Cooler help please

[tree.critter]

Last cruise our room cooler wasn’t cooling hardly at all. I plan to purchase a small soft sided (?) ice cooler but want one that will hold up and hold melted ice without leaking. Does anyone have any recommendations for keeping our Cokes cold? Don’t like pouring warm Cokes over ice due to the immediate watering down. Size is limited to 12x12x12, I can make that work.

[Travelling2Some]

You can always keep a cooler that leaks (like most soft-sided ones) in the shower where it won't matter.  Why is size limited?  Just fold it down and pack it in your luggage. I've sometimes used my cooler bag as my "personal item" on flights when we were going to need it for a road trip when we reached our destination.

Edited December 8, 2023 by Travelling2Some

[Drazil65]

We keep our extra soda in a collapsible cooler (ours does not leak as of yet anyway) and ask our cabin steward to bring fresh ice for the cooler each day (and our ice bucket so we always seem to have plenty of ice on hand).  Our refrigerator in cabin usually gets the job done and we keep the extra cans on ice in cooler. 

 

Have you tried keeping the door to the cabinet that houses the fridge ajar so air circulates around the fridge?  

[Purvis1231]

47 minutes ago, Drazil65 said:

 

 

Have you tried keeping the door to the cabinet that houses the fridge ajar so air circulates around the fridge?  

We tried that trick on the Spirit a few weeks ago and it worked. A lot easier than managing a wet cooler. (It may not leak but it will collect condensation.)

[tree.critter]

1 hour ago, Drazil65 said:

We keep our extra soda in a collapsible cooler (ours does not leak as of yet anyway) and ask our cabin steward to bring fresh ice for the cooler each day (and our ice bucket so we always seem to have plenty of ice on hand).  Our refrigerator in cabin usually gets the job done and we keep the extra cans on ice in cooler. 

 

Have you tried keeping the door to the cabinet that houses the fridge ajar so air circulates around the fridge?  

We’ve done this every cruise and last cruise and it’s always worked well…..until last cruise on Elation. Was on the Elation the month before also in different room and that one worked fine. I like using a washcloth to hold the door open, works well normally. Did not like the surprise so want to be prepared, next cruise is 15 day and want to be able to keep drinks cold. 

 

[Old Fart Cruisers]

5 hours ago, tree.critter said:

Last cruise our room cooler wasn’t cooling hardly at all. I plan to purchase a small soft sided (?) ice cooler but want one that will hold up and hold melted ice without leaking. Does anyone have any recommendations for keeping our Cokes cold? Don’t like pouring warm Cokes over ice due to the immediate watering down. Size is limited to 12x12x12, I can make that work.

 

If you keep the ice bucket in the mini fridge, not only will the ice last up to 24 hours, but the fridge will actually keep plenty cool.  The only down side is it take up some of the room inside the fridge. 

 

As far as leaving the cabinet door ajar, it depends on the ship and design of the cabinet.  Some cabinets, especially on the newer ships are designed with the vents strategically located to cause a chimney effect caused by the warm air rising to draw air over the cooling coil and out vents located near the top rear of the cabinet.  In this type of cabinet, propping the door open will actually reduce the efficiency of the fridge. 

 

 

 

Edited December 9, 2023 by Old Fart Cruisers

[silvercrikhix]

We have 3 different soft sided coolers about 12 x 12 that have a hard sturdy plastic bin in them.  We used them for NASCAR track carry-ins. They all came from a Target/Walmart type place. We take them everywhere now. Perfect cruise cabin coolers! 

[JennyD1]

We bring our 12 X 11 x 9 Coleman 9 quart insulated cooler on every cruise. We love to keep our waters, sodas and beers ice cold for enjoying on our balcony..  It wont leak and you can keep it right on your counter. We put our drinks in it and our steward always ices it up for us.  I carry it onboard, filled with nuts, crackers, protein bars, snacks, etc. We even take it with us if we visit a beach while in port with some ice cold drinks.  Any of the bars will ice it up for you too.

[five.]

On 12/8/2023 at 10:17 PM, Old Fart Cruisers said:

If you keep the ice bucket in the mini fridge, not only will the ice last up to 24 hours, but the fridge will actually keep plenty cool.

Why have I never thought of that. Brilliant.

[staceyglow]

Once on Half Moon Cay we bought a Carnival-logo soft-sided cooler of beers from a waiter on the beach.  I don't remember how much it was, but it wasn't crazy expensive.  Now take it on every trip, and we use it up on Serenity, in our room, and as a smallish gear bag to take on shore excursions.

[mz-s]

17 minutes ago, staceyglow said:

Once on Half Moon Cay we bought a Carnival-logo soft-sided cooler of beers from a waiter on the beach.  I don't remember how much it was, but it wasn't crazy expensive.  Now take it on every trip, and we use it up on Serenity, in our room, and as a smallish gear bag to take on shore excursions.

 

Those coolers are also available in the fun shops online for delivery in your stateroom, and I believe they are also available in the fun shops on the ship as well.

[K&RCurt]

We use a cooler bag from Costco.  We use it to carry on our 2 12 packs of soda and then ask our steward to keep it filled with ice and we leave it in the shower (except when we actually shower!)

[dacsmom]

6 hours ago, mz-s said:

 

Those coolers are also available in the fun shops online for delivery in your stateroom, and I believe they are also available in the fun shops on the ship as well.

Unfortunately, they have changed the design. The new ones don't seem to hold as much as the old ones. Not fond of the new design.

[mz-s]

17 minutes ago, dacsmom said:

Unfortunately, they have changed the design. The new ones don't seem to hold as much as the old ones. Not fond of the new design.

 

Good to know! A shame

[Travelling2Some]

On 12/8/2023 at 10:17 PM, Old Fart Cruisers said:

 

If you keep the ice bucket in the mini fridge, not only will the ice last up to 24 hours, but the fridge will actually keep plenty cool.  The only down side is it take up some of the room inside the fridge. 

 

 

We do that in hotel rooms.  Works great.  Also, if you are told on a ship or at a hotel that they are out of ice buckets just ask for a wine bucket.  Same thing without the lid - almost as good if you keep it full of ice in the fridge.

[Haljo1935]

On 12/8/2023 at 3:47 PM, tree.critter said:

Last cruise our room cooler wasn’t cooling hardly at all. I plan to purchase a small soft sided (?) ice cooler but want one that will hold up and hold melted ice without leaking. Does anyone have any recommendations for keeping our Cokes cold? Don’t like pouring warm Cokes over ice due to the immediate watering down. Size is limited to 12x12x12, I can make that work.

Brand we used in Sept on Venezia is

It has outside mesh bottle pockets, handles, removable shoulder strap, folds flat and has a removable divider meant for 6 bottles (wine); we used the divider to double stack canned soda to hold a 12 pack. The other one we used the divider for 3 bottles of wine & 6 cans of soda. Tons of room for ice in both; no leakage and no pushback from Steward on filling.

They lived under the desk w/no issues. And no condensation issues as some report w/other coolers.

Edited December 12, 2023 by Haljo1935
Typo

[Old Fart Cruisers]

22 minutes ago, Travelling2Some said:

We do that in hotel rooms.  Works great.  Also, if you are told on a ship or at a hotel that they are out of ice buckets just ask for a wine bucket.  Same thing without the lid - almost as good if you keep it full of ice in the fridge.

 

The wine chiller buckets actually work better than regular ice buckets since they have a smaller diameter.   

 

 

 

These pictures were taken on the Venezia in September.  As you can see, it stays nice and cold this way.

Edited December 12, 2023 by Old Fart Cruisers

[dlphn501]

I was on Elation in June, and I packed a small-ish rolling cooler in my luggage.  It was too big to carry-on, and I have read stories of people who said it was just a carry-on piece of luggage and told to bring to car.  I even took it one extra step and packed clothes in it inside the suitcase lol.  I much prefer something on wheels because I take it everywhere (lido on sea days, on the water shuttle to the private island, lido to relax after a day in port).  The room steward would also bring 2 buckets of ice every day.  It was a gift, but it came from Five Below, and isn't the best quality because it started coming apart, but I used it everyday to bring lunch to work also for about 6 months.

[five.]

15 hours ago, Haljo1935 said:

Brand we used in Sept on Venezia is

https://tirrinia.net/products/insulated-lunch-bag-for-women-men-1

 

That looks like a similar model.

[Haljo1935]

32 minutes ago, five. said:

https://tirrinia.net/products/insulated-lunch-bag-for-women-men-1

 

That looks like a similar model.

Very similar but I don't see a divider. I got ours from ebay for about $10 less per bag. Oh ours were new, not used, even though they came from the auction site 🙂 it was an online store, not an individual just to be comparing apples to apples, or bags to bags, lol

They seem to have gone up a tad, but still less than from mfg.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/224777879667?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=57oEMW-jSHy&sssrc=2349624&ssuid=ArTfP3euTEO&var=523637242949&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

Edited December 13, 2023 by Haljo1935
Typo

[nascartim]

I use the "Ozark Trail 24-cans soft sided cooler" from Walmart. It has a hard plastic insert that cuts down on sweating. I ask the steward to fill it everyday. It's great for bringing on your assorted 24cans of sodas of your choice. I'll place some drinks in the ice to get them cold then start moving them over to the fridge. It helps to get fridge colder and keep it there.

[ProgRockCruiser]

On 12/8/2023 at 6:31 PM, Drazil65 said:

Have you tried keeping the door to the cabinet that houses the fridge ajar so air circulates around the fridge?  

This is what we normally do, and I did it last week on Vista.  But then our room steward removed whatever it was I was using to prop open the outer cabinet, and the fridge was still pretty cold - the Vista does have ventilation on the side of the cabinet, and I guess it is enough to allow the fridge to properly function.  (I had seen the vent but didn't think it would be enough.)

 

On 12/8/2023 at 10:17 PM, Old Fart Cruisers said:

If you keep the ice bucket in the mini fridge, not only will the ice last up to 24 hours, but the fridge will actually keep plenty cool.  The only down side is it take up some of the room inside the fridge. 

Indeed, if you can afford the room, that should work very well.