Trivia

[Holidays galore]

On our last cruise in May 2018 on NCL, my husband and I had a great time competing in the afternoon trivia sessions. Met some great people and gave us a great excuse for 5.30 pm drinks.

Even though we’ve sailed Oceania before, I can’t remember the trivia sessions.

We’re off on cruise May from Barcelona.

Can anyone give details about the Oceania trivia sessions? Interested in people’s feedback.

[Shawnino]

On Riviera in November they were very well attended (maybe 150-200 people), 4:30-ish start in the theatre for the main round, occasionally other rounds were offered around 8:30 in Martinis.

So well attended that the Bridge instructors were Themselves Instructed to make sure Bridge wrapped up with 15 minutes to get to Trivia.

The CD on the TA claimed he made the questions himself each day--and that was the biggest difference we found from NCL: the questions were simply read out three times, never posted on a screen. NCL's is pre-packaged by somebody and the social staff runs it off a computer with a screen.

A score of 17 or 18 from 20 was generally required to get O-points

 

Edited March 8, 2019 by Shawnino
typo

[cbb]

Read Currents carefully.  Trivia hours can change with the ship's schedule every port.   There are usually 2 sessions: a day one and a night one.

 

The CD is the Trivia Master and will tell you his/her rules at the 1st day meeting.  Typically, groups are comprised of no more than 8, no one else may lurk near a group,  and all cell phones must be put away.  Your group will be called out if there are more than 8 by the rest of the room.

 

The CD will give you the answer and that is THE answer unless you can--with an EXCELLENT source- prove that the CD's answer is either wrong or that there can be more than one answer. 

 

Trivia is usually taken VERY seriously so if you find yourself in a group who is there just to have fun --and you believe in winning--you need to find a like-minded group!

 

Have fun--and you're right--head off for drinks afterwards.

[bob brown]

One big advantage of trivia on O, over NCL is that the trivia is held in a much better venue...afternoon in the theater, evening in the observation lounge; as opposed to the atrium on NCL, where rude passersby often spoil the game by shouting out answers...

[sunlover12]

12 hours ago, cbb said:

Trivia is usually taken VERY seriously so if you find yourself in a group who is there just to have fun --and you believe in winning--you need to find a like-minded group!

 

Have fun--and you're right--head off for drinks afterwards.

Too seriously by some folks, IMO.   I participated in afternoon trivia and we generally had the same group of 8 each day although one day we had an extra person which was against the rules.  Some people took that as a serious violation and instructed the CD to make an announcement upon which everyone in the room glared at us. We ignored it and went on with our group of 9.  We never won anyway.  Just have fun with it and enjoy your cruise. 

[CintiPam]

In my experience, afternoon trivia indeed can be taken a bit too seriously.  Generally I prefer evening trivia, which often will have musical themes and a bit of a mellower crowd.  Also both fewer questions and fewer participants so it moves along at a quicker pace.  

Edited March 9, 2019 by CintiPam

[drwong]

Each team is handed a pencil and a slip of paper on which the answers will be written.  After the last question, the answer sheets are exchanged and then graded by an opposing team as the Cruise Director reads the question and the teams read off the answer on the sheet.  (Our team usually prompted the CD to say, "Miss the point, go for the laugh!")   Everyone on the team coming in first wins a bunch of point cards, second place gets fewer, and third place gets a participation point or two.  Around the last day of your cruise, you can exchange your point cards for valuable promotional merchandise.  Even though you're not required to stick with your team for the entire voyage, most players tended to, so pick a creative team name!

Depending on who your CD is, there might be an extra way to gain bonus points during the cruise.  On some ships, the CD would post Morning Trivia sheets near the front desk for trivia addicts, with answers due by some fixed noontime hour.  The highest-scoring player(s) would win additional point cards, slipped under or posted on your stateroom door.

 

Our team had only a couple of disagreements with the answers given by the trivia master (who apparently took them from a book of trivia and had little personal knowledge) - for example, does the Mona Lisa's right hand rest on her wrist or forearm?  And is the collective noun for a group of ponies a passel, a herd, or a string?  (Looking back, I can't believe we wasted our precious internet minutes to prove him wrong.  But like one of the earlier commenters noted,  trivia is sometimes taken VERY seriously!)  🙂

[BigNance]

Trivia was a good time!  IT was taken seriously on the Riviera cruise we were on, but there was room for a lot of laughs.  There was a music trivia one night, with extra points given for dancing demonstrations and singing participation.  We cracked ourselves up!!  

It did get serious over the science questions.  We had a surgeon in our group challenge some of the latin translations.  The moderator did not agree.  It was helpful that Trivia was held in Martinis bar.  Our favorite!

fun times!!

[susiesan]

I am one of those "serious" trivia players. I love winning enough points to come home with a t-shirt from Oceania. What really irks me about trivia is the people who join a team and don't contribute anything. They don't know any answers, don't actually participate with the team, they just sit there and say nothing. Then when their team wins they get to collect the point chips.  They are trivia moochers

[LHT28]

Just now, susiesan said:

I am one of those "serious" trivia players. I love winning enough points to come home with a t-shirt from Oceania. What really irks me about trivia is the people who join a team and don't contribute anything. They don't know any answers, don't actually participate with the team, they just sit there and say nothing. Then when their team wins they get to collect the point chips.  They are trivia moochers

Maybe some of  the competitive players  just  take over so others  do not contribute after  awhile  😉

Two sides  to the story

[bigmjh]

1 hour ago, LHT28 said:

Maybe some of  the competitive players  just  take over so others  do not contribute after  awhile  😉

Two sides  to the story

👍 Happens frequently.

[LHT28]

54 minutes ago, bigmjh said:

👍 Happens frequently.

too bad

DH  went once   & that was enough for him 😉

[UDSpud]

It is important to gage your group and perhaps the room for seriousness.  I was there once for a later question which was a word for a particular type of fear. The answer was supposed to be a fear of what.  I somewhat loudly mentioned a one word name for another cruise line.  Got a big laugh including the CD.

[redraider1966]

3 hours ago, LHT28 said:

Maybe some of  the competitive players  just  take over so others  do not contribute after  awhile  😉

Two sides  to the story

Let's try a third side.  On one of our 14 Oceania voyages, our team was a convivial and largely non-competitive bunch, although the spouse of one couple insisted on sitting in without/without ever uttering a word or ever making a contribution.  As port calls would predictably intrude on the afternoon trivia event, our team's numbers would similarly vary.  On one occasion, the CD quiz master chose to enforce a limit of eight members per team.  On that occasion, our team exceeded the limit by one.  Rather than agree not to sit in (which is all that spouse ever/ever did (again not ever speaking or making any contribution)), the spouse of the team "leader," who in fact made frequent and useful contributions on a daily basis, felt so guilty that she left the game rather than see the team "penalized" for too many members.  Meanwhile, the aforementioned "bump on a log" spouse was not moved by the gesture and continued her non-participatory role as before with nary a word of apology or any move to sit out the game.  I can assure all that the silence by the non-participatory spouse was not appreciated by anyone on the team, except perhaps her husband, as both received the big O points we participating members earned.

[CintiPam]

7 hours ago, susiesan said:

I am one of those "serious" trivia players. I love winning enough points to come home with a t-shirt from Oceania. What really irks me about trivia is the people who join a team and don't contribute anything. They don't know any answers, don't actually participate with the team, they just sit there and say nothing. Then when their team wins they get to collect the point chips.  They are trivia moochers

In my (extremely extensive; yes, I find it great fun) experience, the silent ones usually are those simply choosing to “keep company” with their trivia-enjoying spouses.  I think they are good sports to put up with a bunch of over-intense trivia lovers so I certainly do NOT resent their getting those oh so valuable “O” points. 😁

[jackdeb]

Good for you UDSpud! sometimes the CD will give O points for a funny line or original quip. Like Susiesan we are also trivia aficionados , we try to exercise some slowly dying synapses and have a few laughs. We welcome  any who want to participate but don't want those who won't contribute, it is a team activity.  

[LHT28]

make  a rule  with your group  they have to contribute  or leave

problem solved 😉

 

[CintiPam]

IMO the trivia tone is set in large part by the person asking the questions.  On one cruise the 4:30 trivia was way too intense to be enjoyable for me so I only participated in the evening trivia.  

 

Most of the time it is both challenging and fun; if the latter is absent, so am I!

[susiesan]

I have seen people join a winning group multiple times just to get the big O points with no intention of participating. DH and I tend to join with a different group every day we play. Because we are good at trivia, some people will ask us to join their group if they don't have 8.

 

19 hours ago, LHT28 said:

make  a rule  with your group  they have to contribute  or leave

problem solved 😉

 

I don't think that would go over very well with people you may have just met. I suppose if someone asks to join your group you could ask if they are going to play or just sit in. 

[Paulchili]

I enjoy trivia and I am a serious trivia player and thus have a different point of view.

This is not a required activity and most people that choose to participate take it seriously. It's like any other activity on the ship - if one is not interested they do not need to participate.

When we join a team it is with the understanding that we will show up every time except when we are off the ship and expect the same from everyone on our team - it's a commitment. It's not fair for the rest of the team to scurry every day to find someone to complete their team because someone from the team had better things to do at that time. (other than a tour). M enjoys her spa treatments but never schedules them during that time and I would expect others on the team to do the same. Having a "team" helps us form some friendships and even bonds. Most of the friends that we have met on Oceania and kept in touch with were people from our trivia teams as we have like interests. Others may meet friends at the bar, pool or cards,  etc.

When we are short because someone is on a tour we may ask others to join with the understanding that we have a team and they would be joining for the day only.

If someone wants to just have fun, they can join a group of like minded people that is not constant or interested in coming every day or just sit at a table and keep score for themselves just for the fun of learning some new, mostly unimportant things.

Everyone is free to do as they wish when acting alone but it is important to respect the wishes of others that you choose to join just as you expect them to respect your wishes. After all, it's a group activity.

Edited March 16, 2019 by Paulchili

[jackdeb]

Paul my sentiments exactly, as you said it is a team effort. Everyone has different skill sets and knowledge and something to contribute, so join a team and participate. 

[redraider1966]

3 hours ago, Paulchili said:

I enjoy trivia and I am a serious trivia player and thus have a different point of view.

This is not a required activity and most people that choose to participate take it seriously. It's like any other activity on the ship - if one is not interested they do not need to participate.

When we join a team it is with the understanding that we will show up every time except when we are off the ship and expect the same from everyone on our team - it's a commitment. It's not fair for the rest of the team to scurry every day to find someone to complete their team because someone from the team had better things to do at that time. (other than a tour). M enjoys her spa treatments but never schedules them during that time and I would expect others on the team to do the same. Having a "team" helps us form some friendships and even bonds. Most of the friends that we have met on Oceania and kept in touch with were people from our trivia teams as we have like interests. Others may meet friends at the bar, pool or cards,  etc.

When we are short because someone is on a tour we may ask others to join with the understanding that we have a team and they would be joining for the day only.

If someone wants to just have fun, they can join a group of like minded people that is not constant or interested in coming every day or just sit at a table and keep score for themselves just for the fun of learning some new, mostly unimportant things.

Everyone is free to do as they wish when acting alone but it is important to respect the wishes of others that you choose to join just as you expect them to respect your wishes. After all, it's a group activity.

Plus one.  Could not agree more.

[susiesan]

Totally agree with Paul and the others. That is why I resent the moochers who just sit there and get the benefit of the team's work. If you are the spouse of a serious trivia player and don't want to participate then just sit off to the side and listen. But don't take up a team member space when you are not really a participating member.

[redraider1966]

2 hours ago, susiesan said:

Totally agree with Paul and the others. That is why I resent the moochers who just sit there and get the benefit of the team's work. If you are the spouse of a serious trivia player and don't want to participate then just sit off to the side and listen. But don't take up a team member space when you are not really a participating member.

Plus one!

[riffatsea]

Interesting discussion! We are used to just doing trivia as a couple and not as members of a big team! I think once on a cruise we had one other couple with us but usually it is just the 2 of us. We don't get involved in discussions of who participated more and who didn't know many answers.

This is supposed to be fun and not the end of the world!

Edited March 20, 2019 by riffatsea