Help Me Understand Why Nobody Shows Up

[overinvester]

For Bingo? I recently sailed on the Century 11-7-05 and at best, there were only about 50 people that would show up for the game. I was quite taken when only about 100 showed for the free cruise. Any comments why so small turnouts? On the several other lines we have crusied on, it was packed.

 

Overinvester

[ocngypz]

Because the cards are too darn expensive.

[Leela]

I agree -- the cards are quite expensive. Last trip Mom & I spent about $300 on bingo, we played nearly every session. (Thank goodness Mom won $100 at one point!) They have that big jackpot, but I'll bet you anything it never gets given away in the first few sessions. So, we decided on our next trip we'd only play the last two days of the cruise rather than every day.

[Andy]

For Bingo? I recently sailed on the Century 11-7-05 and at best, there were only about 50 people that would show up for the game. I was quite taken when only about 100 showed for the free cruise. Any comments why so small turnouts? On the several other lines we have crusied on, it was packed.

 

Overinvester

 

Hi Overinvester...

 

I was on Century last week, and the Bingo turnouts were incredibly small the few times I went. I would have to agree that the cost is quite expensive. Also, if there is a very small turnout, it may deter others from playing, as the pots are based on the amount of people playing/cards sold.

 

Just my .02 cents though.

[wyeanni]

We quit playing bingo because the cost for the cards was getting out of hand. While they stay high we will not play!!!! Have not played on the last 2 cruises.

 

Jeff

[nu2sea]

I was surprised at how expensive it was to play bingo. $30 a card was a little rich for my blood. And even if you won one of the lesser jackpots, your return on investment really wasn't very good.

 

There are better ways to spend $30!!:D

 

Susan

[Leela]

The thing is, if they lowered it to $10 or $15 per card I'd probably end up spending just as much on Bingo overall! Plus more on drinks while playing Bingo too! Which means more on tips to the lounge wait staff! Seems like a win-win proposition to me.

[CaptData]

Sometimes there are other activities I like to do and I know Bingo is played everyday. I will do some of the other things first then when the free cruise is up I try to be there. For the big jackpot too.

[chessbriar]

Bingo revenues on Century have been down. HQ isn't happy about it and they can't figure out what to do. I talked with both Allan and Natalie about this while on board. My first reccomendation was to get bingo out of the theater. While in the theater you feel so disconnected from the caller and everyone else. On the M class ships they play in the disco and you really feel a part of the games. They did a couple sessions in Crystal room and the turnout was a little higher, drinks were more accessible and it was a lot more fun. I gave us a chance to harrass the caller and just have a blast.

 

If you doubt the revenues are down, here are a few examples of things they did to try and beef up sales, we had several games of theme bingo, wear a robe, wear your shower cap, Halloween cruise wear orange. You did these things and got a free jackpost card. They had Bingo to move up to a suite. They had Bingo for a free cruise. Many of these I had never seen before.

 

Bingo just isn't fun if you go to the theater and play. There's no interation and you just feel if they are taking your money.

[Karynanne]

I do admit it's getting a bit pricey...but on our last 3 cruises, I've won a couple of games each cruise! I know I've come out ahead...

 

As far as moving the Bingo venue on C-class ships...wonderful idea!

 

Karyn

[usha]

Well, personally, I don't play Bingo when I'm NOT cruising, so I'm sure as H377 not going to be playing Bingo when I AM cruising.

[usha]

Well, personally, I don't play Bingo when I'm NOT cruising, so I'm sure as heck not going to be playing Bingo when I AM cruising.

[flowy]

Bingo is just too expensive given the prizes given out. Gee, if you do the math, the ship makes a bundle and the prizes are not worth the cost. And, given the big prize is always on the last night, why play during the week?

 

Just my two cents.....

[trcori]

I echo Flowy's point -- with the "snowball" jackpot, there's not much point in playing before the "MUST GIVE IT AWAY TODAY" day, especially given the price of the cards. That said, I did play on the second-to-last day of our most recent cruise, when they promised a $1,000 consolation jackpot if nobody got the snowball ... and I won the 1K! So I'll probably give it a whirl once or twice while we're on Galaxy next April -- TR

[newmexicoNita]

I was surprised at how expensive it was to play bingo. $30 a card was a little rich for my blood. And even if you won one of the lesser jackpots, your return on investment really wasn't very good.

 

There are better ways to spend $30!!:D

 

Susan

yep, I can make that $30 go a lot further in the casino. I still will probably lose it, but I will have more fun for a longer period of time. All the cruise boards are complaining about the cost of Bingo on ships. NMnita

[Longboysfan]

Because the cards are too darn expensive.

 

B I N G O ... Has the right answer.

[Pincus]

I cruise to enjoy the sea, and the special benefits of being on a cruise ship. Bingo is not one of them.

 

Like someone said above, I don't play Bingo ashore, why would I go to sea to play Bingo?

 

Pincus

[Schplinky]

Maybe if they made a few announcements over the PA?

 

:)

 

[and yes, before you flame me, I'm just kidding]

[Pincus]

LOL, Schplinky!

 

Pincus

[Cachecara]

I enjoy playing playing bingo on cruises. My first 2 cruises were on RCI and bingo was always FULL--these were on the Voyager classs vessels too. I like to play the last couple days of the cruise when the cash rollover is larger.

One thing that did interfer with me playing on my Celebrity cruise--lack of announcements. LOL I played one of the last days and the room was fairly empty. I meant to play on the last day, but lost track of time and didn't hear an announcement. My fault of course, but if I had heard that announcement I KNOW I would have been there. (not that I feel we should be flooded with announcements, but this time I know it would have helped me):)

[alpal1993]

On our recent Baltic cruise they actually had to cancell Bingo as no one came.I guess Europeans don't care for the game.The Casino was empty as well.

Personally I hate Bingo and unless I am forced to go you can count me out as well.

[mii]

Maybe Celebrity will read this thread and get a hint. Obviously all cruiselines have reps who do read these forums and you can bet they do. I once was interested in playing Bingo and lordy it is like the previous posters said TOO EXPENSIVE.

 

Marilyn

[charlielinda]

Every trip I play less and less because the price is HIGH and the pay outs are lower. I wish it were $20 instead of $30 and that would get me back in.

[WeBeCruisin']

My wife and I play Bingo probably three or four times on each of our cruises, although most of the trips are in the 10- to 14-day range. On the Constellation Baltics trip in 2004, I won three different times, and have won maybe twice on all the other trips. My wife has won maybe four times total. That would come to maybe nine wins, averaging probably $100 for a grand total of $900.

 

Playing four times a week, with two packets at $35 each comes to $280 a week in cost. Multiply that by the eight cruises we've taken which offered Bingo, and you get $2240. Our net loss would be about $1340, which comes to about $167.50 per cruise for Bingo "entertainment".

 

It's fun and can be very exciting when you're down to that last needed number, but the corny chatter can be very annoying.

 

On our trip last summer on RCCL's Brilliance, we were in the Mediterranean and every sentence uttered in the Bingo sessions was repeated in Spanish, which made the Bingo session last twice as long and the extra-length cut into some of the other activities we had planned.

 

I don't know if the total bilingual aspect was an emerging PC thing, or because the trip began and ended in Barcelona.

 

Allen

[Chorts]

For Bingo? I recently sailed on the Century 11-7-05 and at best, there were only about 50 people that would show up for the game. I was quite taken when only about 100 showed for the free cruise. Any comments why so small turnouts? On the several other lines we have crusied on, it was packed.

 

Overinvester[/q

 

:mad: way too expensive!