Group communication using Princess@sea

[Woodside Lady]

This is my first time cruising with Princess since they put in Princess@Sea but I used it’s equivalent on HAL last year.  This cruise I am running the roll call for the Meet and Greet and the slot tournament plus possibly some other CC activities like shore excursions.  Is there any way to set up a group so I can send a reminder message or do I have to send it person by person?  What information do I need from our group members (last name?, cabin number?) to message them?  

[Obsi]

Unless something has changed, it's not set up for groups  (I'm in the same position, I have 100+ people in my group and it's frustrating there is no easy group communication option).

As far as I know, each person needs to create an account and get their unique ID number and give that to anyone who wants to message them, so that person can add them as a contact - since you can only message someone who is on your contacts list.

Effectively it's like sending an SMS to someone - you need to have their number to be able to do it, and they are separate (you send a message to one person, not to a group) - so it's not like whatsapp or something where you can do a group message that goes out to everyone (unless possibly there is an option to send the same message to multiple people - but I don't think those people could reply to a group message where everyone could see it)

[Valiamo]

Alas, it is not possible to get a group chat going using the Princess at Sea app. 

 

You cannot set up the app in advance, and have to be on the ship's wifi to set-up the communication person to person for that cruise.  You need the booking/passenger number that is printed on their sea pass card (bottom right corner). 

 

It is designed to be a very simple person to person communication tool.  The app itself does not provide notifications to those that you have sent a message to, and they have to be live and in the app to see any messages you may have sent.

 

I would set-up exact times for the activities in advance (on your roll call) and confirm them during the meet 'n greet.

[gdisney]

6 minutes ago, Valiamo said:

.....The app itself does not provide notifications to those that you have sent a message to, and they have to be live and in the app to see any messages you may have sent.

 

Yes, the lack of notifications was the most annoying thing for me when I used it previously. 😞

[cabin4three]

15 hours ago, Valiamo said:

Alas, it is not possible to get a group chat going using the Princess at Sea app. 

 

 That's annoying I was planning on sending one message to all of my family rather than separate messages telling them where to meet up. - Think we will be going back to the traditional post it notes on the door 

[Qcruise]

Last year aboard the Crown we had only four of us but were able to log onto Princess@sea app and send texts to each other throughout the cruise......it was nice to have.  Granted the texts might take some time to get to you but eventually it would get there.  Last week aboard the Ruby I looked for the app (we had a group of eight) and it is gone.  The wifi on board leads you to the Ocean Ready app where they charge for it.  Nobody wanted to pay just to keep in contact.....we relied on house phones to our rooms.  I wish they could find a way to offer both to it's passengers.

[Obsi]

5 hours ago, Qcruise said:

Last year aboard the Crown we had only four of us but were able to log onto Princess@sea app and send texts to each other throughout the cruise......it was nice to have.  Granted the texts might take some time to get to you but eventually it would get there.  Last week aboard the Ruby I looked for the app (we had a group of eight) and it is gone.  The wifi on board leads you to the Ocean Ready app where they charge for it.  Nobody wanted to pay just to keep in contact.....we relied on house phones to our rooms.  I wish they could find a way to offer both to it's passengers.

 

While they call it an "app" it's actually just the Princess website that auto connects when you're using the ship (free) wifi.  So maybe it was still there but not as easy to find?

 

9 hours ago, cabin4three said:

 That's annoying I was planning on sending one message to all of my family rather than separate messages telling them where to meet up. - Think we will be going back to the traditional post it notes on the door 

 

It really is a shame they don't consider ease of communication for larger groups.  Every time I've brought this up to them and asked if they can offer any suggestions, they keep saying just use the princess@sea app.   I've then had to explain why having 100+ (non-tech savvy older age) people all find and share their IDs with each other - which you can only do onboard - to then only be able to individually message each other..... is not an efficient way to manage getting messages out to a group.   And what if not everyone has a smartphone or wants to keep it with them all day.... and calling multiple staterooms to leave a "we're meeting at 8pm for drinks" type message is also not efficient... since I'm trying to have a vacation too, not be a cruising secretary :P 

 

Someone at Princess needs to design a group feature for the messenger - where a group ID is generated when the group bookings are created.  Because the group leader will then know their unique group ID code, they can pass that on to their group members ahead of time, so everyone knows it and can be prepared (rather than having to swap individual numbers onboard).  Then when anyone sends a message to that group ID all people who have that group code can access it.  Would be so much easier!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!   and surely not that hard to set up into their existing messenger system.

 

Ultimately the "post-it on the door" option is what we're going to have to go with.  Although given the size of my group and that we're spread out in different sections of the ship, I'm going to nominate a couple of people to have the messages on their door as well as put them on my door - so I'll only need to communicate with those 2 people, and then everyone else will be responsible for checking the doors for messages.