Treasure Hunt

[atdahop]

Has anyone every done that treasure hunt where you get stamps? Not sure how that works and if it is worthwhile.

Thanks

[gtcruisers]

We do the Treasure Hunt every cruise! I have won 3 times and my Mom won once when she was with us. Mom won 2 martinis at Crooners. I won $50 gift certificate for the onboard shops, $20 Bingo ticket and $20 Casino slot tournament voucher.

It doesn't take long to collect the stamps and you do have to be present at the draw to claim your prize.

Enjoy your cruise!

[hockeygal54]

I sent my daughter and her boyfriend off with our cards during our CB out of January. They enjoyed it but I guess everyone else did too since there were lots of cards to draw from and we ended up empty handed.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

[hllwdcruiser]

We did it once but didn't find it worthwhile at all - if I remember correctly it just takes you to all the venues where they would like you to spend additional money. IMHO there are far better ways to spend your first moments on the ship.

[terrific_surprise]

On our March 2013 Golden Princess cruise to Hawaii, I won the Reflections DVD (and the photo staff allowed us to use the winning ticket as credit toward an advertised special on the first day, enabling us to pay just a little bit more to get additional DVDs and some postcards). The drawing on that cruise was quick and painless, held in the Piazza. I would guess it was over in 15 minutes or less. On that cruise the Treasure Hunt was definitely worth the trouble.

 

However, just 9 months or so later on a 3 day getaway cruise on the same ship, the drawing was held in Explorers Lounge and was a long, drawn out process filled with commercials for various shipboard services. This time the drawing seemed to last two hours (it probably wasn't really that long, but I'm pretty sure that it really was an hour or more). To make matters worse, attending the drawing caused us to miss a spectacular sunset over Catalina Island (although I did slip out to the Promenade Deck a couple of times to briefly enjoy the view). It also seemed like the prizes offered were not as good on this cruise, but it's possible that my negative attitude about the boring drawing has tainted my memory.

 

I'm not sure if the difference in the way the drawing was handled on these two cruises was due to different cruise directors or just due to different ways of handling getaway cruises compared to longer cruises.

 

For the most part it is easy to get the cards stamped, and it can be somewhat fun to take advantage of the opportunity to explore the ship a little on the first day (although most of the stamps didn't require much exploring). I think the hardest stamp to get was the Lotus Spa. On embarkation day on our Hawaii cruise, the spa personnel actually refused to stamp our cards, telling us that if we wanted the cards stamped we would need to come back for some sales pitch later. But the next morning before the drawing was held we were finally able to get the spa staff to stamp our cards.

 

On our next cruise, I think we will probably get our cards stamped, but depending upon how the drawing is handled we may not bother waiting to see if our cards are pulled.

 

Tim

[dbeckett]

It is better now that the prizes are for shipboard prizes. I won the "big" prize once which tney were saying had a value of $1000 but get the $1000 you had to spend $8000 in shore stores. It'll come as no surprise I let them know what I thought. Won a couple of coffee cards on the last cruise. I agree that timing of tbe draw isn't always the best - there were 6 events on at the same time so you had to pick.

[TERESAh]

We had the same long boring commercial on our last cruise. In the past it had been out on the deck by the pool. If I see it is held in the Explorer Lounge, I wont do it. It really doesn't take long to get the stamps, but we have never won.

[RickEk]

Well, I've won a couple of times, including the grand prize of a "$500" print from the Art Gallery (pre-Park West). But that being said, I won't attend if they continue to have them as part of a sales event. It was fun at sailaway on the pool deck... just part of the festivities.

 

Embarkation Day 052 by RickEk, on Flickr

[shepp]

the grand prize of a "$500" print from the Art Gallery

 

Didn't you mean: the grand prize of a $500 print from the "Art" Gallery? ;)

[f-mattox]

My wife won a print about five years ago; it was so awful it is still in the garage . . . .still in the tube.:cool:

[FawnRiver]

Its a nice introduction to the ship, if you haven't been on it (or one of its sister ships) before.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums mobile app

[RickEk]

Didn't you mean: the grand prize of a $500 print from the "Art" Gallery? ;)

 

Nah, we have number of pieces from the pre-Park West era (including one original) and they're lovely... the piece I won was ok...:)

[beg3yrs]

Its a nice introduction to the ship, if you haven't been on it (or one of its sister ships) before.

 

That's exactly our feeling. If it's a new class of ship for you, it really helps you quickly get your bearings on that first day.

 

BTW, doing a recent B2B on the Ocean Princess there were so few participants we won something on both embarkation days.

 

Long exotic voyage = many experienced passengers = poor interest in Treasure Hunt. Combine that with a small ship = better chances of winning!

Edited September 22, 2014 by beg3yrs

[Lovetocruiseprincess]

It's just another opportunity for Princess to sell their products to the newbies. They run all over the ship collecting stamps the first day & then stand around for 30 minutes or more waiting for them to select a few lucky winners. :rolleyes:

[cibaygirls]

I have done them on a few cruises. It helps me to re-familiarize myself with a ship, and doesn't really take to long, we are usually out exploring anyway. When they do the drawing during sailaway, I am always at that event anyway so it doesn't pull me away from anything. Once I have had it done in the piazza a different day, I went to that, but maybe wouldn't have if there is something else better.

 

IMHO the prizes are worthwhile including dinner at specialty restaurants and casino vouchers. My mother won an art piece once...It was a print by Billy Dee Williams. She didn't particularly care for it, but it was fun for her to win (it was her first cruise) and a fun story to tell. shortly afterwards he was on Dancing with the stars.. so....maybe the value went up ;)

 

Dana

[metairiegal]

We've always like doing the Treasure Hunts in the past.

 

Anybody know if they are doing the hunt on the Regal/Royal?

[paul929207]

I think they do it on all ships. It is a promotion to get people to know what spending opportunities are on board and where they are

[cruisequeen4ever]

This is an embarkation day highlight for me because I LOVE contests! I won once but left feeling deceived. They announced that I won a massage; I went crazy with excitement and ran down to claim it. What ended up being in the envelope was a half day at the Sanctuary voucher. :-( That was useless to me because it was a cold Alaska cruise, and I didn't want to sit alone for half a day. It made a nice embellishment in my scrapbook at least! Lol

 

 

Sent using the Cruise Critic forums app

[cr8tiv1]

I agree with Terrific_Surprise. On a longer cruise, it is a good way to pass the time on embarkation day. I missed a winning (my name was called, I was not present) and, at another cruise, I won a photo of my choice. I also attended the short cruise drawing. It was a shopper's talk and too drawn out. I hold my breath when they are pulling the name for the Art Auction (ugh).

[cibaygirls]

Just off the royal and they do have the treasure hunt. The prizes were not the best of what i have seen but it was done and held during sailaway

 

Sent from my KFOT using Tapatalk 2

[metairiegal]

This is an embarkation day highlight for me because I LOVE contests! I won once but left feeling deceived. They announced that I won a massage; I went crazy with excitement and ran down to claim it. What ended up being in the envelope was a half day at the Sanctuary voucher. :-( That was useless to me because it was a cold Alaska cruise, and I didn't want to sit alone for half a day. It made a nice embellishment in my scrapbook at least! Lol

 

 

Sent using the Cruise Critic forums app

 

I'm a contest person, too!

[caitlyn20]

I am just off the Star Princess and this is the first time I participated in the Treasure Hunt. We had two days to get the stamps (not too difficult as they were all in close proximity except for the Lotus spa). As stated by others, it was a way for Princess to show you the location of the places you could spend your money.

 

The drawing was held in the Princess Theater on the second day and there were tons of entries. I was not impressed with the prizes and felt it was deceptive to say it was worth $500 when that prize was a credit toward art.

[furb]

We've stopped participating - about three cruises ago, the Lotus Spa staff forced us to do the grand tour and infomercial to get the stamp... and then they didn't hold the drawing at the sailaway, they forced you to go the Lotus Spa instead (naturally you had to be present to win, of course... :rolleyes: ).

 

Since then the cruises we've been on have also not had the drawing at sailaway, so we haven't bothered. It was always apparent that they were trying to get you to spend money (given the "value" of the prizes), but now it's just obnoxious.

[metairiegal]

I hate it when they have the spa raffle very close to sail away.

[caribill]

We've stopped participating - about three cruises ago, the Lotus Spa staff forced us to do the grand tour and infomercial to get the stamp... and then they didn't hold the drawing at the sailaway, they forced you to go the Lotus Spa instead (naturally you had to be present to win, of course... :rolleyes: ).

 

 

The Spa raffle is different from the Treasure Hunt.