NutsAboutGolf

I enjoy a balcony no matter what but greatly prefer a large balcony when there are things to see besides open ocean.

You're confusing thawed/previously frozen with cooked from frozen without thawing

While technically correct, X still sets the amounts, both min-max bid amounts and the amount of staterooms it deems eligible for bidding. There was a thread where someone said they had an inside, bid on a balcony, was told they won a balcony yet once they received their room number it for a royal suite; for the record many of us, myself included, were highly skeptical. However, someone chimed in who claimed they had insider knowledge and once PlusGrade completes the biddings, all they do is send X over a spreadsheet, X employees still have to change the cabins in their reservation system and therefore mistakes aren't unheard of. No idea if either of those claims were true. My WAG (Wild A$$ Guess) is that X can see the bid metrics at any time. Based on the very limited sample of datapoints, the conclusion (which may change later with more datapoints) is that those who bid either the minimum or perhaps near minimum will receive an increase your bid email if they're expected to lose. I do know that it isn't uncommon for the bid minimums to increase the closer you get to sail date which my WAG is because there's now less staterooms in that category available.

Semi live

These are my direct observations based on 9 X sailings, I was just off the 15 night Millie and the ship had very few wearing them. I was on the Mille 5 night over Feb where there was I’d guess 50 pax who were under 30, often their parents paid to bring their adult sons and daughters along, many of the youngins’ were indeed wearing them.

Nearly all food comes board frozen on pallets at the embarkation port; this has come up repeatedly on galley tours and Q&A sessions. Dinner on embarkation night needs to taste the same as dinner on the last night. Most likely they were always frozen. I doubt a waiter would know what was frozen and what isn’t; many are simply very agreeable in order to move the conversation along.

At this point a few more will probably quote this sharing their % prediction…lol

Just think the worst case, most revenue generated dynamic. Perhaps lifetime CC status is going away in favor of a new annually earned status!

To be clear, I never said 30%, I quoted someone who predicted that %. I am saying the younger you are the higher odds they’ll be having a smartwatch. These are predictions.

You're the third person to quote me and share your prediction. I most recently quoted a person who said a vague "many" and the person I quoted before that said 30% of X pax have them. Since the restart, I've been on 9 X sailings and 2 CCL sailings. I believe for X pax its less than 5% and the % was higher on CCL. It's still an age thing where odds are Gen X/Y/Z are more likely to have them than the Boomers or the Silent Gen.

Sure, "many" people wear an apple watch, I agree there. Just that you'll see many more wearing them on a carnival cruise than you would see on an X cruise; far closer to 3% of X passengers than 30%.

I wonder if pending has something to do with them charging the credit card

This makes the most sense; do you know this for sure?

Thanks; this essentially means they're not targeting those with high CC status

Great point. Will be very difficult to determine if it's an actual scheme (will win with your current bid) or if its legit (will lose if you don't increase your bid). Regardless, I'd imagine this email is very effective with getting people to increase their bids. The OP and one other are claiming they didn't receive this "outbid" targeted email. My WAG (Wild A$$ Guess) is if it was a scheme it would go out to everyone yet this doesn't appear to be the case; therefore who is X targeting with these emails?

Thanks! Would mind sharing what Captains Clubs level you are? Just curious if those with higher status are the ones "targeted".

Would love to see an email of this. If true, while it's a bit shady, it isn't all that surprising.

Yes AQ has the option:

I'd recommend waiting until on board before canceling. Find out the reservation cancellation policy and check out the Magic Carpet once on board.

Sounds good, suggest it on your next sailing survey.

Just to be clear, is this for the Beyond?

We're not allowed to post TA sites, but just google and you'll find several sites that will list the single supplement. Here are the current X sailings with sub-50% single suppliments.

The hardware capability is there, but they would need to create, maintain and service an app which costs money for a minimal tech improvement. If X waved their magic wand that you get any technological improvements you want, the apple watch opening the door would be very low on my list and best guess the same for others. I suppose the way to do it would be deploy apple watch capability along side with android watch capability and to provide a medallion like device for those who don't have a smartwatch. Top of my tech list would be ordering food and drinks in the app which will probably inevitably happen within the next decade. Next would be the ability to be added to the specialty dining reservations waitlist

It's very age related and most get to an point where the screen is too small to read. 30% seems comically high for X where many don't even own a smartphone or keep it locked in their stateroom the entire sailing; maybe on a shorter holiday sailing on Carnival it could be around a third.

It's never been a stand alone Has NEVER been a stand alone restaurant as there isn't a galley. I haven't seen the most recent reports but dinner on the Edge used to be buffet style and there were many complaints about cold food no better than the buffet and way too much wind. You could just go to the buffet and carry a plate on there for lunch. Also note that while the magic carpets roof appears to provide protection from the elements, it doesn't.