luvdaislands

Good for you! It's obvious Princess (& other lines) think they can ignore their once loyal customers in favor of the bottom line. I also gave up Princess a year or so back despite having sailed them regularly since 1993.

You're not the only one! Although I reached Elite status quite a while back, I gave up on Princess a year ago and have no plans to sail them again. Last year you could not get thru to reservations or were put on hold for hours. The new changes- $$ for Alfredo's, the Princess app, etc, have confirmed my decision was correct.

All of your points confirm my dissatisfaction. I'll only add that previously fixed seating on 50+ cruises worked very well on Princess & other lines. I've always been seated at the same tables nightly with others whose company was enjoyed- or the MD changed my table. The fixed times precluded waits and show time issues were overcome.

I've read too many posts by passengers having issues with DROs not being capable of handling seating issues and/or referring them to the Purser desk instead. To my knowledge other lines still offer fixed seating or anytime dining and I'll continue booking with them (as on my December Carnival cruise or Celebrity). This also eliminates the issues with the Princess app whose problems are ignored for years instead of being fixed. I yearn for the good ole days when Maître Ds (yes MDs) instead of computers prepared seating assignments taking age, etc. into account.

Personally, I miss true Maître Ds who know how to run their dining rooms and cater to their guests, not the current 'seaters' who direct you to a table. That worked very well with fixed seating's which Princess has opted to eliminate- IMO to enhance their bottom line. As previously posted, after the current sailing this 'Elite' level member of many years will be booking elsewhere.

Has anyone encountered problems with scooter rented from this company? We rented from them and from day 1 it would not fully charge and we repeatedly had to push scooter back to our cabin. We phoned Special Needs Group from the ship, but problem could not be solved. It's 2 full weeks since we returned the scooter and filed a claim for a refund, but repeatedly get excuses, i.e., "we're working on it." Any suggestions besides filing complaints with BBB & credit card company?

Well I've been cruising for 30+ years (55+ cruises), am Elite with Princess and have been burdened with their poorly designed app since its inception; yet I did not know about that OBCs couldn't be used for specialty dining reservations. Maybe I missed the instructions for how to do any & every thing on the poorly designed app. or you could possibly advise where this info is found. As posted yesterday, I made reservations for specialty dining only to learn my credit card was charged without any popup warning that was to be done, as is done on all other online purchases. Further, after making changes to days & times I was charged twice for each of two rez's. No doubt this is because I- along with many, many others- aren't computer literate enough to guess out how the dumb system works. I've had it with Princess and will request a chargeback on the CC or deal with it on board as I'm not wasting any more precious time navigating the app! Also, will probably sail other lines for next winter's winter cruises.

Agree 110%. I've posted similar comments and will deal with anything else that comes up at the pier, like you. Paraphrasing what you said "Companies who prioritize their procedures over the customer's needs do not GET my money" in future. Further, I booked specialty restaurants and see Princess double charged my credit card (without any indication that would be done). I expected those charges to be against my onboard credits account (just as Carnival did). I'll straighten that out once on board or just dispute the charges with the credit card company.

A cruise vacation is supposed to be enjoyable, fun & easy to purchase. Princess has sure taken these out of sailing with them😬. I'm sure many others will be joining me in sailing other lines in future. I'm presently (finally) Green Lane with dining reservations - though not my preferred times, nor table sharing. However, if anything changes, I'll deal with it at boarding or onboard. Too much wasted time and effort (and perks taken away).

Deleting mistaken post.

Less "experienced" personnel, fewer overall employees = smaller payrolls with customers doing the work thru computer systems. I also believe many seasoned cruise employees- especially maître d's- retired or found other jobs closer to home & family. On two cruises last winter-Enchanted P & Carnival Mardi Gras- cabin stewards cut out nightly turn down service. They had fewer stewards covering more cabins, the entertainment was paired back as well and the menus reduced/cheapened- especially the "always available" alternates. Trying to get seconds or correcting a problem was more difficult due to fewer servers. For the poster who mentioned the maitre "d sent him to the purser to get seated with same folks at same time is a good example of what I say. That "maitre 'd does not understand the job to which he's assigned. Also charging for things previously gratis, i.e. internet, increases the bottom line.

Just noticed that the update is Update for Apple iOS devices and therefore does not work on my desktop, non Apple system. Hopefully the improvements will be systemwide soon. Sad however how much time & effort is needed for what once was a simple thing.

Okay, so I clicked "open" and got the following screenshot, but cannot go further. What am I missing? If "we've improved ..." means you are a Princess person, I'm thrilled to see the company is reading comments. However, most passengers seem to be very unhappy with the Medallion app. Completing passenger info & requests should be a simple process as it was before we were forced into this "improved" system.

in that case, I'd simply ignore ir and bring the document to the pier. IMO it's not right for Princess to burden us with their poorly designed app.

Wouldn't it considerate if Princess included an info screen for each segment of the app they've forced us to use so their paying customers would not have to do all the guessing we're forced to do!

Why not just upload it & be done? Things can change in the 4 months until Feb.

What does that MD think his job is??? I would have contacted the Chief Purser (or head hotel manager as he may now be called) to report the issue. Suggest you also make a point of this on the after cruise survey as well as communicating with management at Princess HQ.

Totally agree. On more than 50 cruises, never had a problem and always sat at same table, with same servers and mates. In time the cruise lines (& other businesses) will come to realize that favoring the bottom line over keeping their loyal customers happy costs them in the end. Computers are being assigned tasks that only well trained, dedicated employees, can do properly. There was a time when the Maître 'Ds assigned seating & even considered age & geographic area. Now we can't phone a company without encountering the time consuming digital answerers that send us in circles. Of course a properly programmed computer could factor in this info. Personally I won't continue spending where I'm not appreciated but will go where they treat me as a desired customer. I ran a business for some 20 years with that philosophy and thereby retained customers who were the ones paying my salary.

Thank you again- your suggestion worked! I wasn't able to get my preferred later time and settled for the latest available which was 620p in the aft dining room. Sadly the poorly designed app took an hour plus to accomplish it. I'll probably book a different cruise line for next cruise as this aggravation is not needed and we have Elite status on several lines. Hopefully posting below what I did will help anyone who wasn't able to booked shared dining: *Cancelled all my previously booked dining. *Went day by day and clicked on times displayed until options came up showing shared table was available and booked that time. Of course Princess could show some consideration for their passengers and fix all of the problems we're encountering- in this case by telling how to navigate their touted app. *Repeated this for each day & was fortunate to get the same time every night as . Will ask the maître 'd on nite 1 about getting the same table, servers & mates every night as on all our numerous prior sailings; but at least it won't be necessary to chase him or wait on lines. Hope this helps other cruisers.

THANK YOU! I'll try that tomorrow.

Well if it is available, it doesn't show on my app. I only see DMW times with private table. Can you help by posting how to find the shared table option? I really liked the old system where one simply checked early or late seating and the desired table size. In fact, before the computers took over the maître 'd assigned tables and even looked to seat similar age passengers together.

posted in wrong place.

Maybe they're offering oars? That would save fuel; but food consumption would probably increase & offset a lot of it.

As I said earlier, we're sailing the Regal, 2/19 but I only see Dine My Way times from 5:00 to 8:20 with private table- no option for sharing. Are you travelling with others that gave you more choices? Any suggestions for booking shared table? Any suggestion for pre-booking shared dining would be appreciated.

Thanks for the reply but as said before I only see Dine My Way times from 5:00 to 8:20 with private table- no option for sharing (in either dining room) on my desktop Medallion app. Who/what is DRO? On all our numerous previous Princess sailings- they pre-booked table size and sharing before boarding and we did dine with the same people every night. The people I've spoken to at the rez center know little about this subject. Kindly post where you're finding the sharing option. Thanks again!