Collecting Swag

[denmarks]

What is the best swag you have received from a ship activity?

[leaveitallbehind]

....on a bit of a roll today?  There has been no "best" swag - it is all pretty worthless in our experience.

[mom says]

Have to agree with leaveitallbehind. Aside from the occasional penthouse suite lottery on some cruises, it's mostly crap. Although we did get a nice bottle of actual champagne on our last CC M&G ticket draw. Still not good champagne, but better than the gawdawful stuff they put in our cabin.

[c-boy]

recently a chefs coat signed by all/most of the galley staff

[John Bull]

A bottle of Champagne 

Tasted a lot better than the pens, key-fobs, etc 

 

JB 

[clo]

22 minutes ago, c-boy said:

recently a chefs coat signed by all/most of the galley staff

And do you wear it at home when cooking?

[clo]

22 minutes ago, John Bull said:

Tasted a lot better than the pens, key-fobs, etc 

 

I leave all that crap (are we allowed to say crap) behind.  That included the jacket that Hurtigruten gave us for going ashore in Antarctica.  And amenity kits on airplanes.

[FlyerTalker]

11 minutes ago, clo said:

I leave all that crap (are we allowed to say crap) behind.  That included the jacket that Hurtigruten gave us for going ashore in Antarctica.  And amenity kits on airplanes.

 

Good amenity kits can be wonderful for organizing charger and wires, plus other organizational tasks.  Some are of poor quality, and others of useless design.  But the Tumi kits from Delta have been rock-solid performers for me for years - high quality zippers and material.

 

As for the "swag"...why should I wear a cap/shirt/keychain that helps promote a business and consider that I'm the prime beneficiary.  Are these items so dear and costly that I should treasure having them bestowed upon me??

[Mike981]

My wife loves the lanyard and fancy card stating that she was a rock star because she sang karaoke with the house band. She proudly hangs it on a mirror in our workout room. The mirror that she has been waiting for me to hang on the wall for 22 years.

[c-boy]

1 hour ago, clo said:

And do you wear it at home when cooking?

In bed 

[Ashland]

3 hours ago, FlyerTalker said:

 

Good amenity kits can be wonderful for organizing charger and wires, plus other organizational tasks.  Some are of poor quality, and others of useless design.  But the Tumi kits from Delta have been rock-solid performers for me for years - high quality zippers and material.

 

As for the "swag"...why should I wear a cap/shirt/keychain that helps promote a business and consider that I'm the prime beneficiary.  Are these items so dear and costly that I should treasure having them bestowed upon me??

Yes...Agree...We have several of those from DL.

The only ones we've gotten onboard and still continue to use are the old passport holders...the dark blue envelope size....holds our passports, travel & excursion documents. I haven't seen those given out since many many years ago.

 

Oh, and my vintage yellow "Ship Shape" t-shirt (haha).

[iancal]

There is a reason why they call it trinkets and trash.

 

We did get some lapel pins once on an RCI cruise.  Not sure what they were for. Could have been for past cruises.  We binned them.   I mean, really, I was hardly about to wear them on a suit or any other clothing.   Saved us bringing them home, throwing them in a drawer, and then binning them a few years later during a clean up.

 

We did however get a very nice complementary bottle of Malbec on a Celebrity cruise once.  DW, mid cruise, had written an very complementary note about one of the people on the front desk to the front desk manager.  Completely unexpected.  Alas, DW is TT so I had the pleasure of drinking it while relaxing on the balcony.

Edited July 20, 2019 by iancal

[whogo]

We've won bottles of bubbly three times on cruises, gave them away, we are not wine drinkers. The rest of the stuff should have been tossed, but wasn't; travel umbrellas, sweatshirts, key chains, coffee mugs, and coasters.

 

A decluttering expert blamed swag for increasing clutter. 5K tee shirts, National Geographic travel mugs, blood donor soft sided coolers all get stored and never used. Half of this married couple has quit accepting swag, can't convert the other half to my way of thinking.

[clo]

3 hours ago, whogo said:

We've won bottles of bubbly three times on cruises, gave them away, we are not wine drinkers. The rest of the stuff should have been tossed, but wasn't; travel umbrellas, sweatshirts, key chains, coffee mugs, and coasters.

 

A decluttering expert blamed swag for increasing clutter. 5K tee shirts, National Geographic travel mugs, blood donor soft sided coolers all get stored and never used. Half of this married couple has quit accepting swag, can't convert the other half to my way of thinking.

We donate to thrift stores.  We no longer take the stuff.  OT but related? I've read more than one article - particularly directed at Baby Boomers - that says your kids don't want your stuff; get rid of it.  We're about two years into that and it feels great.  Just started a new box yesterday.

[davekathy]

6 minutes ago, clo said:

We donate to thrift stores.  We no longer take the stuff.  OT but related? I've read more than one article - particularly directed at Baby Boomers - that says your kids don't want your stuff; get rid of it.  We're about two years into that and it feels great.  Just started a new box yesterday.

And spend their inheritance on yourself. 😉

[clo]

1 minute ago, davekathy said:

And spend their inheritance on yourself. 😉

We've warned them 🙂

[whogo]

11 minutes ago, clo said:

We donate to thrift stores. 

Does a thrift store patron want a Royal Caribbean travel mug? A Carnival Mexican Riviera tee shirt? A Holland America sweatshirt? An NCL key chain? A Princess lanyard? How much does it cost thrift shops to have the stuff that doesn't sell hauled away? Thrift shops have to sell unwanted clothes in bulk, some of it goes to developing countries. Instead of supporting their own country's economy, people wear free tee shirts that say things like "Snodgrass Family Reunion, 2015" or "Breast Cancer Awareness Run Hoboken".  Just don't take the stuff in the first place. (This is directed at you, too, dear, although you won't read it.)

[clo]

1 minute ago, whogo said:

Does a thrift store patron want a Royal Caribbean travel mug?

Have you ever shopped at one?  Yes, people would like a decent travel mug for 50 cents or a dollar. Etc.  And we buy t-shirts for working around the house/yard rather than our decent stuff.  As far as clothes I only donate name brand, in good condition things, like Eddie Bauer t-shirts.  I also give directly to a couple of organizations that feed and clothe homeless, battered women, etc.  And, yes, I know what you're talking about about the surplus that's going to other countries.  And, yes, don't take the crap.  We don't any more. On a thread about Antarctica I commented that we didn't keep the jackets the cruise line - Hurtigruten - gave us for going ashore.  We have lots of jackets and knew we wouldn't wear them.

[wwcruisers]

Over the years, we have found the tote-bags that we have gotten from X and RC over the years, to be quite useful. But, I agree with others: If the cruise line leaves me a gift that I have no use for, I'm certainly not going to stuff it into my suitcase (that I have to pay to check on the airplane).

[clo]

7 minutes ago, wwcruisers said:

Over the years, we have found the tote-bags that we have gotten from X and RC over the years, to be quite useful. But, I agree with others: If the cruise line leaves me a gift that I have no use for, I'm certainly not going to stuff it into my suitcase (that I have to pay to check on the airplane).

I have too many of those bags even with using them instead of paper grocery bags.  We were on Lufthansa last year and their amenity kit had a fold-up, snap closed tote which I foolishly took off the plane.  Donated it.

[NLH Arizona]

2 hours ago, wwcruisers said:

Over the years, we have found the tote-bags that we have gotten from X and RC over the years, to be quite useful. But, I agree with others: If the cruise line leaves me a gift that I have no use for, I'm certainly not going to stuff it into my suitcase (that I have to pay to check on the airplane).

Love the Celebrity bags that fold up into the small bag; I probably have ten of them.  I gave one of the bags to a friend while we were in Las Vegas and she was thrilled and now takes it on all her trips.

 

I also have the jacket that I got in Antarctica from Abercrombie and Kent and wore it a lot when I lived in Minnesota.

[wwcruisers]

1 hour ago, NLH Arizona said:

Love the Celebrity bags that fold up into the small bag; I probably have ten of them.  I gave one of the bags to a friend while we were in Las Vegas and she was thrilled and now takes it on all her trips.

 

 

I also have several of those -- and they are my favorite beach bags. I've given a couple away to friends and relatives, who love them. We also once got over-the shoulder bags -- sort of a  one-strap backpack -- from RC, years ago. Those make great day-packs, for long trips on tour-buses, etc.

[geoherb]

I've won cheap bottles of champagne and a few good ones. On one cruise, my trivia team won the cruise-long sea day trivia contest, and we all received a tote bag with the usual cheap prizes but also a Swarovski crystal ornament. We also got one of the good bottles of champagne for the whole team.

 

We've purchased activities that came with things: the Princess cookbook with the Chef's Table, an apron with Holland America's culinary class, and a bunch of things with the Princess Ultimate Ship's Tour. I still use the robe from the latter, but DH's is somewhere in its original wrapping.

[CPT Trips]

9 hours ago, davekathy said:

And spend their inheritance on yourself. 😉

 

Treat them that way and don't ***** about the nursing home they choose for you.🤑 

 

Oh, best swag was a Princess luggage strap.

Edited July 21, 2019 by CPT Trips

[clo]

36 minutes ago, CPT Trips said:

Treat them that way and don't ***** about the nursing home they choose for you.🤑 

 

Oh, that's all been settled 🙂

 

We got luggage straps from a ground tour operator which we've liked, although two went MIA after flights.