Buckets of Beer?

[Ret MP]

Does Royal still sell buckets of beer cans/bottles (with beer in them) in ice at the various bars?  

[Mum2Mercury]

Yes, but I believe this is only available at the Pool Bar.  

The bucket price will vary, but Heineken runs about $42 (including mandatory 18% tax) for five beers.  This is alllllmost getting one beer for free, which is worthwhile.  

 

[Ret MP]

1 minute ago, Mum2Mercury said:

Yes, but I believe this is only available at the Pool Bar.  

The bucket price will vary, but Heineken runs about $42 (including mandatory 18% tax) for five beers.  This is alllllmost getting one beer for free, which is worthwhile.  

 

Thanks for the info.  That's what I was trying to figure out.  I'm not a big time drinker.  Don't get me wrong, I love adult beverage but I'm a social drinker.  On my next cruise, Oct 31st, we are just going to get the soft drink package because we aren't going with the usual crowd, just my wife and I.  I've crunched the numbers and it just doesn't seem to be advantages to purchase the Deluxe package.  So, if I want to have a beer or two, I'll get the bucket and if it's only available at the "Pool Bar", I'll go there, get it, and go to wherever I want to go with it.  But, at about $90.00 per day, I don't drink that much and my wife may have one or two adult beverages a cruise.  But, we do love our milkshakes and the "Freestyle Coke" machines.  

[Ret MP]

Oh, forgot to ask, do they open the bottles/cans at purchase time?

[klfhngr]

10 minutes ago, Ret MP said:

Thanks for the info.  That's what I was trying to figure out.  I'm not a big time drinker.  Don't get me wrong, I love adult beverage but I'm a social drinker.  On my next cruise, Oct 31st, we are just going to get the soft drink package because we aren't going with the usual crowd, just my wife and I.  I've crunched the numbers and it just doesn't seem to be advantages to purchase the Deluxe package.  So, if I want to have a beer or two, I'll get the bucket and if it's only available at the "Pool Bar", I'll go there, get it, and go to wherever I want to go with it.  But, at about $90.00 per day, I don't drink that much and my wife may have one or two adult beverages a cruise.  But, we do love our milkshakes and the "Freestyle Coke" machines.  

We went back and forth on this. We lucked out, after a few calls, we convinced one of the Royal Reps to let us pay for one Deluxe package and one Coffee Card! 

[Mum2Mercury]

Your plan is sound.  

 

They will offer to open the beer for you, but it's your choice.  Don't neglect to pack a bottle opener. 

[Brittoni]

This is a great hack, thanks.

[Ret MP]

7 minutes ago, klfhngr said:

We went back and forth on this. We lucked out, after a few calls, we convinced one of the Royal Reps to let us pay for one Deluxe package and one Coffee Card! 

Yes, there has always been ways to waive the requirement that everybody in the cabin (21 and over) had to buy the Deluxe package.  But, it always involved the person not wanting the package had some type of reason for not drinking alcohol.  My wife does intend on having a drink or two and I like to be up front or honest about what I'm doing.  

[Ret MP]

9 minutes ago, Mum2Mercury said:

Your plan is sound.  

 

They will offer to open the beer for you, but it's your choice.  Don't neglect to pack a bottle opener. 

Again Thanks, but I was think more of not letting the beer go flat.  If I don't drink all the beer in the bucket, I want to take it back to the cabin and put it in the fridge/cooler to drink with carbonation, later.

Some places/bars that sell beer by the bucket insist/say it's the law to open all beer container at the point of sale. 

[Mum2Mercury]

17 hours ago, Ret MP said:

Again Thanks, but I was think more of not letting the beer go flat.  If I don't drink all the beer in the bucket, I want to take it back to the cabin and put it in the fridge/cooler to drink with carbonation, later.

Some places/bars that sell beer by the bucket insist/say it's the law to open all beer container at the point of sale. 

Yes, our local ballpark requires that all cans be opened -- I hate that.  

But, no, the ship doesn't require that.

[2chiefs]

Don't they sell buckets on the ships that have Playmakers?

 

[Ret MP]

22 hours ago, 2chiefs said:

Don't they sell buckets on the ships that have Playmakers?

 

Good question!

 

I just remembered another option.  Pitcher of Draft Beer.  I believe it is the equivalent of 5-12 oz. cans of beer at the price of 4.  And I do like many types of draft beer, not IPAs of any kind, though.

[Bobal]

No buckets on Jewel last month, we asked specifically (at the Pool Bar) and were told they'd discontinued them 

[2chiefs]

21 minutes ago, Bobal said:

No buckets on Jewel last month, we asked specifically (at the Pool Bar) and were told they'd discontinued them 

Bummer

[Tin can]

20 minutes ago, Bobal said:

No buckets on Jewel last month, we asked specifically (at the Pool Bar) and were told they'd discontinued them 

 

We had the same answer in May unfortunately on Anthem, maybe they are only available on US sailings.

[theump]

On 10/4/2022 at 4:46 PM, Ret MP said:

Again Thanks, but I was think more of not letting the beer go flat.  If I don't drink all the beer in the bucket, I want to take it back to the cabin and put it in the fridge/cooler to drink with carbonation, later.

Some places/bars that sell beer by the bucket insist/say it's the law to open all beer container at the point of sale. 

Last time I bought the bucket of beers was before the pandemic.  They came in either a plastic bucket or a carry case with ice.  They only opened on and you could as you say take and put in the fridge in your room.  IO also have taken the unopened can bottle back to the bar and exchanged them for cold ones.  Again this was a few years ago.  First time we did it our steward kept them on ice constantly during the day.  Was a very nice touch.  🙂

 

The ump

John   

[Mum2Mercury]

Buckets were available at the Pool Bar on Explorer in September 2022.  

I didn't know you could exchange a warm beer for a cold one.  

[theump]

8 minutes ago, Mum2Mercury said:

Buckets were available at the Pool Bar on Explorer in September 2022.  

I didn't know you could exchange a warm beer for a cold one.  

NOt sure about now but in the past have done it.  

 

The Ump

John

[bcsurvivor2001]

Curious - if both hubby and I have the Deluxe Beverage package - can we get a bucket of beers with that?  First time using the package (in December) and was curious.  Would be nice on pool days.  TIA

[Ret MP]

1 hour ago, bcsurvivor2001 said:

Curious - if both hubby and I have the Deluxe Beverage package - can we get a bucket of beers with that?  First time using the package (in December) and was curious.  Would be nice on pool days.  TIA

Good question.  The rules/policy states you can only get one drink at a time.  However, how do they define a bucket of beers, that is the question.  Is it 5 beers or 1 bucket of beers?  I don't know that answer.  Maybe someone does know, in here.

[ARandomTraveler]

On 10/4/2022 at 3:46 PM, Ret MP said:

Again Thanks, but I was think more of not letting the beer go flat.  If I don't drink all the beer in the bucket, I want to take it back to the cabin and put it in the fridge/cooler to drink with carbonation, later.

Some places/bars that sell beer by the bucket insist/say it's the law to open all beer container at the point of sale. 

If that's the case, it's probably not worth buying the bucket. I'd just buy individually because it sounds like the bucket really only gets you 1 free beer at most. 

[Ret MP]

2 minutes ago, ARandomTraveler said:

If that's the case, it's probably not worth buying the bucket. I'd just buy individually because it sounds like the bucket really only gets you 1 free beer at most. 

Basically true.  However, if the goal is to save money (which is my goal on this next small upcoming cruise), 1 beer is 1 beer and 4 or 5 less 18% included gratuities + additional tip for each beer delivered (probably several times during the cruise as we probably wont get off the ship in Nassau).  No, it's not a lot of money.  But, this cruise is purely for achieving D status and satisfy our cruise withdrawals until our big cruise in Jan 2024.  And all we are paying for this next little cruise is Tax and Port Charges because of a FCC (not casino related) we got on our last cruise which had to be used within a year of that cruise,  we got unexpectedly.  We did purchase the Soft Drink package and a meal in the Hibachi. Gratuities will be paid for by BoA, RCCL, Visa reward OBCs.  

 

The ultimate cheap in me is coming out in this cruise!

[not-enough-cruising]

4 hours ago, bcsurvivor2001 said:

Curious - if both hubby and I have the Deluxe Beverage package - can we get a bucket of beers with that?  First time using the package (in December) and was curious.  Would be nice on pool days.  TIA

 

3 hours ago, Ret MP said:

Good question.  The rules/policy states you can only get one drink at a time.  However, how do they define a bucket of beers, that is the question.  Is it 5 beers or 1 bucket of beers?  I don't know that answer.  Maybe someone does know, in here.

I can confirm that you can not get a bucket of beer with the drink package, unfortunately 

[Ret MP]

4 hours ago, not-enough-cruising said:

 

I can confirm that you can not get a bucket of beer with the drink package, unfortunately 

😞

 

[ARandomTraveler]

10 hours ago, Ret MP said:

Basically true.  However, if the goal is to save money (which is my goal on this next small upcoming cruise), 1 beer is 1 beer and 4 or 5 less 18% included gratuities + additional tip for each beer delivered (probably several times during the cruise as we probably wont get off the ship in Nassau).  No, it's not a lot of money.  But, this cruise is purely for achieving D status and satisfy our cruise withdrawals until our big cruise in Jan 2024.  And all we are paying for this next little cruise is Tax and Port Charges because of a FCC (not casino related) we got on our last cruise which had to be used within a year of that cruise,  we got unexpectedly.  We did purchase the Soft Drink package and a meal in the Hibachi. Gratuities will be paid for by BoA, RCCL, Visa reward OBCs.  

 

The ultimate cheap in me is coming out in this cruise!

I get that. My point was more about it not being worth the free beer if all of the beer had to be opened at the same time.