Iced tea

[ceo418]

For our trip on Adventure of the Seas in September, I have the refreshment package (my husband has the soda package). I've read that the free iced tea on Royal Caribbean is not great...is that true? If so, is there a place on board where I can get better iced tea? The premium coffee/tea drinks at Cafe Promenade would be free with my package, I think, so do they have iced tea there?

[BND]

17 minutes ago, ceo418 said:

For our trip on Adventure of the Seas in September, I have the refreshment package (my husband has the soda package). I've read that the free iced tea on Royal Caribbean is not great...is that true? If so, is there a place on board where I can get better iced tea? The premium coffee/tea drinks at Cafe Promenade would be free with my package, I think, so do they have iced tea there?

I can't stand the free iced tea. It has a chemical taste.  It was fine until a few years ago. It tastes like they cleaned the pot but didn't rinse it well.  I can't drink it anymore.  Some people  make their own with hot water and tea bags and pour it over ice.  They don't make iced tea in Cafe Promenade like they do in Starbucks.  

[time4u2go]

Just now, BND said:

I can't stand the free iced tea. It has a chemical taste.  It was fine until a few years ago. It tastes like they cleaned the pot but didn't rinse it well.  I can't drink it anymore.  Some people  make their own with hot water and tea bags and pour it over ice.  They don't make iced tea in Cafe Promenade like they do in Starbucks.  

I agree with this.  The pre-made iced tea is gross.  Your best bet is to get a mug of hot water, a cup of ice, and a tea bag (there's lots to choose from), and make your own.

[neverbeenhere]

5 minutes ago, time4u2go said:

I agree with this.  The pre-made iced tea is gross.  Your best bet is to get a mug of hot water, a cup of ice, and a tea bag (there's lots to choose from), and make your own.

I agree with this agreement. Word is the pre-made stuff is made with cedar bark chips. 

[ceo418]

1 hour ago, time4u2go said:

I agree with this.  The pre-made iced tea is gross.  Your best bet is to get a mug of hot water, a cup of ice, and a tea bag (there's lots to choose from), and make your own.

So can I get these from the Promenade cafe? Anyplace else?

[Merion_Mom]

1 hour ago, neverbeenhere said:

I agree with this agreement. Word is the pre-made stuff is made with cedar bark chips. 

 

I have always said that it tastes like wet tobacco leaves.

[Jimbo]

3 minutes ago, ceo418 said:

So can I get these from the Promenade cafe? Anyplace else?

Windjammer, also has tea bags.

[SheSailsFL]

3 minutes ago, ceo418 said:

So can I get these from the Promenade cafe? Anyplace else?

Yes, and the beverage stations in the Windjammer have good selection of tea bags.  I bring a large water bottle and brew tea in the sun on balcony.  So much better than that nasty premade stuff. 

[soremekun]

If I had to rank the free lunch / dinner flavored beverages:

1) Strawberry kiwi

2) Lemonade

3) Iced tea

 

 

[Ashland]

I usually agree about the free ice tea but actually on my recent Navigator it was pretty good.

Maybe it had something to do with not cruising the last two years...but everything tasted great !!

[auntjoy036]

I was on Freedom a couple of months ago. The free iced tea isn’t bad, but it isn’t great. Compare it to a shelf stable, bottled tea. I had the refreshment package. I ordered hot tea (several to choose from) and a cup of ice from Cafe Promenade. If you order “iced tea” at Cafe Promenade, you risk getting a cup of ice water with a tea bag in it. 

[Lane Hog]

Big QuikTrip tea drinker here... Tea bags over ice will always win with me, but what they had on Liberty wasn't uniformly bad. 

There's the gross powdered stuff that comes from the juice dispensers for emergencies only, and then there is "brewed in the galley" tea that's presumably served in the MDR and Windjammer.  They also had the brewed tea in Cafe Promenade most hours.

There was also some designer tea served at Cafe Promenade as well, but it's upsell and part of the coffee card package.

[BazingAu]

I made an Arnold Palmer from the premade iced tea and lemonade and it was completely fine. No chemical taste. Others in my party also had iced tea on its own and they had no complaints. Like @AshlandI was on Navigator.

[Bailey & Sophie]

 

In my opinion, many brewing problems with the iced tea.

● I don't think they use enough tea bags to get a good strong tasting brew.

● I don't think they give it enough time to steep.

● In addition to the my first two points, they then pour that hot weak tea-water over ice to chill it. The melting ice further dilutes the weak-to-begin-with tea.

The resulting tea is a horrible mess.

I like very strong tea. I bring a jar of Lipton Instant granules and make my own. It's not the best but better than what is provided.

I don't know what Royal has to offer with the drink package because I never used it for tea. We had the drink package with Celebrity and I thought their Tazo brand was horrible.

[MichFish]

Not my fav.  But not tragic.   I bring some cold bee tea bags with me.    They make a good ice tea and you don’t have to fumble with multiple cups and pouring hot over ice while still trying to make it strong enough to taste. 
 

I get the regular black tea cold brew bags and mint tea cold brew bags. 

[SeattleAl]

I assume you can get ice out of a freestyle machine, can't you?

[Biker19]

5 hours ago, SeattleAl said:

I assume you can get ice out of a freestyle machine, can't you?

Yes, that should work.

[Surfguyxxx]

6 hours ago, BazingAu said:

I made an Arnold Palmer from the premade iced tea and lemonade and it was completely fine. No chemical taste. Others in my party also had iced tea on its own and they had no complaints. Like @AshlandI was on Navigator.

This is exactly what we do and it is fine.  I should try using the hot water and tea but who wants to wait that long for it to brew.  I try and get out of the Windjammer as fast as I can 🤣

[shipgeeks]

I noticed that WJ had both sweetened and unsweetened, so I had to request which one I wanted. It was also frequently ice-free (just chilled), so the server would ask if I wanted ice added.

[ceo418]

Thank you for all the replies! 🙂

[patrioticgirl]

I am a big tea drinker. If I drink the premade stuff on board, I always top the glass off with about an inch and a half of the lemonade... and it is fine. I also ask my stateroom attendant to keep me stocked with a bin of ice in the cabin. I fill a spill-proof 20 oz. stainless steel tumbler with hot water in the evening, add a couple of tea bags, and let it steep overnight so that I have my morning tea caffeine fix, lol. I also pack a variety of Crystal Light To Go packet that I can mix with bottled water or my tumbler . The peach mango green tea and pomegranate tea mixes are really tasty! 🍑

[SeattleAl]

So, are there places on the boat where you can grab tea bags? I know the cabin steward will bring some if asked, but I might want to have a bit more control on my inventory.

 

Thanks!

[mil76]

Last two cruises they had Bigelow tea in multiple flavors at the coffee stations.  Much better than that nasty London's Finest brand they used to have.  Cafe Promenade also has Tazo for the drink packages.

[RCLcruiser2012]

22 hours ago, ceo418 said:

For our trip on Adventure of the Seas in September, I have the refreshment package (my husband has the soda package). I've read that the free iced tea on Royal Caribbean is not great...is that true? If so, is there a place on board where I can get better iced tea? The premium coffee/tea drinks at Cafe Promenade would be free with my package, I think, so do they have iced tea there?

It is awful!  RCCL do you see this?!? LOL  Can we please get some good sweet & unsweet tea???  Pretty please. 🙂

[RCLcruiser2012]

7 hours ago, shipgeeks said:

I noticed that WJ had both sweetened and unsweetened, so I had to request which one I wanted. It was also frequently ice-free (just chilled), so the server would ask if I wanted ice added.

Wow!  We haven't cruised in 4 years ( last one cancelled due to Covid).  But they now have SWEET tea?  Miracles!