Give aways at the shops

[Mwathguy]

I am currently at sea on Liberty of the Seas. Being a watch guy I was intrigued by a contest they were holding at the jewelry shop to guess the price of a Tag Heuer  watch. All the hype around the contest and the staff lead you to believe the prize was the watch on display that you had to guess the price on. This evening was the drawing and myself and about four others guessed the exact price of $1450.00 so they put our names into a bucket to draw the winner. Sadly, or as it turns out not sadly, I did not win. The person who won was called up and instead of giving him the Tag they gave him a crappy Fit Bit knock off worth about $40.00. This is my first cruise and I have to say this has soured me, not to the Jeweler (they are bad in their own right), but to Royal Caribbean. Don’t they know it is bad business to allow unscrupulous raffles with a bait and switch ending? Royal Caribbean reign in your retail partners because, at least in my eyes, they are giving you a bad name. There is an old saying RC, people judge you by the company you keep. I am judging RC hard.

Mike the watch guy.

[Matt]

I avoid all the sales on the Promenade, and talked about why in my latest video

 

[Xaa]

12 hours ago, Mwathguy said:

I am currently at sea on Liberty of the Seas. Being a watch guy I was intrigued by a contest they were holding at the jewelry shop to guess the price of a Tag Heuer  watch. All the hype around the contest and the staff lead you to believe the prize was the watch on display that you had to guess the price on. This evening was the drawing and myself and about four others guessed the exact price of $1450.00 so they put our names into a bucket to draw the winner. Sadly, or as it turns out not sadly, I did not win. The person who won was called up and instead of giving him the Tag they gave him a crappy Fit Bit knock off worth about $40.00. This is my first cruise and I have to say this has soured me, not to the Jeweler (they are bad in their own right), but to Royal Caribbean. Don’t they know it is bad business to allow unscrupulous raffles with a bait and switch ending? Royal Caribbean reign in your retail partners because, at least in my eyes, they are giving you a bad name. There is an old saying RC, people judge you by the company you keep. I am judging RC hard.

Mike the watch guy.

I avoid those sales @Mwathguy, but I have to ask how exactly you were "...lead to believe the prize was the watch on display...".  There are a few other old sayings you may have lost sight of.  "Caveat Emptor" and "If it seems to good to be true, it probably isn't".  Afterall, didn't it seem too easy for a $1500 prize?  Wouldn't it be something that could be easily googled?  

I still don't quite, and may never understand why people that want to shop, want to do it on a cruise ship.

[ChessE4]

For us, the contests are really just an activity to kill time.  We never expect to win, but we are sometimes entertained as we walk along the promenade.  As for the sales, we sometimes find unusual gifts, although that pretty much ended a decade ago when Royal changed their sale strategies.  There used to be more "itinerary oriented" goods for sale instead of just cheap imported products.  Same for straw markets.  It can be fun to stroll through them and take in the sights/sounds without really intending to make a purchase.

[Vancity Cruiser]

Of all the reasons to be soured off of cruising.............

[JFCruise]

4 hours ago, Xaa said:

I avoid those sales @Mwathguy, but I have to ask how exactly you were "...lead to believe the prize was the watch on display...".  There are a few other old sayings you may have lost sight of.  "Caveat Emptor" and "If it seems to good to be true, it probably isn't".  Afterall, didn't it seem too easy for a $1500 prize?  Wouldn't it be something that could be easily googled?  

I still don't quite, and may never understand why people that want to shop, want to do it on a cruise ship.

A couple of things:

- IIRC, the wording on the raffle is at least misleading. "Win a watch if you guess the price" or something like that. Although I find it weird that someone would be this upset about the prize. Doing the "guess the price" thing takes so little time off your cruise.

- I usually go to the shops on ships, and I've bought stuff. Mostly liquor since they sell things that aren't that easy to find. I usually walk around the shops if I'm nearby the Promenade and just want to stay indoors for a bit.

[Psycho and Barb]

We call the sale "Walmart at sea" and sometimes, people act like it's a big Black Friday sale.

[bhee]

1 hour ago, Psycho and Barb said:

We call the sale "Walmart at sea" and sometimes, people act like it's a big Black Friday sale.

I am guilty of buying the t shirts

[BeachGal]

10 hours ago, Vancity Cruiser said:

Of all the reasons to be soured off of cruising.............

Truth!

[Gilley]

I shop for the white Hennessy 

[ScottD]

9 hours ago, Gilley said:

I shop for the white Hennessy 

I was asked to get White Henny by a few co-workers but found it in Mexico much cheaper.

[Gilley]

Thanks.  That’s good to know.   

[cmdrfrag]

I will say on certain ships I like the sales, On Oasis class ships I get a nice seat up in the Schooner Bar and watch the people going crazy. Good times

[letscruise]

On 9/6/2023 at 6:54 PM, bhee said:

I am guilty of buying the t shirts

I am guilty of the t-shirts and those zipper "wet bags"/toiletry bags, which I use to store and pack all sorts of stuff in!  How many toiletry bags does one person need to buy?!  Quite a lot apparently, based on how many came home with me from my last cruise!!!