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Current Status of Coke Freestyle Machines on the Royal Caribbean fleet.

BillOh

By BillOh,
in Royal Caribbean International

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Beachammo

Beachammo

Posted
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I will be sailing on the Brilliance December 2018. I can’t believe how many calls I’ve made to Royal Caribbean and they are adamant that the Brilliance and Radiance class of ships all have the freestyle Coca-Cola soda machines. I explained in detail how I cannot find evidence that they do and I’m reading online that as of May travelers have said the online that the Brilliance does not have the freestyle machine. Even had someone from Royal Caribbean tell me that the Brilliance is in with Liberty and Independence class of ships. Obviously they have hired people who don’t have all the facts. So has anyone sailed on Brilliance in the last few months that can verify if it has the freestyle machine? Want to know before I purchase the beverage package in advance.
Brilliance didn't have the machines last week on the TA......

 

Sent from my VS995 using Tapatalk

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azarak

azarak

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Ok. So this is going to be a VERY silly question and I know this so don't roast me too much... I've never sailed Royal before. I have the soda package for my kiddo's. I am sailing Allure and have heard the freestyle machines are few and far between and may or may not be in working order on our sailing. All of this being said, I'm assuming I can just go to any bar and get the kids a soda? Again, I know it's a silly question but I figured it never hurts to ask.

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Clarea

Clarea

Posted
Posted
Ok. So this is going to be a VERY silly question and I know this so don't roast me too much... I've never sailed Royal before. I have the soda package for my kiddo's. I am sailing Allure and have heard the freestyle machines are few and far between and may or may not be in working order on our sailing. All of this being said, I'm assuming I can just go to any bar and get the kids a soda? Again, I know it's a silly question but I figured it never hurts to ask.

Yes, the soda package will work at any bar or restaurant. However, your choices will be limited to about 6 flavors, vs over 100 in the Freestyle machine.

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Clarea

Clarea

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If Mariner has the machines after it's Amplified refurbishment, do you think the Navigator (same class of ship) will as well? We'll be on the Navigator in March after it's refurbishment.

 

Dan

Unpredictable. Liberty has been in the US for years, even through a major refit dry dock, and still no machines.

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Pixietwin

Pixietwin

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Yes, the soda package will work at any bar or restaurant. However, your choices will be limited to about 6 flavors, vs over 100 in the Freestyle machine.

 

That’s another complaint. When I was previously calling Royal Caribbean to ask if freestyle is on the brilliance of the seas, every representative said that yes it did have the freestyle machines. When I kept pushing that I did not believe freestyle was on brilliance, I was asking about the soda situation in bars and restaurants. Every one of the representative said that the choices are the same at the bars and restaurants as they are in the freestyle machine. Who are these people they are hiring? I would think they would all have access to knowledge about the drink packages, what’s available and where freestyle machines are found. But apparently not.

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Clarea

Clarea

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That’s another complaint. When I was previously calling Royal Caribbean to ask if freestyle is on the brilliance of the seas, every representative said that yes it did have the freestyle machines. When I kept pushing that I did not believe freestyle was on brilliance, I was asking about the soda situation in bars and restaurants. Every one of the representative said that the choices are the same at the bars and restaurants as they are in the freestyle machine. Who are these people they are hiring? I would think they would all have access to knowledge about the drink packages, what’s available and where freestyle machines are found. But apparently not.

I'll bet that if you ask them to put this info in writing so you can take it on the ship with you, the answer will be different. There's little downside to the company in giving out erroneous verbal info on the phone.

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BillOh Holiday Sharing Rare

BillOh

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If Mariner has the machines after it's Amplified refurbishment, do you think the Navigator (same class of ship) will as well? We'll be on the Navigator in March after it's refurbishment.

 

Dan

 

 

That is a reasonable assumption and I'd put the odds at 51% ;) Royal hasn't followed logic 100% of the time in this case.

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birdylady

birdylady

Posted
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You should be able to swap if you take your cup to one of the tables where the crew is selling packages.

Hubby & I have done that before. It's so much easier to ID whose is whose with a different pattern. Just make sure you haven't unwapped yours yet, otherwise they probably won't let you swap.

 

Erika

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Sitzmark

Sitzmark

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On the Oasis Class, I am pretty sure they are present on all ships. There was a one count difference between Allure and Oasis. Allure had one machine in the Wipe Out Cafe and Oasis did not. I know Harmony has the Mini-bites location. Do those have Freestyle machines? I believe Symphony should be the same as Harmony

 

 

Googled Harmony of the Seas mini bites and looked at pictures, at least one appears to have a freestyle machine in it.

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grab007

grab007

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Posted

Just off the 9/15 sailing of Freedom. Of the six machines (located in pairs in 3 locations) each day of the cruise one mchine in each pair had a sign saying it was "out of order." This led to a situation where the other machine in the pair was overused and ran out of ice. This went on for the entire cruise. Yes, we could get a can at a bar (with a dirty look from some bar tenders.) My point here is that the FOS staff needs to do a MUCH better job at maintaining these machines!

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Pellaz

Pellaz

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Posted
Just off the 9/15 sailing of Freedom. Of the six machines (located in pairs in 3 locations) each day of the cruise one mchine in each pair had a sign saying it was "out of order." This led to a situation where the other machine in the pair was overused and ran out of ice. This went on for the entire cruise. Yes, we could get a can at a bar (with a dirty look from some bar tenders.) My point here is that the FOS staff needs to do a MUCH better job at maintaining these machines!

 

Ice issues tend to plague Freestyle machines.

 

There are several of the machines at Six flags Over Georgia (and two at Six Flags Whitewater) and they are often short on ice or have none at all....either through blockages inside the machine or an inability to handle the usage load. You'd think, for a cool purchase price of $60,000 each*, they could actually come equipped with a good ice-maker. :o

 

--

* Although in practice most machines are leased, at $300/month

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Ourusualbeach

Ourusualbeach

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Ice issues tend to plague Freestyle machines.

 

There are several of the machines at Six flags Over Georgia (and two at Six Flags Whitewater) and they are often short on ice or have none at all....either through blockages inside the machine or an inability to handle the usage load. You'd think, for a cool purchase price of $60,000 each*, they could actually come equipped with a good ice-maker. :o

 

--

* Although in practice most machines are leased, at $300/month

 

The Freestyle machines do not have ice makers. The ice has to be filled manually by employees, something I have witnessed several times.

 

https://www.jesrestaurantequipment.com/how-ice-makers-keep-coke-freestyle-illusion.html

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Pellaz

Pellaz

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Posted
The Freestyle machines do not have ice makers. The ice has to be filled manually by employees, something I have witnessed several times.

 

https://www.jesrestaurantequipment.com/how-ice-makers-keep-coke-freestyle-illusion.html

 

Yep, they are compatible with third-party ice-making equipment but don't come standard with ice-makers (and for THAT price, you'd think they might :o ).

Seems like the smaller or "finer" the ice pieces, the better the machines avoid blockages inside. Locally, Zaxby's uses "fine-grain" ice and their machines never seem to get blocked, whereas most places (Six Flags included) use coarser, larger ice supplies (either from a machine or manually dumped in the top) and blockages are common.

 

Looking forward -- sorta -- to finding out the situation on the Indy in early February. First time with a chipped-cup drink package and public soda dispensers since Majesty in 2010.

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  • 1 month later...
richardgail

richardgail

Posted
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On 9/28/2018 at 6:48 PM, Pellaz said:

 

Yep, they are compatible with third-party ice-making equipment but don't come standard with ice-makers (and for THAT price, you'd think they might 😮 ).

Seems like the smaller or "finer" the ice pieces, the better the machines avoid blockages inside. Locally, Zaxby's uses "fine-grain" ice and their machines never seem to get blocked, whereas most places (Six Flags included) use coarser, larger ice supplies (either from a machine or manually dumped in the top) and blockages are common.

 

Looking forward -- sorta -- to finding out the situation on the Indy in early February. First time with a chipped-cup drink package and public soda dispensers since Majesty in 2010.

I will be on the Symphony in Feb. and the last cruise I took as Diamond level I received a bottle of water each day (or was that two bottle of water each day). I just looked at Diamond level perks and there is no water listed as a Diamond perk. There is a bottle of water in the cabin as a Welcome. I called Crown and Anchor and asked if the daily bottle of water perk was taken away, and the rep said it was up to each ship's policy as to how much water Diamonds receive--some give one bottle in the cabin as a Welcome and others give one bottle of water in the cabin each day. So, I told the rep I would have to buy water ahead because I would not know ahead of sailing if I was getting one bottle of water total or a bottle of water each day. She said that I did not need to buy water. I could get free water and ice from the Freestyle Coke machines on the ship. I asked if I had to have a beverage package to get water from the Freestyle machines and she said, "No. You can fill you water bottle free at the Freestyle Coke machines." Can anyone confirm that the water in the Freestyle machines is free? Thanks!

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Thorben-Hendrik

Thorben-Hendrik

Posted
Posted
On 11/21/2018 at 3:05 AM, richardgail said:

I will be on the Symphony in Feb. and the last cruise I took as Diamond level I received a bottle of water each day (or was that two bottle of water each day). I just looked at Diamond level perks and there is no water listed as a Diamond perk. There is a bottle of water in the cabin as a Welcome. I called Crown and Anchor and asked if the daily bottle of water perk was taken away, and the rep said it was up to each ship's policy as to how much water Diamonds receive--some give one bottle in the cabin as a Welcome and others give one bottle of water in the cabin each day. So, I told the rep I would have to buy water ahead because I would not know ahead of sailing if I was getting one bottle of water total or a bottle of water each day. She said that I did not need to buy water. I could get free water and ice from the Freestyle Coke machines on the ship. I asked if I had to have a beverage package to get water from the Freestyle machines and she said, "No. You can fill you water bottle free at the Freestyle Coke machines." Can anyone confirm that the water in the Freestyle machines is free? Thanks!

No free water at the machine! :classic_blink:

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