Carnival Cruise Line has addressed guest concerns about the potential for cheating at trivia games onboard, once again showing responsiveness to guests’ feedback and willingness to raise awareness of the issue and what can be done about it. While it may seem trivial to some, onboard trivia contests can be serious fun for fans of popular music, television, movies, and more.
Trivia Cheating Claims Brought to Attention
Every cruise guest is aware of onboard trivia games, fun contests that test passengers’ knowledge. While general trivia matches may be more casual, some themed trivia activities can be very competitive indeed.
Particularly popular are trivia contests about television shows like Game of Thrones and Friends, the Harry Potter franchise, different sports, and musicians such as Michael Jackson and The Beatles.
Carnival Cruise Line brand ambassador John Heald has noted recently that some guests have concerns about cheating at these most popular trivia games. Some questions are deliberately designed to stump even the most knowledgeable fans, yet teams seem to get perfect scores consistently.
Accusations of cheating during trivia contests have arisen, with claims made that questions are so difficult that it’s impossible for teams to get perfect scores, hence they must be cheating. Other claims allege that passengers have observed rival teams using cell phones to search for correct answers even while the game continues.
“I know that some people take trivia very seriously and I know that the staff tell people to turn their phones off and check for this kind of thing,” Heald said. “But, at the end of the day it is supposed to be, well you know, Fun.”
Carnival “Fun Squad” members – crew members who host trivia and other onboard activities as part of the Entertainment staff – do generally ask that participants not use cell phones, shout out answers, or otherwise detract from the fun of the game. When some trivias attract dozens of participants, however, it can be difficult to ensure nothing at all nefarious is going on during the game.
Is It Cheating?
Of course, it is impossible to control all possible perceived attempts at cheating. Sometimes a “cheater” may simply be using the Carnival Hub app to check on other activities, texting a family member onboard about the game they’ve joined, or reviewing photos they’ve taken of their cruise.
Because many Carnival trivias reuse questions on different sailings, it is also possible that loyal guests are already familiar with even the toughest trivia questions, and therefore do indeed score perfectly on an otherwise challenging trivia.
With more Carnival cruise ships achieving faster, more reliable internet connections – 11 ships in the fleet are now equipped with Starlink Maritime Wi-Fi – it is of course easier than ever for someone to look up an answer to a puzzling trivia question. Cheating does happen occasionally, and can be sour note on what is supposed to be a lighthearted, fun activity.
Unfortunately, calling out a potential cheater, banning them from games, or otherwise creating penalties is not possible, as these games are meant to be fun and not taken to extremes. While everyone wants to win a 24-karat-gold-ship-on-a-stick – the most coveted of Carnival prizes – there can only be one winner, and sometimes, it isn’t the person who thought they would win a particular game.
Preventing Cheating
So, what can Carnival Cruise Line do about the possibility of trivia cheaters? Heald has promised to make attempts to rectify the problem.
“I will pass this on to my colleagues in the entertainment department and see what we can do to try and stop trivia cheats,” he said.
With higher onboard internet speeds and more Carnival team members using tablets as they host games, it could be possible to use a larger question bank even for the most popular themed trivias. With more questions to choose from, fewer guests would be familiar with every question on every sailing, and other fans may have more opportunities to win.
Guests could also be asked to put their phones and tablets away more frequently, or disqualified from a particular game if they are using their phone as questions are being asked.
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It might even be possible for the cruise line to keep a list of the stateroom numbers and names of trivia winners and restrict the top prizes to one per stateroom, per sailing, which could spread the honors out to more guests.
In the end, however, it is as Heald said – trivia is supposed to be fun, and enjoying the game with a lighthearted attitude will go a long way for all guests to have a great time no matter who “wins” each trivia contest.
