Does medallion app work well when ordering drinks or is it better to go to a bar?

[korky1]

this will be first time cruising with the medallion.  Just wondering if you have had success when using it around the ship to order drinks.    I am a bit sceptical as I believe this medall

[korky1]

Sorry, accidentally submitted post before completion.  Meant to say medallion app seems to have a lot of glitches but perhaps they have been rectified by now?

[Lizabu]

On my last cruise it worked amazing. I love it.

[Papa Yoda]

Agreed, April on Grand, worked pretty well, only one delayed order - new guy couldn't find the Lotus Spa pool.  Once I ordered a drink to be delivered to the stateroom, but I didn't uncheck "My Location" and check "My Stateroom".  Darn server chased me all over as I had gone up to buffet in the meantime.  She called just as I returned to the cabin, and asked "where are you!?"  I ordered lots of drinks, wine and Lattes delivered to the stateroom, all covered by Plus.  This is the best upgrade I can think of.

 

 

[Rick&Jeannie]

The app *definitely* has its share of glitches...but ordering via the app is typically not one of them.  Now, that being said...if you are "in a hurry" for your food/drink you might be better off just going and fetching it yourself, especially if you are on the Lido deck and what you are wanting is available from one of the stations there.  

It's definitely not what I would call fast...but a lot of the time you really don't care as long as it shows up in 20-30 minutes, which many people have reported as common.  I've generally had better luck with about 10-15 minutes response time.  One thing to be aware of...if you are in a very crowded area it can be difficult for the delivery person to find you. (I know...they say they can find you anywhere on the ship...) If after about 10-15 minutes you still have not received your order start paying attention to the waiters/waitresses running around.  They may very well be looking for you!

 

One item that not too many people are aware of...once you place your order and before backing out or closing the app, there is a button on the order status screen (I forget exactly what it's called) that turns your smartphone screen a yellowish/green color (at least on Android) which, if you raise your phone in the air "supposedly" helps the delivery person find you.  It looks somewhat silly holding your phone up and/or waving it around but it does work.  A waitress spotted me from about 50-60 feet away and headed straight to me.

[atobols]

IME it just depends on the ship.  I had great success on the Ruby 11/21, good success on Majestic 12/21, and terribly experiences on the Regal 7/22.  It might have been the capacity of the ship, the order to staff ratio, or some other behind the scenes problem I was completely unaware of.  The app always worked and I could always place the order.  It just depended on how long it took for my drink/food to show up.  On the Ruby it was 10-15 minutes, on the Majestic it was 20-25, and on the Regal it was 45 minutes - 2 hours later.  

 

I would say to give it a try and see how it goes.  

[sloopsailor]

1 hour ago, korky1 said:

Sorry, accidentally submitted post before completion.  Meant to say medallion app seems to have a lot of glitches but perhaps they have been rectified by now?

 

A golden rule that might be useful: Read all the complaints. Then randomly throw away 95% of them. You will then closer to knowing whether something is actually good or not. 

[JimmyVWine]

In our (limited for the reason stated below) experience, it definitely works, but unless you are in your cabin, it will always be faster to simply walk to the nearest bar. After using it once with success while lounging on the Sun Deck, we concluded that walking down the circular stairs down to a bar on Lido was much faster. Whether you are on Plaza, Fiesta, Promenade, Lido or Sun, you are rarely more than a minute’s walk to a bar and that will beat an app order every time. 

[travellingnana]

It worked great on the Ruby, but not at all on the Royal. Part of the problem was that even when I tried to locate my husband he was out swimming in the ocean😂

[Lizabu]

31 minutes ago, travellingnana said:

It worked great on the Ruby, but not at all on the Royal. Part of the problem was that even when I tried to locate my husband he was out swimming in the ocean😂

My husband kept saying he was at the buffet while the app mysteriously showed him at the casino 🤣

[venussuz]

The app worked great for ordering food and drinks on our May-June Trans Atlantic cruise, but I have to say that delivery to the cabin was much slower (as long as 90 minutes by the end of the cruise) than anywhere else.

Word of advice, make friends with a bartender or server at each location (tipping well doesn't hurt but being kind and courteous will do) and they'll generally come to get your order or deliver yours more swiftly than they do for others. One bartender on the Island Princess was exceptional for us, always greeted us by name and knew which drinks I was likely to order (strawberry daquiri or rum and Coke tonight?) without prompting. SO glad I tipped him well as we went rather than waiting as Covid had me laid up the last couple of days. I mentioned him and the gentleman at the buffet who was such a help to me in carrying things in the after cruise survey.

Thanks to whoever it was who suggested getting a picture of your favorite staff, that way you'll know who to commend in the survey. That worked a charm where my memory failed me on a name.

[pris993]

We did not do either, we got to know the servers, they came around to see us on regular basis to take our orders.  Tipped them a couple of bucks each trip.  Worked out well. 

[wowzz]

5 hours ago, venussuz said:

Word of advice, make friends with a bartender or server at each location (tipping well doesn't hurt but being kind and courteous will do) and they'll generally come to get your order or deliver yours more swiftly than they do for others

Given that the bar staff have no idea who is ordering what, I think that it more likely you were just lucky.

 

[bafinegan]

7 hours ago, venussuz said:

The app worked great for ordering food and drinks on our May-June Trans Atlantic cruise, but I have to say that delivery to the cabin was much slower (as long as 90 minutes by the end of the cruise) than anywhere else.

Word of advice, make friends with a bartender or server at each location (tipping well doesn't hurt but being kind and courteous will do) and they'll generally come to get your order or deliver yours more swiftly than they do for others. One bartender on the Island Princess was exceptional for us, always greeted us by name and knew which drinks I was likely to order (strawberry daquiri or rum and Coke tonight?) without prompting. SO glad I tipped him well as we went rather than waiting as Covid had me laid up the last couple of days. I mentioned him and the gentleman at the buffet who was such a help to me in carrying things in the after cruise survey.

Thanks to whoever it was who suggested getting a picture of your favorite staff, that way you'll know who to commend in the survey. That worked a charm where my memory failed me on a name.

I actually did this ( on another cruise line) for our dining staff.  I took a pic of our waiter and his  assistant and showed the pics to guest services.  I had gone to compliment them and just pulled out and showed guest services the pics.  Apparently they forwarded it to the restaurant manager who in turn gave those 2 the next night off.  We were concerned, thinking we had lost our servers.  They returned the next night so thankful for the night off.  ( I often feel people should be as quick to praise as to complain!)

[SargassoPirate]

I've read some of the comments here regarding servers trying to find where to deliver orders made on the app, and I've observed the scenarios in real life on the ship.

 

What worked well for me on seven medallion cruises so far is to order my drink in person and tip the server a little cash.  I also tip the servers in the platinum/elite lounge.  Soon, those servers learn my drink and will seek me out when I am in other locations.  Often I will sit down in one of the music venues in the evening and my drink seems to magically appear. 

 

It also helps to smile, learn the server's name, and ask a bit about them.  

 

It never hurts to be nice to people making your cruise more enjoyable.

[tonit964]

The medallion worked great on the Discovery last spring. When I was on the Sapphire last month, not so much. I ordered a drink in Explorers lounge and the waiter came over and said not to order it on the app, to just order with him. I don’t know why.

From then on, I just went to the bars and got my own, I figured the extra walking will be good anyway.

 

[JeffT237]

Ordering from the app did not work at all on the Crown in May, however on our recent Discovery cruise it worked flawlessly and really enjoyed the feature.  

[billco]

Four days to go to my next cruise and i just updated the Medallion App to Version 4.6.1 "We've improved the Princess MedallionClasss. In this update, you will see that we have removed PlayOcean and made improvements to your experience." Not!

 

 

 

 

 

Edited October 29, 2022 by billco

[memoak]

We prefer to go to the bars for faster service and ambiance

[pris993]

19 hours ago, wowzz said:

Given that the bar staff have no idea who is ordering what, I think that it more likely you were just lucky.

 

The servers take care of you, they may share tips with the bar staff too, I don't know.  Princess staff are outstanding.  

[Mike&Nancy]

If you order off the app, please please please watch for the server.  We watched one poor server walk back and forth a few times trying to deliver the order.  He checked his device several times (I assume trying to confirm the picture on the order), stood around for at least 5 minutes, all the while the guy who ordered sat less than 2 feet away from him and couldn't be bothered to shut his mouth long enough to watch for his order.  I feel for those servers, they waste an awful amount of time trying to find people.  I imagine that's going to get old fast.  On the positive side, we ordered off the app twice, watched for them, and had our drinks quickly.  Much sooner than if we had gone to the bar to order. 

[john watson]

On 10/29/2022 at 2:27 AM, Lizabu said:

My husband kept saying he was at the buffet while the app mysteriously showed him at the casino 🤣

 

Yes, you can bet your life on the accuracy of the medallion.

 

Regards John

[john watson]

Ordering drinks at the bar is problematic in most circumstances.  The reason for this as far as I can work out is that the drinks waiters are employed on a commission basis whereas the guy behind the bar is on a fixed rate.  If the bar guy serves you direct the cruise line saves the commission and the drinks waiters loose potential income.  If you study the transaction carefully when you do get served at the bar a drinks waiter is usually present and the transaction gets processed through the drinks waiters account.

 

The medallion is pretty accurate and in a busy venue I noticed that the waiters seemed to be split into ones that obtained the orders and those that delivered the drinks.  It proved difficult to order from the delivery waiters as they tended to have a few orders on the tray and a homing device that zoomed them in to the correct recipient.    It worked quite well for incredibly busy times and venues.  In less busy places the app seemed to be the way to go rather than asking a drinks waiter.

 

Regards John

[MissP22]

The only difference between going to the bar is that you can specify how you like your drink. i.e.- no salt on a Margaretta, just a little ice, etc.

When using the app you get the generic drink. 

[wowzz]

On 10/30/2022 at 9:39 AM, john watson said:

Ordering drinks at the bar is problematic in most circumstances

Sorry John - absolutely not my experience. 

Most bars have at least two bar tenders working, and at busy times, one would be dealing with the app orders,  and the other would serve those who were ordering in person.

The concept that Princess want to try and minimise commission,  is, in my opinion Machiavellian in the extreme, and not supported by the physical evidence.