DAM Dollars

I am cruising August 2014. Does Holland still have activities where you can earn DAM dollars?

Thanks!

I am cruising August 2014. Does Holland still have activities where you can earn DAM dollars?

 

Thanks!

Haven't seen those in a long time:D

there are still activities where pins, mugs, etc are given as prizes. They just go to the winners/winning teams instead of dam dollars and a redemption period at the end of the cruise

According to one CD they were done away with after one cruise had more dam dollars redeemed than were printed. According to him it was a case of counterfeit dollars.

Now whether that was true or was just an easy way out of a delicate subject is debatable.

there are still activities where pins, mugs, etc are given as prizes. They just go to the winners/winning teams instead of dam dollars and a redemption period at the end of the cruise

Please explain what you mean by "a redemption period at the end of the cruise". We've had many pins in recent years and no mention of redemption. :confused:

Please explain what you mean by "a redemption period at the end of the cruise". We've had many pins in recent years and no mention of redemption. :confused:

One could use the Dam Dollars to purchase HAL items such as hats, mugs, clothing, etc. near the end of the cruise.

Now that they give out pins, there is nothing to redeem.

One could use the Dam Dollars to purchase HAL items such as hats, mugs, clothing, etc. near the end of the cruise.

 

Now that they give out pins, there is nothing to redeem.

Thanks. That makes sense.

The whole fun 'dam dollar' program ended years ago....

Of course, Passport to Fitness ended even before that.

According to one CD they were done away with after one cruise had more dam dollars redeemed than were printed. According to him it was a case of counterfeit dollars.

If you sail on a Grand Cruise, they've had Grand Dollars and are used the way Dam Dollars were.

At one time the ships were suppose to have different color Dam Dollars for the various ships. I don't know what happened to that idea. But the object was that you could not save them from ship to ship.

Passport to Fitness -- another great idea -- but here you could save your booklets from ship to ship until you got enough "stamps" for something nice. But there were too many people who just went to the activity -- did nothing -- and got a stamp in their "passport". We saw that happen a lot.

At one time the ships were suppose to have different color Dam Dollars for the various ships. I don't know what happened to that idea. But the object was that you could not save them from ship to ship.

 

Passport to Fitness -- another great idea -- but here you could save your booklets from ship to ship until you got enough "stamps" for something nice. But there were too many people who just went to the activity -- did nothing -- and got a stamp in their "passport". We saw that happen a lot.

There are always 'cheaters' who ruin it for the rest of us. Always someone who wants to play the angle and get something for nothing.

Sad.

If I recall correctly the Dam Dollars program was eliminated at the same time that HAL reduced the CD/activities staff to next to nothing.

As much fun as the Dam Dollars activities were, it was very staff intensive and probably costly from a redeemed merchandise standpoint. I still have a very nice sweatshirt, coffee mug and water bottle from the final Dam Dollar cruise that we took. It was great for passenger participation and comradery, and everybody had fun. Now most "activities" involve a large number of passengers watching a few people do stuff. Yawn. We manage to keep ourselves entertained, but unfortunately it's just not the same.

There are always 'cheaters' who ruin it for the rest of us. Always someone who wants to play the angle and get something for nothing.

 

Sad.

 

I agree, it is very sad that people feel the need to cheat.

It's been years since we've seen 'dam' dollars on board a Hal ship.

Sail, you are exactly right about the "cheaters who ruin it for the rest of us."

A cruise director who helped me with many Meet/Greets, so I got to know that person pretty well, told me that the program was always meant to be a "for fun" shipboard activity series and did not have a really large budget for prizes since the idea was to limit prize-giving to what could be earned on that one voyage and prizes were of the "souvenir" variety; not major acquisitions for the wardrobe or purse. Counterfeiters primarily, but some who brought back the DAM Dollars earned previously killed it; one cruise was described where the number of slips of paper turned in were hugely more than were printed for that cruise and the prize merchandise cupboard didn't have enough to fulfill all those demands. It's not in HAL's nature to call people out on something like this, but apparently the photocopying wasn't even very good in many cases; wrong color paper, blurry, etc.My source said it was one of the most embarrassing events ever experienced in the life of a CD; what do you say to all those pieces of paper when there's no way there's enough merchandise to fulfill what was presented? It just wasn't worth the hassle and budget over run to the entertainment department; so few people were benefitting at the expense of everyone else.

Sail, you are exactly right about the "cheaters who ruin it for the rest of us."

 

A cruise director who helped me with many Meet/Greets, so I got to know that person pretty well, told me that the program was always meant to be a "for fun" shipboard activity series and did not have a really large budget for prizes since the idea was to limit prize-giving to what could be earned on that one voyage and prizes were of the "souvenir" variety; not major acquisitions for the wardrobe or purse. Counterfeiters primarily, but some who brought back the DAM Dollars earned previously killed it; one cruise was described where the number of slips of paper turned in were hugely more than were printed for that cruise and the prize merchandise cupboard didn't have enough to fulfill all those demands. It's not in HAL's nature to call people out on something like this, but apparently the photocopying wasn't even very good in many cases; wrong color paper, blurry, etc.My source said it was one of the most embarrassing events ever experienced in the life of a CD; what do you say to all those pieces of paper when there's no way there's enough merchandise to fulfill what was presented? It just wasn't worth the hassle and budget over run to the entertainment department; so few people were benefitting at the expense of everyone else.

And it was another great way to meet people.

And it was another great way to meet people.

Along the same lines haven't they also pretty much, if not totally, done away with the Find Mr. or Miss "Whateverdam" contest?

Sail, you are exactly right about the "cheaters who ruin it for the rest of us."

 

A cruise director who helped me with many Meet/Greets, so I got to know that person pretty well, told me that the program was always meant to be a "for fun" shipboard activity series and did not have a really large budget for prizes since the idea was to limit prize-giving to what could be earned on that one voyage and prizes were of the "souvenir" variety; not major acquisitions for the wardrobe or purse. Counterfeiters primarily, but some who brought back the DAM Dollars earned previously killed it; one cruise was described where the number of slips of paper turned in were hugely more than were printed for that cruise and the prize merchandise cupboard didn't have enough to fulfill all those demands. It's not in HAL's nature to call people out on something like this, but apparently the photocopying wasn't even very good in many cases; wrong color paper, blurry, etc.My source said it was one of the most embarrassing events ever experienced in the life of a CD; what do you say to all those pieces of paper when there's no way there's enough merchandise to fulfill what was presented? It just wasn't worth the hassle and budget over run to the entertainment department; so few people were benefitting at the expense of everyone else.

I don't disagree with what is stated above but I was on one or two cruises where the Dam Dollars handed out were photocopies. So, perhaps, HAL is partially to blame for the "counterfeiting".

Frankly, we never redeemed our dollars because there was the merchandise wasn't that appealing to us.

Along the same lines haven't they also pretty much, if not totally, done away with the Find Mr. or Miss "Whateverdam" contest?

Completely forgot about that! :)

Along the same lines haven't they also pretty much, if not totally, done away with the Find Mr. or Miss "Whateverdam" contest?

The "Mr" and "Ms" contest went away just about the time when the Vista class ships arrived.

And it also was a way to meet people.

Sail, you are exactly right about the "cheaters who ruin it for the rest of us."

 

A cruise director who helped me with many Meet/Greets, so I got to know that person pretty well, told me that the program was always meant to be a "for fun" shipboard activity series and did not have a really large budget for prizes since the idea was to limit prize-giving to what could be earned on that one voyage and prizes were of the "souvenir" variety; not major acquisitions for the wardrobe or purse. Counterfeiters primarily, but some who brought back the DAM Dollars earned previously killed it; one cruise was described where the number of slips of paper turned in were hugely more than were printed for that cruise and the prize merchandise cupboard didn't have enough to fulfill all those demands. It's not in HAL's nature to call people out on something like this, but apparently the photocopying wasn't even very good in many cases; wrong color paper, blurry, etc.My source said it was one of the most embarrassing events ever experienced in the life of a CD; what do you say to all those pieces of paper when there's no way there's enough merchandise to fulfill what was presented? It just wasn't worth the hassle and budget over run to the entertainment department; so few people were benefitting at the expense of everyone else.

This mirrors what the Assistant CD had told us on our last Dam Dollars cruise. In an effort to control the counterfeiting problem, the Dam Dollars which were handed out on that cruise had the name of the ship rubber stamped (not printed) randomly across the face of the dollar. An announcement was made that only those dollars with the ship's name would be accepted for redemption. There were more than a few unhappy people when that announcement was made. In addition, at redemption time there were people in line complaining about the selection of merchandise. HAL wisely chose to discontinue a program that was the source of unhappiness for a few passengers.:rolleyes:

This mirrors what the Assistant CD had told us on our last Dam Dollars cruise. In an effort to control the counterfeiting problem, the Dam Dollars which were handed out on that cruise had the name of the ship rubber stamped (not printed) randomly across the face of the dollar. An announcement was made that only those dollars with the ship's name would be accepted for redemption. There were more than a few unhappy people when that announcement was made. In addition, at redemption time there were people in line complaining about the selection of merchandise. HAL wisely chose to discontinue a program that was the source of unhappiness for a few passengers.:rolleyes:

Probably should have done that when they started the program.

Call me old fashioned, but I just think it's sad that people would go to such lengths to take advantage of a fun perk. Photocopying fake money?!? I mean really people...

And no, HAL is not to blame for not using more advanced anti-counterfiting methods. The people making photocopies knew they were wrong.

I remember the dam dollars events near the end well. I am not naturally athletic by any means ie klutzy but I tried to participate and talk to people at the events I went to. Some people were so competitive that if you did not make a high score so your team won the event, they did not want you playing. Hmmm, kind of reminds me of grade school again! :eek:

We participated in quite a few "dam" dollar events and we were never on a team.

The person with the highest score or most points in an event got the most "dam" dollars, next person got a smaller amount, third winner got so many "dam" dollars. The rest of the people got one "dam" dollar just for participating.