Who wants to win a wine cooler?

Trivia buffs on cruise ships take their quizzing seriously. The keen ones are always first to the venue to grab a table for their team, and even if they’re not the sharpest pencil in the box, they make sure they get the sharpest pencil to write their answers down. Heaven help the unfortunate member of the cruise staff who mis-pronounces a question, or – worse still – isn’t sure about an answer. He or she is howled down immediately by teams of passengers who always know best. Take it from me: quizzes are not to be taken lightly, and they are certainly not for the faint-hearted
But it’s not for the rewards. This is not Who Wants To Be A Millionaire. There are no life-changing amounts of money to be won here. The cruise director on my recent Eurodam voyage risked life and limb by announcing that “tonight’s top prize is a free cruise … (pause) … brochure.” In reality, if you score top marks you might walk away with a bottle of wine. Sparkling, if you’re lucky. More likely, the question master will hand out tokens to be shared among the team and kept for the grand prize distribution at the end of the cruise.
So I’m not quite sure what to make of P&O’s announcement that they are to introduce a new set of prizes. Wine coolers, leather travel wallets, and even digital radios will replace the ubiquitous keyrings, baggage tags, baseball caps and shoe cleaning sets – all of which have found their way into my luggage at one time or another.
They look like something worth winning – I just hope the prospect doesn’t raise temperatures to dangerous levels among the contestants, and I trust it’s not necessary to win every quiz for a fortnight, plus the table tennis tournament and the shuffleboard competition, to qualify.