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Trivia Prizes on the Nieuw Amsterdam - Are all the ships like this now?


canadarocks
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Just off the Nieuw Amsterdam. DH & I love to play trivia, and we've been quite successful with various teammates on all of our cruises. We were so disappointed that every single trivia game had the exact same prize - a blue Caribbean pin.

 

EVERY trivia game every day! 3:00pm in the Crow's Nest, 7:00pm in the BB King club, Name That Tune, Caribbean Trivia. All that same damn pin. :(

 

I know that years ago HAL discontinued the "points for prizes" system, but what happened to the variety of inexpensive trinkets they used to give out? The variety alone made it fun.

 

I'm sure this seems like a "Trivial" complaint to many of you..... ;)

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Trivia prizes declined significantly over the years. In the past we have gotten umbrellas and nice HAL key fobs and the like. Then it seemed obvious they were cleaning out the closets.

 

Prises are an expense. I don't think any of us cruise for trivia trinkets. If they can put that money toward enhancing the cruise experience, great!

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Just off the Nieuw Amsterdam. DH & I love to play trivia, and we've been quite successful with various teammates on all of our cruises. We were so disappointed that every single trivia game had the exact same prize - a blue Caribbean pin.

 

EVERY trivia game every day! 3:00pm in the Crow's Nest, 7:00pm in the BB King club, Name That Tune, Caribbean Trivia. All that same damn pin. :(

 

I know that years ago HAL discontinued the "points for prizes" system, but what happened to the variety of inexpensive trinkets they used to give out? The variety alone made it fun.

 

I'm sure this seems like a "Trivial" complaint to many of you..... ;)

 

The pins, a different one for different cruise areas, have been the prizes for trivia since at least Sept of 2014. I can't remember what the prizes were in June of that year.

 

I miss the coffee mugs, luggage tags etc that they gave out before that as well.

 

Rich

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We have never won a prize (pin or anything) but we go for the fun of it. It is now taken too serious. We do not join another group because we feel put down when cannot help them, so just enjoy ourselves alone, sort of. Sometimes we get as many 5 points WOW.

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On our recent Maasdam cruise from Seattle to Sydney the CD gave free drinks to the team that won and pins for various locations to anyone that wanted one. Then on the next leg around Australia it was pins for anyone that wanted one and on the last day the winning team got free drinks and we won that day:D.

 

We also compared our older pins to the current one's and the current one's are much thinner. Less weight for packing;)

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We have never won ... Sometimes we get as many 5 points WOW.

You played for the fun of it. Perfect! That's the point. It's fun to compete. It's in our DNA. But it's just a game. Some folks seem to play like they're defending the family name and honor.

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Just off a Veendam Panama Canal cruise. The "prize" for winning any of the Trivias was just bragging rights, since everyone was offered a pin. The pins had become participation badges. Also, they were not just the Panama Canal pins, but at times bags of other cruise area pins were available.

 

The pins are now painted onto thin aluminum instead of being on embossed pot-metal. Near the front desk there was a display case of memorabilia with some old postcards etc. There were old "ship's funnel" and ship-name pins, including some old seemingly gold-plated "Veendam"s. Those were the days.

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In the past four years I have played Trivia on the Westerdam, Zuiderdam, Nieuw Amsterdam, Prinsendam and the Veendam. The prizes were pins, pins and more pins. I have a bag full of pins that I don't want but just can't bring myself to throw out. Needless to say I play Trivia for the fun of it as I don't need more pins. :eek:

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You played for the fun of it. Perfect! That's the point. It's fun to compete. It's in our DNA. But it's just a game. Some folks seem to play like they're defending the family name and honor.

 

Agree! For my husband and I, evening trivia at 7pm in the Crow's Nest is our daily pre-dinner activity. Cocktails and trivia! We have never cared about winning, just having fun.

 

We have seen 'teams' argue with the host about the wording of an answer...crazy!

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I have a bag full of pins that I don't want but just can't bring myself to throw out.
Don't throw them out! In just a few years' time, you'll be glad that you have these old-fashioned high-quality pins when you compare them to whatever the new ones will look like then.

 

Anyway, if the ship has more than one variety on board, it leads to a new game: pin trading amongst those who have won pins at different things during the cruise. And it gives the CD ever more reasons to rummage around in the bottoms of the cupboards to see whether or not they can find anything else to give away.

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I was on the Volendam December 2015. My team (blush, blush) won about 99% of the time.

 

We received pins; decks of cards; fashion jewelry unrelated to HAL; and the last trivia night, our team won a bottle of champagne to be consumed by our team.

Edited by Birder1
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We usually ask if we can get a drink instead. This doesn't help if you happen to have a beverage package, but we've never accidentally pricked ourselves with a free drink. ;)

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You played for the fun of it. Perfect! That's the point. It's fun to compete. It's in our DNA. But it's just a game. Some folks seem to play like they're defending the family name and honor.

 

I used to like trivia when it was fairly new and people formed groups on the day and played for fun, and you might play with different people the next time. Now teams form for the whole cruise and it's a serious commitment--God forbid you might forget or have something else to do. Can't let the team down!!!!

 

I cruise to relax, don't need that kind of pressure.

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You played for the fun of it. Perfect! That's the point. It's fun to compete. It's in our DNA. But it's just a game. Some folks seem to play like they're defending the family name and honor.

 

I've seen vicious verbal arguments break out at team trivia, as well as verbal abuse heaped on the cruise director :eek:; it's just a game folks

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The first pin is fun but after that, not so much. We did win drinks a few times on the South Pacific cruise I was on.

 

I won a very nice bag of merchandise from one of the shops in a HAL trivia game it sponsored. We were showing it to the Show Host and he was saying his department has very little money for prizes so all they usually have are the HAL-supplied pins.

 

I was surprised with the nice prizes on RCI. On Cunard you collect stamps and trade them in for prizes at the end. I got a jump drive and nice embossed card holder for three stamps.

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Don't throw them out! In just a few years' time, you'll be glad that you have these old-fashioned high-quality pins when you compare them to whatever the new ones will look like then.

 

They will probably just be stickers. We will look back and say, "Remember when we used to get real pins!":D

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We were on the Eurodam for a Baltic Sea Cruise in 2015 and won at trivia 3 times. Each win was a bottle of champagne. Needless to say, we were popular with our table mates since we always shared with them!

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I've seen vicious verbal arguments break out at team trivia, as well as verbal abuse heaped on the cruise director :eek:; it's just a game folks

 

Did the local Sherriff have to interfere? :D

 

We like our trivia very much and whatever there is as a prize, does not matter. Over the years, we have met some very nice people during and thanks to trivia, some of which we are still in contact with.

 

It is great stocking up on otherwise useless facts, on the other hand sometimes annoying if you spot a question that you sure you have had before on another cruise, failing to remember the answer. :confused:

 

All in good fun! :)

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I was on the Oosterdam just before Christmas. I hadn't played trivia until the last sea day. The assistant cruise director announced before the game that due to the fact that there had been so much rancor in the earlier games, that days gift would be a cookie for each member of the winning team.

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