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

[MickeysTown]

14 hours ago, clueless2 said:

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.

I agree.   We just left Ketchikan.  Back on Medallionnet. 

And just like magic, everything is working.   

Maybe my talk with the Princess Loyalty Ambassador had an effect 

[suzyed]

On 8/28/2022 at 8:52 PM, 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)

Hmmm? Had no trouble on the Crown last month.

[Shelly97060]

I have been on multiple cruises since the restart and have had no issue with any of my Apple devices - including regularly using iMessage and FaceTime audio.  I was also able to access iCloud.  Everything worked fine with the exception of Alaska where the internet was slow to non- existent but that had nothing to do with apple devices. 

Edited August 30, 2022 by Shelly97060
Fixed error

[cr8tiv1]

1 hour ago, MickeysTown said:

I agree.   We just left Ketchikan.  Back on Medallionnet. 

And just like magic, everything is working.   

Maybe my talk with the Princess Loyalty Ambassador had an effect 

 

The Loyalty and Events Coordinator can work magic, but I don't think she had anything to do with your ability to connect all of your Apple devices to the Medallion Net.  

 

You had mentioned that you spoke to someone that was connected (post #15).  Were you able to get more information from them (How did they do it?  When did they use their devices?  etc). 

 

I doubt Princess will ever acknowledge that their internet provider does not work well in Alaska (or Greenland).  

 

Did you return to the Internet Manager and ask what the "real" problem was?  Is Princess prorating any passengers for non-service Medallion Net days?

 

Thanks for getting back to us.  Sorry you seem to be the only one that had this issue (from all the other posters that were able to connect).

[MickeysTown]

4 hours ago, MickeysTown said:

I agree.   We just left Ketchikan.  Back on Medallionnet. 

And just like magic, everything is working.   

Maybe my talk with the Princess Loyalty Ambassador had an effect 

I guess spoke too soon.  Now that we are away from the port, it stopped working.     

I'll see what happens w(en we get close to Juneau in the morning 

[MickeysTown]

3 hours ago, cr8tiv1 said:

 

The Loyalty and Events Coordinator can work magic, but I don't think she had anything to do with your ability to connect all of your Apple devices to the Medallion Net.  

 

You had mentioned that you spoke to someone that was connected (post #15).  Were you able to get more information from them (How did they do it?  When did they use their devices?  etc). 

 

I doubt Princess will ever acknowledge that their internet provider does not work well in Alaska (or Greenland).  

 

Did you return to the Internet Manager and ask what the "real" problem was?  Is Princess prorating any passengers for non-service Medallion Net days?

 

Thanks for getting back to us.  Sorry you seem to be the only one that had this issue (from all the other posters that were able to connect).

I’ll see what tomorrow brings.  Right now, email works; I can log into icloud.com but can’t read email or my calendar there ( or anything else); also iMessage is not working.  

 

[cr8tiv1]

Juneau is pretty far north.  I would be surprised if you will get satellite signal.  At least you will be able to pick up emails and iMessage while in Juneau with your mobile devices.  

[Jadn13]

I used imessage and Facetime on 3 different Princess ships this year. 
 

[AF-1]

When I cruised inner passage way from Seattle; I had imessage, wifi, facetime, and email all the time.  Never really lost a signal.  Who knows how things will work; but for my family of four who all had iphones; no one had issues

[hapster85]

On 8/28/2022 at 9:34 PM, 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. 

You would need to enable wifi calling in order to text (SMS) with someone using Android, or any other non-Apple phone, as those messages travel over the phone network. Group messages (MMS) use internet, so if you did not pay for internet, but were only connecting to ship's wifi, those wouldn't work either. Group messages with only other iMessage users should work if iMessage is working. Wifi calling would need to be enabled while connected to a land based cell tower, preferably one from your carrier, prior to connecting to the ship's wifi. Make a note for next time. 😉 This would also allow you to make regular phone calls while on board. We do this all the time.

 

Princess must have an agreement with Apple, otherwise, iMessage wouldn't work either without paid internet. Some airlines, airports, etc do the same thing.

[Rick&Jeannie]

7 hours ago, MickeysTown said:

I’ll see what tomorrow brings.  Right now, email works; I can log into icloud.com but can’t read email or my calendar there ( or anything else); also iMessage is not working.  

 

Dumb question...you've probably already done this; Have you powered your phone off & on?  Sometimes that makes a difference...

[Host CJSKIDS]

On 8/28/2022 at 9:38 PM, MickeysTown said:

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

 

I had no issues using it on my Jan 26 Regal sailing on my iphone and ipad.

[MickeysTown]

On 8/29/2022 at 11:53 PM, MickeysTown said:

I’ll see what tomorrow brings.  Right now, email works; I can log into icloud.com but can’t read email or my calendar there ( or anything else); also iMessage is not working.  

 

Spoke too soon I guess.   Left Skagway.   iMesssages not working 

[silkworms]

On 8/30/2022 at 2:20 PM, hapster85 said:

You would need to enable wifi calling in order to text (SMS) with someone using Android, or any other non-Apple phone, as those messages travel over the phone network. Group messages (MMS) use internet, so if you did not pay for internet, but were only connecting to ship's wifi, those wouldn't work either. Group messages with only other iMessage users should work if iMessage is working. Wifi calling would need to be enabled while connected to a land based cell tower, preferably one from your carrier, prior to connecting to the ship's wifi. Make a note for next time. 😉 This would also allow you to make regular phone calls while on board. We do this all the time.

 

Princess must have an agreement with Apple, otherwise, iMessage wouldn't work either without paid internet. Some airlines, airports, etc do the same thing.

I do find these things are strange, I don’t know who to believe.

Last October on P and O Britannia, I was told in no uncertain terms

that P and O wifi was not a platform I could use for icloud.

I had so many meetings with IT manager, I could never figure out

anything he was telling me. He said icloud was not that popular!!!!!

I have cruised for many,many years and never had a problem prior to this cruise. Has Carnival taken a new satellite system on?  Why won’t it work? In the end I had to go on iCloud’s website and go through a long procedure to get what I wanted!

 

I have just come off  Emerald Princess and there was absolutely no

problem.  
 

I just wish they would tell me the truth.

[Coffeeluvr05]

MedallionNet was great when we had it on the Sky Princess inaugural transatlantic.  We were on iphones and ipads.  We were streaming Netflix, shopping online, etc.  Since the restart, things have not been the same.  Makes me wonder if Princess has had something to do with it.  First they add Princess Plus/Premier...next it will be tiered internet plans too.  Ugh.  

[Rick&Jeannie]

None of my traveling group that use iPhones have had any issues while on the Discovery 2 weeks ago.  They could text anytime and do FaceTime whenever the internet speed would allow. A couple of us with Androids had to rely on WhatsApp or just wait until we were in a port.

[cr8tiv1]

7 minutes ago, Rick&Jeannie said:

None of my traveling group that use iPhones have had any issues while on the Discovery 2 weeks ago.  They could text anytime and do FaceTime whenever the internet speed would allow. A couple of us with Androids had to rely on WhatsApp or just wait until we were in a port.

 

Thanks for the great Apple sales pitch.  Thinking of making the switch ?????

[suzyed]

1 hour ago, Rick&Jeannie said:

None of my traveling group that use iPhones have had any issues while on the Discovery 2 weeks ago.  They could text anytime and do FaceTime whenever the internet speed would allow. A couple of us with Androids had to rely on WhatsApp or just wait until we were in a port.

Same here.

[Rick&Jeannie]

13 hours ago, cr8tiv1 said:

 

Thanks for the great Apple sales pitch.  Thinking of making the switch ?????

Hah!  No, just wanted to share our experience with the two phone architectures.  It's nice that you can text with an iPhone without a cell signal on board...but I'm too entrenched with the Android system to switch!  Besides, the camera in my Samsung phone beats everything I've seen on an Apple with its UHD 60fps video.  (I do a (private) travel video for every cruise/trip we take.)

[clueless2]

If you have the right phone (pretty sure Samsung works-I have a Pixel) and the right cell plan (we have Verizon) you can use wi-fi calling.  If seamlessly uses Wi-Fi for calls and SMS texts.  We have poor cell service at our house and use it all the time.  Works great.  Should work on a cruise ship as well.

 

On the ship turn on airplane mode and then turn Wi-Fi back on.  This will turn off cell service.  If you don't do that it would try to use the ship's cell service.

Edited September 2, 2022 by clueless2