Dam Bucks - what are they really

[shipshape sam]

I have heard about dam bucks and any info is appreciated.

 

What are they?

How do you get them?

What kind of junk do you get for them?

Can you earn enough on a single cruise to get the junk?

 

I have cruised Royal Caribbean and they have shipshape points and it has over the years been fun to collect and redeem for junk(neat logo stuff).:)

 

We are going on HAL in November and interested in activities onboard.

[kh6275]

The Daily will list the activities that PAX can win Dam dollars for. Trivia games, chicken toss, singing, etc. You can then use the dollars to purchase items (logo stuff mostly).

[LolaWiz]

It is logo stuff... my mom got a really nice sweatshirt and cap both with HAL logos on them. They were really nice, high quality items.

She did quite a few activites throughout the week durring sea days to get them.

They had waterbottles, coffe mugs, shirts, caps, just about anything. :)

[mpduquaine]

HI-

The Dam Dollars, as I call them, are "fake" monies awarded for participation to the activities during the cruise. Get involved and you will enjoy meeting other passengers from the cruise. I was on the March 21 Noordam and it was the first time my husband and I got involved in the activities offered. It made for an incredible vacation, as we met some wonderful couples during the "game time", whom we hung with during our 10 days in paradise. Not only did we win our Dam Dollars, we got to puchase HAL Logo articles, and enjoy awesome memories with our new friends that we met along the way. Collecting Dam Dollars will be my favorite memory about our cruise as it was the beginning of great friendship. Enjoy your cruise, the games, and the Dam Dollars.:D

[Sunshine91]

Um, no dam dollars are awarded at trivia - just prizes to the first place team.

 

Each day in the daily program the activities that award dam dollars are marked.

 

As we were waiting to board this past January, a woman disembarking handed me a fistful of dollars, saying they had won them, but that it cost too many dollars to redeem for anything worthwhile. None of the activities John & I participated in awarded dam dollars, so somewhere I may still have them. I was going to look for a kid in the terminal to pass on those dollars, but we were kind of pushed along with the crowd in exiting. :o

[Krazy Kruizers]

On our recent Maasdam cruises we were able to participate in a lot of games and earned quite a few "Dam" bucks and got some really nice stuff.

 

$5 - HAL mug

$10 - water bottle

$15 - cap

$20 - T-shirt

$25 - beach towel

$30 - sweat shirt

[shipshape sam]

Thanks for the responses!:)

 

I too have enjoyed on RCL earning the shipshape points. It does get you out, get you to meet others.

 

My not earn enough dollars on just a single cruise, thus might HAVE to take another. Hmmmmmmmmmm, maybe my wife has already thought of this as a way to get another HAL cruise? She knows I am a sucker for junk(really neat logo stuff).:)

[luvcruisn']

On my Rotterdam cruise in October, when I went to redeem the "dam dollars" all the beach towels & water bottles were already gone - I had another activity I had to attend so got there 15 minutes after the redemption started. Some of the sizes of the sweatshirts were gone also, so get there quickly to get what you want. I did get a sweatshirt which I love wearing, it reminds me of my wonderful cruise.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Presently each ship has a different color for the dam dollars and depending on the staff, they will not accept dam dollars from another ship.

[Krazy Kruizers]

In 20 days we were able to earn enough dam dollars to get 2 mugs, 2 T-shirts, and 1 sweat shirt. And we didn't even go to half of the activities.

[hot4disney]

We really enjoy doing all the goofy games onboard. We have a great time, and usually meet some terrific people. My big mouth kid <g>loves to get involved and anytime there is a prize, a hunt or a challenge she will really go for it..It makes for a lot of laughs!

[Love Cruises]

On our recent Maasdam cruises we were able to participate in a lot of games and earned quite a few "Dam" bucks and got some really nice stuff.

 

$5 - HAL mug

$10 - water bottle

$15 - cap

$20 - T-shirt

$25 - beach towel

$30 - sweat shirt

We just got off the msNOORDAM (their 3/10 - 3/21/07 cruise). They inflated all the prices for dam dollar redemption (very disappointing) - at least $5, $10 or $15 more than what you listed on the msMAASDAM! Also, there were only 2 activities a day in which you could accumulate the dollars - 1 sporting event and trivia. People thought that if they showed up for trivia, they would get 1 dam dollar but were disappointed to find out you had to win 1st ($5) or 2nd ($3) to get any. Many HAL returnees who were used to about 5 or 6 events a day from prior cruising with HAL ships were very discouraged by the lack of events. There were also no organized board games for prizes - another scheduled event that many cruisers look forward too. I don't know if this is going to be HALs new policy or if it was the Cruise Director's choice. Only he and the DJ were doing the events. The other event staff (used to be called asst. cruise directors) were assigned to the llibrary (3 taking turns manning the desk) and a designated craft person. One day on our cruise there were 10 events and all had a fee of $8 or more. Some ladies went to a craft activity and refused to pay the $8 and left the HAL employee sitting there alone. I hope many complain to the home office - there were sure enough of them complaining on the trip. Hopefully, this will not be the same on our next HAL cruise.

[Sunshine91]

Some ladies went to a craft activity and refused to pay the $8 and left the HAL employee sitting there alone.

 

Eight whole dollars for a craft activity? :mad: Oh, what a ripoff!:eek: :D The same class at a Michael's or Ben Franklin's might cost $20. What do these folks think craft supplies cost, or are these supposed to be free?

 

I'm guessing the daily program indicated "nominal fee", so the charge for the class shouldn't have been a surprise.

[Chivalrygirl]

Eight whole dollars for a craft activity? :mad: Oh, what a ripoff!:eek: :D The same class at a Michael's or Ben Franklin's might cost $20. What do these folks think craft supplies cost, or are these supposed to be free?

 

I'm guessing the daily program indicated "nominal fee", so the charge for the class shouldn't have been a surprise.

 

Personally I think it is a load of "hot air" for overgrown school children, with no respect for other people who are trying to rest in the afternoon, carrying on like half baked idiots at the end of the passage where my cabin was situated, all over a stupid golf ball and a club! Of course its only my opinion. However, I thought it was a total lack of respect by the cruise director and his staff.

[bob brown]

We really got into all the activities on our Oct Noordam cruise and we ended up with about 130 dam dollars! Came home with cap, t-shirts, sweat shirt, travel bag, etc. What no one mentioned is these logo items dispensed at cruise end are completely different from those sold by the concession operated shops on board. So the only way to get these is to participate in the cruise staff activities. Everyone gets a buck just for showing up. Winners of pingpong, golf putt, basketball free throw, ring toss, shuffleboard, pool ring toss, etc. get anywhere from two to five bucks (varied). The hilarious scavenger hunt yielded 50 bucks to the lady that presented a set of false teeth.

All in all, a great way to get more participation from the passengers and a great way to meet fellow cruisers.

[superjerryw]

On our recent Maasdam cruises we were able to participate in a lot of games and earned quite a few "Dam" bucks and got some really nice stuff.

 

$5 - HAL mug

$10 - water bottle

$15 - cap

$20 - T-shirt

$25 - beach towel

$30 - sweat shirt

 

I was just on the Noordam and you could get a deck of cards if you had between $1 and $5. If you handed them $5 they would give you one deck of cards. If you got on line repeatedly you could get a deck of cards for $1 each time.

[Love Cruises]

bob brown ... The 11 Noordam cruise I was on did not have any ping pong, shuffleboard, quoits, basketball throw, volleyball, darts, bowling, bean bag toss, etc.

 

One day there was a pool ring toss, another day a chicken toss, two days a golf chipping into pool, and 1 ring toss in the dark in "Northern Lights". Five sporting events over an 11 day cruise. Most experienced HAL travelers are used to that many activities in ONE DAY!!! Also, as I wrote earlier, there were absolutely NO organized board games. It was very disappointing.

[Old Salty Dog]

We were on the 3/10 Noordam So. Caribbean and participated in some of the events that gave the Dam Dollars. They have changed the number and kind of events that offer these since our last cruise on the Rotterdam last October. Very few of the ones we had on the Rotterdam were offered, as was mentioned above. They stopped giving prizes for the Trivia and now give $5 to everyone on the winning team and $3 for the second place. We had a great time on the Rotterdam and were disappointed with the number of things offered on the Noordam.

 

On the Rotterdam we had enough for 2 sweatshirts, 2 tee shirts, 1 cap and 1 mug - all good quality items. On the Noordam we only collected enough for a beach blanket and mug, and yes, the "prices"were higher.

[shipshape sam]

Sounds like a really great program that provide liberal opportunities for participants to earn 'bucks' for logo products is being tighten up on a number of fronts. Less events to earn the bucks and then higher point values for the logo items when redeeming them.

 

Ultimately, HAL looses if, and it is a big if, the logo products were a good form of advertising. I personally think these type of products are. For a couple of reasons. People have a good time, as indicated in these posts, resulting in a higher satisfation rate with the HAL product (the cruise experience) and from my experience, wearing the logo items after the cruise and telling stories about how they were won many times over, which becomes a soft sell/promotion for HAL.

 

I would be willing to bet that they get a couple of new customers from the logo items passed out on each cruises over time.

 

Anyway, I really appreciate the info about Dam Bucks. I hope they still have them when we sail in November and I can earn a sufficient number of them to get a sweatshirt or something. Anyone have any extra's lying around? :)

[FRANKIEDNYC]

We have done several HAL cruises and always participated in dam dollar events. we have always come home with about 6 nice items. The prices of the items are adjusted on each cruise to the number of events scheduled so that everone has an oppertunity to earn them. Just did a 30 day Hawaii/South Pacific cruise and the items were about 30% higher than they were on our last 11 Day Noordam cruise . In other words, the more dam dollar activities on a cruise, the higher the prices :o

[shipshape sam]

I like the idea of a 30 day cruise!:) I would assume a fair amount of seas days with lots of onboard activities.

 

We went on a 15 day cruise last year with hopes of a 15 day cruise next year. It was great to not have to get off at the end of a week. Celebrity did not have any bucks, but we did do some activities. I especially enjoyed the dancing lessons as I need all the help I can get.:o

[Krazy Kruizers]

Sounds as though some ships want more "dam" dollars than other ships for the same stuff!!!

[madelinerose]

OK, I'm almost afraid to ask...

What is this chicken toss thing? :confused:

[trubey]

You just take the DAM buck with ten dollars, and trade it for a martini. (update of a VERY old joke)

 

Lane

[shipshape sam]

Like with most things, $$$ works in getting things.:)

 

Dam Bucks and the resultant junk (really neat logo items) is not just the items, but part of what I would call 'the hunt', the fun of earning them, talking about them, etc.