Apple mail, iMessage, iCloud users. Beware of Princess MedallionNet

[MickeysTown]

Princess networking (MedallionNet) is configured to disallow access to Apple's email, iMessages, And iCloud.com. 🤢

So if you are cruising with Princess you will not be able to access any of those services until you have access to land services.  

Tested on the Majestic Princess Alaska cruise. 

 

(They do allow access to What’s App and gmail)

[clueless2]

Did you talk to anyone on board about this because I can't see any reason why the would do that.

[MickeysTown]

1 minute ago, clueless2 said:

Did you talk to anyone on board about this because I can't see any reason why the would do that.

Yes.   Discussed with Toar, the onboard “internet manager”.   He stated that Apple's services would generate too much of a load on the Princess network.  

So you can’t even web to icloud.com.  apple.com is accessible though. 

And vpn is also blocked. 

[MickeysTown]

As a note, also tried to use the airmail app on my iPad to access the emails.  Did not work

[t&atravel]

Just disembarked the Ruby (Alaska) this morning.  I sent and received iMessages to people at home most days.  Sending pictures is difficult but simple messages worked great.  Also iMessaged friends onboard.  Received mail with no problems either.  Icloud photos (upload from phone then to ipad) was incredibly slow because the wifi (not Internet) is just not strong enough.  They did load eventually. Not sure why you were told these apple services would not work.  Sounds like a bunch of hooey.  Fyi…i could not send group texts or send texts to android phones. 

[jeno]

If this is true it will be a huge problem for us on the 2023 world cruise.  

[MickeysTown]

2 minutes ago, t&atravel said:

Just disembarked the Ruby (Alaska) this morning.  I sent and received iMessages to people at home most days.  Sending pictures is difficult but simple messages worked great.  Also iMessaged friends onboard.  Received mail with no problems either.  Icloud photos (upload from phone then to ipad) was incredibly slow because the wifi (not Internet) is just not strong enough.  They did load eventually. Not sure why you were told these apple services would not work.  Sounds like a bunch of hooey.  Fyi…i could not send group texts or send texts to android phones. 

So you were on the New MedallionNet?   We have two iPhones and two iPads.  None work 

[t&atravel]

What is “new medallionnet”. I was just on for the last 10 days. How much newer can you get.

 

We also have 2 iphones and 2 ipads. Kept them all with wifi switched on in airplane mode (not internet…we switched between devices for that).  Apples iMessage only requires a wifi connection, not an Internet connection and you can only text other apple users.  Email does require internet of course to download from your providers server.  The icloud for iphotos only needed wifi.

 

edit:  we also were on a cruise in April with no problems.

Edited August 29, 2022 by t&atravel

[cr8tiv1]

@MickeysTownI have been texting with a friend on the Caribbean Princess to Greenland.  Due to internet issues (non existent for most of the voyage), they had difficulties receiving emails, but texting worked well.  Others have reported that the Medallion Net did not work well for Alaska voyages.  

 

Did they internet manager mention how "new" New was?  I had no trouble FaceTiming a tour of the Grand Princess in April.

[Steelers36]

1 hour ago, MickeysTown said:

Princess networking (MedallionNet) is configured to disallow access to Apple's email, iMessages, And iCloud.com. 🤢

So if you are cruising with Princess you will not be able to access any of those services until you have access to land services.  

Tested on the Majestic Princess Alaska cruise. 

 

(They do allow access to What’s App and gmail)

The iMessage part seems odd to me.  I am not an Apple user at all, but I know I have read many folks who can iMessage other Apple users without even having paid for MedallionNet.  A wireless connection (Wifi) seems all that is needed. 

 

ETA:  As an Android phone owner, we have always been able to use WhatsApp on board and I really like that App for communicating on and off the ship.

Edited August 29, 2022 by Steelers36

[Alanr204]

This absolutely was not the case onboard Regal in June. All the Apple services you mentioned worked perfectly (albeit slowly). 

[Mary Ann 2]

We didn't have any problems in May with a MacBook Pro or iPads or iPhones connecting or getting internet. We were on Panama Canal Cruise.

 

[dweeb]

My Last cruise on the Majestic was in March 2022, and all of these services worked with the medallion net connected internet.  These also worked on the Crown Last month.  

 

If you mean on the stand alone Medallion net without paying for the internet, I would agree that these will not work.  If you re saying that you did have an internet package and these did not work, that would be a total surprise and very concerning not to be able to text someone.

 

 

[dog]

Not so for us in May 2022 on Discovery Vancouver to Ketchikan to Seattle.  Slow, disruptive service near Vancouver, otherwise all worked fine. Sent, received emails, photos, used messenger.

 

[MickeysTown]

2 hours ago, dweeb said:

My Last cruise on the Majestic was in March 2022, and all of these services worked with the medallion net connected internet.  These also worked on the Crown Last month.  

 

If you mean on the stand alone Medallion net without paying for the internet, I would agree that these will not work.  If you re saying that you did have an internet package and these did not work, that would be a total surprise and very concerning not to be able to text someone.

 

 

We paid for each device.  So a total of 4 devices on medallionnet. 

And the internet mgr insisted that it can’t work.  

And later my wife talked with someone that had it working.  

So I don’t understand what is different.   

Very frustrating when the “help desk” is not.  

[MickeysTown]

2 hours ago, dog said:

Not so for us in May 2022 on Discovery Vancouver to Ketchikan to Seattle.  Slow, disruptive service near Vancouver, otherwise all worked fine. Sent, received emails, photos, used messenger.

 

messenger or Apple Messages (ie, iMessages)?

[Torfamm]

5 hours ago, MickeysTown said:

Princess networking (MedallionNet) is configured to disallow access to Apple's email, iMessages, And iCloud.com. 🤢

So if you are cruising with Princess you will not be able to access any of those services until you have access to land services.  

Tested on the Majestic Princess Alaska cruise. 

 

(They do allow access to What’s App and gmail)

They all work perfectly on the Grand Princess 

[PacnGoNow]

8 hours ago, MickeysTown said:

Princess networking (MedallionNet) is configured to disallow access to Apple's email, iMessages, And iCloud.com. 🤢

So if you are cruising with Princess you will not be able to access any of those services until you have access to land services.  

Tested on the Majestic Princess Alaska cruise. 

 

(They do allow access to What’s App and gmail)

That does not sound right at all to me.
 

We’ve not had problems with Apple devices. Not sure he gave you sound information.

Did they just recently change their satellite services?

 

Problem areas have been mostly Alaska and Europe due to the High Orbit Satellites they are using, has nothing to do with Apple devices. RCCL is experimenting with SpaceX satellites, not really great either, so far. 

 

 

Edited August 29, 2022 by PacnGoNow

[clueless2]

Sounds to me like he just didn't want to spend the time to determine what the problem was.  I really can't believe they would block iMail and iMessages.  They use VERY little data and no more than Gmail or WhatsApp.  I could understand if they blocked YouTube or Netflix.  Video is a data hog.

[azbirdmom]

Can't speak to the rest of it but iMessages worked for me as recently as a month ago on the Discovery Princess.  Access to everything else was slow to non-existent, but at least I could get texts out to others.

[GonzoWCS]

no issues so far on any our voyages

 

Cheers

[FraudBroad]

My mother and I have cruised three times since the restart (Enchanted twice and Caribbean once). We both have iPhones and iPads. Used them extensively and never had any issues with mail, iMessage or FaceTime.

[ocean sounds]

9 hours ago, MickeysTown said:

We paid for each device.  So a total of 4 devices on medallionnet. 

And the internet mgr insisted that it can’t work.  

And later my wife talked with someone that had it working.  

So I don’t understand what is different.   

Very frustrating when the “help desk” is not.  

This example is from a different cruise line recently with iPhone and iPad.  They would not work until I changed these settings :  under your phone Settings - Wi-Fi, click the “i. in the circle” next to the Princess wi-fi you are connected to.  Then slide these buttons to left to turn off - Private Wi-Fi Address, and Limit IP Address Tracking.    

 

Worked for me to be able to use iMessage, get mail and surf the web. But again, it was not on Princess.  

 

 

[CineGraphic]

The internet on Alaskan sailings has been notoriously bad, so I can easily see Princess throttling certain features to prevent them from eating up the limited bandwidth they have to deal with.

[t&atravel]

6 minutes ago, CineGraphic said:

The internet on Alaskan sailings has been notoriously bad, so I can easily see Princess throttling certain features to prevent them from eating up the limited bandwidth they have to deal with.

Just got back from Alaska yesterday on the Ruby and had no problems with the apple services. They did not throttle it.  Yes the internet was really really slow, non existent in Skagway, but I still received my emails.  Apple’s iMessage does not need the paid internet to work, it works on wifi only, so slow or no internet does not effect it except if you are trying to send a picture.