When you sail on your next Royal Caribbean ship, there is a good chance you will find Coca-Cola's amazing self-serve beverage dispensers known as the Coca-Cola Freestyle machine.

The Freestyle machine offers guests 100+ flavors of various Coca-Cola products that you can mix together to create the perfect drink for you.  Royal Caribbean is the only cruise line to offer Freestyle machines.

In order to use the Coca-Cola Freestyle machines, guests must purchase an all-inclusive beverage package or the Royal refreshment package and use their complimentary Coca-Cola souvenir cup. The Coca-Cola souvenir cup has a special chip in it which activates the machine.

The following Royal Caribbean ships have Coca-Cola Freestyle Machines

• Adventure of the Seas 
• Allure of the Seas 
• Anthem of the Seas 
• Enchantment of the Seas 
• Explorer of the Seas 
• Freedom of the Seas 
• Grandeur of the Seas 
• Harmony of the Seas 
• Independence of the Seas 
• Jewel of the Seas 
• Mariner of the Seas 
• Navigator of the Seas 
• Oasis of the Seas 
• Odyssey of the Seas
• Quantum of the Seas 
• Ovation of the Seas 
• Rhapsody of the Seas 
• Symphony of the Seas 
• Wonder of the Seas

It seems that Freestyle machines are only available in the United States, Canada and limited availability in the UK and Europe and Royal Caribbean has added the machines to ships based mostly in the United States.

Using the Freestyle machines is pretty simple too, you pick a base flavor (like Coke or Fanta) and you can customize the drink with fruit flavors (Orange Coke or Orange Fanta, Lime Fanta, etc).  You can also stop a drink mid-pour by just releasing the dispense button and select another drink to mix two together. So if you want to mix Orange Fanta with Mello Yello Grape you can!

Some of the base flavors available to choose from are Coke, Diet Coke, Coke Zero, Caffeine-Free Diet Coke, Sprite, Sprite Zero, Fanta, Fanta Zero, Minute Maid Lemonade, Minute Maid Light, Dasani, Dasani Sensations, Powerade, Powerade Zero, Hi-C, Barq's, Diet Barq's and Seagram's Lemon Lime Seltzer. and more.

The special souvenir Coca-Cola cups that Royal Caribbean sells also has a time restriction, which prevents guests from getting refills until 10-15 minutes have passed since their last pour.  This time restriction is to prevent abuse of the Freestyle machine privileges.

Use of the Coca-Cola Freestyle machines is available with a few unlimited drink packages:

• Royal Refreshment package
  • $8.00 per day, per guest
• Royal Replenish package
  • $22.42 per person, per day (includes service charge)
• All of the Royal Caribbean unlimited alcohol packages
  • Unlimited alcohol packages begin at $42 per person, per day

Have you tried the Coca-Cola Freestyle machines on your Royal Caribbean cruise? Thinking about using them on your next cruise? Tell us about it in the comments!

You have decided on the right Royal Caribbean cruise for you, made a deposit on your sailing, and have your stateroom reserved just for you. What should you do next?

Planning a Royal Caribbean cruise can be a fun exercise in planning, as you discover there is a lot to do before you ever set foot on your ship.

Once you have your cruise booked, here are five things you should look into as your next step and really jump into the pre-cruise excitement!

1. Select your dining preference

Dinner on a Royal Caribbean cruise has a few options to choose from, and you will want to make sure you pick the option you want. There are a few choices: Traditional (early or late seating) and My Time Dining.

Traditional dining is where you have a set time each night of your cruise, where you will be seated at the same table in the main dining room and have the same wait staff and table mates. This is the most common choice available and is also the most widely available option. There are two times, early and late seating.

My Time Dining takes place in the Main Dining Room as well, but instead of a fixed time and table, you reserve times during the evening or show up and get the first available table. My Time Dining allows for more flexibility in when you eat, but requires more planning to ensure you have a spot each night to dine at.

To enroll in any of these options for your cruise, contact your travel agent or Royal Caribbean directly and request the one you want. There can be times when the choice you want is full, but you can request to be put on a waitlist. In our experience, wait list requests usually are fulfilled.

2. Register your cruise on the Cruise Planner

In order to gain access to all of Royal Caribbean's pre-cruise planning options online, you will want to register yourself on Royal Caribbean's website and tie your reservation to your account.

If you have not done so already, create an account on Royal Caribbean's website. It's free and should take just a few minutes to complete.

Log into your account and then add an existing reservation to your account.

Now, you will have access to every detail of your sailing on the Cruise Planner, including shore excursions, beverage packages, entertainment, dining reservations, and more.

Read more: The Ultimate Guide to the Royal Caribbean Cruise Planner site

3. Research your pre-cruise transportation

We recommend arriving at your cruise embarkation port at least one day early, to avoid transportation delays that can potentially cause you to miss your cruise.

For those who are flying on an airplane to your cruise, booking airfare in advance is a good idea. It is also a good idea to research a hotel to stay at and lock in a price now before others do the same.

Depending on the port you are leaving from, there can be lots of hotels and resorts to choose from. Use consumer review websites to find which hotel will offer you the amenities you want for the price you can afford.  

It is easy to overlook your pre-cruise transportation and lodging and then have to pay more than you should later.

4. Review your travel documents

Before you can get onboard your Royal Caribbean cruise, you will need to provide local authorities the proper documentation to prove who you are, and you definitely do not want to arrive at the pier missing something important.

Research what proof of identification you may need for everyone in your party, such as birth certificates, driver's licenses and/or passports. If you are traveling to another country for your cruise, look into if you will need to apply for a visa.

Processing times for documents like visas and passports can take weeks, if not months, so be sure to give yourself plenty of time to get any necessary documents ready for your sail date.

Read more: Guide to cruising with a birth certificate

5. Research if you should purchase travel insurance

Insurance is one of the things that you do not think of until you need it and then it is worth every penny. The thing is, not everyone needs travel insurance but you should look into what travel insurance offers and if you are at an elevated risk and would benefit from it.

Royal Caribbean offers travel insurance, as well as many third-party companies. Read exactly what the insurance covers and the scenarios in which you can make a claim. It is important to be aware that travel insurance does not cover every scenario, but issues such as personal illness, death of a family member, airline delays, lost baggage and more are common times when insurance will be of great benefit.

There is no easy way to determine who does and who does not need travel insurance, but you should at least consider the option now to safeguard yourself in the future.

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Enjoying a refreshing drink on your Royal Caribbean cruise is something many folks look forward to, but just because you are not on a cruise right now does not mean you cannot enjoy the same drinks at home!

Blog reader Paul Westbrook sent us recipes for the drink of the day for each day of his Freedom of the Seas cruise.

Each day of a cruise, Royal Caribbean selects one tasty cocktail to be the drink of the day, where the price of the drink is reduced a bit and featured all over the ship.

So get those blenders ready and enjoy these great drinks!

Tropical Sunset

Ingredients

• .75 oz Smirnoff vodka
• .75 oz peach scnapps
• .75 oz Chambord black raspberry liqueur
• 1.5 oz cranberry juice
• 1.5 oz pineapple juice

Instructions

Shake and mix well.

Blue Caribbean

Ingredients

• 1.25 oz Bacardi superior rum
• .75 oz blue curacao
• 3 oz pineapple juice

Instructions

Served on the rocks with a splash of sprite

Paradise Punch

Ingredients

• .75 oz Bacardi rum
• .75 oz cocounut rum
• .5 oz peach snapps
• 1.5 oz pineapple and cranberry juices

Instructions

Shake and serve on the rocks.

Strawberry Hill Mojito

Ingredients

• 1.5 oz Bacardi superior rum
• 1 oz mojito mix
• 1 oz Island Oasis Strawberry

Instructions

Top with soda water

Tropical Lemondae

Ingredients

• 1.25 oz Smirnoff vodka
• .75 oz blue curacao

Instructions

Serve on the rocks

Mayan Mango Margarita

Ingredients

• 1.25 oz Jose Cuervo gold tequila
• 1.5 oz Island Oasis mango
• .75 oz triple sec
• Sweet & Sour mix

Instructions

Shake tequila and mago juice together and then add triple sec and sweet & sour mix.

Caribbean Tea

Ingredients

• .5 oz Smirnoff vodka
• .5 oz Bacardi superior rum
• .5 oz gin
• .5 oz sweet blue curacao
• 2 oz sweet & sour mix

Instructions

Top with Sprite and serve on the rocks.