How exactly do freestyle machines work? (the process? special cups etc)

[Spike2000]

Just wondering how the freestyle machines are set up to operate on the Freedom. Do you scan your card first? Does it require a beverage package and the assigned cup? Can non beverage package holders use the machines and pay per drink?

 

I am just curious how these are set up on the ship.

 

Thanks again!

[Clarea]

Special cup has an RFID chip embedded in the bottom that enables the Freestyle machine to function.

 

The Freestyle machines only work with the special cup, and the special cup only comes with one of the unlimited beverage packages.

[Spike2000]

awesome...thank you.

[Merion_Mom]

Anyone can get ice out of the machines.  And water, too, I believe.  But for anything else, you must use the souvenir cup with the RFID chip, as described by Bob above.

[awestover89]

And the RFID chip is dated, so you can't keep a cup from a previous cruise or buy one on ebay. The cup has to be in the machine under the spout in order to do anything other than ice/water.

[Kritikhack]

Yes, I saw people fill their own tumbler with ice and or water

[perditax]

"stand in line for a while, while other people figure out how the machine works and then think long and hard about what weird soda combo they want"

[awestover89]

Just now, perditax said:

"stand in line for a while, while other people figure out how the machine works and then think long and hard about what weird soda combo they want"

 

Or while they try and figure out what the error message means and why they can't get soda without the cup

[Biker19]

48 minutes ago, awestover89 said:

And the RFID chip is dated, so you can't keep a cup from a previous cruise or buy one on ebay. 

If it is a current generation cup which was never used, it should work on any sailing. 

[bobmacliberty]

Isn't there also a time delay between fill ups...15 minutes or something like that?  Thought I remember reading that so people can't use their cup to get soda for others.

[Clarea]

1 minute ago, bobmacliberty said:

Isn't there also a time delay between fill ups...15 minutes or something like that?  Thought I remember reading that so people can't use their cup to get soda for others.

 

That delay was reported years ago, but I've not seen it reported recently.

[sherrjo]

We had these for the first time last summer on Indy. They were constantly out of syrup and even when they weren't the taste was awful. I just stuck with cokes from the bar. 🙂

[watson61]

20 hours ago, Merion_Mom said:

Anyone can get ice out of the machines.  And water, too, I believe.  But for anything else, you must use the souvenir cup with the RFID chip, as described by Bob above.

I can't believe I didn't know that!  Thank you.  I don't drink much soda but do drink a lot of water.  When I got the Deluxe Bev Pkg on Allure last summer I never even used that cup.  If I had known I could get water from the machine, I would've.  (On the other hand, the lines at those machines were usually pretty long, and will probably be similar on my Symphony cruise in September).

 

 

[gatour]

20 hours ago, awestover89 said:

And the RFID chip is dated, so you can't keep a cup from a previous cruise or buy one on ebay. The cup has to be in the machine under the spout in order to do anything other than ice/water.

The RFID chip is not actually dated.  It actually has a unique code embedded in it.  When placed in the holder, the chip is read for its id.  The id stored in a database along with the date of the first use.  Subsequently, when you use the machine it consults the database to see if it beyond the "expiration' date which is X number of days from first use.  In theory, if you never use the cup on the cruise that you bought if for, you use on a later cruise.

[Clarea]

4 minutes ago, gatour said:

 ... In theory, if you never use the cup on the cruise that you bought if for, you use on a later cruise.

 

As long as they don't routinely invalidate batches of old IDs.    I've seen reports of unused cups working on a subsequent cruise, but I would be surprised if that was the case with a cup that was several years old.

[ScubaCat3]

1 hour ago, Host Clarea said:

 

That delay was reported years ago, but I've not seen it reported recently.

I experienced the 15 minute delay recently. When I encountered a dispenser malfunction on one machine I immediately tried to fill my cup from the adjacent machine and was locked out for 15 minutes.

[Clarea]

1 minute ago, ScubaCat3 said:

I experienced the 15 minute delay recently. When I encountered a dispenser malfunction on one machine I immediately tried to fill my cup from the adjacent machine and was locked out for 15 minutes.

Thanks for the update.  What ship was this?

[Rewind]

I saw a video a couple years ago where a teen who didn't want to carry the cup around, smashed open the bottom and took the rfid chip out.  He taped the chip to the back of his sea-pass card and could then place his sea-pass on the reader under any cup and get a drink.

[ScubaCat3]

I experienced the lockout delay on Allure of the Seas (March 2019).

[reallyitsmema]

1 minute ago, Rewind said:

I saw a video a couple years ago where a teen who didn't want to carry the cup around, smashed open the bottom and took the rfid chip out.  He taped the chip to the back of his sea-pass card and could then place his sea-pass on the reader under any cup and get a drink.

 

We saw someone doing that on Anthem in January.  They had around 6 huge yeti cups that they were filling with the one chip.  Guy stopped and let us go ahead of him.  Said they all had the package but wanted to fill their cups for the ride home in the morning.🙄

[reallyitsmema]

3 minutes ago, ScubaCat3 said:

I experienced the lockout delay on Allure of the Seas (March 2019).

 

Seems to vary by ship, definitely no lockout delay on Anthem and Harmony.  

[ALWAYS CRUZIN]

You can also go to any bar. Your card has the info on it for the bartender. He will fill your special container or just ask for a glass of whatever you want.

[gatour]

3 hours ago, Host Clarea said:

 

As long as they don't routinely invalidate batches of old IDs.    I've seen reports of unused cups working on a subsequent cruise, but I would be surprised if that was the case with a cup that was several years old.

Speaking as an IT professional, which I am...

 

I wouldn't be surprised and actually debated about including that bit of information in my reply.  It would be a relatively easy process to keep track of what rfid's have been issued to all of the ships.  Then after all ships request a new batch, invalidate all rfids that were sent before the latest batch.  This would be the elegant solution.  The brute force method would be to purge all rfids after a certain point of time.  I.E. if the the rfid was issued more more than a year ago, purge them from the database, assuming they have been used and a new more current batch have been deployed fleet wide.

 

Based on the experiences reported in regards to RCCL IT department.   They will not do any of this, they will eventually experience data replication issues between the ships and shore side.  At that point, as an emergency fix they will truncate the table(s) involved to resolve the issue.

 

You are now free to return to discussing cruise things as opposed to IT things.  🙂 

 

Sorry to get into the IT weeds.

[Clarea]

5 minutes ago, gatour said:

 ...

Based on the experiences reported in regards to RCCL IT department.   They will not do any of this, they will eventually experience data replication issues between the ships and shore side.  At that point, as an emergency fix they will truncate the table(s) involved to resolve the issue. ...

 

 

Yes, this is the most likely scenario.

[timf2001]

4 hours ago, reallyitsmema said:

 

Seems to vary by ship, definitely no lockout delay on Anthem and Harmony.  

 

The lockout delay was annoying on Anthem in 2017, but last year on Harmony I never experienced it.