Coolers??

[kapcruiser]

Why do people bring coolers on board? Drinks are available all day. We always bring a cooler when we go to a hotel to stock up on soda and water. I need some suggestions so I can decide whether to bring a cooler or not.

[hstrybuf]

I brought a collapsible cooler on the Legend because I didn't want to mess with having the steward unlock the refrigerator and remove whatever was in it. Also, the fridge in the cabin may not keep things as cold as we would like. Our steward was very good about keeping our cooler (12 can size) and the ice bucket that was already in the cabin full of ice at least twice a day.

 

The water on the ship was fine. We brought our sodas and beer down from the bars and kept them on ice if we were spending time in our cabin or wanted some for later. That way we already had them available and didn't have to call room service or run up to one of the bars.

[GoinCruisin]

Some people bring coolers to keep the drinks they bring along cold... we did not take a cooler and just had the steward keep our ice bucket full... one less thing to carry makes me happy!

[cruisinqt]

Drinks are available all day as you said. But the sodas and alcohol are not free. If you don't want the free water, tea, coffee, or lemonade, then you have to pay for your drink and it's not cheap. That soda or alcohol tab can add up real quick. Personally, our family are Dr. Pepper addicts and can't live without a "pepper fix." And Carnival does not serve Dr. Pepper. So we bring along a couple 12 packs and a collapsible cooler. The fridges on Carnival do not get the drinks very cold at all. And our cabin attendants have always been happy to ice down our drinks in our cooler every night.

 

If we bought 4 soda cards for us, it would be quite expensive. And we just want a Dr. Pepper every now and then. We just can't justify the expense of the soda card, plus we would have to drink Coke instead. This way is much less expensive and we get our Dr. Pepper fix. The collapsible cooler and drinks all go into one duffle bag. At the end of the cruise, we use the extra room in the duffle bag for souvenirs.