Royal Princess Refridgerator

Are the refrigerators on the Royal cool enough to store my standby insulin vile and insulin pens? They need to be around 40 degrees f. Also, can I preorder a Sharps container or get it after I board the ship? I just finished a 17 day cruise on HAL as a new type 1 diabetic and had no problems. I have an insulin pump, Medtronic 630g. Thanks for any info or experiences.

No personal experience but I have read others put a bucket of ice in the fridge to make it cooler

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Our Royal Princess Refrigerator did not keep our bottles of Champagne cold.

No idea what the actual temp was.

I would contact Princess to request your special handling requirement.

We kept insulin pens in the fridge in our room on the Royal last December. Our steward also filled the ice bucket daily and put it in the fridge. It was cold enough to keep bottled water at the perfect temp for a refreshing drink. They’re basically dorm sized refrigerators.

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Are the refrigerators on the Royal cool enough to store my standby insulin vile and insulin pens? They need to be around 40 degrees f. Also, can I preorder a Sharps container or get it after I board the ship? I just finished a 17 day cruise on HAL as a new type 1 diabetic and had no problems. I have an insulin pump, Medtronic 630g. Thanks for any info or experiences.

Yes they are.

I take a small styrofoam cooler...the good kind like insulin and Omaha Steaks are shipped in. I ask Stewart to keep it filled with ice. Keeps my champagne cold plus I have ice for my drinks. I then give it to Stewart at the end of the cruise as they do not have fridge's in their cabins. I've only ever had one not interested, so I gave it to the bartender at Vines instead.

Are the refrigerators on the Royal cool enough to store my standby insulin vile and insulin pens? They need to be around 40 degrees f. Also, can I preorder a Sharps container or get it after I board the ship? I just finished a 17 day cruise on HAL as a new type 1 diabetic and had no problems. I have an insulin pump, Medtronic 630g. Thanks for any info or experiences.

You do not have to pre order a Sharps container, just ask the steward when you arrive.

I have found that Princesses refrigerators are cold enough for my insulin. However, some have been colder than others.

I use a Frio Insulin Wallet for travel since it is very TSA friendly. Once on board I do not remove my insulin pens from the wallet, instead I put the wallet with the insulin pens inside in the refrigerator......just in case the refrigerator is a little warmer than 40F. I know the Frio wallet instructions say not to put wallet into the refrigerator because you can "damage" the crystals in the wallet for future use..but I rather feel confident that my insulin will stay at the right temp. (You can feel that the wallet interior is cool)

Btw..I still have the same wallet after four years , which included many 14 day cruises and 14 day land trips. I just recently purchased two more as back up in case I eventually damage the crystals. (They were on sale on e bay) When I stay at hotels while traveling, I keep the wallet in the refrigerator, too (Peace of mind for me.)

We managed to chill down a bottle of champagne to the perfect temperature on Royal. Make sure the fridge door is properly closed (we noticed that sometimes it didn't shut properly) and that nothing is obstructing the air vents at the side of the cabinet. Then it works fine.

Many thanks for the very informative replies. Happy pumping or MDI.

Depends on the fridge. Our last one was very cold- great for beers. The fridge on our first cruise on the Regal was awful, barely cold at all.

Not sure about the Royal, but on most Princess ships there is a dial inside the refrigerator for adjusting the temperature. Depending on the position of the dial, the temperature may be warmer than you would like.

So if it is not cold enough, look for that dial and adjust it as necessary.

Have done multiple cruises with Princess and have never had a problem with the refrigerator for my wife's insulin. Just ask the steward for a sharps container and he will get one for the stateroom.

Regal and Royal both require you to put a card in the slot just inside the door to turn electricity to the room. This is to conserve energy, but it also removes power to the fridge. I use a piece of cardboard to put in the slot and always make sure to turn off lights when I leave the room but leaving the card in the slot.

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Regal and Royal both require you to put a card in the slot just inside the door to turn electricity to the room. This is to conserve energy, but it also removes power to the fridge. I use a piece of cardboard to put in the slot and always make sure to turn off lights when I leave the room but leaving the card in the slot.

 

 

My experience on the Royal is that the card only controls the lights, not any of the electrical outlets not associated with lights. Thus, our fridge stayed on when the lights were off.

My experience on the Royal is that the card only controls the lights, not any of the electrical outlets not associated with lights. Thus, our fridge stayed on when the lights were off.

My experience on Royal is that the air conditioning turned off when the steward removed the old cruise card I had brought for that purpose while I was at breakfast and dinner every day. Was near-stifling hot the couple times I neglected to come back to the room straightaway to replace the card. So as your fridge operates on chilled air pumped in by the ships AC system I would not count on it remaining as cold as on other ships where if you crank the cabin AC down, it stays on. Though I did not put this theory to the test by placing any warm items in the fridge to see if they cooled down and remained so. And the bucket of ice did remain sufficiently unmelted.

The refrigerators in all Princess cabins are the small dormitory size units (usually Dometic brand). They work just like small home units and have a separate refrigeration system. If you look, you will see vent openings cut in the cabinetry and if you open the exterior cabinet door you can feel the built up warm air escape. I advise that you leave this cabinet door slightly propped open to allow for better air flow. Trust me, you Steward will close it each time he/she comes in, but try to remember to open it (if the cabinet door is not attached to the refrigerator, some are)

The biggest problem with these units is that the are not self defrosting and sometimes the ice build up get pretty thick and cooling is effected. None of these units use either AC chilled air or the chilled water that the AC uses for cooling your drinks. I have placed my insulin pens in the fridges and never had a problem.

Buster

Insulin does not need to be refridgerated unless you do not plan to use it within the 28 days after opening. So, I would say that it will be fine in the room refridgerator.

A few years ago, my wife had medicine that had to be kept to 35 to 45 F. We found the mini-fridge on our ship did not do it. We stored it in the large frig in the Medical Center.

A sharps container is available, free of charge. Just let your Room Steward know you need it.