Classic Soda Package - Do you have to use the special cup?

[Neosophy]

We dont want our kids drinking lots of soda, so we are very hesitant to get them the classic soda package.

 

Can they get drinks (juice or lemonade, etc) without the special cups?

[gumshoe958]

You only need the special cups if you want to use the Freestyle machines, for which you need a package.

 

But if you do buy a package you don’t have to get a cup, you can always go to a bar for soft drinks instead.
 

Juice is available for free at breakfast in the Windjammer. At other times you can get it from any bar but it’s not free (and isn’t included in the soda package, just the pricier refreshment package).

 

Water & lemonade (and iced tea) are available for free all day in the Windjammer.

 

Edited March 16 by gumshoe958

[Scottdalfonso]

They can get plenty of juices and flavored waters, iced teas and lemonades around the ship with no package. There are dispensers at the Pizza place, the cafe, the buffet and usually around the pool are and a few other spots. There are actual juice machines at the buffet and then just big jugs with taps on them all around, no cost or special cup needed. 

[1025cruise]

Skip the package and just buy a soda as desired.

[Mum2Mercury]

Random thoughts:  

- Your kids'll be able to get all the lemonade, iced tea and water they want all day -- pick-up-and-go cups are always waiting in the Windjammer and a couple other places.  Sometimes they have fruit punch.  

- Juice and milk are available at breakfast.  You can bring some back to your room and have it later in the day.  If this is appealing to you, you might want to bring a couple wide-top water bottles for this purpose.  

- Without a package, you can buy canned sodas from a bar (or in the dining room), but you will not be able to use the Freestyle soda machines.  Individual sodas, once you add in mandatory tax, will run almost $4 each. 

- Because we are low-carb and even the lemonade is kinda high in sugar, we bring those little "tubes" of drink mix.  My daughter prefers the squirt-bottles of drink mix. 

- You can bring a 12-pack of sodas onboard when you embark.  You can also bring 1-2 cans back from island stops easily -- they scrutinize plastic bottles but don't care about unopened cans of soda.  If you tell the kids "that's it -- we're not buying at ship prices", it's a way of limiting their soda. 

- When my girls were teens, I did buy them the soda package.  I knew they'd be away from me, and I didn't want them to feel they "had to" finish a drink because they'd paid for it.  I don't think it was a great financial decision; I did it for safety.