Search for the Nations - Terrible Prize!

[yogimax]

7 hours ago, sgmn said:

Think a child would be pleased with a certificate proclaiming him the winner and a small trophy. They don't cost much, our children's football teams gave out several at end of season awards. Nice for the kids to display at home rather than a gift which will just, be thrown into a drawer 

Interesting idea!  The amazing thing here is that Stevie was competing (basically by himself) against all the other teams which were made up of adults. 

[yogimax]

6 hours ago, papaflamingo said:

  So, am I to understand that on a wonderful cruise on a beautiful ship with all the activities available and fun port stops, etc. that a 13 year old boy is "upset" that he got a crappy prize for a game on board?  

 

I never said he was "upset."  I was somewhat upset in part because I know what my wife and I won when we won the same competition on another ship.  It included everything from a backpack to a hat to a water bottle, plus more.

[ldubs]

I'm sure Stevie felt a sense of accomplishment.  Still, to me it seems pretty thoughtless on the part of RCI staff.  

 

[yogimax]

4 hours ago, 123funcruiser said:

I hope the OP will come back and tell us how the kid felt About their Price and what he thinks a good Prize would have been.

How do you judge the reaction of a 13 year old?  Yes, he was glad he won.  That was more important than the reward.  Please, let's stop mixing apples and oranges.  Trivia takes 20 minutes and it's over.  This lasted from Day 2 through Day 8. 

 

By the way, this is a great event.  When we did it, the best part was the reaction of the crew who really appreciated that someone cared about them for who they were.  Many were so excited that they hunted down their friends to sign as well. 

 

See, this is part of my problem.  Because I knew the time and effort involved, I was truly disappointed with the "reward."

[Badatz2]

I played this game on the Adventure a few years ago and actually had more points including 5 countries that were not on the list.  Someone else had one country less but they gave him the win because he had found one more unlisted country than I did.  He got a beach tote filled with goodies and I got a …………. keychain.  The host didn't want to hear anything I had to say. 

 

I think that I am a little "older" than Stevie , but I was very pissed.   The next day I met the Activities Director walking around the ship and after talking to her about it, she gave me a backpack.

Pays to let your thoughts be heard.

[Tin can]

We were on the same cruise and saw the effort put in by the youngsters around the ship and the excitement this caused.

 

It should have been medals at the very least in my opinion like they give for the adult competitions such as belly flop and sexiest man events.

 

 

 

 

 

[bonsai3s]

Yogimax...we understand and agree with you.

Many years ago, I joined an adult basketball shooting competition while on a cruise.

An 11 year old wanted to play and everyone said "No problem".

As much as we cheered and encouraged that little boy...he couldn't make a basket...but he tried and never gave up.

It was all fun.  In the end, I won a nice hat.  I walked over to the kid and gave him the hat I just won and told him "You deserve this better than me".  He smiled and sprinted away.

 

A few days later, a man approached me and said: "I just want to thank you for giving the hat to my boy...it meant everything to him". 

Edited September 1, 2019 by bonsai3s
Typo

[Baron Barracuda]

When my children were 10 they would have been more than satisfied by the pure joy of winning.  Agree though that more thought could go into better form of recognition.  Need not have great monetary value.  A printed certificate would cost $0.  Wouldn't necessarily blame Royal though. Aren't all awards determined by the activities director and cruise director.  We've certainly seen their generosity vary greatly from sailing to sailing.

[yogimax]

52 minutes ago, bonsai3s said:

Yogimax...we understand and agree with you.

Many years ago, I joined an adult basketball shooting competition while on a cruise.

An 11 year old wanted to play and everyone said "No problem".

As much as we cheered and encouraged that little boy...he couldn't make a basket...but he tried and never gave up.

It was all fun.  In the end, I won a nice hat.  I walked over to the kid and gave him the hat I just won and told him "You deserve this better than me".  He smiled and sprinted away.

 

A few days later, a man approached me and said: "I just want to thank you for giving the hat to my boy...it meant everything to him". 

Well done!  not only was that the highlight of his cruise, but, just maybe, yours as well!

[GarlicBread]

Why does everything have to have a prize? 

 

And then when there is a prize, it's never good enough...

[papaflamingo]

6 hours ago, yogimax said:

I never said he was "upset."  I was somewhat upset in part because I know what my wife and I won when we won the same competition on another ship.  It included everything from a backpack to a hat to a water bottle, plus more.

Fair enough.  I guess I just don't see the big deal.  The whole point of these games is to entertain at sea.  It's so everyone can have some fun around the ship.  For me, it's never about the prize, it's about the fun of participating.  But if people feel the prize is what determines the value of the effort, guess they should find out what the prize is ahead of time.  

So tell me, how did Stevie handle the prize?  Was he angry, sad, happy, proud?  Seriously, you don't actually say what he thought, only that YOU thought it was crappy.  

 

[yogimax]

41 minutes ago, papaflamingo said:

 

So tell me, how did Stevie handle the prize?  Was he angry, sad, happy, proud?  Seriously, you don't actually say what he thought, only that YOU thought it was crappy.  

 

Hey look, Stevie was an amazing kid who has a wonderful future.  He was literally sitting on the edge of his chair when they announced #5, #4, #3 and #2.  He loved the fact that he won.  No doubt!  We have a 13 year old grandson who also has an amazing future.  Yes, the problem was me and not Stevie.  This is a great promotion for RCCL.  Just the positive feelings it engenders for the crew is worth big $$$$ to RCCL.  They (the crew) feel appreciated and respected.  That alone should mean RCCL could well spend $20 a cruise to promote this activity.

 

I have  to add (maybe) a final comment.  One of the trivia presentations was a map challenge.  We were given a map of Europe with (I believe) 48 different countries.  The guy presenting it said no one had ever completed it successfully.  Guess what?  Stevie finished it correctly in 4 minutes.  This is a kid who will be the future of America.  God bless him!

[cruising grandma]

8 hours ago, yogimax said:

How do you judge the reaction of a 13 year old?  Yes, he was glad he won.  That was more important than the reward.  Please, let's stop mixing apples and oranges.  Trivia takes 20 minutes and it's over.  This lasted from Day 2 through Day 8. 

 

By the way, this is a great event.  When we did it, the best part was the reaction of the crew who really appreciated that someone cared about them for who they were.  Many were so excited that they hunted down their friends to sign as well. 

 

See, this is part of my problem.  Because I knew the time and effort involved, I was truly disappointed with the "reward."

 

 

My husband and I did a similar “contest” on a cruise years ago. It involved even going to bars in ports for items. Like you, it was days to find all items. This was very time consuming. We won.....a coffee mug each! Learned our lesson.....

 

We’ve been on winning teams of Quest....took a couple hours at most....lots of laughs and we didn’t care what the prizes were. 

 

Like you, when you know the time and effort involved, you feel the prize should be much better.

[John&LaLa]

6 hours ago, Badatz2 said:

I played this game on the Adventure a few years ago and actually had more points including 5 countries that were not on the list.  Someone else had one country less but they gave him the win because he had found one more unlisted country than I did.  He got a beach tote filled with goodies and I got a …………. keychain.  The host didn't want to hear anything I had to say. 

 

I think that I am a little "older" than Stevie , but I was very pissed.   The next day I met the Activities Director walking around the ship and after talking to her about it, she gave me a backpack.

Pays to let your thoughts be heard.

 

So the lesson is, if you complain enough you get what you want?

[neverbeenhere]

And you get a new car and you get a new car and you get a new car... 

 

 

 

I will also add (an area I know a bit about) the hardest working person in the restaurant business is the dishwasher, don’t be the dishwasher. 

Edited September 2, 2019 by neverbeenhere

[John&LaLa]

37 minutes ago, yogimax said:

 

I have  to add (maybe) a final comment.  One of the trivia presentations was a map challenge.  We were given a map of Europe with (I believe) 48 different countries.  The guy presenting it said no one had ever completed it successfully.  Guess what?  Stevie finished it correctly in 4 minutes.  This is a kid who will be the future of America.  God bless him!

 

There are 44 countries in Europe today, according to the United Nations 👍

[cruising grandma]

18 minutes ago, John&LaLa said:

 

So the lesson is, if you complain enough you get what you want?

 

 

I’ve heard complaints and greenbacks work magic for many cruisers.🤑😡

[Badatz2]

2 hours ago, John&LaLa said:

 

So the lesson is, if you complain enough you get what you want?

Nope.  The lesson is if you speak up properly for what you think is right, you can sometimes get what you deserve

 

[papaflamingo]

10 hours ago, cruising grandma said:

 

 

My husband and I did a similar “contest” on a cruise years ago. It involved even going to bars in ports for items. Like you, it was days to find all items. This was very time consuming. We won.....a coffee mug each! Learned our lesson.....

 

 

So you hit all the bars to win a prize?  I like that game.  My "prize" would be visiting all the bars.  After that I'd NEED a coffee mug and it'd have to have very strong coffee in it!  🍺🍺🍺🍺

Edited September 2, 2019 by papaflamingo

[John&LaLa]

7 hours ago, Badatz2 said:

Nope.  The lesson is if you speak up properly for what you think is right, you can sometimes get what you deserve

 

 

Keywords - you think

[Badatz2]

3 minutes ago, John&LaLa said:

 

Keywords - you think

You are correct but really are dealing in semantics.

The game host said that this was a multi day game and at the end there will be great prizes.  

At the end the "expected"  (and rightfully so in this circumstance. Remember I said that I did have highest number of points according to the rules) turned out to be a key chain.  So I knew and apparently the Activities Manager did so also, that I deserved a better prize.

[JasonMason]

He should have gone to Guest Services and complained.

 

...j/k. I hope he (more importantly) had a good time with the activity and enjoyed his cruise. The activities like scavenger hunts, trivia, game shows, etc., are just designed to be time spenders to keep people occupied and put a smile on their face while onboard. If he had a good time doing it and still won "something", hey - seems like an okay deal to me.

 

Just my opinion ☺️

 

Edited September 2, 2019 by JasonMason

[ReneeFLL]

 

On 8/31/2019 at 6:22 PM, Merion_Mom said:

 

This, this, always this.

 

Not everything comes with a "prize".  There is too much, "What's in it for me?" going on in the  world today, particularly in young circles, where it is the most damaging.

 

Not everything comes with a prize, but he probably worked extra hard to win since they said the winner would get a great prize. I agree there is to much of "what's in it for me" regarding the ones who don't do anything, but Stevie went out of his way to win so there should be something in it for him. I think it sucks he only got a t-shirt. 

 

On 9/1/2019 at 7:24 AM, papaflamingo said:

We took our family (kids and grandkids) on Oasis a few years ago. My 12 year old (similar age) grandson spent many hours in the teen club making friends and enjoying the activities.  He did the flow rider constantly throughout the cruise and got better and better.  He did the zip line, we rode the carousel (ok probably not that thrilling, but fun), he enjoyed the beach at Labadee and we river rafted in Falmouth.   Attended some wonderful shows, had a great dining experience, even trying escargot.  So, am I to understand that on a wonderful cruise on a beautiful ship with all the activities available and fun port stops, etc. that a 13 year old boy is "upset" that he got a crappy prize for a game on board?  

"Lesson learned?" Cruise for the ship, the activities, the port stops, the friends you make, the shows you see, the dining experience,  and yes, the interest and enjoyment of meeting people from around the world, not the "prize" for a game.  No offense intended.  Just my feelings. 

 

Your grandkids enjoying their cruise and everything they did on it (I won't bother listing everything they did since you already did that 🙄) has nothing to do with Stevie and his participation in this game. He was told the winner would win a great prize so he put in extra work and he won. I'm guessing your grandkids put in the extra work at playing and they were rewarded for it since that's what they chose to do. BTW, what's the big deal with trying different foods? Isn't that just part of normal every day life?

 

On 9/1/2019 at 10:21 AM, goldfish65 said:

Makes me a little sad, a cruise is an experience that many can only dream of, yet we aren't satisfied. Good to hear the young man enjoyed the opportunity.

 

It has nothing to do that some can only dream about a cruise. Why do people always throw this out there? The fact is that he was on a cruise, worked extra hard and got a crappy (imo) prize. 

 

So I'm beginning to wonder if those stupid participation trophies aren't a result of something like this. You work extra hard and don't get rewarded for it so why bother? I know some of you will say it's for self satisfaction, but not everything we do is only for self satisfaction but also for the reward at the end. 

 

I'm with Yogimax on this one. I also think the prize should have been better. We don't really know how Stevie felt about the prize or what exactly his motivations were in doing it. I'm sure he had fun and learned a lot, but he might have also been looking forward to winning a great prize so he put in the extra effort. Reward him for his hard work.

 

Let's say your boss says you will get a nice prize if you achieve xx and x. Now are you going to try to achieve that to get the prize? If you succeeded and then your prize is just so so how would you feel? Probably upset would be my guess.

 

 

[gerif]

10 hours ago, Badatz2 said:

Nope.  The lesson is if you speak up properly for what you think is right, you can sometimes get what you deserve

 

I’m thinking little Stevie handled things in a much more mature manner. Did not act like a whiny little kid. 

[papaflamingo]

1 hour ago, ReneeFLL said:

BTW, what's the big deal with trying different foods? Isn't that just part of normal every day life?

 

I guess you missed my  point.  One of the pleasures of cruising is the opportunity to try different foods.  I can confidently tell you that my grandkids were not going to have the opportunity to try escargot in an expensive french restaurant, but did get to try it on the cruise.  If they didn't like it, nothing ventured.  Turns out my grandson did like it and ordered it a few times.  So, no, trying different foods, especially exotic or expensive foods, is not a normal part of everyday life.

Honestly, we can argue poor Stevie's experience ad nauseam and there'll never be an agreement.    So if someone is participating in a cruise contest of any description solely for a "great prize," they'll likely be disappointed. As I said much earlier, if the prize is the goal, and it has to be great (whatever that is), then I would suggest in the future that one find out what the prize is before committing the time. Sad that a wonderful 7 night cruise is a total failure because the prize for a contest wasn't up to par.