A trivial question about....trivia.

[Muushka]

We were quite disappointed with the way trivia was handled on our last X cruise (11/2015, Equinox).

The Activities crew is bare bones which makes for very boring trivia.

 

If anyone plays trivia on cruises, what has been your recent experience?

The ship we would really like to know about is Summit.

Did they do Progressive Trivia?

Did different people host it?

Was there an assortment of trivia (for example music, different eras)?

Was it well attended?

 

If trivia resembles our last experience, we won't even bother to go.

 

Thank you!:)

[keesar]

Trivia is usually run by two individuals, one in the morning and the other late afternoon. There is NO progressive trivia. The topics are up to the host so if a DJ is involved, it will be music. However, lately it has been general knowledge.

 

One problem has been the same repeat cruisters at the trivias. I mean those who cruise for weeks at a time and know the questions. One trivia host was happy that one couple was leaving after MANY weeks.

[neverbeenhere]

problems:

 

repeat passengers

powerful cell service and people willing to use it for a nickel prize.

no variety in questions

Answer wars and warriors

Host specific questions

People who pester the host for tips on the upcoming contests

[Cruise_Dancer]

On our Summit cruise (March '15) all the trivia was run by Justin, one of the Activities staff members. It was very low key and informal, more like going through a trivia game in a restaurant with your family than anything else. We enjoyed it but if you take your trivia contests seriously (no judgment; a lot of my friends are trivia hounds at bars) it may not be your cup of tea. Try it out the first day. If you like it, come back for more. If not, there's plenty else to do onboard.

[richsea]

Trivia varies from ship to ship, & depends greatly on the activities person hosting it. If you are on a long cruise with lots of sea days, say a TA, there usually will be a progressive, or a battle of the sexes trivia. Due to the severe cut back in the activities staff thoigh, there has not been as many trivias during the day, or they may seem rushed.

 

And cruise dancer, Justin was our favorite moderator, because he didn't take it too seriously.

Edited May 16, 2016 by richsea

[gek]

On our last cruise on the Millie the trivia was so-so. Often hosted by the DJ rather than the usual activities staff. He was fine but it just seemed like an afterthought even though it was well-attended.

 

Compared to our recent RC cruise (up to 5 trivia sessions a day) Celebrity really doesn't seem to consider it a priority. Definitely related to the cutback in activities staff.

[Rjbobalou]

We just recently got off the Infinity and Jess handled most of the trivia. It was 15 night cruise and she had 2 progressive and many other trivia's. The prizes for regular triva were paper coupons you turn in the last day for gifts.

[ECCruise]

After playing trivia for many years we now avoid it like the plague.

 

The cutback to the bone in activities staff means that trivia is nowhere near the level it once was. But the biggest reason is that there is a cadre of passengers, largely people with no life, who place such a premium on winning a stupid prize (and bolstering their shallow egos) that they make it difficult for those who play for the fun of it. And for us, no fun = no trivia.

[dkjretired]

After playing trivia for many years we now avoid it like the plague.

 

The cutback to the bone in activities staff means that trivia is nowhere near the level it once was. But the biggest reason is that there is a cadre of passengers, largely people with no life, who place such a premium on winning a stupid prize (and bolstering their shallow egos) that they make it difficult for those who play for the fun of it. And for us, no fun = no trivia.

 

And many of those were frequent cruisers who actually came to the trivia games with notebooks with questions from previous cruises. It was amazing the complaints from a few years ago, all to win a keychain.

[RCKM43]

The trivia I noticed over the years was by the pool. I have never gone to any of the other ones. Honestly I would not move things to go. If I was on deck, great, but it never seemed very special. Usually one or two people, music trivia. People in groups. I think the last one I saw was a sheet you try to answer as many as possible. Celebrity really isn't a great line if you value things like trivia.

[bananawindnj]

Trivia contests, like many of the ship activities have gone downhill. Most times that I go alone , there are groups already together. Do them once on a cruise and they are rarely as much fun again . as the activity folks rush to make it and then rush away to their next job. Half the time they are late in arriving. Celebrity cruises usually have many repeat passengers that have seen and done the activities many times before. They don't seem interested in coming up with any new activities or ideas to break the same old mold. We have found out , you have to make your own fun on the ships and not be bored because the activities are really poor (like beanbag throws and belly flop contests) .

This is easier said than done. Just my opinion!

[ECCruise]

Trivia contests, like many of the ship activities have gone downhill. Most times that I go alone , there are groups already together. Do them once on a cruise and they are rarely as much fun again . as the activity folks rush to make it and then rush away to their next job. Half the time they are late in arriving. Celebrity cruises usually have many repeat passengers that have seen and done the activities many times before. They don't seem interested in coming up with any new activities or ideas to break the same old mold. We have found out , you have to make your own fun on the ships and not be bored because the activities are really poor (like beanbag throws and belly flop contests) .

This is easier said than done. Just my opinion!

 

Totally agree. And as a side note, just spent 20 days on NCL after spending 14 days on Celebrity. Much better activity level and variety on NCL (and less revenue producing "activities" that aren't on Celebrity). I think this was directly attributable to the fact that we had 8 activity staff on NCL (with 1400 pax) as opposed to 2 on Celebrity (with over 2000 pax).

[Muushka]

After playing trivia for many years we now avoid it like the plague.

 

The cutback to the bone in activities staff means that trivia is nowhere near the level it once was. But the biggest reason is that there is a cadre of passengers, largely people with no life, who place such a premium on winning a stupid prize (and bolstering their shallow egos) that they make it difficult for those who play for the fun of it. And for us, no fun = no trivia.

 

We (well, my husband mostly) would be one who loves trivia, but the prizes are inconsequential.

We go to trivia for a few reasons. Primarily it is a fun event and great opportunity to make friends.

 

Trivia is usually run by two individuals, one in the morning and the other late afternoon. There is NO progressive trivia. The topics are up to the host so if a DJ is involved, it will be music. However, lately it has been general knowledge.

 

One problem has been the same repeat cruisters at the trivias. I mean those who cruise for weeks at a time and know the questions. One trivia host was happy that one couple was leaving after MANY weeks.

 

Is your statement about NO progressive trivia based on something you heard on just one ship or is a ship wide change? Our last cruise didn't have it (first time we didn't play progressive on a cruise) but we were told by the one running it that cruise that it was his decision not to have progressive trivia (too many fights! So sad).

 

Our experience on the last cruise was that it was run by the same person both morning and evening with one other person only running it maybe 2 or 3 times (10 night cruise)

[Bruin Steve]

I am an "Elite Plus" Captains club member and have been playing trivia on ships for many, many years. We were last on the Silhouette--on the March 20 cruise.

 

To be completely serious, we observed no real difference between the trivia on this cruise from that on past Celebrity cruises--except the coupon thing...

 

There were at least two to three sessions every day--one "music" trivia and at least one general trivia...All the typical maximum six members to a team, get an answer paper, 20 questions, trade answer sheets, winning team gets a coupon each...

 

The coupon thing is, in some ways, a hassle--you have to show up on the last day and redeem the coupons for your prizes...but, in many ways a bonus. Over the years, I'd seen prizes deteriorate to where all you got for winning was a plastic key chain or luggage tag each time. With the coupons, we were able to get a few nicer things--like an "X" baseball cap and some other trinkets my wife wanted...

 

As to people cheating by logging on the internet or knowing answers having been on several recent cruises, I suppose that happens on a lot of cruises on every cruise line. We once caught someone obviously cheating on a Princess cruise where, in "Princess Jeopardy", playing alone, he claimed to have amassed more points than were mathematically possible, then, on an ordinary trivia game, refused to change papers with another group, then filled in the answers when given...

 

But, I can happily report that, on our recent cruise, I don't believe anyone cheated...We played on all of the at-sea days and won most of the Trivia games we played (I'm pretty good at Trivia and had a good team put together)...and I know we didn't cheat...The team that beat us the couple of times we didn't win didn't appear to be cheating--and they also played and lost the times we did win...If they were cheating, you'd think they'd beat us on those as well? And, if anyone else were cheating, they certainly weren't doing a very good job of it!

 

I take trivia a little bit seriously...I have appeared on six TV game shows and, at one time was the biggest winner on a very popular TV game show. ...I like to play...I like to win...But, really, it's just a way to pass some time while otherwise lounging around the ship on a sea day for me. I know a lot of stuff...and can take educated guesses on a lot of other stuff. But I don't know everything...and, often, the questions are either outside my areas of knowledge or otherwise just have me stumped. And other people on the ship may be pretty good at it as well...So, I play just to challenge myself...I don't really care about any of the prizes--none have ever been worth all that much...It's also a social activity--you get to meet other people as you form teams, interact with people, talk to your opponents after the game, etc.

 

Are there some assistant cruise directors who are better at it than others? Sure...of course there are--and always have been. Some read the questions as a chore, some interact more with the crowd and are more entertaining. That hasn't changed as much as it varies ship to ship, cruise to cruise...

[Muushka]

Trivia contests, like many of the ship activities have gone downhill. Most times that I go alone , there are groups already together. Do them once on a cruise and they are rarely as much fun again . as the activity folks rush to make it and then rush away to their next job. Half the time they are late in arriving. Celebrity cruises usually have many repeat passengers that have seen and done the activities many times before. They don't seem interested in coming up with any new activities or ideas to break the same old mold. We have found out , you have to make your own fun on the ships and not be bored because the activities are really poor (like beanbag throws and belly flop contests) .

This is easier said than done. Just my opinion!

 

Our experience of playing trivia on X (over the past 9 years, every cruise) has been very positive. Except for our last cruise. I think you summed it up nicely about the activities folks and their interest in getting their job done, and on to the next event. Not much thought put into it. Certainly not like it was in the past.

 

My reason for starting this thread was twofold. I was curious about Summit and how they were doing in the trivia department. And the other reason was because I hope that X reads these threads and understands that these cutbacks they made have impacted the experience for some or even many.

 

That being said, we certainly don't cruise to play trivia. That would be a very costly game! We will be able to find wonderful things to do with our time other than playing trivia. We will give Justin a try, but more than likely won't go if they are anything like our last cruise.

[richsea]

Muushka, I don't think Celebrity cares much about complaints of staff cutbacks. They cut the activity staff back in 2014, & have yet to restore anyone. We don't cruise just for trivia either, but we do try to attend as many as we can. As someone mentioned, it is a great way to make new friends. Granted there are those who take it much too seriously, but we ignore them, & if paired with them, avoid them the next time.

[Muushka]

I am an "Elite Plus" Captains club member and have been playing trivia on ships for many, many years. We were last on the Silhouette--on the March 20 cruise.

 

To be completely serious, we observed no real difference between the trivia on this cruise from that on past Celebrity cruises--except the coupon thing...

 

There were at least two to three sessions every day--one "music" trivia and at least one general trivia...All the typical maximum six members to a team, get an answer paper, 20 questions, trade answer sheets, winning team gets a coupon each...

 

The coupon thing is, in some ways, a hassle--you have to show up on the last day and redeem the coupons for your prizes...but, in many ways a bonus. Over the years, I'd seen prizes deteriorate to where all you got for winning was a plastic key chain or luggage tag each time. With the coupons, we were able to get a few nicer things--like an "X" baseball cap and some other trinkets my wife wanted...

 

As to people cheating by logging on the internet or knowing answers having been on several recent cruises, I suppose that happens on a lot of cruises on every cruise line. We once caught someone obviously cheating on a Princess cruise where, in "Princess Jeopardy", playing alone, he claimed to have amassed more points than were mathematically possible, then, on an ordinary trivia game, refused to change papers with another group, then filled in the answers when given...

 

But, I can happily report that, on our recent cruise, I don't believe anyone cheated...We played on all of the at-sea days and won most of the Trivia games we played (I'm pretty good at Trivia and had a good team put together)...and I know we didn't cheat...The team that beat us the couple of times we didn't win didn't appear to be cheating--and they also played and lost the times we did win...If they were cheating, you'd think they'd beat us on those as well? And, if anyone else were cheating, they certainly weren't doing a very good job of it!

 

I take trivia a little bit seriously...I have appeared on six TV game shows and, at one time was the biggest winner on a very popular TV game show. ...I like to play...I like to win...But, really, it's just a way to pass some time while otherwise lounging around the ship on a sea day for me. I know a lot of stuff...and can take educated guesses on a lot of other stuff. But I don't know everything...and, often, the questions are either outside my areas of knowledge or otherwise just have me stumped. And other people on the ship may be pretty good at it as well...So, I play just to challenge myself...I don't really care about any of the prizes--none have ever been worth all that much...It's also a social activity--you get to meet other people as you form teams, interact with people, talk to your opponents after the game, etc.

 

Are there some assistant cruise directors who are better at it than others? Sure...of course there are--and always have been. Some read the questions as a chore, some interact more with the crowd and are more entertaining. That hasn't changed as much as it varies ship to ship, cruise to cruise...

 

You sound exactly like my husband! Why he plays trivia, he is pretty smart too.

Usually he knows all the wonky things and I can sometimes help him, but it is rare.

We loved Progressive Trivia. We had some great teams on a few cruises and won them, which is sweet. Again, not for the prize (which back a couple of years ago, those progressive first prizes were pretty sweet).

 

As far as cheating, boy, what you saw would really be irritating.:eek: I always feel for the activities person during those times. Then and when people argue with them about the answers being wrong. Our last cruise, he handled those people wonderfully. He had it down to an art. It actually wasn't stressful but enjoyable to watch him in action.

[Muushka]

Muushka, I don't think Celebrity cares much about complaints of staff cutbacks. They cut the activity staff back in 2014, & have yet to restore anyone. We don't cruise just for trivia either, but we do try to attend as many as we can. As someone mentioned, it is a great way to make new friends. Granted there are those who take it much too seriously, but we ignore them, & if paired with them, avoid them the next time.

 

Yes, you're probably right that X doesn't care about complaints such as these.

We (husband and I) were talking about our upcoming cruise, wondering how Summit would be, hoping that what we experienced on Equinox wouldn't repeat itself. Fingers crossed it won't!

[richsea]

Yes, you're probably right that X doesn't care about complaints such as these.

We (husband and I) were talking about our upcoming cruise, wondering how Summit would be, hoping that what we experienced on Equinox wouldn't repeat itself. Fingers crossed it won't!

 

I din't know if he is still onboard, but Summit (b2b 2015) is where we met Justin. We really enjoyed him. He took trivia in the way we like it, not serious, & sometimes gave hints, which those who take it too seriously probably did not appreciate. Very personable guy. We like Summit a lot. Enjoy your cruise!

[Muushka]

Justin sounds like someone we would enjoy. Thanks!

 

Does anyone know if Micky (was on Eclipse then moved over to Reflection a couple of years ago) is still working for Celebrity? He was such a nice guy. A lot of fun.

[gek]

I din't know if he is still onboard, but Summit (b2b 2015) is where we met Justin. We really enjoyed him. He took trivia in the way we like it, not serious, & sometimes gave hints, which those who take it too seriously probably did not appreciate. Very personable guy. We like Summit a lot. Enjoy your cruise!

 

I hate it when they give hints, particularly if it virtually gives away the answer. You might as well not ask the question at all if everyone is going to get it.

 

I was once playing trivia with a guy who wasn't particularly knowledgeable about anything except sports. We'd gone through 19 questions without a single sports question and he had sat there in silence looking miserable. Question 20 was an obscure baseball question and he perked up instantly because he knew this one and he also knew how obscure it was. Then the host gave a hint which gave the answer away. Our friend slumped back in his chair in despair.

 

No hints please unless they are almost as obscure as the question.

[Muushka]

I hate it when they give hints, particularly if it virtually gives away the answer. You might as well not ask the question at all if everyone is going to get it.

 

I was once playing trivia with a guy who wasn't particularly knowledgeable about anything except sports. We'd gone through 19 questions without a single sports question and he had sat there in silence looking miserable. Question 20 was an obscure baseball question and he perked up instantly because he knew this one and he also knew how obscure it was. Then the host gave a hint which gave the answer away. Our friend slumped back in his chair in despair.

 

No hints please unless they are almost as obscure as the question.

 

Aw. That is the saddest story.:(

[Muushka]

Reading this thread and hearing from the serious trivia players makes me realize why we enjoy it so much.

It is more than a dumb quiz and a way to show off how smart you are.

We have made some great friends playing trivia. We would meet before and after the game. Go out to dinner.

Even plan future cruises together. Yup, we do enjoy trivia!

[schlimazel_traveler]

Justin is no longer on the Summit, unfortunately.

We had a great time playing trivia with him--he sincerely enjoys all the activities, having grown up as an NCL cruiser who dreamed of becoming a cruise director.

 

My husband is a game show champion as well and we love trivia. We were disappointed Justin wouldn't be on the Summit again this year although we knew better than to expect he would be.

[OhioDogLover]

That is a shame that Justin is no longer on the Summit. We were on the ship with him in February and had a wonderful time. He was so silly. It was great. In fact, the entire CD staff was great. Does anyone know where he has gone?

 

Ohiodoglover