them.

 

I wonder if the someone else is actually using the app or is using a different interface to the Princess computer(s). After all, first step to using the app is to sign-in with your user name and password so it can work with your account. Those completing the providing of data at check-in are not giving the check-in personnel any user name and password.

[getting older slowly]

A different Tack.... on this is... the perceived  needed to change things... sometime under the banner of bells and whistles, are for your good and more is even better......   or change for the sake of change

 

I enjoy the interaction with people....  also  the idea  less is more....( Simplicity )

 

I feel we live in a world where people need constant change... they become bored or tied....

 

Don

[billco]

8 hours ago, caribill said:

 

Even those who have successfully used the app to prepare for the cruise say it is more difficult to do so than it was on a desktop computer. I am referring to the info needed to get green status for check-in, not the added app features for scheduling your time.

 

Why would Princess be pushing its customers to do what was relatively simple to do in the past to something not so simple to do the future?

 

The information needed to check-in could have been entered faster on a desktop than the time it takes to locate the app and download it to a smart device one time, and this does not include the time it takes to type in the needed information on the smart device which does not have an actual keyboard.

 

And people are not required to use the app at check-in. Someone else enters in the information for them.

 

I wonder if the someone else is actually using the app or is using a different interface to the Princess computer(s). After all, first step to using the app is to sign-in with your user name and password so it can work with your account. Those completing the providing of data at check-in are not giving the check-in personnel any user name and password.

Just wondering. Do you have any Princess cruises booked? Have you been shopping for a smart device? I plan to sell my iPhone 11 Pro and upgrade to the iPhone 13 Pro when it is released next month. It is expected to have some great new camera features. Probably too late for my September cruise, but should be available for my October/November cruises.