Ugh21 Posted June 26, 2018 Report Share Posted June 26, 2018 Hi. I apologize in advance if this is elementary... but I'm super confused about beverage cards. Neither of us really drinks alcohol but we both drink a lot of bottled water. Can I buy a beverage card for only bottled water? And what happens if one day I do want to treat myself to a fruity alcoholic drink. Can I purchase just 1 drink? Thanks for your patience. We're booking our first cruise tomorrow and I want to do this right! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lovetocruise2002 Posted June 26, 2018 Report Share Posted June 26, 2018 Just now, Ugh21 said: Hi. I apologize in advance if this is elementary... but I'm super confused about beverage cards. Neither of us really drinks alcohol but we both drink a lot of bottled water. Can I buy a beverage card for only bottled water? And what happens if one day I do want to treat myself to a fruity alcoholic drink. Can I purchase just 1 drink? Thanks for your patience. We're booking our first cruise tomorrow and I want to do this right! You might want to consider the Refreshment package. That includes all your bottled water, fresh juices, specialty coffee, soda, and non-alcoholic cocktails. If you catch a sale in your cruise planner, the going rate (on sale) is about $18/day. https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/royal-caribbean-beverage-package-costs-info-tips Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keeves Posted June 26, 2018 Report Share Posted June 26, 2018 First off, EVERYTHING is available a la carte. Getting the wrong beverage package will NOT lock you out of anything. The only concerns are wasting money, and convenience. That said... You like bottled water a lot, but alcohol not so much. Okay, but that's not enough info yet. How much soda and fancy coffee do you drink? If very little, you should consider just buying the bottled water. I don't remember the price, but they'll deliver cases of Evian to your cabin, and that's got to be cheaper than the soda package. You can still buy anything else whenever you want. Other useful info: There's free tap water, coffe, tea, iced tea, etc, all over the place. Some people are fine with that and get nothing else. One word about "premium coffee": Most packages include premium coffee, but none of them include Starbucks. So then what IS premium coffee, if Starbucks is excluded? Answer: Premium means things like lattes and frappucinos, which are made at lots of places, not just at Starbucks. Non-premium coffee (free everywhere) is a name brand, but it is comparable to the setup you'd have in a convenience store. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fonemanbob Posted June 26, 2018 Report Share Posted June 26, 2018 We got the refreshment package on our cruise in February on Rhapsody. Normally we get the deluxe package that includes alcohol. We did our serious libations in the various ports and had wine at dinner. For us the refreshment package was well used as we got : fresh o.j. , water, Powerade, numerous lattes every day at Cafe Latte Tudes. As well as occasional sodas. Regular ship coffee is bad news. There are no Starbucks on the smaller classes of ships. We bought the package on sale so the savings was huge. Like others have stated if you only want water then don`t get the refreshment package. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ugh21 Posted June 26, 2018 Author Report Share Posted June 26, 2018 Thank you for the feedback. I know it might sound a little bit weird, but really what I drink is bottled water! I don't drink coffee or tea or juice. Every once in a very great while I may have a cup of soda as a treat. I'll take the advice and definitely go with the bottled water option. And I do like the soda package as well. That gives me a nice option at an affordable price in case I feel like having a cola on one day. I'll probably invest in both of those for myself. Relieved to hear alcoholic drinks are also available ala carte. Thank you for that tip! A nice rum drink might hit the spot one day while cruising. Looking forward to our first cruise! Thanks all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
melski94 Posted June 26, 2018 Report Share Posted June 26, 2018 If you go with the bottled water package, the bottles are the huge 1 L bottles. You may want to consider bringing your own bottle to bring it around the ship. There are people who bring a case of bottled water. While this is against the rules and may be taken from you, many times the ship will allow it. You can try it and see but don't get upset if it is taken from you. You would need to have at least 2 sodas a day, every day, to make the math work on the soda package (1 soda is $4). If you won't do that, then its a waste of money IMO. Also, if you want an occasional glass of wine you can bring 2 bottles on board. I've brought my wine on board and bought a soda or fruity drink ala carte. The water onboard tastes much better than tap water at home to me so I don't mind filling up my tumbler and bring it around the ship. It's a better choice for me than a drink package. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tiny260 Posted June 26, 2018 Report Share Posted June 26, 2018 We bring a Yeti tumbler on board with us, on sea days we fill it with ice in the Windjammer and have it continuously filled all day at the bars, there are containers of water everyplace around the ship, as @melski94 says the water is very good, considering I'm also a bottle water junkie, it's a lot easier than logging a couple of liter bottles around all day. The only down side is you have to fill your tumbler from their glasses, you are not allowed to put your personal bottle next the water spout on the dispenser. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SPS Posted June 26, 2018 Report Share Posted June 26, 2018 4 hours ago, Ugh21 said: I know it might sound a little bit weird, but really what I drink is bottled water! I don't drink coffee or tea or juice. Every once in a very great while I may have a cup of soda as a treat. I'll take the advice and definitely go with the bottled water option. Keep in mind that the Coca-Cola Freestyle machines will have both regular Dasani water available with several flavor choices & Dasani sparkling water (plain & lemon lime) Choices are listed in this previous post. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hayley_bopp Posted June 26, 2018 Report Share Posted June 26, 2018 7 hours ago, Ugh21 said: I'll take the advice and definitely go with the bottled water option. And I do like the soda package as well. That gives me a nice option at an affordable price in case I feel like having a cola on one day. You get bottled water in the refreshment package so you wouldn't need both. However, if you wouldn't drink soda everyday, you might be better off getting the case(s) of bottled water, or even bringing your own refillable bottle as others have said, and just buying soda pay-as-you-go. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sharist1 Posted June 29, 2018 Report Share Posted June 29, 2018 Is there any caffeine free soda? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jticarruthers Posted June 29, 2018 Report Share Posted June 29, 2018 Not sure about caffeine free ... on the ships that have the freestyle coke machine I know there are a ton of options but I don't recall if any of them are caffeine-free, I am leaning towards no s my answer but I am not 100% sure. On the non-freestyle (IE soda gun or can only) I am pretty certain there are no caffeine-free sodas but I have never specifically asked. I will try and remember to check this weekend. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keeves Posted June 29, 2018 Report Share Posted June 29, 2018 This thread is a conversation about the Coke Freestyle machines. I did not read the whole thing, and beware that it is 3 years old. But it does have a few photos of what's available, and that includes Regular Coke, Diet Coke, and Caffeine Free Diet Coke. But I did not see any Caffeine Free Regular Coke. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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