Technology moves on! Or does it?

Princess announced their ‘Medallion Class’ on selected ships just before the cruise industry was permanently grounded – or docked.

During this enforced lockdown, the surviving ships in the fleet were all updated to ‘Medallion Class’.

The theory is fairly straightforward and the medallion technology has been around now for quite a while.  In fact, when we visited Disneyworld in Florida December 2016, they were using the system. Put simply, you carry or wear a medallion and this acts as your door key; your on board charge card; and can be preloaded with bookings; your photo ID etc.  The theory is that you don’t need a cruise card but the Princess system has moved a step ahead of what we wore at Disneyworld.

Embracing the ‘Smartphones’ that just about every person over the age of 8, now has attached to their person – permanently, Princess basically jumped in and effectively demanded that every passenger used their 'Application' to do all the pre cruise paperwork that used to be done via their website – and then some.

Quoting from Princess:   A Princess MedallionClass vacation offers the ultimate in effortless, personalized cruising. It begins with your Medallion®, a quarter-sized, wearable device that enables everything from touch-free boarding to locating your loved ones anywhere on the ship, as well as enhanced service like having whatever you need, delivered. Spend more time connecting with each other and doing what you love on a Princess MedallionClass® vacation. 

The reality has been somewhat different and the majority of reviews on the app rate it 1 out of 5. I suspect that if there was a minus score, there would be a load in there too.    

The general consensus – especially amongst Android users – is that it is hopeless.

Having purchased an unwanted, later version Android phone, (I just can’t be bothered using one as  a rule) I dutifully downloaded the Medallion App.

Oh dear. Just about every time I clicked on it, it either took an age to load up, or just went around in circles for ten minutes before I gave up.

When it did load, very rarely was I able to actually do anything, so I went back to the website. I also detest trying to input anything on a tiny keypad, which half the time, wouldn’t even appear anyway.

So onto the website. Now we have done a whole heap of Princess cruises over the last ten years and the pre-cruise paperwork has been a doddle.

Not this time. It didn’t matter whether I logged in with my Princess account or used the booking number, progress was usually minimal and more often than not, came to a full stop.  How long should you have to wait for an app to load? Ten seconds? Ten minutes? Half an hour?  
Cruise personaliser – “If you don’t have a smart phone, click here for our website version.”  Pity that doesn't work properly either.

Even up to three days before we cruise, I can’t get ‘Ocean Ready’.  Numerous calls to the Princess helpline (based in the Phillippines) over the last 4 months, always elicited the same response.  “We are experiencing technical difficulties and will ring you back.”  Guess what?  No-one EVER rang me back.

Bit by bit, I did manage to eventually upload photographs, passports etc., and with a just a week to go, I finally managed to get 5 ticks for each of us, but we were still stranded in the ‘Blue Lane’, not the Green Lane’.

Even there, I had to cheat. I ticked the box that said I was fully vaccinated. I uploaded my vaccine card OK, but what to do with Paula?  There was no option for an unvaccinated person – even with an exemption. So I ticked that she was fully vaccinated and uploaded the exemption letter!  Success.
A final call to Princess and the young man told me that we were TECHNICALLY in the Green Lane, but as Princess had sorted out my medallion (every time I tried to order it, the system crashed), the system was showing the Blue lane.

Somewhat appeased, the next problem is that within 24 hours we have to take a covid test, and get this – “upload via the app, a photograph of the test result, with a photo ID and a clock.” Nothing for those NOT using the App…
Far be it for me to point out the obvious gap in this system, but we’ll see how it goes.

Those we have met recently, doing several cruises with Princess, have all said that if it works, that is OK, but their opinion is that it has been launched without adequate testing and even now, has far too many bugs. The actual medallions sometimes don’t work at all and have to be replaced. Items are wrongly charged to the account, or often delivered to the wrong person, so it pays to keep a check on the ship-board account.  Booking the dining times has also been a shambles compared to the old system of a fixed time and table.

So we’ll see how it goes, but this is the first time ever, that the lead up has in anyway been frustrating or stressful. I’m usually very well organised and have not enjoyed the lead up to this cruise at all.

As Princess have deleted our free internet minutes, I have no idea when the next post will be, but it may well be from ashore somewhere. Princess seem to have done a hatchet job on the perks of ‘Elite’ status, the top tier of their loyalty progress.