Wasn't Cruising Easier Pre-Medallion?

[brynmelyndavid]

Comparing Princess to Viking is nonsense. Viking ships are all identical and every one has fewer than 1000 passengers. The cost of a Viking cruise reflects this. If you want the ability to simply board and waft around the ship and venues then pay the premium to cruise with a small ship line. Given that Princes ships have an occupancy of around 3000 on average (happy to be corrected as the exact number) it seems more than reasonable to me to expect a bit of compromise.

 

PS. I love the ability to book things in advance of boarding...

[Poulsbo Cruisers]

4 hours ago, jennmaybe said:

That is absolutely not true.  After unsuccessful calls to customer service to request cards, I emailed Mr. Padgett.  Within 2 hrs, I received a call from the Director of Port Operations and he advised me they absolutely will provide cards to us.  We will have cards waiting on us at the port.  No problem.  
 

He did advise me that customer service provides us the info that is provided to them, which is the medallions are required.  He advised that they will provide cards to anyone who reaches out to corporate.

Since nobody is forced to use the app, I’m trying to figure out what makes a cruise card easier to use than the medallion. Either is scanned to get on and off the ship, make purchases and enter your cabin. Maybe I’m missing something. 

[Outerdog]

9 minutes ago, Poulsbo Cruisers said:

Since nobody is forced to use the app, I’m trying to figure out what makes a cruise card easier to use than the medallion. Either is scanned to get on and off the ship, make purchases and enter your cabin. Maybe I’m missing something. 

 

I guess it's "me and muh family don't wanna be tracked around the ship by that fangled technology!" type stuff. Some folks just gotta be contrarians. 

 

Bonus points for walking around the ship with the cruise card around their neck so they can use every opportunity to talk about what it is, why they have it, and how stupid everyone else is.

 

 

Edited September 10, 2023 by Outerdog

[SCX22]

1 minute ago, Poulsbo Cruisers said:

Since nobody is forced to use the app, I’m trying to figure out what makes a cruise card easier to use than the medallion. Either is scanned to get on and off the ship, make purchases and enter your cabin. Maybe I’m missing something. 

 

For me it's the part of it is principle.  The Medallion is a money maker for Princess.  With cruise cards, Princess couldn't charge for shipping (or sell shipping as part of a package) because cruise cards aren't shipped to your home pre-cruise; Princess is taking a cut of the MSRP of  Medallion shipping fee.  Princess couldn't really sell accessories for cruise cards, except for Medallions.  Now there's everything from a simple clip to jewelry and passengers are buying them.

 

The OceanNow delivery has become a monster for Princess.  It was marketed as a benefit of using the Medallion.  As of recent, Princess found out that the crew onboard couldn't keep up with orders and now you have to pay a fee for OceanNow or purchase a package.  Feel sorry for the crew that have to deliver the orders.  Most of them look lost trying to match a face to the picture that populates their device.  They waste a lot of time trying to find the passenger.  There's also lot of complaints when passengers don't get their orders.

 

It's costing Princess a lot of money to maintain the IT infrastructure for the Medallion Technology.  It's money that could be spent elsewhere to improve the passenger experience. 

[Poulsbo Cruisers]

4 minutes ago, Outerdog said:

 

I guess it's "me and muh family don't wanna be tracked around the ship by that fangled technology!" type stuff. Some folks just gotta be contrarians. 

 

Bonus points for walking around the ship with the cruise card around their neck so they can use every opportunity to talk about what it is, why they have it, and how stupid everyone else is.

 

 

I hope you don’t fly to the cruise port. That new fangled technology could get you killed. 😁😁

[Poulsbo Cruisers]

3 minutes ago, SCX22 said:

 

For me it's the part of it is principle.  The Medallion is a money maker for Princess.  With cruise cards, Princess couldn't charge for shipping (or sell shipping as part of a package) because cruise cards aren't shipped to your home pre-cruise; Princess is taking a cut of the MSRP of  Medallion shipping fee.  Princess couldn't really sell accessories for cruise cards, except for Medallions.  Now there's everything from a simple clip to jewelry and passengers are buying them.

 

The OceanNow delivery has become a monster for Princess.  It was marketed as a benefit of using the Medallion.  As of recent, Princess found out that the crew onboard couldn't keep up with orders and now you have to pay a fee for OceanNow or purchase a package.  Feel sorry for the crew that have to deliver the orders.  Most of them look lost trying to match a face to the picture that populates their device.  They waste a lot of time trying to find the passenger.  There's also lot of complaints when passengers don't get their orders.

 

It's costing Princess a lot of money to maintain the IT infrastructure for the Medallion Technology.  It's money that could be spent elsewhere to improve the passenger experience. 

So a few passengers boycotting the medallion will force Princess to abandon the millions they’ve already spent on it and go back to the old way?

[Steelers36]

11 hours ago, 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.

But the !@$^/÷/<&%/ App should work as designed.  It's only been out there since June 7, 2021.

Edited September 10, 2023 by Steelers36

[Outerdog]

5 minutes ago, Poulsbo Cruisers said:

So a few passengers boycotting the medallion will force Princess to abandon the millions they’ve already spent on it and go back to the old way?

 

That and angry letters to the CEO.

 

I guess.

[SCX22]

Just now, Poulsbo Cruisers said:

So a few passengers boycotting the medallion will force Princess to abandon the millions they’ve already spent on it and go back to the old way?

 

The pandemic put a rut in Princess' plans when it came to the Medallion.  Management didn't predict the hit it would take on their revenue and bottom line.  From a business standpoint, I think that Princess should ditch the Medallion.  It would save them money in the long run.  Just from manufacturing costs alone, a cruise card costs less to manufacture than a Medallion.  None of the other cruise lines have adopted this technology and are doing just fine.

[amypete]

I know I am not giving the majority opinion but I don’t mind the app or the medallion. Haven’t had any trouble using either - here at home pre cruising or on the ship. Discovered previously if my app was not working correctly, I just needed to update it and for us, that was all it took.

 

And the best part is I get to use it again in 40 days! Or something like that! 

[Outerdog]

5 minutes ago, amypete said:

I know I am not giving the majority opinion but I don’t mind the app or the medallion.

 

You actually are.

 

99% of passengers simply do not care about the Medallion, the app, or whatever else. They just go.

Edited September 10, 2023 by Outerdog

[SargassoPirate]

7 minutes ago, Steelers36 said:

Isn't this essentially the same thread topic that was mysteriously deleted a couple of days ago without any explaination?

Sure is.  Wonder what happened?

[SargassoPirate]

1 minute ago, Steelers36 said:

Isn't it the topic that got onto unsavory dinner companions just before the wipe?

If every thread that strayed from the original post got cancelled it would be a ghost town here.

[Steelers36]

5 hours ago, StarAFire said:

This is my first time on Princess.  We normally do NCL and RCL and they also have apps.  Compared to them, this has been the worse one.  When the app doesn't work, we try and go to the website.  The website basically says, sorry, that feature is in the app, you need to use that. 

 

At the moment, I have checked in myself, and my 70+ year old parents via the app... I think?  It looks like everything has a blue check, and we are in blue lane because I choose to pick up medallions at the port.  However, if we log onto the Princess website, it says our check in status, is incomplete?.  I tried calling Princess, and they told me they weren't sure what might be missing.  Any ideas?  Thanks!

 

 

Are you aware of the web version of the App which has a link in the Cruise Personalizer.  Also, if the App shows Blue Lane with Ocean Ready items checked,  you are okay.  What you see in Personalizer shouldn't matter based on what you wrote above.

[Ombud]

6 hours ago, Snaxmuppet said:

The medallion for me has been a real cruise-enhancer. I find the ease of use of the medallion when on board great. Yes, the app is rubbish but I still find it a huge improvement over the old way.

Exactly! I like the medallion but honestly flip back to the old Ocean Concierge when onboard half the time .... the one used with the medallion in 2019 as it's more user friendly.  Prefer (& use) the web version (https://royal.princess.com/homepage) but I prefer getting the medallion at home .... back in 2019 I had to get it at the port. 

 

Edited September 10, 2023 by Ombud

[Steelers36]

4 minutes ago, SargassoPirate said:

Sure is.  Wonder what happened?

You would have to message a CC Host.

[StarAFire]

14 minutes ago, Steelers36 said:

Are you aware of the web version of the App which has a link in the Cruise Personalizer.  Also, if the App shows Blue Lane with Ocean Ready items checked,  you are okay.  What you see in Personalizer shouldn't matter based on what you wrote above.

I used the one that was on the Check In page where it says web version after the top part which tries to tell folks to get the app. At this point we figured just show up at the port. In 20+ cruises in other lines with apps and stuff, lol this is the only one where after check in we can’t tell if 100% we are checked in. Not the greatest user experience. Hopefully it gets better once we make it on the ship

[navywife3]

6 hours ago, Torfamm said:

I’m not doubting there there are people who are having problems with the app and it certainly has a few areas for improvement, but in 12 cruises since the restart and 5 booked in the next year, I haven’t had any trouble using it.
 

I’m pretty sure I’m not alone. The people who aren’t having any issues probably just don’t chime in to mention that though.

I’ll chime in, my husband and I love the app and medallion. The convenience of ordering  a drink in a packed “Crooners” without trying to flag someone down was fantastic. Order, Relax, Talk, Drink arrives…Voila! We also loved booking all our MDR times and which MDR ahead of time, “Where’s hubby?” Check app,  still at spa appt and he can see I’m at “Bellini’s” when he is done.

[donswife]

We love the medallions because it makes it so much easier to find each other on the ship.

[memoak]

1 hour ago, Outerdog said:

 

I guess it's "me and muh family don't wanna be tracked around the ship by that fangled technology!" type stuff. Some folks just gotta be contrarians. 

 

Bonus points for walking around the ship with the cruise card around their neck so they can use every opportunity to talk about what it is, why they have it, and how stupid everyone else is.

 

 

But they don’t realize that even without the medallion they are being tracked by cameras 

[desertdwellingsailor]

12 hours ago, SargassoPirate said:

The Medallion and the wonky app seem to have only complicated booking and taking a cruise with Princess...

I love this discussion. True story. In October my wife and I went on our first Princess Cruise with her brother, his wife, and her parents. The rest of them had been on 5-7 princess cruises pre covid and they were showing my wife and I the ropes as newbies. But they were completely lost with the app which came naturally to both of us. We do have computer science degrees. 🙂

 

So, we had to help them get all the green lane stuff going and when we got on the ship and I used the app to have a coffee drink brought to me they were mystified. It was funny because they were trying to arrange everything and show us the ropes but the tech threw them for a loop. And it wasn't that they aren't smart. Her brother is a CPA and his wife a professional musician. But they were thrown by the new stuff like having to pick a time to embark which is nearly impossible in the app.

 

Clearly the user interface of the app and web site are poor. But at the same time the app has some good features. I like being about to chat with the crew from my phone instead of waiting in line at some counter. And I ordered a bunch of stuff from the app on my two Princess Cruises. And I like how the medallion lets the crew know it is me and makes embarkation faster.

 

Anyway, I totally get why people don't want to use an app and Princess could make it easier to use. But it has some value for me.

 

Bobby

[Poulsbo Cruisers]

Everything changes with time. Technology is part of our lives and you either accept it or complain about it. When I started cruising in 1990 no one had even heard of Wifi. Airfare was included in the price of the cruise. There were no specialty restaurants and no anytime dining. On seven night cruises, there were two formal nights, two informal nights and three casual nights. Every time a change is made there will be those who complain, but will eventually accept it. It just takes some longer to get there. The medallion is not going away. Princess will not abandon it especially when so many like it. I’ve only cruised once with it and that was 18 months ago. I thought it was great and even my wife, who is at times technology challenged, like it. We’ve cruised twice since with other lines, including Viking Ocean, and missed the Princess medallion. 

[Rick&Jeannie]

1 hour ago, Steelers36 said:

Isn't this essentially the same thread topic that was mysteriously deleted a couple of days ago without any explaination?

Yes!  I was looking for it earlier today...GONE! I initially thought maybe it had been moved...NOPE!

[Rick&Jeannie]

This is all you need to keep them from tracking you on the ship...just put the medallion underneath...

 

[DrSea]

9 hours ago, Outerdog said:

 

You're not. There is a very vocal minority who complain loudly. I just don't understand it since the app is absolutely 100% not needed to cruise with Princess.

 

I think the ships have moved on from allowing folks to swap the medallion for a classic cruise card, but reading the website suggests that is no longer an option. The medallion is the same as any old-school prox card used for door entry since forever, so the medallion for entry is really not the problem.

 

The talk of glossy pamphlets, being greeted with champagne upon boarding and escorted to your room, set rigid dining times, formal nights... the world and the industry have moved on. 

 

Let me repeat this part for the folks in the back who are upset: you do not need the app to cruise.

IMHO, it's a little disingenuous to say that the app isn't needed to cruise when staff ask you to use the app for everything, including booking reservations for dining, making complaints to customer service, or just asking for more towels. 

 

When I try cruising without downloading the app, I get eye rolls and sighs from the staff.