Wasn't Cruising Easier Pre-Medallion?

[leck57]

10 hours ago, ontheweb said:

You can no longer just show up for anytime dining? Wow, another reason to no longer even consider Princess!

 

Oh you can but it's nothing like a smooth process that it once was.

[Z0nker]

On 9/10/2023 at 3:58 AM, SargassoPirate said:

The Medallion and the wonky app seem to have only complicated booking and taking a cruise with Princess.  I've tried to work with the app, but I have little patience for having to enter information multiple times because it disappears the next time I open it.  And I do not like trying to decide what time and where I want to eat weeks, even months ahead.

 

For my next Princess cruise, I'm going old school.  I'll print my booking information and show up at the pier.  If I want a drink, I'll flag down a server. If I want something to eat, I'll check my watch and the Patter and see what's available.   Just weeks before that cruise, I have a cruise on Viking and there is no comparison to the pre-cruise rigmarole.  No wonky app and I just show up with my booking information.  They even mailed me sturdy tags for my luggage.  It'll be an interesting comparison.

 

My idea of a cruise is to relax and enjoy being at sea.  Don't complicate it.

The first time I cruised with the medallion app it was wonky, too. Then I updated the app to the latest version. Been fine ever since. But it is slow sync when you open it  so please be patient. 

[Z0nker]

On 9/10/2023 at 3:58 AM, SargassoPirate said:

The Medallion and the wonky app seem to have only complicated booking and taking a cruise with Princess.  I've tried to work with the app, but I have little patience for having to enter information multiple times because it disappears the next time I open it.  And I do not like trying to decide what time and where I want to eat weeks, even months ahead.

 

For my next Princess cruise, I'm going old school.  I'll print my booking information and show up at the pier.  If I want a drink, I'll flag down a server. If I want something to eat, I'll check my watch and the Patter and see what's available.   Just weeks before that cruise, I have a cruise on Viking and there is no comparison to the pre-cruise rigmarole.  No wonky app and I just show up with my booking information.  They even mailed me sturdy tags for my luggage.  It'll be an interesting comparison.

 

My idea of a cruise is to relax and enjoy being at sea.  Don't complicate it.

If you want a printed Princess Patter every day, let someone know. I believe the default is no patter. 

[Z0nker]

4 minutes ago, leck57 said:

 

Oh you can but it's nothing like a smooth process that it once was.

Do they still send you away with a pager if you show up at the MDR without a reservation? 

[leck57]

1 hour ago, Steelers36 said:

Of course you can.  Don't listen to the naysayers.

 

He was referring to a comment that I made, which I clarified above. However my experience on the last few cruises we've been on is that just turning up now to a dining room without a booking is a much more difficult process. Usually get sent away with a pager despite there being heaps of empty tables just sitting there. Anyway, this topic has been done to death and it isn't going to change. 

[Steelers36]

4 minutes ago, Z0nker said:

Do they still send you away with a pager if you show up at the MDR without a reservation? 

They might suggest a different DR.  You might be seated quickly if willing to share.  Otherwise, could be a wait, but tables turnover all the time once the first diners start finishing.  Depends on the ship and guest mix.  

[Steelers36]

1 minute ago, leck57 said:

 

He was referring to a comment that I made, which I clarified above. However my experience on the last few cruises we've been on is that just turning up now to a dining room without a booking is a much more difficult process. Usually get sent away with a pager despite there being heaps of empty tables just sitting there. Anyway, this topic has been done to death and it isn't going to change. 

Like a land restaurant, empty tables may be booked.  But they only hold them for so long.

[leck57]

6 minutes ago, Z0nker said:

Do they still send you away with a pager if you show up at the MDR without a reservation? 

 

Most times. The staff usually crowd around the computer screen looking flustered and send you on your way with a pager. Obviously they want people to book but we like flexibility and don't want a fixed time, for most things when we're on holidays. 

[leck57]

3 minutes ago, Steelers36 said:

They might suggest a different DR.  You might be seated quickly if willing to share.  Otherwise, could be a wait, but tables turnover all the time once the first diners start finishing.  Depends on the ship and guest mix.  

 

And the dining room staff. Some appear clueless how to work the newer system. I don't like it but if we just have to wait in a bar, no massive problem. Not one that is going to wreck my holiday anyway. 

 

 

[SCX22]

11 minutes ago, Z0nker said:

Do they still send you away with a pager if you show up at the MDR without a reservation? 

 

If on a Royal class ship and are given a pager at the aft dining room on Deck 6, don't stray too far.  The signal is limited and sometimes won't buzz when prompted.  We went to Wheelhouse Bar (Crown Grill Bar on some Royal Class ships) on the Regal Princess, a deck above and little forward, and the buzzer didn't vibrate for an hour.  When we went to check we were being paged a half hour ago.

[Z0nker]

11 minutes ago, Steelers36 said:

They might suggest a different DR.  You might be seated quickly if willing to share.  Otherwise, could be a wait, but tables turnover all the time once the first diners start finishing.  Depends on the ship and guest mix.  

All true 

[Z0nker]

3 minutes ago, SCX22 said:

 

If on a Royal class ship and are given a pager at the aft dining room on Deck 6, don't stray too far.  The signal is limited and sometimes won't buzz when prompted.  We went to Wheelhouse Bar (Crown Grill Bar on some Royal Class ships) on the Regal Princess, a deck above and little forward, and the buzzer didn't vibrate for an hour.  When we went to check we were being paged a half hour ago.

Makes sense. There’s a lot of metal between the aft dining room and the rest of the ship. Our one and only pager experience involved the DR right off the piazza and a trip to Vines. 

[Outerdog]

19 minutes ago, Steelers36 said:

Like a land restaurant, empty tables may be booked.  But they only hold them for so long.

 

And also, like a land restaurant, there may be open tables sitting there without sufficient staff to handle them.

 

The same people complaining they couldn't get sat when they look across the room and see 7 empty tables are the same ones who will run back here to CC and complain that it took 3 hours to get through a Crown Grill dinner. And they won't be able to make the connection.

 

It's obvious when people haven't worked in a food/service industry at some point in their lives.

[neeko]

On 9/10/2023 at 6:58 AM, SargassoPirate said:

The Medallion and the wonky app seem to have only complicated booking and taking a cruise with Princess.  I've tried to work with the app, but I have little patience for having to enter information multiple times because it disappears the next time I open it.  And I do not like trying to decide what time and where I want to eat weeks, even months ahead.

 

For my next Princess cruise, I'm going old school.  I'll print my booking information and show up at the pier.  If I want a drink, I'll flag down a server. If I want something to eat, I'll check my watch and the Patter and see what's available.   Just weeks before that cruise, I have a cruise on Viking and there is no comparison to the pre-cruise rigmarole.  No wonky app and I just show up with my booking information.  They even mailed me sturdy tags for my luggage.  It'll be an interesting comparison.

 

My idea of a cruise is to relax and enjoy being at sea.  Don't complicate it.

 

[neeko]

I totally agree. Have cruised 23 times with Celebrity with no need of a medallion  or an Iphone. Don't own one and don't plan on getting one. I will also go old school and if that does not work for us we will be going back to Celebrity. Wanted to try Princess but now not so sure

[terrierjohn]

14 hours ago, Z0nker said:

If you want a printed Princess Patter every day, let someone know. I believe the default is no patter. 

We got one every day on Sky and I certainly did not amend any defaults.

[MrSchwump]

Last February in the Enchanted, we had Anytime dining (or whatever it’s calling itself now). We made reservations using the app on the nights we wanted to eat in the MDR and had no problems. We never waited more than a few minutes past our reservation time. 
We did Anytime dining when it was first introduced and, yes, it was faster. But back then most people were still doing finite seating times and were wearing tuxedos. 

[Cruisemeister2002]

On 9/11/2023 at 12:15 PM, SargassoPirate said:

And once on board, Princess can tell exactly who simply uses the medallion as a door key and who uses the app and what for.  There's the data that they'll pay attention to.

 

For example.  There's a guest entertainer who as it turns out is not worth wasting 45 minutes of cruise time on and people start to leave.  They can tell.

That in itself is a good idea as the old type questionaire was open to people either saying they didn't attend such and such an artist or that they were o.k. when in fact they were very poor. I think we have all been subject to talks or some other form of entertainmnet that's cringeworthy. we did a cruise on Ventura in March/April and two tribute acts apart the rest of the fare dished up was pretty poor. Worst cruise I have had in fact. That's the main reason for trying Princess as opposed to P&O.

[memoak]

10 hours ago, neeko said:

I totally agree. Have cruised 23 times with Celebrity with no need of a medallion  or an Iphone. Don't own one and don't plan on getting one. I will also go old school and if that does not work for us we will be going back to Celebrity. Wanted to try Princess but now not so sure

Medallion or cruise card they work the same. They open your cabin door and let you charge things. You only need a smart phone to do things like order on line or track spouses. It is really just a small object rather than a card

[disneyochem]

We really enjoy cruising with the Medallion.  The app has always worked well for us but it’s pretty similar to other cruise lines’ apps.  What we like about the Medallion is not having to carry a cruise card and having the ability to find ship mates on board.  We used similar technology when visiting Disney World and had always said that cruise lines should utilize this.
 

We miss having this technology when cruising on another line.  I hate cruise cards and lanyards.  I get enough of that at work….

 

My one pet peeve about the Medallion—I wish Princess would set up a recycling bin after disembarking.  We don’t need these 30+ magnets!  I do recycle them at home but it would be so much easier to just drop them off on the way off the ship!

[IndyKid]

 The last time we cruised was 2016 on RC Allure Of The Seas, we used our card for everything.  This upcoming trip in December will be our first time with Princess. 

 

I've had no issues with using the app, I've loaded everything into it and ordered our RFID tags AKA medallions so we're both green lane and ready to go. We like to eat around 6 PM so I've already set up our dinner reservations for the Palm MDR and 1 night at each of the specialty restaurants. I'm now 60 (as of today) but I'm an electrical engineer so I'm used to dealing with tech but I understand that others might find it difficult. 

 

My TA has an older couple (older than us) who only have flip phones and no PC at home so she's having to do it all for them like in the "old" days. A bit challenging but doable.

 

I'm looking forward to seeing how the medallion works aboard ship, my favorite thing will be soaking in one of the hot tubs and having drinks delivered to me...

 

[memoak]

31 minutes ago, IndyKid said:

 The last time we cruised was 2016 on RC Allure Of The Seas, we used our card for everything.  This upcoming trip in December will be our first time with Princess. 

 

I've had no issues with using the app, I've loaded everything into it and ordered our RFID tags AKA medallions so we're both green lane and ready to go. We like to eat around 6 PM so I've already set up our dinner reservations for the Palm MDR and 1 night at each of the specialty restaurants. I'm now 60 (as of today) but I'm an electrical engineer so I'm used to dealing with tech but I understand that others might find it difficult. 

 

My TA has an older couple (older than us) who only have flip phones and no PC at home so she's having to do it all for them like in the "old" days. A bit challenging but doable.

 

I'm looking forward to seeing how the medallion works aboard ship, my favorite thing will be soaking in one of the hot tubs and having drinks delivered to me...

 

If you are in a hot tub and want to order something you will not use the medallion but would need to use a phone   Don’t crop it in the water

[IndyKid]

6 minutes ago, memoak said:

If you are in a hot tub and want to order something you will not use the medallion but would need to use a phone   Don’t drop it in the water

You bet! I always keep it safely away from the edge of the tub. 

[Paula_MacFan]

2 hours ago, disneyochem said:

My one pet peeve about the Medallion—I wish Princess would set up a recycling bin after disembarking.  We don’t need these 30+ magnets!  I do recycle them at home but it would be so much easier to just drop them off on the way off the ship!

Agree with this 100%!  Also dislike all the unnecessary packaging when medallions are sent to your home. Otherwise we really like the technology and features.

[Guest Snaxmuppet]

1 hour ago, IndyKid said:

You bet! I always keep it safely away from the edge of the tub. 

My phone is waterproof - YAY!