Call from Princess?

[Moondogy]

I have my 3rd medallion cruise coming up in August. The first cruise it only unlocked the door one time, and let us use it for a purchase once. All information did not need to be reentered the second time because it could still be done by computer. The next cruise I had all info done by computer, after the switch I had to try for a few months to get it back into the app, they had removed the ability to do it by computer. All apps get updated every so often to keep software and hardware in sync. My passport is not new and will need renewed in a couple of years, so that means I will have to go through this crap all over again. I am now retired and do not plan on buying a new phone just to go on a cruise. While I do like that princess gives OBC to veterans while other lines do nothing, I will have a hard time not to consider a different line. 

Edited January 20, 2022 by Moondogy

[brisalta]

46 minutes ago, Moondogy said:

I have my 3rd medallion cruise coming up in August. The first cruise it only unlocked the door one time, and let us use it for a purchase once. All information did not need to be reentered the second time because it could still be done by computer. The next cruise I had all info done by computer, after the switch I had to try for a few months to get it back into the app, they had removed the ability to do it by computer. All apps get updated every so often to keep software and hardware in sync. My passport is not new and will need renewed in a couple of years, so that means I will have to go through this crap all over again. I am now retired and do not plan on buying a new phone just to go on a cruise. While I do like that princess gives OBC to veterans while other lines do nothing, I will have a hard time not to consider a different line. 

 

For amusement I found Princess twitter feed https://twitter.com/PrincessCruises and dug into a few of the threads. Low and behold complaints about the Medallion app are there as well.

 

[K.T.B.]

2 hours ago, roxievegas said:

I have an easy solution to all of this.

 

Princess - please send me my medallion and a new phone that the app will work with.  You pay and I cruise.

 

[Mary Ann 2]

23 hours ago, pris993 said:

Are you sure only once?

We used the app and got it all working fine for our cruise in August.  All our data was there for November cruise this year and we had a green light as soon as August cruise was over.  When Nov. cruise was over, we now have a green light for Oct. 2022 cruise.  So yes, I only entered the data once.

[coopco]

14 hours ago, Coffeeluvr05 said:

I hear you. Keep in mind there was probably a time when people complained that they had to have a computer to do these things and yet here we are.

I had an aunt that once complained to me because I had an answering machine. She felt everyone should answer their phone and the person calling should keep calling until they got the person they were trying to reach. I was young then and really busy and said if I call someone and they weren’t home and I can’t leave a message, I just don’t have time to keep calling them back until I can catch them at home, willing to answer the phone. My time is too valuable. I agree with you. Here we are. Times change. I embrace technology but admit it does have its challenges. But in the long run, it saves me time from having to do everything manually (e.g. using a typewriter with whiteout, doing math without a calculator, making copies on a ditto machine).

[caribill]

16 hours ago, Coffeeluvr05 said:

I hear you. Keep in mind there was probably a time when people complained that they had to have a computer to do these things and yet here we are.

 

But at least it worked on a computer.

[Gatorzzzz]

Rats!!!  My  Victrola just quit working; how am I supposed to listen to music now?

[Arzeena]

Got robocall to get into green lane by uploading security photo.

[Roberto256]

On 1/19/2022 at 3:09 AM, caribill said:

 

Just remember that the smart device hat supports the app today may no longer support it in a future app version.

 

Princess' desire to have customers use the app should not dictate people's smart device replacement schedule.

 

Particularly as Princess does not provide any list of phones that they have tested the app with, and are 'approved'.

 

What princess needs to do, is to offer it's customers...

 

...wait for it...

 

A PRINCESS PHONE!

 

 

One can probably still get a princess phone on eBay...

 

[roxievegas]

52 minutes ago, Roberto256 said:

 

Particularly as Princess does not provide any list of phones that they have tested the app with, and are 'approved'.

 

What princess needs to do, is to offer it's customers...

 

...wait for it...

 

A PRINCESS PHONE!

 

 

One can probably still get a princess phone on eBay...

 

I have one - it is red.  But the cord to the wall is only 8 ft.  

 

Seriously - no one is saying that new technology shouldn't be used, BUT don't make it the only way until it works, and there is a way for everyone can use it

[ontheweb]

11 minutes ago, roxievegas said:

I have one - it is red.  But the cord to the wall is only 8 ft.  

 

Seriously - no one is saying that new technology shouldn't be used, BUT don't make it the only way until it works, and there is a way for everyone can use it

Unfortunately, if you make it the only way, you get promoted to the president of Princess. If you do the obvious thing and allow the old way to continue working as it did before, you probably get fired. Could that be the reason that they seem to have so much of a problem restoring it to the personalizer? Did they fire everyone who knew the previous technology?

[caribill]

2 hours ago, ontheweb said:

Could that be the reason that they seem to have so much of a problem restoring it to the personalizer? Did they fire everyone who knew the previous technology?

 

I suspect the problem is that when they started the phone app, they built a whole new database.

 

The computer Personalizer used the old database.

 

In re-implementing the Personalizer capabilities, they must design it to work with the new app database and all the new types of data that never existed in the old Personalizer database. Not a simple task.

[ontheweb]

1 hour ago, caribill said:

 

I suspect the problem is that when they started the phone app, they built a whole new database.

 

The computer Personalizer used the old database.

 

In re-implementing the Personalizer capabilities, they must design it to work with the new app database and all the new types of data that never existed in the old Personalizer database. Not a simple task.

It would have been a simple task if they believed in "if it ain't broke, don't fix it". Does anyone recall multiple complaints about using the personalizer?

[Moondogy]

On 1/19/2022 at 10:51 PM, Mary Ann 2 said:

We used the app and got it all working fine for our cruise in August.  All our data was there for November cruise this year and we had a green light as soon as August cruise was over.  When Nov. cruise was over, we now have a green light for Oct. 2022 cruise.  So yes, I only entered the data once.

This is fine until they redo the whole app for a 3rd time or 4th time. I had everything entered on the first medallion cruise in 2017, it was like 3 or 4 different apps. Next came another new app new app for my 2nd cruise and everything had to be reentered.Now for this 3rd cruise I had to reenter everything again because it had changed again. I just wonder if this will be the last app, once they get if fully working or if they will need to do it all over again and we'll have to reenter everything all over again because it is a different format.

Edited January 23, 2022 by Moondogy

[paulandjoyce]

On 1/18/2022 at 4:54 PM, Shelly97060 said:

Last week we got a robo call from Princess reminding us of Covid protocols and reminder to bring negative tests to port check in.  Also a blurb about getting Ocean Ready with Medallion app. 

Same with us - both my husband and I received robo calls to remind us to complete our check in on the medallion app - plus bring our documents to check in.  It showed up as spam, but if I am remembering correctly had california area codes.

[brisalta]

On 1/20/2022 at 9:40 AM, caribill said:

 

I suspect the problem is that when they started the phone app, they built a whole new database.

 

The computer Personalizer used the old database.

 

In re-implementing the Personalizer capabilities, they must design it to work with the new app database and all the new types of data that never existed in the old Personalizer database. Not a simple task.

 

There would be absolutely no reason to use a new database for the phone app. If for some reason they had a genuine need to migrate to a new database they did an extremely poor job of it.

It is a relatively trivial problem to add additional tables and relationships if needed.

I worked on far more complicated database application system than Princess uses and we had multiple different client front ends that used the same database back end. The client front ends used technology of different vintages with no problem at all.

Edited January 24, 2022 by brisalta

[Roberto256]

On 1/19/2022 at 9:31 AM, FritzG said:

We got the calls--one on my cell and one on our land line.  It mentioned finishing the app., 

 

I really think finishing the app is on princess and accenture.

 

But, they have been doing so badly at it, blindly asking customers for help is

probably a good move.

 

[K.T.B.]

On 1/20/2022 at 8:25 AM, Roberto256 said:

 

Particularly as Princess does not provide any list of phones that they have tested the app with, and are 'approved'.

 

What princess needs to do, is to offer it's customers...

 

...wait for it...

 

A PRINCESS PHONE!

 

 

One can probably still get a princess phone on eBay...

 

 

Amazon:  https://smile.amazon.com/Crosley-CR59-PI-Princess-Button-Technology/dp/B0000DHVMG/ref=sr_1_3?crid=2W1WEE5QMSR7Q&keywords=princess+phones+for+landline&qid=1643060391&sprefix=princess+phone%2Caps%2C97&sr=8-3

 

[caribill]

On 1/20/2022 at 6:01 AM, Gatorzzzz said:

Rats!!!  My  Victrola just quit working; how am I supposed to listen to music now?

 

https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/music/story/2022-01-05/adele-taylor-swift-vinyl-lp-shortage

[Mike45LC]

On 1/18/2022 at 5:53 PM, Coral said:

Until you have to replace your passport or have a name change, etc...

My wife and I have both had to renew our passports since the first time we dealt with this Medallion BS.  So we are both having to re-enter our passport info.  At least, we will have to once I contaminate my phone with this new "app."  Unless I just go deal with it at the pier.

[Mike45LC]

On 1/18/2022 at 8:56 PM, startedwithamouse said:

So, in ten years max and possibly never with the name change. Lots of cruises. 🙂

I for one have been sailing Princess for almost 40 years.  So I am on my fourth Passport.  I managed to give Princess my passport info for each cruise long before they thought of this stupid Medallion monstrosity, which only makes it harder.

[ontheweb]

3 hours ago, Mike45LC said:

I for one have been sailing Princess for almost 40 years.  So I am on my fourth Passport.  I managed to give Princess my passport info for each cruise long before they thought of this stupid Medallion monstrosity, which only makes it harder.

"medallion monstrosity" that name should stick.