soda pass

[msdurk]

were you able to bring pepsi on board?

[queenofcruzin]

No answer yet...my cruise is Dec 20.

While on the phone about EOS itinerary changes, (see other threads on this issue) I had a very nice and accomadating Crown and Anchor rep, and we talked about coke and pepsi. Bringing a pepsi on board is allowable, but a 6 or 12 pack they would consider contraband if found.

That being said i will let y'all know...

[TRM7050]

My wife and I purchased the soda package through RCI on our last cruise and we were surprised at how much it cost! I believe for the two of us it was $108.00! I think Carnival was cheaper in that respect if I remember correctly?

[Mike W]

I finally got tired of paying through the nose for soda cards, and found a good way around the problem. I usually drink diet Pepsi or diet Coke, and since the only thing Royal carribean gives you for free is oversweetened lemonade or water, this is what i do. before going on the cruise I buy a couple of boxes of the single serve packets of Crystal Light. it comes in several flavors. When i want a drink I get a glass of water with ice, drop the contents of a packet in, and stir. Royal Carribean considers soda brought on board to be contraband, but doesn't seem to think the same of the Crystal Light. My waiter thought it was a good idea, same with my room steward.

[electech]

The sodas were Coke products on our trip (we prefer Pepsi products in Real Life, but fountain drinks taste mostly the same anyway). And I was worried the sodas would taste weird, but they tasted fine. I *think* we paid $42 each for us and $28 for our daughter, but we didn't ask the age limit as we knew she would be youth age. We tossed back and forth whether it was worth it and just decided to buy them so we wouldn't have to think about it anymore and decide after the trip if we would buy them again. We most certainly would.

We drink *a lot* of soda, so it was more than worth it for us with the sodas at $2.01 (with added tip). Usually, they filled the mugs up with the fountain, but sometimes out of cans and on the Labadee picnic two liters. We've done the Crystal Light before, too, but bottled water is so expensive it was about the same.

The mugs we got were very attractive, clear plastic insulated instead of aluminum which we liked better. It has a paper insert with a white background; metallic red, blue, and silver waves; silver silhouettes of people doing cruise stuff drinking cokes; the RCI anchor logo in gold along with inspirational sayings such as "to refresh", "to relax", "to explore", "to dream", and so on. Very nice.

The fellow selling them said they change the design pretty frequently - I'm guessing to keep people from trying to re-use them. Sometimes the bar staff asked for our soda stickers, sometimes not, but we always had them. And you didn't have to have your mug just your sticker on your Sea Pass card, but we liked having them because they have nice lids to twist closed and they stowed neatly in a tote bag.

And the best part is that it really ticks people off when they see you carrying it! I can't tell you how many people huffed and puffed about our mugs. I thought it was hilarious, since we don't drink or gamble, to think about how many $$$ they probably dropped on bingo, in the casino and bars and they were upset about our mugs!! People are just a hoot!