Comparing passenger contest awards and prizes

[Robbie555]

I've sailed in five different cruise lines and I've participated in lots of passenger contests and tournaments - mostly trivia games but also played in sports tournaments and participant stage shows such as the dating game. As part of these contests, I've won several awards and I've noticed that some cruise lines are much more generous when presenting the type of prizes. I'll give you a list from best to worst along with pictures of my awards.

 

1. Princess - in my 2005 Alaska sailing on Sapphire there were no contests. But in my 2022 Panama Canal sailing on Emerald I participated in lots of contests and won several awards. What I really like about Princess is that there was five different kinds of awards, and I won at least one of each. The most common was the blue coaster and having won so many, I even gave them to second-place finishers. I won 3 bottles of champagne, blue notebooks, and gray bags. Finally after winning so many blue coasters I asked to assistant cruise director if I could trade them for a medal, which she was happy to do. On my sailing, it looks like medals were only awarded to sports tournamnets but I didn't have time to do them as they conflicted with my trivia games. With so many different kinds of awards, I'd say Princess is the best in giving awards.

 

2. Carnival - it looks like there are two different kinds of awards: a medal and a ship on a stick trophy. Sailing on Inspiration and Pride, I won a few from each and I'm glad to display them in my house.

 

3. Royal Caribbean - playing trivia games, the most common prize was keychains. I also won highlighters and a pen. And I also managed to win a "gold" medal. Playing progressive trivia, I managed to win first and was presented with cups and small bags. As to why I wouldn't rank this over #2 Carnival, it's because these prizes was for #1 and not the type for daily games which was those smaller prizes.

 

4. Norwegian - my first sailing there was no awards. For my second, I won two triva games but all I received was small, plastic, cosmetic bags. In other contests which I didn't win, others received an NCL mug or a t-shirt. I asked the host if I could trade my cosmetic bag for a mug, but he refused to do so. Unlike Princess, NCL was very cheap with bad cruise director.

 

5. Holland America - in my single sailing, no passenger contests and thus, no awards were given out.

 

For those sailed in these five cruise lines, did you win any passenger awards? If you did, how about taking a picture of it and posting them. It would be interesting to see how the awards changed and if you won prizes that were different from mine.

 

And for those who sailed in other cruise lines, what were the awards that were presented for passenger contests? Please post a picture.

[Izzywiz]

I much prefer the 'points' system used by several of the cruise lines on which we have sailed (P&O, Azamara, Oceania, Fred Olsen etc) where point are awarded for winning and sometimes just for participating. The points usually come in the form of a laminated card which you keep and collect. Near the end of the cruise, the points can be exchanged for items of your choice from a list of things with various point values. On our last Azamara cruise I got 4 good quality T-shirts. On other cruises I’ve had drinks bottles, hats, bags, pens, alarm clocks, key rings, lanyards, packs of cards and many others things too.

[Honolulu Blue]

Thanks for sharing your experiences and awards.

 

On Princess, I won a couple of competitions. Both times I was offered champagne, but as a teetotaler I declined them. The first time I got a Princess swag bag with most of the stuff you have pictured. The second time I got a Princess water bottle.

 

On Carnival, I've won nine ships on a stick and a single boat on a rope. These were all pre pandemic.

Edited January 13, 2023 by Honolulu Blue
(Apologies for the bad orientation... It's a CC issue)

[Heidi13]

It is unfortunate that your 2005 cruise on Sapphire did not have any prizes, as at that time the Princess swag was reasonable quality with more options. Over the many years, we have received numerous luggage straps, quality pens, luggage tags, key chains, penlights, insulated water bottles, bags, passport holders, etc.

 

We noticed a gradual reduction in both the options and quality of the swag from about 2010-12. By the time of our last cruise with them in 2015, it was all junk, compared to 10 to 20 yrs previously. BTW - the champagne is hardly quality product, as it costs 50 cents to 1-dollar per bottle.

 

With our current cruise line (Viking Ocean), everyone receives a token for participation, which can be accumulated and used to purchase goods from the onboard shop.

[Honolulu Blue]

2 hours ago, Heidi13 said:

It is unfortunate that your 2005 cruise on Sapphire did not have any prizes, as at that time the Princess swag was reasonable quality with more options. Over the many years, we have received numerous luggage straps, quality pens, luggage tags, key chains, penlights, insulated water bottles, bags, passport holders, etc.

 

We noticed a gradual reduction in both the options and quality of the swag from about 2010-12. By the time of our last cruise with them in 2015, it was all junk, compared to 10 to 20 yrs previously. BTW - the champagne is hardly quality product, as it costs 50 cents to 1-dollar per bottle.

 

With our current cruise line (Viking Ocean), everyone receives a token for participation, which can be accumulated and used to purchase goods from the onboard shop.

Thanks for sharing. I started cruising less than a decade ago, so apparently I missed the best rewards. Though I think I'd rather have one of Carnivals trophies than anything you mentioned - impractical as they are for everyday life.

 

It's eye opening to find out about the champagne, as both Celebrity and Princess like to offer them to me for various reasons.

 

The offerings on Viking scream "participation trophy to me, of which I'm not a fan. I was taught that to get something decent, you have to compete and win.

[Shmoo here]

On 1/11/2023 at 9:51 PM, Robbie555 said:

And for those who sailed in other cruise lines, what were the awards that were presented for passenger contests? Please post a picture.

Sorry, don't have pictures, but we've gotten several coasters and a foam "I'm #1" finger (Princess).  Also got a nice windbreaker on DCL.

 

 

[capriccio]

 

10 hours ago, Heidi13 said:

It is unfortunate that your 2005 cruise on Sapphire did not have any prizes, as at that time the Princess swag was reasonable quality with more options. Over the many years, we have received numerous luggage straps, quality pens, luggage tags, key chains, penlights, insulated water bottles, bags, passport holders, etc.

 

We noticed a gradual reduction in both the options and quality of the swag from about 2010-12.

 

On one of our early Princess cruises (January 2010) DH and I played Trivia for the first time.  We were a team of 2.  We tied with a team of 6 (the upper limit of the number of players on a team).  It went into a playoff and we won and received two nice reversible (blue or black) tote bags.  The other team protested - loudly - that we were not the winners because there weren't 6 people on our team!  Since then we only play when family members are cruising with us and have won our share of forgettable prizes.

 

 

 

[Robbie555]

18 hours ago, Honolulu Blue said:

On Carnival, I've won nine ships on a stick and a single boat on a rope. 

Oh, I've never seen or heard of "boat on a rope" by Carnival. Please post a picture.

 

How about medals? Did you win any?

 

I know that Princess, Carnival, and Royal Caribbean awards medals. Any other cruise lines award medals?

[Honolulu Blue]

3 hours ago, capriccio said:

On one of our early Princess cruises (January 2010) DH and I played Trivia for the first time.  We were a team of 2.  We tied with a team of 6 (the upper limit of the number of players on a team).  It went into a playoff and we won and received two nice reversible (blue or black) tote bags.  The other team protested - loudly - that we were not the winners because there weren't 6 people on our team!  Since then we only play when family members are cruising with us and have won our share of forgettable prizes.

How ridiculous!  It shouldn't matter what size your team is.  I would argue that being on a smaller team disadvantages them because the pool of knowledge is that much smaller.

 

BTW, I won all my awards in a team of three - me, myself, and I. 😁  I participated in a team once as a fifth wheel.  We did well but didn't win anything.  Maybe I'll try team play again someday.

1 hour ago, Robbie555 said:

Oh, I've never seen or heard of "boat on a rope" by Carnival. Please post a picture.

 

How about medals? Did you win any?

Boat on a rope = Carnival medal.  Mine looks the same as the one posted by @Robbie555in the first post of this thread.

[Robbie555]

1 hour ago, Honolulu Blue said:

Boat on a rope = Carnival medal.  Mine looks the same as the one posted by @Robbie555in the first post of this thread.

Oh, I didn't know a Carnival medal was called that. I won several of them.

 

I wonder which other cruise lines award medals to passenger other than Carnival, Princess, and Royal Caribbean.

[Heidi13]

13 hours ago, capriccio said:

 

On one of our early Princess cruises (January 2010) DH and I played Trivia for the first time.  We were a team of 2.  We tied with a team of 6 (the upper limit of the number of players on a team).  It went into a playoff and we won and received two nice reversible (blue or black) tote bags.  The other team protested - loudly - that we were not the winners because there weren't 6 people on our team!  Since then we only play when family members are cruising with us and have won our share of forgettable prizes.

 

 

 

 

Thanks for posting the photo. 

[Robbie555]

For those of you who won a medal, did any of you wear it around your neck and display it with pride?

 

I noticed that most passengers who won one simply wore it for the duration of the "game" in which the medal was awarded for, but certainly didn't wear it again for dinner time the following day and did not wear it during disembarkation. The same thing with me as the medal did get in the way and there's no need to continuously boast and brag.

 

That said just for fun, I decided to take a picture of me wearing all three medals for the first time showing both sides.

[Honolulu Blue]

57 minutes ago, Robbie555 said:

For those of you who won a medal, did any of you wear it around your neck and display it with pride?

I have it displayed at home, but I never wore it - not even on the ship.

 

P.S.  Nice pics!  Thanks!

[navybankerteacher]

Prizes have certainly gotten trashier as years have gone by.  From HAL cruises of years ago we have, and still use,  many attractive ceramic dark blue coffee mugs -each with a large white letter identifying the ship on which it was won - we have some M’s for Maasdam, Z’s for Zuiderdam and Zaandam,  N for Noordam, etc., also a couple of useful Mag flashlights and a few other things: canvas tote, mouse pad, etc.

[Robbie555]

On 1/14/2023 at 7:43 PM, navybankerteacher said:

From HAL cruises of years ago we have, and still use,  many attractive ceramic dark blue coffee mugs -each with a large white letter identifying the ship on which it was won - we have some M’s for Maasdam, Z’s for Zuiderdam and Zaandam,  N for Noordam, etc., also a couple of useful Mag flashlights and a few other things: canvas tote, mouse pad, etc.

Maybe you can take a picture of it and show it to us.

[navybankerteacher]

7 hours ago, Robbie555 said:

Maybe you can take a picture of it and show it to us.

Westerdam and Prinsendam are in the dishwasher - we used them this morning.

[Robbie555]

3 hours ago, navybankerteacher said:

Westerdam and Prinsendam are in the dishwasher - we used them this morning.

That's good and very practical. Everytime you have coffee with these mugs, you will remember your great cruise.

[lenquixote66]

I played in a Sports Trivia game on a cruise several years ago.I won the game and received a RCI baseball cap.

On the same cruise on a return sea day I played in another sports trivia game which I also won and my prize was a Royal tee shirt ,one size fits none.

[JDincalif]

Won a 'fanny pack' in a Renaissance trivia competition. The cruise director presented it with the (humorous?) remark (warning?): "This is the perfect item to identify yourself as a tourist anywhere in the world"

[Robbie555]

16 hours ago, JDincalif said:

Won a 'fanny pack' in a Renaissance trivia competition. The cruise director presented it with the (humorous?) remark (warning?): "This is the perfect item to identify yourself as a tourist anywhere in the world"

Just wondering, what year was that?

 

Is that sailing mentioned on your signature?

[JDincalif]

6 hours ago, Robbie555 said:

Just wondering, what year was that?

 

Is that sailing mentioned on your signature?

J was on a two week Renaissance voyage in (she believes) January 2001 between Istanbul and Barcelona. This cruise was announced on short notice due to cancellation of a different itinerary, and what a bargain it was: two weeks, $599/pp for an ocean view.

(Not included in signature as this was before J met D; signature represents "the happy shared adventures of J and D"☺️)

[Silver Sweethearts]

While the very best prizes were years ago from the late Sitmar Cruises (glassware, Italian leather goods and scarves, etc.), our best lately have been the handsome logo polo shirts and windbreakers from Regent Cruises.  

[Sancho_proudfoot]

Royal Caribbean  progressive trivia first prize  and MSC morning trivia bottle of fizz @

[lenquixote66]

Has anyone besides me ever entered a CC contest ? I won several times

The prizes ranged from a canvas bag to a hat.All said Cruise Critic on them.
I took them on cruises and many people stopped me to inquire about them.

[Honolulu Blue]

12 minutes ago, lenquixote66 said:

Has anyone besides me ever entered a CC contest ? I won several times

The prizes ranged from a canvas bag to a hat.All said Cruise Critic on them.
I took them on cruises and many people stopped me to inquire about them.

I have not.  I've never heard of them.