barrykel

4 hours ago, Roberto256 said:

From what I have read, the medallion uses Bluetooth Low Energy, and NFC.

Yep. See this LinkedIn post from Thilo Horstmann, who is CTO for Costa, and appears to have been deeply involved with the development of the medallion.

36 minutes ago, cltnccruisers said:

But car manufacturers have removed the CD player which ticks my wife off no end.

But in addition to all the more modern mechanisms mentioned, you can still get a portable CD player and plug it into the aux jack. Of course with Princess, you can just show up at the pier with your docs, but they didn't bother to mention that in any of the instructions on the website.

6 hours ago, Grego said:

Automobiles have the same situation.  They have a lot of features that they will not use such as turn signals.

Er, turn signals are a horrible example - everyone really should use them. A better example would be, say, satellite radio, which is only attractive to a small percentage of drivers. And it points out the real issue with the Medallion - no car manufacturer has decided that since they offer satellite radio, they should remove the FM radio. But that's exactly equivalent to what Princess has done by crippling the Personalizer website. 

17 minutes ago, Tedferg said:

Someone said the battery was dead, Does Medallion have a battery ? My smart pass Toll sensor does not, it is just pinged by tower.

As per this article, it actually does have a battery. Seems unnecessary - why didn't they just use the standard NFC technology that's in toll sensors, smart credit cards, employee badges, and the like?

4 hours ago, Grego said:

when it is "fixed" it will be a great tool for those that wish to use it.

I've really got to ask what is so great about it? Letting me order drinks anywhere on the ship is nice, but it's not like it's been hard to find a bar on any cruise ship I've been on. And similarly, making dinner reservations from anywhere is nice, but it's not real difficult to go up to the restaurant and sign up there, much less doing it from the TV in my cabin. It really sounds like they've ignored the basic rule that 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it'.

10 minutes ago, mellon1 said:

how do I stop it.  I tried hitting the button on the right to no avail.  It is stuck.

Can someone with some iPhone experience pls help? I've just used Android phones.

1 minute ago, mellon1 said:

Got the app downloaded, but when I went to accept the terms of the contract, it is hung up on download for hours now.  

i'd still recommend retrying (if it hasn't gotten the contract loaded after a few minutes, waiting isn't ever going to get it loaded); in this case you should kill the app, restart it, and try again. If that doesn't work, you will need to call the support line.

1 minute ago, mellon1 said:

Thank you.  So I will just let it keep going, 3 hours now downloading.......

Oh wait - sorry, my problems and most of the ones I've seen here were with linking the app to your booking and then entering data via the app. I didn't realize you hadn't been able to get the app installed at all! Have you tried to cancel the download and retry the installation? If you've tried more than once and still can't get the installation to complete, you probably need to call the support line. That's actually the sort of problem they may be able to fix by walking you through the process.

1 hour ago, mellon1 said:

My nephew said with so many people accessing the app at one time, that's probably why the issue.  He also checked and said there are only one star reviews recently with the app.  I don't know what to do.  Is anyone else having problems.  

 

Also, will I have to have a login for my husband too or can I just do through my login.  

 

Since when did cruising get so stressful and hard?

In answer to your first question, the answer is yes, quite a few other folks are having problems.

For the second question, AFAIK you'll be able to do everything for both of your with just one phone; the only downside will be that he won't be able to order drinks when he's somewhere apart from you on the ship, unless he goes to a bar and places his order the old fashioned way (you'll be able to order from anywhere on the ship via the app).

And for the third question, it got so stressful when Princess made the unbelievably bad decision to remove the pre-cruise functionality from the personalizer website and tell its customers they had to use a buggy smartphone app.

The issues are probably due to data corruption in the database, not excessive load on the server (once they get things working, they tend to stay that way regardless of the time of day). If you don't mind waiting on hold for a couple of hours, you should be able to get things working well enough to get most of your data entered by calling the 844-525-0942 support line and then waiting a few hours; if you don't have the time to waste on hold, sending an eMail to askoceanmedallion@carnival.com will at least get your problem report into the queue.

20 minutes ago, skynight said:

What causes data translation issues, what are they, and why create a program that would even have issues which customers don't understand? 

As Steeler says, the most likely cause is that they created a new database for the MedallionClass app, requiring a procedure to synchronize the new database with the existing one used by the website, and that procedure was not properly tested and is still horribly buggy. The answer to the 'why' question is the oldest one in the book - they were sold a bill of goods by the salesman for the company they hired to develop the app, who promised far more than their development group was able to deliver. 

One major issue with Princess is that, in conjunction with their new Ocean Medallion, they've introduced a new version of their smartphone app which their website says is required for pre-cruise data entry - they've removed the functionality from their website, and the app is still quite buggy and only supports fairly recent versions of the smartphone OS's (iOS 13 and Android 8). While it turns out the app really isn't required (you can just show up at the pier with your documentation, as always), their messaging (and the app's bugginess) is confusing and causing many cruisers a good deal of aggravation. We're booked on the Majestic in December (I had an FCC that was due to expire, tho as you can tell from my sig I'm generally partial to NCL). The medallion does appear to offer some very cool features, such as the ability to order drinks, make meal reservations, and track other members of your party from anywhere on the ship. Ask me how well they work after our cruise.

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. 

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.

39 minutes ago, SharkieRools said:

Anytime Princess changes something you have the hordes of people complaining that "things were better the old way," "its cost cutting," "they're ruining my vacation," "I'm never sailing Princess again," etc etc etc.  Perhaps Princess should have just stayed with the original Island, Pacific and Sun Princess, never updating them or building new ships afterwards. 🤣

There's nothing wrong with introducing new technology, but there's a right way and several wrong ways to do it. And the simple fact is that Princess handled this one in probably the worst way possible.

Edit: OK, maybe not the worst way (that would have been not giving affected users any way to checkin at all). But still mind-numbingly bad.

8 minutes ago, hpeabody said:

Before this Medallion Class App I had no frustration filling out personal information on the cruise personalizer on the Princess website. It took less than 10 minutes and done!  When it came time I easily printed out my boarding pass and luggage tags. I am not able to have this Medallion Class App on my not so smart anymore phone running android 7.  This Medallion Class App seems to be a huge frustration, an inconsistent mess and generally does not work well for most folks.  IMO It seems it was just not tested and not ready for prime   Yes, I know this is "Covid times" but it did not have to be like this. Princess should be embarrassed.

Yeah, I suppose it will be nice to be able to order a drink or make dinner reservations from anywhere on the ship, but it's not like it was ever real hard to find a bar or go up to the restaurant and signup at the table right outside, on any ship that I've been on. It really sounds like Princess is totally out of touch with their customers, and have fallen for the oldest mistake in the book - that of believing everything the salesman claims about their product.

2 hours ago, Roberto256 said:

 

Princess could have semi-solved this by giving a list of supported hardware.

.

.

.

And the insidious part is that something which works for

one person fails for another.

Not very practical for Android - there are over a dozen manufacturers, and probably hundreds of supported phones. And from what I've seen here, the cases where it worked for one cruiser but not another were due to data corruption problems in Princess' database, not any phone/mobile OS incompatiblities (a few tried and failed at some of the other installation methods when the Android PlayStore had indicated the app wasn't supported). As several have noted, the semi-solution/workaround would have been simply to make it clear that the app is not required for checkin - you can just show up at the pier with your documentation and you'll be fine. And the real solution would have been to honor the old adage that 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it', and continue to support the Personalizer website for pre-cruise data entry.

On 8/7/2021 at 8:57 AM, caribill said:

My posts are directed at the Princess folk who decided the Personalizer should essentially be thrown away for accepting mandatory information...

 

My comments are aimed at the pre-cruise need for the app.

I think we're all in violent agreement on that point - personally, I consider this decision one of the worst blunders I've seen from an established company, in the same category as Ford's introduction of the Edsel, or Gary Kildall's decision to go golfing the day IBM came to town looking for an OS.

BTW, if anyone is looking for a cheap smartphone to run the app, I would recommend the Moto G-series - DW has a G7 Power that's running the app on Android 10, and I was able to install it on an old G5 Plus we had lying around running Android 8 (I didn't try and link it to our booking, but it came right up and was actually pretty responsive). Amazon has unlocked G6's (Android 9) for about $120 (the $30 to $60 phones that folks have mentioned tend to be from no-name manufacturers) - if it doesn't work you can always return it for a full refund.

5 minutes ago, Jadn13 said:

Only if monitored by a health care professional. If it doesn’t involve a tele health or zoom call the answer is No

But the drive-through version of this test, given by Walgreens in a few states, is accepted, right?

15 minutes ago, HBCcruiser said:

I just rated the App a "1" on the Apple App Store and left a review that I named MedallionCrap. 🤣

 

What's the average rating on Apple? It's 1.4 on Android, and I also gave it a 1, only because it wouldn't let me give it a 0.

22 minutes ago, HBCcruiser said:

Anyone else's App loading   V-E-R-Y   S-L-O-W-L-Y   right now? The screen keeps freezing. 🙄

 

It's never been what I would call a speed demon, but for me most things are still OK. The one thing that took an outrageous amount of time was trying to go to Dine My Way - I clicked on the icon, and it took probably a full minute to decide that it was too soon to let me in (I don't cruise til 12/11)

1 hour ago, Tedferg said:

All login using Booking number. Self - Personal info only has Security Photo, Personal Photo, Pin Code. So nowhere to add further info. DW has all line items for Personal info, some previously entered info is missing and just her photo not mine.

 

Small detail, if DW uses Oct 24 Booking number then two cruises are shown Oct 24 and Feb 26. If login as Feb 24 Booking number, only that cruise shows.

Probably not worth wasting 2 hrs of your time on hold for the support line at this point, but you might try just sending an email to askoceanmedallion@carnival.com describing your problem; you'll get the 'we're prioritizing support based on sail date' auto-reply, but your problem will get into the queue and they should be able to fix it when it 'comes around on the guitar' (as Arlo used to say).

14 minutes ago, caribill said:

 

And they made sure the Medallion app works properly?

In fairness to Apple, there wasn't much they could have verified unless Princess had given them a test cruise to try and signup for, which they obviously didn't do. Without that, all they could have verified was that the app came up and was responsive (a pretty low bar).

20 minutes ago, hpeabody said:

Princess needs to fire their IT outsource company

It's more than just the company that wrote the app - the decision to remove the pre-cruise functionality from the Personalizer website and rely exclusively on the app was made by Princess/Carnival management, not a 3d party vendor. For a senior IT executive to make that serious a mistake is just unforgivable. Even worse is the fact that they appear to be hiding the seriousness of the problem from top management - folks on the 7/25 sailing who spoke to Jan Swartz indicated that she claimed to be unaware of all the problems people were having (tho that may have just been her gaslighting).

9 minutes ago, Tedferg said:

Booking number Login as me and still shows Oct 24 and Feb26 - plus my Personal Info is missing. Booking number login as DW shows just Feb 26 and personal info is OK except that a few things need to be re-entered. All transactions with Princess have been by me DW is travelling companion no separate login.

When you login as yourself, what happens if you try and reenter your personal info? Does it let you enter the data, or do you get the 'Compass is currently unavailable' error message? And when you login as DW, does it just show her personal info or both?

FWIW, I've encountered this same issue a couple of times, and both times it got 'fixed' about a day after I called the support line, tho my original issue is still present (my eMail login showing DW's profile). I did get the automated response eMail saying they were busy helping cruisers with closer sail dates (mine is 12/11); I imagine you'll get the same one if you call. You may just want to wait and see if it gets fixed on its own.

45 minutes ago, dreaminofcruisin said:

 

Since I can't get the current version loaded on my phone, I decided to try and load it on DHs Samsung Galaxy Tab A. It took 3 attempts and I had to clear the Google Play Cache and reboot in order to get it to finally install. I was so excited when it did! Then I opened it. NO DINE MY WAY at all...anywhere. No little picture in the circle at the top and missing farther down. Just crazy. The list of issues just goes on and on....(and this device never had the Medallion on it at all).

 

@Daniel A

Do you see Dine My Way in your Samsung Galaxy Tab?

That's exactly the same issue I and a couple other folks had seen a couple times. Luckily it actually seems like one they're able to fix - you do need to call the 844-525-0942 support line, and while the service rep you talk to won't be able to fix it, they'll be able to report it to someone who can; it may take a day or so for them to get to it.