Weekly Funny Money Auctions

Just a thought, not sure if this is possible. We are repeaters, have ben to CN 7 times now, and will continue to come back. Through the years we have seen an evelution in the "funny money concept" and weekly auctions. This is the program of entertainment group "paying" to participate in the resort events, and twice per week an auction is held to buy small souvenior items. Through the years we have seen people try to bring money from one year to the other, use " bohus tokens, etc. " The latest we see is people who do not use the "money " giving it to others. What we have seen the last two or three years is this amounts to one or two people coming to the auction with 10 times as much as everyone else, thus no one else can participate. I have also seen the event ruined by one or two people that take it way too serious and forget we are all there to just have fun, and the souveniors are just that, not some valuable antiquess.

So, all this rambling brings me to my idea.

Somehow modify this program to a auction for " real " money, rather than funny money, with all proceeds going to the Issa Trust Foundation. Each auction may not raise much, but with two a week, even if only $100 per auction is raised, by year end a nice donation from everyone could be had.

OK, off my soap box, thanks for letting me ramble.

Steve & Cindy

I for one enjoy the funny Jamaican money auction. I never would of been able to add Freddy to our collection.

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I think what the staff has done is create something of interest for the guests and yes at times there can be many laughs.


I say leave it as it is.

Steve/Cindy...I have to agree..it's all in fun, and shouldn't be seen as unfair...can't beat em,join em..we've tried to bring back $$ from a previous trip, just to discover that the staff has thought ahead and "changed" the currency..the laugh was on us..also..it's an incentive for them to have guests "participate" in activities..where, just watching the ice carving demo, or sitting in on a mixology class brings you cash..If you are social enough you may be lucky enough to have someone give you their bucks..or, better yet, if you don't use yours, give then away...I especially love the casino night, where you can win or lose $$ just like the real thing... Our strategy for the auction has been "Bid early, and with every dollar you have" as, there usually isn't much offered & the big dollars come out towards the end

I have been reading threads related to Issa Foundation etc and had some questions.

I was wondering if you can donate directly to it and if it is a reliable way of making sure your money is used effectively and for a good cause. I know the foundation was established by Couples and can only assume they do a good job distributing the trust aspects of program.

I was also wondering if there is a way to bring gift certificates for online purchasing of school supplies etc. Can you bring a certificates for an online Staple's store for example? It would seem easier than trying to fill a suitcase with those kinds of things. We still will bring odds and ends for the wonderful staff.

When we were there in 06 we would take long walks on the beach and see all of the Vendors and their families trying to make a living. After a day or two we began bringing a little cash to give to the kids or the woman that were setup along the way. Rather than buying things that we didn't really need, we felt pleased and they did appreciate it. It was an eye opener for us as we had never really vacationed outside of the US before 06 because of our own young family.

I guess when you see what's going on in Haiti it makes you want to help efforts not only there, but in other parts of the world where these folks have to struggle on a daily basis.

It would also be great if we could see some of the schools nearby the CN resort and hand over anything we may have first hand.

Any ideas or thoughts on the topic? Thanks!

when we were at cn last year we witnessed the same thing. it was trip to watch one couple literally out bid everyone to the point one poor women got upset. I sat on the outside smoking a cigar thinking if this women who was upset /crying wanted a carved thing so bad i am sure her could pony up the 15 buck to buy her something at the OON. You cant blame the couple who corner the funny money market it is open game

btw i doubt many would attend if they had to bid with real money i would say 20 % would attend and participate