On Board Trivia

[Debbie&Chaz]

We really enjoy the trivia game. I must again praise CD Matt Allen on the Ryndam, he really made it fun. Always started off with "I spent the day in the Juneau(fill in name of last port) library, just getting these 20 questions for today's trivia." Can't remember his opening after sea days, but it was even better. His "newly wed" game was also great - he usually had one of the couples who were celebrating their golden, or better, anniversary.

[bob brown]

We enjoy doing the daily quiz....not for the gifts (although I really do have plenty of luggage tags, key chains, umbrellas, and mugs), but for the "joy" of seeing my winning entry posted.

 

On one cruise (I forgot exactly which one), we participated in the daily quiz on the first day. We lost to someone who answered 20 out of 20 and submitted the entry at 9:05 AM (the questions are available at 9AM).

 

Day 2, again we entered, again the "winner" (same person as the day before) had 20 out of 20 AGAIN and submitted the entry at 9:07AM.

 

On the third day, the theme of the quiz was chocolate.....one of the questions was "how many tons of chocolate chips are produced annually to make chocolate chip cookies?". Again 20 out of 20 at 9:10AM.....same person.

 

Obviously, she took a back-to-back cruise and the questions were repeated on both cruises or she brought "old" quizes with her on the cruise, but obviously she had all the answers at her disposal.

 

This does not make the game fun!!:( Does she need the HAL prizes so badly, she cheated? ...or did she like to see her name posted on the winning entry? Only she knows.

 

Bottom line, no matter what HAL does, it won't be good enough to appease all the trivia buffs onboard.

 

I would like to see HAL create a standard 366 trivia and daily quiz questionnaire and release it to all the ships at the same time each year, then create a new set for the following cruise year. If you notice, your daily food menus are pre-planned and dated on the bottom right.

 

It looks like the food department in corporate has it more "together" than the entertainment people in corporate.

The library quiz is interpreted by people in many different ways. I like to get the quiz at 9:00 am, and on my own answer the questions as fast as I can, with the correct answer, if I know it, or a humorous answer if I don't.

I usually submit it by 9:06.

Other people will make it a team effort, pooling knowledge with others.

Still others, will spend as much time as it will take to research the correct answers either with the books in the library or simply Googling the 'net.

 

I mentioned this observation to the 'librarians' and they like the latter as they say it encourages use of the reference materials in the library. I see that as a ploy to encourage more use of the ship's internet.;)

 

I agree that it is silly to 'cheat', by having an answer sheet to copy from a recent cruise.

It is most satisfying to see how much trivia you have at the top of your head.

[GmaPajama]

Even though we tell ourselves we play for the fun of it, I'll admit it feels pretty cool to walk out of the room with a prize. And I'll definitely agree with others here who've pointed out the quality of those prizes has seriously deteriorated. Just two years ago we were winning some really good prizes - even HAL sweatshirts and luggage. Nowadays we're mostly adding to an overgrown keychain and luggage tag collection.

 

The worst, however, was in March of '08 with CD Chris Butcher. He called it Progressive Trivia. No prizes for the first 14 days ... just an accumulation of points and recognition on a white board. On the last day, the team with the most points got a prize - just one per person. If a team missed a day along the way, there was almost no possible way to catch up. It was the one time we actually felt aggravated about Trivia. But we played anyway - it's addictive.

[slotl]

Even though we tell ourselves we play for the fun of it, I'll admit it feels pretty cool to walk out of the room with a prize. And I'll definitely agree with others here who've pointed out the quality of those prizes has seriously deteriorated. Just two years ago we were winning some really good prizes - even HAL sweatshirts and luggage. Nowadays we're mostly adding to an overgrown keychain and luggage tag collection.

SIZE]

 

You forgot my favorite -- the "Dam" baseball caps.:D

 

On our Grand Cruise (55 Days) many of the consecutive "at sea" days Kevin, the Assistant CD, we would play for "pride".

 

HAL has really cut back on the budget of the entertainment staff. I don't go to shows and travel mainly on the "smaller" ships, so I have no idea about the quality of the evening "show entertainment".:confused:

 

I heard that HAL was also doing away with "dam dollars" as well.

[m steve]

the same person won every day and beat me until she got off after the first leg and then the rest of us had a chance. I bet she kept old sheets and just copied the answers. I tried that once and they added alot of new categories. Many times their answer was wrong or out of date.

[N Randolph]

This is my opportunity to reopen the discussion on trivia prizes. I haven't been on HAL from my last in 2007 until my recent cruise last month on the Amsterdam. The cutbacks in expenses were very noticeable in this area.

 

In the past, the prizes awarded to the winning team got progressively better through the cruise. They started with bookmarks, mouse pads (remember those?), then pins, keychains, pens, better keychains, sun visors, water wallets, fanny packs, them 'dam' mugs, and finished with HAL umbrellas, nice picture frames, and the top HAL MiniMagLite.

 

Now they gave out various Amsterdam pins, HAL coasters, set of 3 golf balls and tee's, and then the insulated travel mugs.

 

I played Trivia and Name That Tune every day on the ZUIDERDAM in March 2010, and the prizes included mugs, sweatshirts, caps, umbrellas, picture frames and, yes, keychains. CD Patti Honecki (sp?) was super, and she had up-to-date questions and answers. I think she was finding her own topics, and she has since asked some of us cruisers to contribute good topics. Randall Powell, in the casino piano bar, had similar prizes. On the last night of the 10 day cruise, he ran out of prizes and bought drinks for the winners. Patti and Randall make a great team! And kudos to Raj in the MDR while I'm at it.:D

[bob brown]

 

I heard that HAL was also doing away with "dam dollars" as well.

 

Yes. "Dam Dollars" has gone the way of "Passport to Fitness".:(

[bob brown]

 

I played Trivia and Name That Tune every day on the ZUIDERDAM in March 2010, and the prizes included mugs, sweatshirts, caps, umbrellas, picture frames and, yes, keychains. CD Patti Honecki (sp?) was super, and she had up-to-date questions and answers. I think she was finding her own topics, and she has since asked some of us cruisers to contribute good topics. Randall Powell, in the casino piano bar, had similar prizes. On the last night of the 10 day cruise, he ran out of prizes and bought drinks for the winners. Patti and Randall make a great team! And kudos to Raj in the MDR while I'm at it.:D

Sounds like you had an anamoly on that ship for the good prizes as compared to other recent reports I've read here and experienced myself.

 

Was that "Rockin' Randall" you had in the piano bar?

If he's who I think, he was great on the Maasdam and the Noordam back in 2007 and 2006.

He even awarded prizes during team "name that tune" for the funniest team name (based on loudest applause).

I had heard that he had left HAL. If not, I'm glad he's back. We had a lot of fun with him holding court in his venue, late into the evening to an appreciative crowd.:)

Edited June 10, 2010 by bob brown

[Mary Ellen]

CD Patti Honecki (sp?) was super, and she had up-to-date questions and answers. I think she was finding her own topics, and she has since asked some of us cruisers to contribute good topics.

While an very nice and enthusiastic CD, all I can say is that in Nov 2010 she was the one who stuck with Switzerland having the most fatalities in WWII.

[NMLady]

The library quiz is interpreted by people in many different ways. I like to get the quiz at 9:00 am, and on my own answer the questions as fast as I can, with the correct answer, if I know it, or a humorous answer if I don't.

I usually submit it by 9:06.

Other people will make it a team effort, pooling knowledge with others.

Still others, will spend as much time as it will take to research the correct answers either with the books in the library or simply Googling the 'net.

 

I mentioned this observation to the 'librarians' and they like the latter as they say it encourages use of the reference materials in the library. I see that as a ploy to encourage more use of the ship's internet.;)

 

I agree that it is silly to 'cheat', by having an answer sheet to copy from a recent cruise.

It is most satisfying to see how much trivia you have at the top of your head.

 

I only do the library quiz on sea days since I'm one of the ones who spends time in the library researching answers. But I don't use my internet time to Google any of them.

 

Since it's sponsored by the library, you'd think they could at least give a bookmark to the winner.

[pizzadog]

This is my opportunity to reopen the discussion on trivia prizes.

I haven't been on HAL from my last in 2007 until my recent cruise last month on the Amsterdam.

The cutbacks in expenses were very noticeable in this area.

 

In the past, the prizes awarded to the winning team got progressively better through the cruise. They started with bookmarks, mouse pads (remember those?), then pins, keychains, pens, better keychains, sun visors, water wallets, fanny packs, them 'dam' mugs, and finished with HAL umbrellas, nice picture frames, and the top HAL MiniMagLite.

 

Now they gave out various Amsterdam pins, HAL coasters, set of 3 golf balls and tee's, and then the insulated travel mugs.

 

And they stopped giving prizes for the library quiz entirely.

 

Sure many people say it's only for the fun of playing. I agree with that, but who doesn't like to win prizes? Even though they are not high value,

they are very nice souvenirs and remembrances, that are unique in that they are entirely different from the line of items that you may purchase in the logo shop. And if you win a few prizes, it's fun to trade them for others that you did not. Or simply give them away, as I have done with excess 'dam mugs' over the years.

 

Oh, and I miss the 'dam dollars' too.

 

On our last cruise (Zaandam, 19 days to Hawaii out of Vancouver) we won trivia several times and got progressively better prizes. We received travel mugs, baseball caps, even the coveted sweat shirts (1/2 zipper at neck). We also got picture frames for coming second on the last day. We were thrilled. Does it depend on the cruise director what you get for prizes?:)

[ginger and professor]

I have to agree that when all the games are combined, the thrill is diminished. We had this on the Zaandam to Hawaii in January and it was not nearly as much fun. I hope the discontinue this particularly on the longer trips. Even if it is only a mug, people still enjoy receiving a little something at the end of each game. We are addicted to trivia and will continue to be there either way but the new trend is not for us.

[ldog]

Maybe I'm cynical but why should HAL bother with trivia when it doesn't generate any cash for them? Maybe if they charged us $5 each per day they could justify spending some effort on making it better.

 

It's entirely at the whim of the entertainment staff how much effort goes into planning for trivia. And who 'gets stuck' doing it. If any one member cares we get good questions and have some fun with it. If they don't care it's a waste of time.

 

I thoroughly enjoy the good trivia ships. We have fun and get to know some new people.

Edited June 14, 2010 by ldog
punctuation

[michmike]

For us, the best part of trivia is the fun people you meet. We'll never forget the group of guys from Ohio who called their team "The Nads" and their wives formed a cheering section, chanting "GO Nads! Go Nads!" priceless!

 

But I'm with others on the prizes how much can 4 or 5 mugs really cost? Much better than those darn key chains and luggage tags.

[howard6933]

I like to play trivia on my cruises and I can empathize with those that know for sure that they have answered a question correctly, only to be told that their answer was incorrect.

I don't let it bother me anymore since you cannot win arguing with the person running the game. I remember awhile back that the moderator of the quiz said that there are two rules to the game which are: RULE #1: The answer that I have is the answer that counts.

RULE #2: "See rule #1".

 

At any rate, just to give you an analogy to this "wrong information" era we must live in.

Last night, I was watching the 10 o"clock news from WPIX Channel 11 in New York. They were reporting on the 75th Anniversary of the APOLLO theater in NYC. There was something about some awards to be given out on stage and the WPIX reporter remarked that one of the awards was to be presented by Ruby Dee and Ossie Davis. I guess the reporter did not know that Ossie Davis died in 2005. How about that goof up? :p

Anyway, play the trivia game on the ship and enjoy the fun.....don't take it seriously.

[Cinder Again]

I like trivia in the afternoon in the Crow's nest, so a social beverage can help my ability to come up with answers...:rolleyes:

 

Also, I pick up a library quiz when I'm out and about each day, and then take it to Crow's nest happy hour... whatever good people I join for a drink can then play it with me...I pick up the correct answers the next morning, then take them to happy hour that night to let the "drinking team" know how we did. Then we work on the next one. I've spent many a happy happy hour discussing the questions with folks, and it's a good way to make new friends!:D

[Adri204]

As an Alaskan that would fry my butt. I know darn well Alaska is the 49th state admitted to the union. I would be very upset as an Alaskan to be told that was wrong when in fact its correct. The staff should be intellegent enough to have the right answers and not just keep old answers. That is just complete laziness especially when that is not even that hard of a fact to prove or find out.

 

Adri :)

[JeffElizabeth]

On 6/8/2010 at 1:11 AM, English_in_Spain said:

I wish they would make the questions more 'international'. There should not be questions about US TV series nor should there be questions about which UK soccer team a player plays for.

 

Keep the questions to those that everyone has the same chance to answer.

We usually try to get a Canadian, a Euro, and an Australian or Kiwi on our teams.

[JeffElizabeth]

On 6/15/2010 at 10:15 AM, Cinder Again said:

I like trivia in the afternoon in the Crow's nest, so a social beverage can help my ability to come up with answers...:rolleyes:

 

Also, I pick up a library quiz when I'm out and about each day, and then take it to Crow's nest happy hour... whatever good people I join for a drink can then play it with me...I pick up the correct answers the next morning, then take them to happy hour that night to let the "drinking team" know how we did. Then we work on the next one. I've spent many a happy happy hour discussing the questions with folks, and it's a good way to make new friends!:D

Our assistant cruise director,  Tomas always proclaimed,  "the more you drink, the better you think."

[JeffElizabeth]

On 6/14/2010 at 1:54 PM, ginger and professor said:

I have to agree that when all the games are combined, the thrill is diminished. We had this on the Zaandam to Hawaii in January and it was not nearly as much fun. I hope the discontinue this particularly on the longer trips. Even if it is only a mug, people still enjoy receiving a little something at the end of each game. We are addicted to trivia and will continue to be there either way but the new trend is not for us.

We got a free drink for every member of our team on the Prinsendam. And we have received bottles of sparkling wine on another Prinsendam cruise.

[canadarocks]

This thread is nine years old and trivia "prizes" are definitely not what they used to be. 

 

[SumoCitrus]

Typical prizes now:  A pin or a deck of flimsy playing cards.

 

 

Trivia is fun though and definitely a tradition/routine for us.

[Wehwalt]

The metal pins were too expensive so they've gone to genuine imitation plastic.

[Slugsta]

Think yourselves lucky that HAL hasn't (yet!)gone down the route of giving 'stamps' for winners. Collect stamps on a card and, at the end of the cruise, swap it for prizes - the more stamps the better the prize. That sounds great until you realise that you need about 6 stamps for the smallest prizes (a pen or keyring)  . . .

[ontheweb]

On 6/8/2010 at 5:29 AM, jtl513 said:

On our last cruise the MC accepted Holland as "the same country" as The Netherlands, even though the answer sheet did not list that as acceptable. Holland, of course, is not a country, but just a region of The Netherlands (two provinces in the west) analogous to our New England. :mad:

That also happened to me, although not until a lot of arguments with the MC. He finally gave in to the argument that the ship was not the Netherlands Maasdam.