App Profile: Princess Cruises

notfaroff

Rating: 1/5

It’s hard to know where to start because this app is downright terrible. If you order food and one item isn’t available, nothing will be delivered. There’s no way to communicate with the service team about your order through the app, leaving you stuck. When you message the chat line, they’ll suggest you call guest services—where you’ll spend at least 10 minutes on hold, only to find out they don’t have the one item you wanted. They’ll apologize profusely and then send the rest of your order, but by then, the experience is already ruined. Drinks take 30 to 45 minutes to arrive, so you’re forced to plan 30 minutes to 2 hours ahead for everything. That’s exhausting, especially on a vacation where you’re supposed to relax. I wanted to shut my brain off for one week, but this app made that impossible. On top of that, the app is incredibly outdated. There’s no way to sort events, which makes it unnecessarily hard to figure out what to do. It’s clear Princess Cruises is far behind the times when it comes to technology. While other companies are implementing AI and streamlining customer experiences, Princess seems stuck in the past. The app feels like it was designed for retirees who aren’t as tech-savvy, which might explain why their customer base skews toward those over 65. If you’re looking for a modern, seamless vacation experience, I’d recommend looking elsewhere. Princess Cruises, and the overall experience—was a major disappointment.

Retrospect on CCX

Rating: 1/5

This app is a joke. I thought the first Ocean Ready / Medallion app was bad but by the last cruise I used it on it was actually working. But then came version two. We booked a cruise in July and were able to enter all our data and became green lane ready. Then about a month and a half later I went in to check what time our dining reservation was and found ALL of my information gone. And I mean all. The only thing there was the cruise reservation. However, everything was just fine on my wife’s app. Called Princes and started the process of re-entering the information. Some data it would not let me enter, but we managed to eventually get it entered. I could not link to out dining companions on our dining reservation (though my wife could) and could not enter a payment method (credit card) though it clearly was present on my wife’s app. They even charged $10 for medallion shipping to the card. My wife was able to get us back with our dining group. For the last three weeks I have been trying to get my charge card entered with no success. Six calls to Princess, who referred it to the “back office” (Ocean Ready) has not resolved a thing. Two weeks out and I am still blue lane while my wife is green lane. The app is more advertising for onboard upgrades and services than help for getting required information entered. The whole process is just a joke, starting with the app.

Jets14NY

Rating: 1/5

Just came off my first Princess cruise and while we had a great time overall, the onboard app is one of the worst I’ve ever used on any cruise line I’ve been on before (been on 4 other lines). The app can track a family member anywhere on the ship and have food brought to me anywhere but if I want to know what places were available to get food at any point of time, or what restaurant hours were it’s impossible to find. There are no filter options for food, entertainment, or kids activities. To find anything you have to search through the whole days itinerary. Also, and this is the worst issue- there are no phone notifications so if someone sends me a chat I get no notification on either my phone or Apple Watch. The only way I can see this is by opening the app and usually a bunch of time already passed by since it was sent. This is basic stuff and there is no excuse for not having this functionality when you have advanced features on the ship. Don’t get me started on the specialty dining reservation process for premier package cruisers and the frustration placing and changing reservations without getting charged. Whoever designs this app should take a Disney cruise to see what a real cruise app looks like. Was definitely a negative to an otherwise nice vacation and definitely played a factor into me sailing with Princess again (probably won’t).