Ocean Medallion App - Part 3

[cltnccruisers]

1 hour ago, Astro Flyer said:

And an approved negative COVID-19 test result done within 2 days of boarding.

 

I bought a 3 pack of the BinaxNOW Home Test to use in the wee hours of Thanksgiving Day.  I kept one to use for familiarization and I'm glad I did.  Being off for Columbus Day I did my test test today.  I had the app on my phone and could connect to Navica on it.  I had already created an Emed login.  I went through the process to start a test several times and kept getting ID/Password invalid when Emed prompted for my Navica creds.

 

Long story not quite as long, I spent considerable time with Emed support running with Einstein's definition of insanity until someone at their end who knew what they were doing came back from lunch.  Turns out there have been problems linking the Navica app with Emed.  So I was instructed to create Navica accounts on www.mynavica.abbot instead.

 

Missed my tee time but it's going to rain anyway.

[Slyfox16]

If our 11/6 cruise was not 3 weeks away and everything paid for, I would cancel it I have spent hours and hours waiting on hold for someone from Princess and then trying to resolve our Medallion problem. A week ago we could not make speciality dining reservations, though our friends could. A ticket was supposedly submitted but never heard back. Today I spend over an hour waiting for someone from Princess. Medallion was too busy, so could never speak directly with them.

The woman was very nice. We spend 3/4 of on hour talking about this and why we could not even pick an arrival group (Arrival groups will be available closer to the start of your journey. (3 weeks away isn't close enough?)

Another ticket was submitted, could not get a reference number. I asked what happens a week from now when nothing has changed, and I have not heard back from anyone, and she had no answer.

As far as I am concerned, the Pandemic is nothing compared to the bad will that this has engendered.

[kiwimum]

We have multiple cruises booked and added another to the list this morning which departs in 11 days.   Checked medallion about 30

minutes later and there it was all correct.   Needed to only complete Medallion order and Health.   Green Lane, Group A.    No desire to be locked into dining times so did not check.

Ready to go.

[Grego]

11 hours ago, Slyfox16 said:

If our 11/6 cruise was not 3 weeks away and everything paid for, I would cancel it I have spent hours and hours waiting on hold for someone from Princess and then trying to resolve our Medallion problem.

As far as I am concerned, the Pandemic is nothing compared to the bad will that this has engendered.

Really?  You are equating the pandemic to the issues you are experiencing?  For all of us that have been able to successfully navigate the app without having to make numerous phone calls I would suggest to relax and even if you can't make the app work, what's the worst thing that could happen?  You would have to board the ship with the medallion and proceed like we all did before the app and that's not even close to what we all faced with the pandemic.

[crows nest club]

Hi

Is any one else having difficulty in editing informational on the App. I click the edit button and change/edit it the save button still remains greyed out.

 

Have uninstalled and installed numerous times but no luck. 

We are in UK.

Edited October 12, 2021 by crows nest club
Typo

[Tedferg]

6 hours ago, crows nest club said:

Hi

Is any one else having difficulty in editing informational on the App. I click the edit button and change/edit it the save button still remains greyed out.

 

Have uninstalled and installed numerous times but no luck. 

We are in UK.

One thing  I found was that I had to include Country Code in phone number before it would Save.

[Slyfox16]

The comparison with the Pandemic was the result of the frustration and getting nowhere with Princess about fixing my medallion. But you are right about the comparison - no where similar.

[2 cruises a year]

Well get out the popcorn.  This group is going to love this!!

 

 

[Grego]

14 hours ago, Slyfox16 said:

The comparison with the Pandemic was the result of the frustration and getting nowhere with Princess about fixing my medallion. But you are right about the comparison - no where similar.

I know of your frustration, but stay with the process........it has to get better.

[Grego]

9 hours ago, 2 cruises a year said:

Well get out the popcorn.  This group is going to love this!!

 

 

It was a strange move considering he really doesn't have cruise business experience other than the implementation of the medallion.  The medallion does exactly what it was intended to do and the full implementation of all it can do will be exciting.  If it weren't for the possible poor choice of app design and delivery it would really be a game changer for the industry.

[skynight]

9 hours ago, 2 cruises a year said:

Well get out the popcorn.  This group is going to love this!!

 

 

Believe Jan Swartz is living on a different planet.

"Delivering a more personalized, simplified, and connected onboard experience for all guests and crew,"

[cltnccruisers]

50 minutes ago, skynight said:

Believe Jan Swartz is living on a different planet.

"Delivering a more personalized, simplified, and connected onboard experience for all guests and crew,"

"personalized"?   "simplified"?  We'll be on Sky next month.  Our first time on Princess for several years.  But it strikes me that the Medallion concept is, at least in part, to take personal contact out of the equation.  As far as simplification is concerned, would we be on the 3rd iteration of this thread if it was simple?

 

We may change our opinion after our upcoming cruise, of course.

Edited October 13, 2021 by cltnccruisers

[JF - retired RRT]

On 10/11/2021 at 2:43 PM, kiwimum said:

We have multiple cruises booked and added another to the list this morning which departs in 11 days.   Checked medallion about 30

minutes later and there it was all correct.   Needed to only complete Medallion order and Health.   Green Lane, Group A.    No desire to be locked into dining times so did not check.

Ready to go.

🥵😡

[2 cruises a year]

3 hours ago, Grego said:

It was a strange move considering he really doesn't have cruise business experience other than the implementation of the medallion.  The medallion does exactly what it was intended to do and the full implementation of all it can do will be exciting.  If it weren't for the possible poor choice of app design and delivery it would really be a game changer for the industry.

The concept may be good, but the execution is terrible.  The Medallion (concept) it self is a very small part of the picture.  Yes, it will unlock your cabin door, and charge you for any services you use.  But, the app (execution) is abominable.

[2 cruises a year]

3 hours ago, Grego said:

I know of your frustration, but stay with the process........it has to get better.

It should never have been released at this stage.  It should have been better before it ever hit the streets.

[skynight]

3 hours ago, cltnccruisers said:

"personalized"?   "simplified"?  We'll be on Sky next month.  Our first time on Princess for several years.  But it strikes me that the Medallion concept is, at least in part, to take personal contact out of the equation.  As far as simplification is concerned, would we be on the 3rd iteration of this thread if it was simple?

 

We may change our opinion after our upcoming cruise, of course.

Agree. Personalized to me means person to person excellent hospitality service. There is no computer program in the world that can deliver a more personalized service. Simplified should not require hours of phone calls to employees that provide little help, data input that only works on certain hardware/software, constant monitoring of your booked vacation for dining, and other on board activities. 

[Steelers36]

5 hours ago, Grego said:

The medallion does exactly what it was intended to do and the full implementation of all it can do will be exciting. 

Surely you jest.  The Medallion is nothing other than a jazzed up door key that has a circuit board which acts as a locator and identifier key.  The issue is with the MC App and a good portion of its functionality which is what really impacts the passenger experience.  

 

With this guy in charge, he can shutdown anyone else at PCL that might be an advocate for the cruising guest experience over his version of Utopia.

 

[Sail away MK]

I am sailing with 35 of my friends in December and many are not tech savvy.  I spent quite a bit of time this summer agonizing over the app, the white screen, and the failure to edit so I would be ready to give advice to them.  I have scoured the boards to learn from all of you so I would be green lane and ocean ready.  When we had a pre-cruise meeting last week my advice was...  

"The app is sketchy but upload it and give it a try.  If you get stuck, turn it off, count to 10 and start again.  If that doesn't work get an adult beverage and come back another day.  You can do EVERYTHING at embarkation so don't stress.  You can still walk up and do everything on boarding day just like before.  Dine my Way is problematic, lets leave it alone.  Call if you need me."

With that being said, I had one stressed friend call several times with glitches and we drank several adult beverages. She is now green lane. One called and wanted me to upload her passport so I did, she did the rest.  One wanted to know what an app was so we met and I did everything for her.  It was a good day and she went from installing the app to green lane and Boarding group in about an hour.  The rest are muddling through as best they can or will show up with paperwork and enjoy their cruise.  I'm happy to be cruising again!

[barrykel]

59 minutes ago, Steelers36 said:

With this guy in charge, he can shutdown anyone else at PCL that might be an advocate for the cruising guest experience over his version of Utopia.

Do we really know what his priorities are? It's pretty obvious that someone at PCL had to convince them to reverse the disastrous decision to rely exclusively on the app - I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall for that meeting. We really don't know which executives were on which sides of that discussion (except for the beancounters - we know they were on the wrong side). That would certainly be an interesting question for someone to ask Jan Swartz. And we'll have to see how the app's current deficiencies impact the onboard experience - ask me again on 12/18.

[Steelers36]

5 minutes ago, barrykel said:

Do we really know what his priorities are? It's pretty obvious that someone at PCL had to convince them to reverse the disastrous decision to rely exclusively on the app - I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall for that meeting. We really don't know which executives were on which sides of that discussion (except for the beancounters - we know they were on the wrong side). That would certainly be an interesting question for someone to ask Jan Swartz. And we'll have to see how the app's current deficiencies impact the onboard experience - ask me again on 12/18.

From reports, I don't think the App adversely impacts the on-board experience other than when DMW is failing guests.

[Roberto256]

6 hours ago, Grego said:

The medallion does exactly what it was intended to do 

 

So it was intented to frustrate many, many people, and waste thousands of hours of customers time?

 

You're right!  It does this very well.

 

[2 cruises a year]

54 minutes ago, Sail away MK said:

I am sailing with 35 of my friends in December and many are not tech savvy.  I spent quite a bit of time this summer agonizing over the app, the white screen, and the failure to edit so I would be ready to give advice to them.  I have scoured the boards to learn from all of you so I would be green lane and ocean ready.  When we had a pre-cruise meeting last week my advice was...  

"The app is sketchy but upload it and give it a try.  If you get stuck, turn it off, count to 10 and start again.  If that doesn't work get an adult beverage and come back another day.  You can do EVERYTHING at embarkation so don't stress.  You can still walk up and do everything on boarding day just like before.  Dine my Way is problematic, lets leave it alone.  Call if you need me."

With that being said, I had one stressed friend call several times with glitches and we drank several adult beverages. She is now green lane. One called and wanted me to upload her passport so I did, she did the rest.  One wanted to know what an app was so we met and I did everything for her.  It was a good day and she went from installing the app to green lane and Boarding group in about an hour.  The rest are muddling through as best they can or will show up with paperwork and enjoy their cruise.  I'm happy to be cruising again!

Your post is great.  It made me smile. 😊

[asgoodnow]

We did two back to back cruises from LAX and only got access to the boarding group two days prior to the first cruise.  While chatting with an associate with Princess, she indicated that since we booked the transfer from LAX to the ship, we would be in the first group (which was true).  The Medallion worked extremely well on board and most of the issues with the app were resolved prior to boarding the cruise (which included moving from green lane to blue lane repeatedly)

[Tedferg]

16 minutes ago, 2 cruises a year said:

Your post is great.  It made me smile. 😊

I am still working on '35 of my friends' I feel totally rejected 🙂

 

[Sail away MK]

Become an Elk!  We are cruising for charity.