The Importance of a Full Ice Bucket

[kc320]

Need my ice!! Agree it's about the only request I make of my steward...I am fine with re-using my towels..heck I do at home & I'm clean after a shower anyhow..but gotta have ice for my diet coke or whatever...:D

[PH8]

That's about my only request for our steward as well! I drink lots of water and I like it very cold!

same with us!!:)

[sha88]

I'm very much with the 'very' crowd. It's the first (and usually' date=' only) request I have for our steward.:D[/quote']

 

 

Exactly. That's us, too.

[novellaherman]

I have a question, I am an ice-oholic. On my other cruises, on heaven forbid another cruise line, I was always running out of ice. The cabin steward was only available in the morning and dinnertime hours. That meant If I was in my room around 3 or so there would be no ice because it melts. The only way to get any was to call room service. Is this the same procedure on Royal Carribean? Thanks !

[andrzej5914]

I have a question, I am an ice-oholic. On my other cruises, on heaven forbid another cruise line, I was always running out of ice. The cabin steward was only available in the morning and dinnertime hours. That meant If I was in my room around 3 or so there would be no ice because it melts. The only way to get any was to call room service. Is this the same procedure on Royal Carribean? Thanks !

 

That is exactly the reason I tip the RA (extra) at the beginning of the cruise with this one small request. The last guy didn't get it and although he still did an adequate job with everything else, for which he received the full pre-paid tips, he failed to deliver ice throughout the day and thus no extra tip for him at the end of the cruise.

 

I was able (for the most part) to find somebody in the hallway that was willing to refill the bucket, but yes, the last resort is the room service.

[Tucker in Texas]

I have a question, I am an ice-oholic. On my other cruises, on heaven forbid another cruise line, I was always running out of ice. The cabin steward was only available in the morning and dinnertime hours. That meant If I was in my room around 3 or so there would be no ice because it melts. The only way to get any was to call room service. Is this the same procedure on Royal Carribean? Thanks !

 

Yes. However, you can take your bucket to a bar to get it filled. They aren't thrilled to do it but they will.

 

Why they can't let people have access to ice machines on the ships is beyond me. It would save the stewards time so they could add another couple of cabins to their chores (lol) and make a lot of people happy. I think I read on the Oasis they do have ice machines available. Not sure about it, though.

 

My boys were good at scouting out where the machine was and would get me ice when we cruised. They were successful about 50% of the time. The motive for their hunting was they knew they would have to go to a bar to get me ice and wherever it was on the deck was a shorter walk (lol).

 

Tucker in Texas

[CruisenLexie]

I use ice in my cabin all the time so having ice in our cabin is very important to us. I also agree that the tap water is fine for brushing teeth but if I want to sit down and have a cool refreshing glass of water I am going to need that ice.

[darla723]

On the last 2 cruises where we had a fridge, Antonio our cabin steward (both times on Grandeur and then Oasis!!) would fill a white plastic bucket AND our metal bucket with ice. We emptied the fridge of mini bar items, and he would store the filled plastic bucket of ice in the fridge.

 

I don't remember ever running out of ice and we used a lot!! This was his suggestion the first time when we asked him on embarkation day if we could have more ice daily.

[livsea2]

In fact after getting the ship's sodas removed it is my only priority, to have ice at all times.

[thewebbys]

Ice is VERY important to use. We always take a cooler of waters and soda, and ask that the cooler is keep full of ice. I also bring back a glass of champagne from the lounge for a momosa?? in the morning. I keep it on ice over night so I don't have to water it down with ice in the AM. Since that is all we really ask for we never had a problem keeping both of them full

[MrChuckFL]

I like to have the ice to cool the warm tap water and to chill my other beverages.

 

As soon as I see the cabin attendant I give him a nice tip and ask him to bring another ice bucket.

 

If they are good about keeping it full I will give another tip 1/2 way through the cruise and another at the end.

 

I'm impatient and hate to bother room service for ice, so on the rare occasion that I do run out, I just wander up and down the hall till I find the service pantry and help myself to all the ice I want.

 

The pantry doors are usually unlocked or have paper stuffed in the door lock.

[sunshine 229]

The ice is important to me too...I agree the tap water is never really cold...coming back after a hot excursion it is nice to be able to hit your cabin and have a glass of nice cold water. Our last cruise on the Explorer was the first time I noticed how inefficient the fridge in the room was. we had bought a wine package and came back to the room one night with about half a bottle of white wine which we put into the fridge...the next afternoon the wine was barely colder than if it had been left out on the shelf. After that we stuck our wine in the ice bucket to keep it cold.

[996turbos]

I'm cool with ice:p Really though I do like a lot of ice in the room. I take some leak proof plastic baggies and fill them with ice and put them in the "room fridge". This helps keep stuff colder in there(of coarse this is after requesting the fridge be emptyed and the contents removed from the room).

[rubrrick]

Yes. However, you can take your bucket to a bar to get it filled. They aren't thrilled to do it but they will.

 

Why they can't let people have access to ice machines on the ships is beyond me. It would save the stewards time so they could add another couple of cabins to their chores (lol) and make a lot of people happy. I think I read on the Oasis they do have ice machines available. Not sure about it, though.

 

My boys were good at scouting out where the machine was and would get me ice when we cruised. They were successful about 50% of the time. The motive for their hunting was they knew they would have to go to a bar to get me ice and wherever it was on the deck was a shorter walk (lol).

 

Tucker in Texas

 

 

Tucker..........since your boys were good at scouting out the ice machines, that are behind closed doors, that are for staff only, you will also know that the ice is coming from commercial machines, that have ice scoops. The reason that passengers are not allowed to get their own ice, is that just by picking up the scoop, if you have germs, will contaminate the scoop, then sitting in the ice, will contaminate that as well. The attendants use gloves, and are very careful in their handling of ice.

 

I know of all of this, because I like two buckets of ice......I start my day with iced tea, freshly brewed hot, and then iced down. With the number of cruises that we have, I pretty well know where all of the ice machines are located on our deck.

 

I also know that the stewards lock the ice machines at night. My Steward will load both of my buckets just before he gets off duty, which gives me a good start in the morning.

 

I won't allow anyone to know whether I have actually sneaked ice from the machines.....that is anyones guess.

 

However......my ice buckets are always full enough for me to enjoy using ice anytime I want!!:);)

 

Rick

[LSpencer]

I chuckled when I read this post because its exactly what ruffled my feathers on the Carnival Pride. Our first and only cruise thus far until August 2010(FOS). I even tipped our room steward and extra $20 day of arrival to keep our ice bucket full of ice. We would come back to our cabin around 1 am only to find a nice bucket of water GRRRRR.

 

I have a new plan for this cruise NO UPFRONT TIP! and tell him to fill it around 11 pm. Or does anyone know what time the stewards knock off for the evening?

[CVU]

Put me in the "Never Use" column.

Me too, we put it away in the cupboard.

[morganboys]

this is a big gripe of mine. the ice bucket should always be full and I should NEVER have to call and ask for ice.

[HB Cruiser]

We cruised just 10 days after having knee surgery and told the cabin attendant to keep two buckets FULL all day, every day and told him why. They were NEVER empty and he was compensated for it.

 

Tim

[CruisenLexie]

I have a new plan for this cruise NO UPFRONT TIP! and tell him to fill it around 11 pm. Or does anyone know what time the stewards knock off for the evening?

 

On Princess the afternoon shift was 5:30 till 10pm I believe. I know the start was 5:30 and the end might have been 11 but I think 10. You figure late seating for dinner is 8-8:30. So by 10 they probably have most things done (at least as far as cleaning cabins). I know we had the daily cruise paper brought to our room by 10 at night and sometimes earlier.

[Tucker in Texas]

Tucker..........since your boys were good at scouting out the ice machines, that are behind closed doors, that are for staff only, you will also know that the ice is coming from commercial machines, that have ice scoops. The reason that passengers are not allowed to get their own ice, is that just by picking up the scoop, if you have germs, will contaminate the scoop, then sitting in the ice, will contaminate that as well. The attendants use gloves, and are very careful in their handling of ice.

 

Rick

 

My boys are 36 and 31 now and haven't cruised with us in years. This was back before the "virus."

 

However, your explanation is good for why they don't have public ice machines.

 

As mentioned before, I bring a canvas six-pack cooler with me and ask the steward to fill it which provides me with more than enough ice. I leave $2 a day plus a piece of snack candy and a note thanking the steward for something he has done like the ice, a towel animal, whatever. Once or twice when they have "forgotten" to fill my cooler (which is kept in the shower so they have to remove it to clean it), I "forget" to leave $2 the next day. That gets their attention (lol).

 

Tucker in Texas

[critterchick]

I'd be fine getting it myself, like in most hotels, but since we can't do that, I like to have it full. We don't use ice that much, but occasionally do. Not a make it or break it kind of thing, but it's noticed either way.

 

I have a question, I am an ice-oholic. On my other cruises, on heaven forbid another cruise line, I was always running out of ice. The cabin steward was only available in the morning and dinnertime hours. That meant If I was in my room around 3 or so there would be no ice because it melts. The only way to get any was to call room service. Is this the same procedure on Royal Carribean? Thanks !

 

You can bring your ice bucket to a bar and they'll fill it for you. Or you can get one of the white plastic buckets, which hold quite a lot more ice. I've never gotten attitude from a bartender when I've asked for ice. Perhaps they see the dollar in my hand.:)

 

Radiance class ships have ice machines in the Windjammer, toward the outdoor seating area. Radiance herself has (or did in November, anyway) iced tea, lemonade and OJ available there, too.

 

If we have white wine or champagne in our cabin we like to keep it chilled, which mini-fridge won't do on most ships, so I prefer to have ice at all times.

[digital_curator]

After our first cruise, wasting ice melting in the bucket twice a day, we always ask our steward not to bother.

 

We don't spend that much time in our room and we rarely drink there (I would much rather enjoy a beverage in one of the beautiful lounges, especially one with live music).

[Shelbyjane56]

Interesting feedback, so far. I expected to be somewhat in the minority in saying that I couldn't care less if they didn't even put an ice bucket in my cabin, but I thought it would be more of a normal distribution, with the more people in the middle. But it seems that close to half have it as "very important."

 

Looks like the majority at the end of this poll want ice!! :) I

[Lady Chew]

I use the ice bucket at least twice a day ... I flip it upside down and use it as the base for my makeup mirror.

 

We don't need ice ... we tell the room steward, but they have never listened, the ice has always been replenished twice daily, every cruise. We just dump it out.

[shipshape sam]

We drink a lot and it is nice to have the ice with water. On Celebrity cruise line, it is critical to have a full bucket of ice as we order the liquor package from Celebrity and need ice as part of the set up.

 

For those who sneak liquor onboard, they may also need the extra ice. :)