Live Majestic Princess 3 Night Launch of California Coastal season

[3kidsncats]

Quick check in -- we leave port shortly and I don't have the internet package.

 

Food has been great, service as well, other than as previously noted.  The bar venues are out of various ingredients so some cocktails aren't available, sadly.  But crew are trying hard to offer good alternatives which we appreciate.

 

Many options for special dining are not available for this short trip, but should be for the longer sailings.

 

Will try to stop at the IC and deliver the mrssagexas requested.  I can see upstairs there are staff in the Bistro, so sure booking issues are app related

[joeyancho]

1 hour ago, TheRabbit said:

Just saw where the Majestic was moved to Orange on the CDC Cruise ship Color Status indicating a case of Covid was found on board (appeared to be crew if I read i right). Have you heard anything?

I sail With Astro Flyer on the 23rd, and appreciate any info you can provide.

I am also on this cruise.   We haven't heard anything about a case of covid.  The ship is mostly empty.   Most of the buffet is closed due to a lack of passengers.   

[joeyancho]

5 hours ago, cruzrbachoua said:

well that is sad....poor customer service on their part...i would have said do you not want a job if we all went to the app for everything she might not be needed.....

I am on this cruise and I agree with the OP about the Medallion.   It is worthless and not user friendly at all.  A crew member tried to help but even he gave up.  I don't understand why they even switched over to the Medallion.  They tried to fix a problem that was not broke.   Other than the Medallion,  the cruise has been very nice.  Ship is in top condition,  crew very friendly and accommodating.  The food has been good.   Alfredo's is especially delicious.   Tonight we go to Crown Grill.  I'll report on that later. 

.

[farsight]

1 hour ago, joeyancho said:

I am also on this cruise.   We haven't heard anything about a case of covid.  The ship is mostly empty.   Most of the buffet is closed due to a lack of passengers.   

Princess doesn't advertise covid cases, understandably so. They do contact tracing with the Medallion and not those who may have been exposed. Unless the information gets out from someone who has been exposed and tested or actually gotten covid you would be hard pressed to hear about it. At orange status there are very few cases  that might be avenues of reporting. This being said, Princess and all cruise lines are required to report accurate numbers to the CDC. My understanding is that they do this regularly and fairly often.

[farsight]

31 minutes ago, farsight said:

Princess doesn't advertise covid cases, understandably so. They do contact tracing with the Medallion and not those who may have been exposed. Unless the information gets out from someone who has been exposed and tested or actually gotten covid you would be hard pressed to hear about it. At orange status there are very few cases  that might be avenues of reporting. This being said, Princess and all cruise lines are required to report accurate numbers to the CDC. My understanding is that they do this regularly and fairly often.

"and notify those" vice "and not those"

[farsight]

1 hour ago, joeyancho said:

I am on this cruise and I agree with the OP about the Medallion.   It is worthless and not user friendly at all.  A crew member tried to help but even he gave up.  I don't understand why they even switched over to the Medallion.  They tried to fix a problem that was not broke.   Other than the Medallion,  the cruise has been very nice.  Ship is in top condition,  crew very friendly and accommodating.  The food has been good.   Alfredo's is especially delicious.   Tonight we go to Crown Grill.  I'll report on that later. 

.

If my understanding is correct, the Medallion itself works very well as a replacement for the card. It is the Medallion App that is the bane of the new technology. They moved the three previous apps into one one app and tried to get the new app to do everything. That included marrying the functionality of the app to the location ability of the Medallion. I think they will eventually get it worked out. My guess is that there is an inverse function for their lofty goals and the resources allotted to IT. Or, expecting too much too soon with too little. Unfortunately, we are on the receiving end of this, and those with devices that have slower processors or less than 3gb ram suffer the most.

 

It's really nice that you are appreciating and enjoying the other aspects of your cruise. I know we did on the last sailing to Alaska.

[awhcruiser]

17 hours ago, joeyancho said:

I am on this cruise and I agree with the OP about the Medallion.   It is worthless and not user friendly at all.  A crew member tried to help but even he gave up.  I don't understand why they even switched over to the Medallion.  They tried to fix a problem that was not broke.   Other than the Medallion,  the cruise has been very nice.  Ship is in top condition,  crew very friendly and accommodating.  The food has been good.   Alfredo's is especially delicious.   Tonight we go to Crown Grill.  I'll report on that later. 

.

Im sure it has to do with Covid,  They dont want people gathering in masses outside the dining room for dinner before it opens.  Same goes for embarkation.

[CapeAliso]

On 10/7/2021 at 11:00 AM, DiRonT said:

Can you check out what is going on with Bistro Sur La Mer.  It is not showing for any bookings.

Thank you for those of you that have given live updates!

Has anyone been able to see if Bistro Sur La Mer is open and if not, why not?

[TheRabbit]

CDC just moved the ship to Yellow from Orange, any word on board as to why?

[Kay S]

25 minutes ago, CapeAliso said:

Thank you for those of you that have given live updates!

Has anyone been able to see if Bistro Sur La Mer is open and if not, why not?

Doug Parker from CruiseRadio is on board.  He said he dined there last night.

[DiRonT]

57 minutes ago, CapeAliso said:

Thank you for those of you that have given live updates!

Has anyone been able to see if Bistro Sur La Mer is open and if not, why not?

Good to know.  Now we will just Ross our fingers that we still have a reservation even though it no longer shows on the app.

[memoak]

21 minutes ago, DiRonT said:

Good to know.  Now we will just Ross our fingers that we still have a reservation even though it no longer shows on the app.

I wouldn't believe anything shown or not shown on the app - it is a crock

[3kidsncats]

22 hours ago, CapeAliso said:

Thank you for those of you that have given live updates!

Has anyone been able to see if Bistro Sur La Mer is open and if not, why not?

Yes, it was open each evening.  The app never worked for me with regards to specialty dining.  It was literally like specialty dining did not exist as a thing, as far as the app was concerned, in my experience.  During the day, there is no one at any of the specialty restaurants to talk to, and my experience trying to call the reservation line was also a no go.  But, yes, the restaurant is open each evening.

[3kidsncats]

22 hours ago, TheRabbit said:

CDC just moved the ship to Yellow from Orange, any word on board as to why?

No, there was zero info given to passengers about covid status

[3kidsncats]

On 10/7/2021 at 7:39 PM, farsight said:

If my understanding is correct, the Medallion itself works very well as a replacement for the card. It is the Medallion App that is the bane of the new technology. They moved the three previous apps into one one app and tried to get the new app to do everything. That included marrying the functionality of the app to the location ability of the Medallion. I think they will eventually get it worked out. My guess is that there is an inverse function for their lofty goals and the resources allotted to IT. Or, expecting too much too soon with too little. Unfortunately, we are on the receiving end of this, and those with devices that have slower processors or less than 3gb ram suffer the most.

 

It's really nice that you are appreciating and enjoying the other aspects of your cruise. I know we did on the last sailing to Alaska.

The app was awful, imo.  I’m going to do a series of review posts shortly and will have some comments about my experience

[3kidsncats]

So we are home now, and have functioning internet (yesterday I was in a weird logged into CC but not able to post, and error messages if I tried to log out, etc.)

 

I’m going to back track slightly in my post review, to cover a bit more about what we were and weren’t able to do on the app pre cruise, and then how it went onboard.

 

So we booked 11 days before sailing.  On the app I was able to do all the check in stuff, and schedule MDR times pre-cruise.  That’s it.  The app did not show ANY info about specialty dining, not even the names of the restaurants. On the website personalizer  I was able to book water and a bottle of bourbon for our cabin, as well as the enclave.  

 

Once on board, you have to connect to the Medallion Net option for WiFi, in order for the app to function/connect to the specific ship and sailing stuff.  Once that was done, I was able to watch the muster video and have it noted as complete in the app, see my location onboard, add my “shipmate”, see his location and send him chat messages.  I could use the ship map to get directions to venues from where I was located.  MDR reservations continued to work (actually best function of the app, reservation adjustment was super easy).  I could access my onboard account until the final morning — so no way to check my bill without going to customer service. Not available on the tv, no paper copy delivered, and app indicates it didn’t get my booking number even though I was logged in and it didn’t ask for my booking number when clicking “onboard account”

 

I could NOT access specialty dining in ANY way even onboard.  I could NOT access the onboard delivery service in ANY way. (Ie, no menu of any kind, just a blank screen that crashed the app and required me to reboot it. ). The menu button for the for the MDR also just brought up a blank screen causing a crash of the app.  There were also other minor things that I clicked in my efforts to see what worked and what didnt — more didn’t than did.  It was just a really frustrating experience, and give that you can’t book dining anyway other than the app, it was a problem.  The hours were not listed that I could find on the patter.  I got chewed out by the customer service lady on the phone for calling 5 minutes after the reservation desk closed (because yes, I’m supposed to know the hours just through my amazing psychic ability)

 

For me, the app issues are enough that I would skip considering Princess until after they fix it.  I had a recent great experience with Royal’s app in August, and it really put a spot light on the frustrations for me.  

 

The medallion worked great though.  We loved the cabin door unlocking as we approached, and the bar staff and spa staff knowing who we were without asking for our names, cabin number, etc.  

[TheRabbit]

27 minutes ago, 3kidsncats said:

No, there was zero info given to passengers about covid status

Thanks for getting back to me and for all the other info on the App.

Edited October 9, 2021 by TheRabbit

[3kidsncats]

Dining — We ate in the MDR, buffet,  Alfredos, IC and tea service.  Food was generally really good.

 

Except the buffet.  I love getting Indian food at the buffet, and the offerings were almost non-existent and what there was was mediocre.  Surprising, as that is usually the one food I absolutely LOVE in a cruise buffet.  Rolls tended to be a bit hard, and other offerings were fine, but not notable in any way.

 

MDR — we ate dinner twice, and once for both lunch and breakfast.  Really good each time.  Service was also great.  Portions are small, which we particularly liked.  We don’t eat a lot, so allowed us to eat a meal with no “waste” stress.  Will add some food porn in other posts as I have to upload the pics to my laptop.  

 

Alfredo’s — we loved it.  Previously we had only been on the Ruby, which doesn’t have this restaurant.  We ate lunch here twice, and thoroughly enjoyed both times.  

 

Afternoon Tea — we went twice, and loved it.  I had read recent comments about it not be up to snuff, but we found all the offerings to be very, very good.  The service was a bit erratic at times, but staff were very friendly.  The issues were more about lag time between getting a scone, and the cream, or waiting for the tea, etc.  But a tea should be leisurely, so we just opted to chat and feel relaxed while waiting. 

 

Dining spaces:  One thing I really tended not to like is how freaking close together the two tops are.  It’s like shared dining with only 5 inches between tables, but awkward because technically you aren’t sharing.  You can’t help but hear others’ conversations because they are soooooo close to you, but you can’t really join in.  And it made no sense that they were seating people that way, given covid and the over all low capacity.  There was no valid reason not to space people out more.  

 

 

 

[farsight]

13 minutes ago, 3kidsncats said:

The app was awful, imo.  I’m going to do a series of review posts shortly and will have some comments about my experience

When Princess sends you the sailing review be sure to rake them over the coals on the MedallionClass App; I did. I do differentiate between the Medallion itself and how it works independently of the app on the ship, and the functionality of the app both off ship and onboard. I think this is an important distinction to make. I let them know that the app and its associated hardware/server functionality is barely a beta release let alone rollout ready. It has been very frustrating; maybe almost as much for the Princess crew and staff as it is for us. Included in my review is the bad reviews they are receiving on social media.

 

All that being said, I do really prefer the Medallion over the old cruise card for identification, purchases and room access. The room access is a bit freaky when the lock release automatically engages 10 feet before you reach your cabin. If I were in a hotel, I would not like the door unlocking this far in advance. On the ship I'm unconcerned but still a bit surprised and a tad unnerved. I'll get used to it.

 

I do think Princess will get this ironed out in the relatively near future. However, I have been exposed to many 'not ready for prime time' software releases that eventually became quite satisfying experiences that ultimately  improved on older processes. And in my case, hope springs eternal. I just hope they don't get a burr up their collective buns once the app is thoroughly optimized to seek "superior technology". I've also been on that roller-coaster ride with the Department of Defense processes.

[farsight]

1 hour ago, 3kidsncats said:

So we are home now, and have functioning internet (yesterday I was in a weird logged into CC but not able to post, and error messages if I tried to log out, etc.)

 

I’m going to back track slightly in my post review, to cover a bit more about what we were and weren’t able to do on the app pre cruise, and then how it went onboard.

 

So we booked 11 days before sailing.  On the app I was able to do all the check in stuff, and schedule MDR times pre-cruise.  That’s it.  The app did not show ANY info about specialty dining, not even the names of the restaurants. On the website personalizer  I was able to book water and a bottle of bourbon for our cabin, as well as the enclave.  

 

Once on board, you have to connect to the Medallion Net option for WiFi, in order for the app to function/connect to the specific ship and sailing stuff.  Once that was done, I was able to watch the muster video and have it noted as complete in the app, see my location onboard, add my “shipmate”, see his location and send him chat messages.  I could use the ship map to get directions to venues from where I was located.  MDR reservations continued to work (actually best function of the app, reservation adjustment was super easy).  I could access my onboard account until the final morning — so no way to check my bill without going to customer service. Not available on the tv, no paper copy delivered, and app indicates it didn’t get my booking number even though I was logged in and it didn’t ask for my booking number when clicking “onboard account”

 

I could NOT access specialty dining in ANY way even onboard.  I could NOT access the onboard delivery service in ANY way. (Ie, no menu of any kind, just a blank screen that crashed the app and required me to reboot it. ). The menu button for the for the MDR also just brought up a blank screen causing a crash of the app.  There were also other minor things that I clicked in my efforts to see what worked and what didnt — more didn’t than did.  It was just a really frustrating experience, and give that you can’t book dining anyway other than the app, it was a problem.  The hours were not listed that I could find on the patter.  I got chewed out by the customer service lady on the phone for calling 5 minutes after the reservation desk closed (because yes, I’m supposed to know the hours just through my amazing psychic ability)

 

For me, the app issues are enough that I would skip considering Princess until after they fix it.  I had a recent great experience with Royal’s app in August, and it really put a spot light on the frustrations for me.  

 

The medallion worked great though.  We loved the cabin door unlocking as we approached, and the bar staff and spa staff knowing who we were without asking for our names, cabin number, etc.  

Around the corner from and just aft of the guest services desk, there is a printer that is Medallion activated where you can print your onboard account purchases. Much faster than waiting at the guest service desk when there is a line. I did this several days on our cruise in Alaska.

 

Like your experience, there was no love in the app for specialty restaurants. I just used the old method and used the preprogrammed button on the stateroom phone for making reservations (can't remember the button name).

 

Before ruling out any future cruises with Princess, I strongly urge you to take advantage your new found "appreciation" of the app weaknesses and strengths, and then use the new technology for what works and revert to the old 'tried and true' for those that don't. Other threads have reports of problems with almost every cruise line's apps. Keep in mind that one of my possible faults is to give Princess more benefit of the doubt than they might deserve! 😇

 

Hey @3kidsncats I just looked at your full signature. I see that you were on the NCL Seaward in 1993. Sea Emerald and I went on our honeymoon on the Seaward in 1991. We thought the ship was huge. Wow, how things change. We went to the Western Caribbean at the end of October into November. We loved it! That was in the days of only Traditional Dining in the MDR, dark suits and tuxes on formal nights and sports jackets all other nights. Also, midnight buffets with many ice and fruit carvings. It was a different day.

Edited October 9, 2021 by farsight

[stinsonm]

2 hours ago, 3kidsncats said:

So we are home now, and have functioning internet (yesterday I was in a weird logged into CC but not able to post, and error messages if I tried to log out, etc.)

 

I’m going to back track slightly in my post review, to cover a bit more about what we were and weren’t able to do on the app pre cruise, and then how it went onboard.

 

So we booked 11 days before sailing.  On the app I was able to do all the check in stuff, and schedule MDR times pre-cruise.  That’s it.  The app did not show ANY info about specialty dining, not even the names of the restaurants. On the website personalizer  I was able to book water and a bottle of bourbon for our cabin, as well as the enclave.  

 

Once on board, you have to connect to the Medallion Net option for WiFi, in order for the app to function/connect to the specific ship and sailing stuff.  Once that was done, I was able to watch the muster video and have it noted as complete in the app, see my location onboard, add my “shipmate”, see his location and send him chat messages.  I could use the ship map to get directions to venues from where I was located.  MDR reservations continued to work (actually best function of the app, reservation adjustment was super easy).  I could access my onboard account until the final morning — so no way to check my bill without going to customer service. Not available on the tv, no paper copy delivered, and app indicates it didn’t get my booking number even though I was logged in and it didn’t ask for my booking number when clicking “onboard account”

 

I could NOT access specialty dining in ANY way even onboard.  I could NOT access the onboard delivery service in ANY way. (Ie, no menu of any kind, just a blank screen that crashed the app and required me to reboot it. ). The menu button for the for the MDR also just brought up a blank screen causing a crash of the app.  There were also other minor things that I clicked in my efforts to see what worked and what didnt — more didn’t than did.  It was just a really frustrating experience, and give that you can’t book dining anyway other than the app, it was a problem.  The hours were not listed that I could find on the patter.  I got chewed out by the customer service lady on the phone for calling 5 minutes after the reservation desk closed (because yes, I’m supposed to know the hours just through my amazing psychic ability)

 

For me, the app issues are enough that I would skip considering Princess until after they fix it.  I had a recent great experience with Royal’s app in August, and it really put a spot light on the frustrations for me.  

 

The medallion worked great though.  We loved the cabin door unlocking as we approached, and the bar staff and spa staff knowing who we were without asking for our names, cabin number, etc.  

How did Enclave work for your cruise?  Others have posted about having a pass and going whenever they wanted, but when I just purchased a pass for me and DW, it shows a scheduled time that simply won’t work (5:00 pm). Wondering if they enforce the scheduled times or not?  Thanks for doing such a great review for all of us. 

[3kidsncats]

1 hour ago, farsight said:

Around the corner from and just aft of the guest services desk, there is a printer that is Medallion activated where you can print your onboard account purchases. Much faster than waiting at the guest service desk when there is a line. I did this several days on our cruise in Alaska.

 

Like your experience, there was no love in the app for specialty restaurants. I just used the old method and used the preprogrammed button on the stateroom phone for making reservations (can't remember the button name).

 

Before ruling out any future cruises with Princess, I strongly urge you to take advantage your new found "appreciation" of the app weaknesses and strengths, and then use the new technology for what works and revert to the old 'tried and true' for those that don't. Other threads have reports of problems with almost every cruise line's apps. Keep in mind that one of my possible faults is to give Princess more benefit of the doubt than they might deserve! 😇

 

Hey @3kidsncats I just looked at your full signature. I see that you were on the NCL Seaward in 1993. Sea Emerald and I went on our honeymoon on the Seaward in 1991. We thought the ship was huge. Wow, how things change. We went to the Western Caribbean at the end of October into November. We loved it! That was in the days of only Traditional Dining in the MDR, dark suits and tuxes on formal nights and sports jackets all other nights. Also, midnight buffets with many ice and fruit carvings. It was a different day.

Unfortunately for me, for now, the issues with the app were in the areas I most want functionality.  We already have …..4 other cruises already booked between Royal and NCL, and will be Diamond on Royal, Platinum on NCL after each next cruise, respectively.  So for now, we will stick with those lines, and wait to book Princess again until they get the app fixed.  We like the product, but we are fine mixing it up between lines.  We also want to try Celebrity once we are officially Diamond on Royal, since they status match.  I will be writing a detailed recap of my pros/cons in my Princess survey.  

 

I need to adjust my signature — we were actually on the Starward (I couldn’t remember which it was, after so many years, but recently we looked at our honeymoon pics and saw that it was Starward).  We loved that cruise, and as I mentioned, our honeymoon as well.  1993 — and we thought the ship was big until we were docked next to the Monarch of the Seas, which at the time was the largest at sea.  

 

I relayed your message to Hiren, and got a big smile.  🙂

[3kidsncats]

1 minute ago, stinsonm said:

How did Enclave work for your cruise?  Others have posted about having a pass and going whenever they wanted, but when I just purchased a pass for me and DW, it shows a scheduled time that simply won’t work (5:00 pm). Wondering if they enforce the scheduled times or not?  Thanks for doing such a great review for all of us. 

There was no scheduled time — it was open from…..8am (I think) until 10pm (I know, we always went after dinner).  I’ll be doing a review post of it shortly 🙂

[Steelers36]

2 hours ago, 3kidsncats said:

Monarch of the Seas, which at the time was the largest at sea.  

 

Your post note above reminds me of the original "mega ship", Sovereign of the Seas, slightly smaller and launched in January, 1988.  We were in St Thomas the week of its first call and it was quite a sight to see this "monster" come sailing in to the dock.  Now, it would be called a "small ship", compared to the typical more modern ships of today.

 

[3kidsncats]

19 minutes ago, Steelers36 said:

 

Your post note above reminds me of the original "mega ship", Sovereign of the Seas, slightly smaller and launched in January, 1988.  We were in St Thomas the week of its first call and it was quite a sight to see this "monster" come sailing in to the dock.  Now, it would be called a "small ship", compared to the typical more modern ships of today.

 

We felt the same when we were berthed next to Monarch.  We promised ourselves that someday we would sail on her, and eventually we did.  Of course, by then she was one of the smaller vessels in service, and since then is no more 😞