Well, from the length of time I've been a member of CruiseCritic and the small number of posts, I'm sure most can tell I use this site for information gathering not for interaction. But to clarify for those of you that asked specifically, I could care less about being tracked and have no pacemaker ( although I may have one by my next cruise lol)
I don't like the Medallion system because I'm saddened and disappointed that the Marketing Dept hoodwinked the executives at Princess into thinking this was a good idea.
I'm deeply saddened that Princess and its employees ( IT, Guest Services, Call Centers and TAs have spent countless hours, and many many dollars on the Medallion itself and the Medallion app ( now Princess app because Marketing surely wants to distance itself from the word Medallion) trying to fix all the problems that have so frustrated and yes, angered, even the loyalist among us.
And all that time and money could have been spent on better pay for the crew, and enhancements to the Princess product.
Goodness knows how much more has to be spent in the future trying to burnish the Princess name.
In the 8 cruises before now, I never had trouble finding anyone on the ship in my party. And if I did, it was probably fun. We discussed our day in the morning and made dates and never looked at phones. (3:50 at Club Fusion for Bingo.. 2:30 at the Terrace bar after Trivia)
The technology that allows the crew to see our name I feel is condescending. What used to be a fun interaction, a smile directed at a crew member with our drink request, a smile returned and some banter is now reduced to a crew member having to add an extra layer of servitude. ( smile and greet the customer by name, memorize what they like so they don't even have to talk you, your customer needs to feel special because ....because? I don't know why,,,are we all that needy?) ........Maybe we just need to talk and interact with people a bit more and we'd all feel happy and special.
You may think I'm a luddite, preachy, old fashioned, this is the wave of the future and you may be right.....but I'll tell you, I hope its working for you because that is not what I'm reading on these boards or anywhere else in life. And at my age, I've learned that keeping it simple, not wasting time trying to keep frustration at bay and keeping things people to people on a even level as much as you can makes me a lot happier
These are just my feelings, not right or wrong. I love Princess and not using the Medallion is a way I can withdraw support from what I feel was a damaging decision.