Should we boycott Princess until Medallion App works ?

[chsalas]

So, stupid question. I tend to not load any apps on my phone. Long story, but that's for later.  If I don't have the Medallion App do I not get to cruise?  is the App a requirement?

[Grego]

19 hours ago, barrykel said:

I'll bet anyone a dinner in the specialty restaurant of your choice that her account is setup perfectly and she has no problems at all.

You will never know, but one thing I do know is that you don't know Jan well enough to doubt what she says.

 

[Grego]

2 hours ago, chsalas said:

So, stupid question. I tend to not load any apps on my phone. Long story, but that's for later.  If I don't have the Medallion App do I not get to cruise?  is the App a requirement?

Not a requirement at all.  Princess is well set up to welcome you aboard and get you underway without using the app.  Fill out what you can on the website until the site has completed the changes needed to put in the information that would normally be entered in through the app and this should be ready by the end of next month.  Princess staff at the ship will help enter in the rest of the information if you are traveling before the website additions are functioning.

Once on board, you'll be able to do everything you were able to do before the app by using the medallion.

 

[barrykel]

3 hours ago, Grego said:

You will never know, but one thing I do know is that you don't know Jan well enough to doubt what she says.

You're completely missing my point. I never said I doubted her sincerity, what I said is that setting up a single booking is not going to help solve the problems with the app. I don't expect a non-technical executive to understand that, but by now I would have expected the IT executives to have developed a better plan to fix the app and presented it to the executive committee.

[MISTER 67]

We are booked for Nov 28 on Caribbean Princess and have downloaded eveything on the Medallion App, sort of a pain in the rear end but all in all there were no major issues.

That being said we liked the way things were before, putting all your info in your PC and printing out boarding passes and luggage tags. It will be intersting how things work with the Medallion while on board.

[MISTER 67]

How long before our cruise on 11.28.21 will we receive our medallions? 

[wrongwaywatson]

Our last cruise, Nov 2019, was a Medallion cruise, so our app was already loaded with our info.  I went in and our 2 new bookings were showing and I was able to do everything I needed to do, except the final health questionaire, that is to be done within 48 hours of boarding.  

[Astro Flyer]

21 minutes ago, MISTER 67 said:

How long before our cruise on 11.28.21 will we receive our medallions? 

We sail in 2 weeks & they were shipped with USPS in their new smaller packaging from Miami 18 days in advance & received 2 days later in the SoCal area. That falls between their confirmation email’s shipping between 10-20 days before sailing timeframe.

[Bdarlin]

22 hours ago, Kay S said:

Not everyone has the same good outcome you did.  (I know someone who has problems.)  However, I'm sure there will be someone to assist getting on the ship.  The staff are always helpful.

Thanks Kay

[Bdarlin]

Just now, Bdarlin said:

Thanks Kay

And no that previous poster has no clue of my total knee replacement then total knee revision and completion of IV antibiotics with infection on a knee that is rejecting prosthetic.  So good for him that he has no problems - gesh

[Steelers36]

22 hours ago, brisalta said:

 

Your understanding is very poor as it appears to be that of the Medallion app developers. There is no reason for them to create a new database.

@Tedferg and @barrykel are on to something and there are two databases involved.  POLAR is Princess online res system that TA's have direct access into, Princess agents use, and we interact with via the website.  The MC App is working with it's own database - and this is known, but also evident when new bookings or cancel/re-books take some delay time to be reflected in the MC App. 

 

The MC App has been dogged by two main areas - data conversion issues and program logic errors and deficient code.  Obviously each of those main aspects have many sub-issues.  I suppose there is really a third significant area of this debacle and that is app design in terms of functionality decisions and such - which even if programmed perfectly, do not meet the customer expectations.  So, every main area of an IT project (conception/design, data conversion, programming, and testing) were all affected and poorly executed and you end up with a stinker at the end. 

 

They have made a lot of progress in fixing things - primarily data conversion issues and bug issues.  Where they still have issues are in poor design decisions IMO and they have not scrapped and started over where necessary.  Instead, still flailing about with no real fixes.  They seem to be fixing a lot of easier stuff so far IMO.  That said, many folks are still having issues and many have good functionality. 

 

I wish I knew what they consider their five or ten top issues and the status of each.

 

[barrykel]

3 minutes ago, Steelers36 said:

I wish I knew what they consider their five or ten top issues and the status of each.

I just wish there was reason to believe that they've actually identified the root cause of the top issues. 

[Steelers36]

<Deleted> - Wrong thread 

 

Edited October 9, 2021 by Steelers36

[Steelers36]

1 minute ago, barrykel said:

I just wish there was reason to believe that they've actually identified the root cause of the top issues. 

Some of them are pure business solution issues in not understanding the customer experience in the IT world at least.  Whether it was poorly laid out for them, or what, IDK.  Examples include thinking the new Arrival Groups concept would deliver priority boarding for Elites, Suites and Platinums in the manner accustomed.  Another was a complete miss on Traditional Dining experience while both verbally and with written word promising it would be as it was before.  Whoever was involved from the ships was either snowballed, or wasn't the right person, or it just wasn't explained in the right way, or they were promised the moon. 

 

In the data conversion area, it's hard to say because I know from my career that a lot of data conversion issues exist because of bad data in legacy systems that needs vetting and cleansing before converting it to the new system.  Other issues can just be bad programming on the conversion and poor data audits to verify the data was converted completely and correctly.  We don't have a window into the real situation and can only make some conjectures based on the real symptoms and problems we see as end users.

 

[barrykel]

1 minute ago, Steelers36 said:

We don't have a window into the real situation and can only make some conjectures based on the real symptoms and problems we see as end users.

Maybe they'll surprise us and the web-based Ocean Ready will work perfectly the day it's released.

And maybe I'll win the lottery and buy my own cruise line.

[MISTER 67]

1 hour ago, Astro Flyer said:

We sail in 2 weeks & they were shipped with USPS in their new smaller packaging from Miami 18 days in advance & received 2 days later in the SoCal area. That falls between their confirmation email’s shipping between 10-20 days before sailing timeframe.

Thank you so much.

[ontheweb]

1 hour ago, barrykel said:

I just wish there was reason to believe that they've actually identified the root cause of the top issues. 

The root cause is they had a system, the personalizer, that worked fine. They decided in the name of progress to scrap it and put in a totally untested system that is a total screwup.

[ontheweb]

1 hour ago, barrykel said:

Maybe they'll surprise us and the web-based Ocean Ready will work perfectly the day it's released.

And maybe I'll win the lottery and buy my own cruise line.

And I'm sure your cruise line will have a much better IT experience.

[Grego]

Sorry for all those that can't make the app work or work to their satisfaction.  I am happy for all of us that have had success in downloading, inputting and enjoying the features that it does and will employ. We will have an opportunity to exercise the app while on our upcoming voyage, now less than four weeks away.

[Roberto256]

19 hours ago, barrykel said:

Maybe they'll surprise us and the web-based Ocean Ready will work perfectly the day it's released.

And maybe I'll win the lottery and buy my own cruise line.

... and be struck by lightening, while being bitten by a shark.

 

In Nebraska!

[pathi]

My wife and I just loaded the app and went thru the process to load docs etc. What I noticed is that my new Samsung galaxy s21 loaded everything with no issue. I was able to upload my passport, fill out the other required info. And even make reservations with no issue. 

 

However on my Wifes older Motorola phone, I had to uninstall reinstall the app and reboot a couple of times.

 

I wonder if the trouble is related to older phones? Or maybe phones that have a lot of apps installed? My S21 had everything installed for a couple of days. So very clean install.

[donaldsc]

I suspect that one problem might be that the Princess IT "experts" are totally unaware that different phones have different capabilities and that some people don't upgrade their phones every year just because of a few new features.  In fact I know someone who is still using a flip phone because all she wants to do w the thing is to make and receive phone calls.  She certainly does not want to have to buy a new phone just so that she can cruise on Princess.  The old manual system that all the cruise lines used worked.  Why "fix" something that ain't broke just to make thing easier and more profitable for Princess.

 

DON

[Cruise Raider]

On 10/6/2021 at 4:27 PM, SOCACRUISEGUY said:

Four of us, with 4 different phone types, have two different upcoming cruises. Green lane across the board and medallions received for the first departure. App seems to be working well for us.  🤷‍♂️

 

We've had pretty much the same experience with the app (although we did have a problem with the app when booking a B2B right after it was first allowable...fixed pronto).  

 

Also, to the OP, they are working on a web based solution for those to enter their data on a laptop.  You don't have to use the app while on the ship if you don't want to.  No need to boycott ... bon voyage!!!  

 

 

[barrykel]

53 minutes ago, donaldsc said:

I suspect that one problem might be that the Princess IT "experts" are totally unaware that different phones have different capabilities and that some people don't upgrade their phones every year just because of a few new features. 

No, anyone who's doing mobile development (and pretty much any developer) is perfectly aware of the differences between the various mobile OS's and versions thereof. Where Princess appears to be misinformed is in their estimates of smartphone ownership among their customers - I've seen reports here that they believe 90% of cruisers own smartphones, which makes no sense at all considering that just over 70% of Americans own smartphones.

[Tedferg]

Something just hit me. @barrykelhopefully you can help here and @Steelers36.

 

Why did they not start with a Web Based product ????? I assume this is more than just expanding the old Personalizer, so it is not just another page on Princess website.

 

I have some other thoughts / questions but will wait for input.