Coffee Vouchers/Early Morning Coffee

[Edward51]

We normally sail with Celebrity Cruises.  Celebrity has Cafe el Batio for great coffee, lattes.  It opens at 6 am and all coffee is free for Elite Plus.  We will be on Symphony of the Seas on February 4.  We figured a huge RCL ship would be more fun for our grandchildren.

 

On RCL our Elite Plus translates to Diamond.   We bought two (10 coffee) vouchers which we thought was reasonably priced.  The problem is that there does not seem to be anywhere on board that serves good coffee between 6 am to 8 am.  I am, of course, assuming that like Celebrity, the Windjammer does not offer quality coffee. 
 

My wife and I can have a latte in the Diamond Lounge at 8 am (free) but that leaves our son and DIL waiting until 11 am.  I even noticed that Starbuck’s (not included with vouchers) only opens at 11:00 am.  Maybe I am missing something. I thought checked all the opening times, on the RCL app, for all coffee venues. If anyone knows where there is good, early morning coffee, on the SOS I would appreciate the info.

 

Bottom line is, if good early coffee is not available, I might as well cancel the vouchers.  Thanks.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Edward51]

1 hour ago, Edward51 said:

We normally sail with Celebrity Cruises.  Celebrity has Cafe el Batio for great coffee, lattes.  It opens at 6 am and all coffee is free for Elite Plus.  We will be on Symphony of the Seas on February 4.  We figured a huge RCL ship would be more fun for our grandchildren.

 

On RCL our Elite Plus translates to Diamond.   We bought two (10 coffee) vouchers which we thought was reasonably priced.  The problem is that there does not seem to be anywhere on board that serves good coffee between 6 am to 8 am.  I am, of course, assuming that like Celebrity, the Windjammer does not offer quality coffee. 
 

My wife and I can have a latte in the Diamond Lounge at 8 am (free) but that leaves our son and DIL waiting until 11 am.  I even noticed that Starbuck’s (not included with vouchers) only opens at 11:00 am.  Maybe I am missing something. I thought checked all the opening times, on the RCL app, for all coffee venues. If anyone knows where there is good, early morning coffee, on the SOS I would appreciate the info.

 

Bottom line is, if good early coffee is not available, I might as well cancel the vouchers.  Thanks.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sorry.  Seems I did miss something.  I am new to the app and was not reading the opening hours correctly.  While I am here I might as well ask for opinions on favourite coffee venues on Symphony of the Seas  Thanks.

[Another_Critic]

Some older discussion here:

 

 

[h20skibum]

We were just on Symphony before Christmas. It was kind of hit or miss, but I was able to get a latte from the machine in the Crown Lounge (Diamond lounge) at 5am some mornings.  Other mornings, some things were empty in the machine. They would start servicing the machine around 6:30 as they brought out the breakfast items.

 

Cafe Promenade has coffee early, but it is very strong.  

[GJustice]

2 hours ago, h20skibum said:

Cafe Promenade has coffee early, but it is very strong.  

From sitting on WARM all night long 🙂 

[OCSC Mike]

Complimentary self-serve coffee machine in the Crown Lounge for coffee, espresso, cappuccino, lattes, etc. One of my favorite Diamond perks.

 

The lounge is open 24/7. The coffee machine is sometimes available VERY early, other times it is being serviced in the morning and will be ready by 7am or so.

 

I'd definitely cancel the vouchers but that's just me.

[lovesthebeach2]

24 minutes ago, OCSC Mike said:

Complimentary self-serve coffee machine in the Crown Lounge for coffee, espresso, cappuccino, lattes, etc. One of my favorite Diamond perks.

 

The lounge is open 24/7. The coffee machine is sometimes available VERY early, other times it is being serviced in the morning and will be ready by 7am or so.

 

I'd definitely cancel the vouchers but that's just me.

I think the OP was looking for a place for their son and DIL to get early coffee since they’re not Elite or Diamond. I agree, the coffees in the CL are a great perk!

[OCSC Mike]

2 hours ago, lovesthebeach2 said:

I think the OP was looking for a place for their son and DIL to get early coffee since they’re not Elite or Diamond. I agree, the coffees in the CL are a great perk!

 

My bad, completely read over that part somehow.

 

New answer... try Park Cafe. It has different opening times on different ships but can open as early as 6:30am.

[Edward51]

Thanks everyone for perking up my day.  It has all been very helpful.

[neverbeenhere]

I saw someone carry coffee drinks out of the Crown lounge, once. 🙂

 

[taglovestocruise]

1 hour ago, neverbeenhere said:

I saw someone carry coffee drinks out of the Crown lounge, once. 🙂

 

I have always carried two coffees out of the DL in the morning to take back to the cabin and drink on the balcony. 

[robtulipe]

11 minutes ago, taglovestocruise said:

I have always carried two coffees out of the DL in the morning to take back to the cabin and drink on the balcony. 

I've also done the above.

[gumshoe958]

18 hours ago, Edward51 said:

My wife and I can have a latte in the Diamond Lounge at 8 am (free) but that leaves our son and DIL waiting until 11 am.  I even noticed that Starbuck’s (not included with vouchers) only opens at 11:00 am.  Maybe I am missing something. I thought checked all the opening times, on the RCL app, for all coffee venues. If anyone knows where there is good, early morning coffee, on the SOS I would appreciate the info.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Starbucks opens far earlier than 11. I’m not sure exactly when but I think it’s around 6.30.
 

Maybe you just looked at the opening times for embarkation day?

 

As you point out though, you can’t use vouchers there.

[Edward51]

Yes, I did make the mistake you pointed out.

[Biker19]

18 hours ago, Edward51 said:

We bought two (10 coffee) vouchers which we thought was reasonably priced.

The coffee card has 15 punches- how many coffees you get with those depends on the kind of drink you get. 

[Rogueperson]

This maybe more work than you want to do, but if you're like me who needs a good cup of coffee and feel that Royal's coffee is not up to par, I bring my own.  I go against my instinct by grinding my coffee before i board (because i don't want to chance losing my grinder). I bring my aeropress coffee maker and all you need is hot water, which most ships have available 24/7.  The only issue is that its not THAT hot, which does affect the quality of the brew.

 

Edit:  Also, if you use an aeropress, take a couple coffee mugs from the MDR as the ones in the Windjammer are narrower don't fit the aeropress well.

Edited January 10 by Rogueperson

[OCSC Mike]

1 hour ago, taglovestocruise said:

I have always carried two coffees out of the DL in the morning

 

Same here. For a while I brought a travel mug which I filled from the to-go cups and took that with me... I have a bit of a problem... especially when the coffee is fancy and included.

[Edward51]

41 minutes ago, Biker19 said:

The coffee card has 15 punches- how many coffees you get with those depends on the kind of drink you get. 

  Thanks for pointing that out.  The card is even more reasonable than I thought.

 

Is there a particular coffee place that you like on Oasis Class ships?

[Biker19]

4 minutes ago, Edward51 said:

Is there a particular coffee place that you like on Oasis Class ships?

Park Cafe is pretty convenient and good, most of the time. 
 

Financially, the card makes sense for single shot drinks - much less so for anything else. 

[Edward51]

Thanks.  I have been assuming that the coffee in the Windjammer is as bad as the equivalent Celebrity buffet restaurant (the Trough?).  We actually love the buffet on Celebrity but the coffee....🫣

[Biker19]

10 minutes ago, Edward51 said:

I have been assuming that the coffee in the Windjammer is as bad as the equivalent Celebrity buffet restaurant (the Trough?).

The machines for specialty coffee are usually the same on the ship- the difference is the barista. 

[lovelife]

I often get my lattes in Vitality Spa Cafe (they have good smoothies too). I believe Cafe Promenade is open 24 hours, but I have not tried to get a specialty coffee there in the wee hours.

[jbrinkm]

34 minutes ago, Edward51 said:

Thanks for pointing that out.  The card is even more reasonable than I thought.

 

As @Biker19 was mentioning, however, is that if you order any of the coffees with more than 1 shot of espresso, you'll be charged more than 1 punch on the card. Two shots = two punches of the card. So the card may not go as far as you hope.

[Tree_skier]

6 hours ago, OCSC Mike said:

 

My bad, completely read over that part somehow.

 

New answer... try Park Cafe. It has different opening times on different ships but can open as early as 6:30am.

I discovered that all Park Cafe's are not equal. Park Cafe on Harmony didn't have fancy coffee like Oasis did.  We had to go to Cafe Promenade for that.

[Tree_skier]

40 minutes ago, Edward51 said:

  Thanks for pointing that out.  The card is even more reasonable than I thought.

 

Is there a particular coffee place that you like on Oasis Class ships?

Just note that if you get "Grande" sized drinks with to shots of espresso they hit you for two stamps.