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No news on more Coke Freestyle deployment

BillOh

By BillOh,
in Royal Caribbean International

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BillOh Holiday Sharing Rare

BillOh

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For what little it's worth, my friend just boarded Independence and bought a drink package. He asked and at least that guy didn't know about any freestyle machines coming to Indy or any other existing ship that doesn't have them.

 

That is all! ;)

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BillOh Holiday Sharing Rare

BillOh

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They need to be maintained better. On the Jewel TA, they were constantly not working....so much for my Coke Zero[emoji26]

 

 

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That's the same reason I use them. My experience with Jewel was their location sucked, they had 2 of them in the back of the windjammer. I don't drink coffee so on port days I grab a glass before getting off the ship. The WJ was closed so I snuck in the back way and they shut the machines off overnight.

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Nabalab

Nabalab

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They need to be maintained better. On the Jewel TA, they were constantly not working....so much for my Coke Zero[emoji26]

 

 

Agreed. When I was on Anthem back in September, there was no Diet Dr Pepper Cherry (or Pibb Zero Cherry) in any machine for the entire sailing.

 

Of course not the worst issue in the world, but kind of annoyed me...

 

 

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Baron Barracuda

Baron Barracuda

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Can't understand why Royal hasn't rolled out more freestyle machines. One would think they'd want to keep soda drinkers (especially kids) away from bars so they can focus on selling high margin alcoholic drinks.

 

Personally love all the varieties they offer, but agree they're out of service too often.

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trev71

trev71

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I really missed having them. I know my part of Canada for just got them in our local wendys. Having a Peach Zero Fana reminds me of crusing . They should be on all ships as far as I am concerned

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frisbeewife

frisbeewife

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I would think the salt air would be hard on the internal workings of the Freestyle machines and that would cause problems. But since it seems a lot of times it's only certain flavors that aren't available, I'd say it's more likely the RCCL staff doesn't replace the flavor syrup pouches very fast when they run out.

 

BTW, my son works for Coca-Cola and those machines are really pretty cool. They communicate constantly with Coca-Cola and provide all kinds of info - like what flavors people are mixing together the most, which gives Coke ideas for what flavors to release. So if you start seeing bottles and cans of Peach Zero Fanta you can thank all the people who create that on the Freestyle machines.

Edited by frisbeewife
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fletch1027 Great Review Rare

fletch1027

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There is also a new phone app where on the app you put in your favorite flavor combinations, then when you're in front of a Freestyle machine, you scan the QC code on the Freestyle main menu and it brings up your custom menu on the touch screen. It doesn't really save much time over just touching a drink then a flavor but it's pretty fun to mess around with.

 

Freedom has 3 Freestyle machine locations that I know about:

- Sorrentos (2 side by side)

- WJ (1 on each side)

- 1 in the arcade

 

In my experience, the crew seems to do a better job keeping flavors loaded at the ones by Sorrentos than the WJ. All locations are frequently low on ice, and I have stopped even trying to use the one up in the arcade. I have seen it 80-90% greyed out more often than not on a cruise.

 

So I still get at least the soda package but go into it knowing that it can be an unfortunate challenge sometimes to get the flavor you want or ice... :(

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KansasK

KansasK

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I wonder of the ships that go to Europe or Asia part of the year are the ones that don't have Freestyle machines because of some licensing problem, or something.

 

I know Navigator does not have them.

 

On the ships that did have them, there are always problems with a them being serviced to have all the flavors available, or have ice all the time. With the staff cutbacks, the person with this job must have another job, as well.

Edited by KansasK
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Ocean Boy

Ocean Boy

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I would think the salt air would be hard on the internal workings of the Freestyle machines and that would cause problems. But since it seems a lot of times it's only certain flavors that aren't available, I'd say it's more likely the RCCL staff doesn't replace the flavor syrup pouches very fast when they run out.

 

BTW, my son works for Coca-Cola and those machines are really pretty cool. They communicate constantly with Coca-Cola and provide all kinds of info - like what flavors people are mixing together the most, which gives Coke ideas for what flavors to release. So if you start seeing bottles and cans of Peach Zero Fanta you can thank all the people who create that on the Freestyle machines.

I think if a grand piano can survive a cruise ship environment a soda machine should make it ok.

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Ocean Boy

Ocean Boy

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RCI should make it clear on its website which ships have freestyle machines and which don't. I would never buy a soda package on a ship without them and people should know what they are getting when they make their purchase. If I can't get Coke Zero I don't want any soda.

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BillOh Holiday Sharing Rare

BillOh

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Agreed. When I was on Anthem back in September, there was no Diet Dr Pepper Cherry (or Pibb Zero Cherry) in any machine for the entire sailing.

 

Of course not the worst issue in the world, but kind of annoyed me...

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

 

I could see that happening if a delivery is not made or other mistake made. My first experience with these machines was on Allure in 2013. I forget then Allure got these, but they didn't have them in 2011. On that cruise I found a lot of machines broken or empty of what I wanted. People on Allure the week before me and after had no problem, so I took it to be a bad week. Since then I've had all good experiences on Freedom, Oasis, Majesty, and Jewel in terms of machine reliability.

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BillOh Holiday Sharing Rare

BillOh

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RCI should make it clear on its website which ships have freestyle machines and which don't. I would never buy a soda package on a ship without them and people should know what they are getting when they make their purchase. If I can't get Coke Zero I don't want any soda.

 

That is a very good point I would like to see them improve their documentation if they can't get the machines everywhere.

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Ourusualbeach

Ourusualbeach

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That is a very good point I would like to see them improve their documentation if they can't get the machines everywhere.

 

Good luck in hoping that IT will get that done.

 

At least the soda package is the same price through the cruise planner as it is on the ship so it's easy enough to wait to purchase the package on board after verifying that they have the freestyle machines.

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Ocean Boy

Ocean Boy

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Good luck in hoping that IT will get that done.

 

At least the soda package is the same price through the cruise planner as it is on the ship so it's easy enough to wait to purchase the package on board after verifying that they have the freestyle machines.

 

However, the refreshment package, or whatever they call it now, can vary between the website pre-cruise or the price aboard the ship.

Edited by Ocean Boy
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BillOh Holiday Sharing Rare

BillOh

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Hey Bob (or anyone) - do you happen to know where the Freestyle machine are located on the Majesty? Or are they only in the Windjammer?

 

I'm sorry I missed this earlier. They are near Sorentos one deck above the windjammer. They were open 24 hours when I was last on Majesty.

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toxicfairy

toxicfairy

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Well it won't ruin my cruise but it will put a HUGE downer on it!! Going on the Liberty in August and I practically live off of Coke Zero. I absolutely can't stand soda from a bar hose. I don't drink alcohol or coffee but I do love my Coke Zero. I probably drink 3 a day more on a cruise. It kind of stinks to get a drink package and not have the soda machines but at least I'll have the bottled water and fresh OJ in the morning. I can only drink so many virgin frozen cocktails, they make me bloat from all that sugar. Oh well:(

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