elite mini bar

[getaway101]

If we have the beverage package we always ask our room steward what he/she likes, then swap all the soda and liquor out for them.

[kstaffen]

17 minutes ago, getaway101 said:

Especially now that the cruise-lines are all cutting back on bar services since they have instituted the beverage packages.  On the Regal in Oct.  it could take 20 minutes just to get a drink.  They work the servers to death not to mention the bartenders.

Wow. I've never had to wait that long for a drink! Though, we hang at Wheelhouse each evening, and they just magically get refilled. I haven't been on the Regal since 2019, but I've done 17 between  on Ruby and Emerald since the restart, and I have only seen a couple of times where there was any wait for drinks. Often they bring in back-up at super busy times. We saw 5 bartenders in the Mix bar on deck 15 once! And at Wheelhouse (it's near the theater on those ships), they always make sure there is at least one other bartender during pre & post shows. That's too bad that Regal didn't bring in back-up for times it was needed. 

[getaway101]

2 minutes ago, kstaffen said:

Wow. I've never had to wait that long for a drink! Though, we hang at Wheelhouse each evening, and they just magically get refilled. I haven't been on the Regal since 2019, but I've done 17 between  on Ruby and Emerald since the restart, and I have only seen a couple of times where there was any wait for drinks. Often they bring in back-up at super busy times. We saw 5 bartenders in the Mix bar on deck 15 once! And at Wheelhouse (it's near the theater on those ships), they always make sure there is at least one other bartender during pre & post shows. That's too bad that Regal didn't bring in back-up for times it was needed. 

Maybe that was our problem....we were in Crooners.  They usually had maybe 4 servers that also had to handle the sushi area and one server always left for his/her dinner break around 5:30ish.  Right in the height of people trying to get a drink before dinner.  The only time we had no problem was sitting at the bar outside of Crown Grill waiting for our table to be ready.  We will be back on the Regal in Sept.  Will try the wheelhouse.

[Barry H]

We don't drink the liquor so we swap out the mini bar set up for 8 Dos Equis, 6 sprite and 6 water. Works well for us as we don't have the drink package.

I bring a foam can/bottle cover and take a beer to lunch in the buffet. Never an issue.

[nasa1974]

Had to dig this up from page 26. I didn't want to start another thread.🙂

Is the mini bar a onetime set up or does it get refreshed during the week? I'm looking to have the liquor swapped out for coke and sprite.

Thanks

[phabric]

5 minutes ago, nasa1974 said:

Had to dig this up from page 26. I didn't want to start another thread.🙂

Is the mini bar a onetime set up or does it get refreshed during the week? I'm looking to have the liquor swapped out for coke and sprite.

Thanks

A one time set up. If you have - 

- 7 day - one time

- 14 day - one time 

- B2B - one time for each cruise

 

In Feb, I asked my cabin attendant who I call to swap the mini bar items.  He said he could swapped my items.  I told him which items to swap with what I wanted

Edited January 26 by phabric

[nasa1974]

1 minute ago, phabric said:

A one time set up. If you have - 

- 7 day - one time

- 14 day - one time 

- B2B - one time for each cruise

That's what I figured. Needed to ask just in case. 🙂

[SF]

If you want to trade out your bar setup for soda how many cans do you get? Can you request to mix soda and a few water or do you have to pick one or the other?

[suzyed]

On 12/20/2023 at 8:46 AM, kstaffen said:

We had them change it out on a few cruises - just Courvoisier and Sky - and then we brought it home as 'emergency' alcohol lol. We brought home the two 1/2 Club Class wine bottles (recently just been one) also. We never drink it on the ship, as we always get a package and we don't drink wine. My husband drinks Hennessey normally, and realized he doesn't even like Courvoisier so now I have about 16 tiny bottles of that 🙄.  As for Sky, it's fine with Bloody Mary mixer, and the wine I occasionally use for cooking. I do drink the waters, but we don't even drink sodas, so now the mini bar contents goes to crew in a 'to-go' bag. I usually ask if they want it, and I've never been told - no. I'm sure if the person I give it to doesn't like it, they know someone who does. I had a room steward tell me that he put a bottle of Prosecco I gave him in the 'storage closet' for future guests that may be celebrating an anniversary 🥰.  Too bad they won't let me take my mini bar bottles back onboard to give away 🙃

We do the same.

[Astro Flyer]

5 hours ago, nasa1974 said:

That's what I figured. Needed to ask just in case. 🙂

Check your cruise history which lists cruise credits for past & future cruises. The number of minibars is based on the number of cruise credits. I booked a 28 day cruise that could also be booked as 7-7-14 days & my 3 cruise credits resulted in 3 minibars.

 

[suzyed]

53 minutes ago, SF said:

If you want to trade out your bar setup for soda how many cans do you get? Can you request to mix soda and a few water or do you have to pick one or the other?

You can mix them. You can even mix different kinds of soda and ask for both sparking or still water.

 

Edited January 27 by suzyed

[suzyed]

On 1/1/2024 at 12:19 PM, getaway101 said:

Especially now that the cruise-lines are all cutting back on bar services since they have instituted the beverage packages.  On the Regal in Oct.  it could take 20 minutes just to get a drink.  They work the servers to death not to mention the bartenders.

We were on the Regal in October but don't recall ever having to wait for a drink.....well maybe when we ordered drinks from Princess Live and they were slammed serving everyone in Live, nowhere else that I recall.

 

[suzyed]

On 12/18/2023 at 8:50 PM, Thrak said:

Depending on the cruise we've had Skyy, Absolute, New Amsterdam, and our last mini bar had Van Gogh Vodka which I had never heard of before.

 

 

Van Gogh is better than any of those others in my opinion...but my go to is Grey Goose and we're not getting that in the mini bar.

 

[Thrak]

1 hour ago, suzyed said:

Van Gogh is better than any of those others in my opinion...but my go to is Grey Goose and we're not getting that in the mini bar.

 

 

Isn't it amazing the things one can learn on a cruise? We had never heard of Van Gogh vodka and assumed it was an off brand of horrid vodka. After drinking it I was surprised. The same can be said for beer brands across the US (let alone the world). Just because one hasn't heard of a brand doesn't mean it's an "off" brand. It's good to learn new things.

 

Many folks think being called "ignorant" in regard to something is the same as being called "stupid". Not so. Being ignorant of something simply means you don't know about the thing or, at least, not much about the thing. I understand that I am ignorant about almost everything and I always love learning new things. (I can clearly recall the embarrassment when I learned that some words didn't actually meant what I thought they meant after I had used them in a sentence. I was terribly embarrassed but, on at least a couple of occasions, surprised my "corrector" by thanking them. I love to learn things. A day where I learn something new - especially a new word that I can "hopefully" remember - is a good day. (I hate it when I learn a new word or a corrected definition of a new word and then later can't remember the lesson. GAH! I'm sure I used to be much better at remembering things. ☹️)

Edited January 27 by Thrak

[nasa1974]

11 hours ago, Astro Flyer said:

Check your cruise history which lists cruise credits for past & future cruises. The number of minibars is based on the number of cruise credits. I booked a 28 day cruise that could also be booked as 7-7-14 days & my 3 cruise credits resulted in 3 minibars.

 

Thanks. The April cruise is just a 7 day. Will see what happens in October when I do a B2B on the Sun.

[Steelers36]

17 hours ago, phabric said:

A one time set up. If you have - 

- 7 day - one time

- 14 day - one time 

- B2B - one time for each cruise

 

In Feb, I asked my cabin attendant who I call to swap the mini bar items.  He said he could swapped my items.  I told him which items to swap with what I wanted

New setup for each leg.