Coke Freestyle Machine

[MsSoCalCruiser]

15 hours ago, Daniel A said:

It's amazing that this thread went for 4 pages over something that's not on Princess ships and would be optional to use if it were.  I enjoyed reading the posts. 

 Maybe if we keep the thread going they will order the freestyle machines for us.  When they raised the soda package prices it mentioned the freestyle machines in the small print. I saw it but I can’t find it now. I will continue to look and do a screenshot if I find it. I really would love to have more choices so I don’t consume as much caffeine. On celebrity they had caffeine free diet Coke which I really like.  I also like diet root beer  which I think might be available in the freestyle machine.  I also enjoyed reading the posts.  😊

[pms4104]

On 8/2/2019 at 12:40 AM, donaldsc said:

The other problem is that some people either can't figure out how to use the machine or they take forever to decide which of the 100s of flavor to select.  I want to go up to a counter and say "diet coke please".  That takes only 10 seconds.

 

DON

It may take only seconds for a person to serve your beverage ... but it takes a person to do so ... this machine will allow the bean-counters to cut staff ... because staff won't be needed to serve soft drinks ... overall, the machine will be cheaper than a staffer pay and benefits

[Iamcruzin]

19 hours ago, Thrak said:

 

Nope. It was on a cruise ship. He was sitting in the cabin and cutting it out and then he proudly showed how it worked in the machine. His parents seemed to think it was cool. Great parenting -- NOT.

Don't know if we saw the same video but the one I saw, the purpose was to use the chip with one of the cups in the buffet and not have to carry around and wash the cup that they give you.  Personally for me that is too much trouble since I can get what I want water, popular flavor soft drinks at the bar. The machine has a much wider selection. I didn't see anything wrong with it.

[Iamcruzin]

6 hours ago, MsSoCalCruiser said:

 I know! Way to teach your kid how to be a criminal.  At the end of the video when he used it in the soda machine and they all had cups of soda wasn’t there an employee watching? 

Honestly if they wanted to cheat the system and I'm not saying that it doesn't happen, It would be easier to fill the giant cup they give you and pour it into the smaller glasses. you can probably fill 4  to 6 glasses using the large one.  You have to wait 15 minutes between refills so it would take  60-90 minutes to fill small cups. Not very effective plus you are only getting a fraction of the beverage that you would get by using the large cup they give you. So in reality you are not even getting as much product. I'm sure they all cut out the chip.  Also I know that nobody is so naive to believe that adults are not sharing the alcohol package on Princess. This was probably the reason that they limited the drinks to 15.

Edited August 5, 2019 by Iamcruzin

[Daniel A]

35 minutes ago, Iamcruzin said:

Don't know if we saw the same video but the one I saw, the purpose was to use the chip with one of the cups in the buffet and not have to carry around and wash the cup that they give you.  Personally for me that is too much trouble since I can get what I want water, popular flavor soft drinks at the bar. The machine has a much wider selection. I didn't see anything wrong with it.

Your interpretation of the video may be correct but the video certainly leaves some with  the impression that they are gaming the system and advertising it.

[Iamcruzin]

14 minutes ago, Daniel A said:

Your interpretation of the video may be correct but the video certainly leaves some with  the impression that they are gaming the system and advertising it.

I don't think that the passengers on Princess know that you can't just buy one drink package. Any adult 21 and over  in the same stateroom must also purchase the deluxe alcohol package the same with the soda package for minors.  With that said I called pre cruise and ordered one deluxe package and one refreshment package for my wife and myself. The refreshment package includes everything but alcohol. I only knew that this could be done via following cruise critic. The average cruiser or first time cruiser wouldn't know this. Can the system be gamed? Absolutely. However, there are much easier ways like going to a different bar and ordering a second beverage. Their isn't a time limit between refills at the bar only on the machine or like my fist suggestion filling up the large cup they give you and pouring it into a smaller cup. By the way the cup holds 24 oz without ice. The cups in the buffet are unusually small so you can fill 4 cups with 6oz each and have room for ice.

Edited August 5, 2019 by Iamcruzin

[Daniel A]

6 minutes ago, Iamcruzin said:

I don't think that the passengers on Princess know that you can't just buy one drink package. Any adult 21 and over  in the same stateroom must also purchase the deluxe alcohol package the same with the soda package for minors.  With that said I called pre cruise and ordered one deluxe package and one refreshment package for my wife and myself. The refreshment package includes everything but alcohol. I only knew that this could be done via following cruise critic. The average cruiser or first time cruiser wouldn't know this. Can the system be gamed? Absolutely. However, there are much easier ways like going to a different bar and ordering a second beverage. Their isn't a time limit between refills at the bar only on the machine.

BTW I wasn't disagreeing with you.  I saw your interpretation of the video has merit.  I also can see where viewers can walk away suspecting a more nefarious intent on the part of the family. 

[Globehoppers]

I intensely dislike "freestyle drink machines."  They are slow and difficult to maintain properly.  90 percent of the choices are never used.  And they are expensive.  

[Colo Cruiser]

29 minutes ago, Globehoppers said:

I intensely dislike "freestyle drink machines."  They are slow and difficult to maintain properly.  90 percent of the choices are never used.  And they are expensive.  

Yes I agree........ for every choice there has to be a supply.

I cannot see them putting 50 or 100 different choices.

Not a fan either. The ones I have seen are pretty dirty and that was at places that clean their establishments well.

[Iamcruzin]

1 hour ago, Daniel A said:

BTW I wasn't disagreeing with you.  I saw your interpretation of the video has merit.  I also can see where viewers can walk away suspecting a more nefarious intent on the part of the family. 

Yes because they lack information.

[Doug R.]

23 hours ago, Daniel A said:

It's amazing that this thread went for 4 pages over something that's not on Princess ships and would be optional to use if it were.  I enjoyed reading the posts. 

 

21 hours ago, Debbdo said:

Agree 101%! It makes me giggle to read them and we all need some laughter nowadays. 

I concur, the raging germaphobes are particularly amusing. Makes you wonder if they wear hazmat suits in their daily life. 

[geocruiser]

I found this on Princess web site.  I log in.  Went to my reservations, clicked on onboard reservations, Soda and more, then Terms & Conditions 2019.

Under Exclusions and limitations 

Excludes beverages offered via vending machines, but includes Coke Freestyle machines where available (coming soon).

[Iamcruzin]

2 hours ago, Colo Cruiser said:

Yes I agree........ for every choice there has to be a supply.

I cannot see them putting 50 or 100 different choices.

Not a fan either. The ones I have seen are pretty dirty and that was at places that clean their establishments well.

Personally I found no use for them on Royal Caribbean but I can see how it's convenient for those who only drink soft drinks. I came across them from time to time and there was never a line and they looked to be clean. There was always a line at the soft serve ice milk machine. Now that was as sloppy mess. 

[Doug R.]

4 hours ago, Colo Cruiser said:

Yes I agree........ for every choice there has to be a supply.

I cannot see them putting 50 or 100 different choices.

Not a fan either. The ones I have seen are pretty dirty and that was at places that clean their establishments well.

Oh Really? The Freestyle machines I have seen are no more or less clean than the standard soda dispensers. Just how many of these machines have you seen and what was the degree and type of dirtiness? Yes I am calling your bluff. 

[JimmyVWine]

A few observations on themes presented in this thread:

 

GERMS:

If I take MY reusable cup and refill it, and the dispenser and the cup are several inches apart, and then you take YOUR reusable cup and dispense soda after me, how in the world are my germs going to get into your cup?  If we aren't sharing cups, and neither of us is putting our mouth on the dispenser to drink right from the spigot, how are swapping germs?  Disney has been using reusable mugs for self-service dispensers as part of its Dining Plan for decades and WDW is every bit the human swap-meet that a cruise ship is, and no one has had a problem.  At least not a big enough problem to warrant stressing over.

 

ON CLEANING CUPS:

Don't you take a travel size bottle of dish washing detergent with you when you travel and wash reusable items in your bathroom sink each night?  If not, you should start.  Every parent who has traveled with a child that used a pacifier, bottle, rattle or sippy cup has done this for ages.  Just because you don't travel with an infant any more is no reason not to resume the habit of traveling with liquid dish washing detergent.  As travel suppliers such as cruise line and hotels move more and more toward "reusable" and away from "disposable", washing reusable equipment is going to become the new normal.  Get ahead of the curve.  And as for cleaning those "carnival cup" straws...easy solution.  Don't use the straw if it is too hard to clean. 

 

ON LINGERING FLAVORS AND ALLERGENS:

The "pour out the first ounce" method does work.  And if for some reason you think it won't, you can always intercept the first ounce with a different, smaller cup and then remove that interceptor once the stream flows according to your liking.  And allergens?  What sodas contain allergens?  If this were a real world problem, wouldn't it have surfaced already in the thousands (tens of thousands) of dispensers already in use?  This isn't new technology.  Just new to Princess.

 

ON THE KID WHO HACKED THE CHIP:

Yes, people here are shaming the kid and his family.  But he will probably grow up to be a kid who doesn't pay corkage for his wine; keeps the bottle in his cabin to avoid paying corkage at the MDR; and fills a glass with wine and waltzes into the MDR with his "free" wine from home. And on this board he will be heralded as a hero. 

Edited August 5, 2019 by JimmyVWine

[Colo Cruiser]

3 hours ago, Iamcruzin said:

Personally I found no use for them on Royal Caribbean but I can see how it's convenient for those who only drink soft drinks. I came across them from time to time and there was never a line and they looked to be clean. There was always a line at the soft serve ice milk machine. Now that was as sloppy mess. 

After using and seeing them at different fast food type restaurant locations for the past several years I avoid them now.

After encountering the one at Five Guys in Ft Lauderdale last Wednesday I watched a couple of kids tasting the different flavors and spitting the samples back into the machine. 

No thanks....

[Potstech]

How much proven sickness can be attributed to these machines?  If it was such a huge problem, as some seem to indicate, it amazes me they are still in use or there are no health alerts about them. If you do not like them then do not use them. Thousands use them every day yet silence.

[MsSoCalCruiser]

13 hours ago, Doug R. said:

 

I concur, the raging germaphobes are particularly amusing. Makes you wonder if they wear hazmat suits in their daily life. 

I wasn’t always this way 😂😂😂.  I can’t help it, lol. 

[MsSoCalCruiser]

8 hours ago, Colo Cruiser said:

After using and seeing them at different fast food type restaurant locations for the past several years I avoid them now.

After encountering the one at Five Guys in Ft Lauderdale last Wednesday I watched a couple of kids tasting the different flavors and spitting the samples back into the machine. 

No thanks....

 Seriously! That’s nasty  😡

[MsSoCalCruiser]

15 hours ago, Iamcruzin said:

Honestly if they wanted to cheat the system and I'm not saying that it doesn't happen, It would be easier to fill the giant cup they give you and pour it into the smaller glasses. you can probably fill 4  to 6 glasses using the large one.  You have to wait 15 minutes between refills so it would take  60-90 minutes to fill small cups. Not very effective plus you are only getting a fraction of the beverage that you would get by using the large cup they give you. So in reality you are not even getting as much product. I'm sure they all cut out the chip.  Also I know that nobody is so naive to believe that adults are not sharing the alcohol package on Princess. This was probably the reason that they limited the drinks to 15.

 I feel really bad that I said that. I take it back… The child will not grow up to be a criminal.  My guess is he will grow up to be an engineer or scientist.   I think I was in a cranky mood when I wrote that. Please forgive me. 

[MissP22]

And yet all the complainers will still be cruising, germs or not. 😉

[Iamcruzin]

16 hours ago, JimmyVWine said:

A few observations on themes presented in this thread:

  As travel suppliers such as cruise line and hotels move more and more toward "reusable" and away from "disposable", washing reusable equipment is going to become the new normal.  Get ahead of the curve. 

I hope that you are not implying that they are going to start to making us wash dishes. That's a deal breaker for me. I'm not interested in getting ahead of any dish washing curve.  Knowing the cruise lines they will probably turn it into a tour and charge you for the experience. I have no intention of bringing dish soap and I refuse to carry around a cup.  If I'm paying a gratuity upfront when buy a drink package I want to be served.   

Edited August 6, 2019 by Iamcruzin

[JimmyVWine]

1 hour ago, Iamcruzin said:

I hope that you are not implying that they are going to start to making us wash dishes. That's a deal breaker for me. I'm not interested in getting ahead of any dish washing curve.    

I'm not sure I understand your point.  For as long as we have purchased the Soda Package for my daughter, it has come with a hard plastic reusable cup as part of the plan.  It is her cup.  She takes it back to the cabin each night.  No Princess employee is going to wash it, nor should they.  So I only see two options.  Either she uses the cup for sticky drinks all week and never washes it, OR, she washes it in the cabin each night (and sometimes more than once a day.)  The same is true at Disney World where you get a reusable cup/mug with your Dining Plan.  Are you going to use that mug for a week in the muggy Orlando weather, holding it with your sweaty, sunblock saturated hands and never wash it?  I get it that you are "on vacation", but you don't leave common sense and basic hygiene at your home when you travel.  Washing reusable items isn't a huge ask. 

 

[Colo Cruiser]

1 hour ago, Iamcruzin said:

I hope that you are not implying that they are going to start to making us wash dishes. That's a deal breaker for me. I'm not interested in getting ahead of any dish washing curve.  Knowing the cruise lines they will probably turn it into a tour and charge you for the experience. I have no intention of bringing dish soap and I refuse to carry around a cup.  If I'm paying a gratuity upfront when buy a drink package I want to be served.   

I know right!

Brings the term "germaphobes"  thrown around here to another level.  🙄

[JimmyVWine]

20 minutes ago, Colo Cruiser said:

Brings the term "germaphobes"  thrown around here to another level.

You would seriously use the same plastic cup for an entire cruise without washing it, and call those who do germaphobes? 🤔