Today, I received this information from Royal Caribbean's blog on http://www.answeritroyally.com so it's hot off the press. Royal Caribbean announced that it's begun deploying Coca Cola's freestyle machines on its ships. For those who don't know what Coca Cola's freestyle machines are, they're soda machines that can make 125! different Coca Cola products. That alone would make these machines pretty neat but, it's even better for those who like to sail on Royal Caribbean's ships. Due to lack of bar space, Royal Caribbean can't offer all of Coca Cola's products. For me, this is a real bummer because while they offer Sprite (I don't care for Coke), I like Barq's root beer and Fanta's orange soda too. This machine solves that problem. The machine should help Royal Caribbean in another way in that it can be easily operated by the person wanting a soda vice needing someone to run the soda machine.
One problem Royal Caribbean had to work out with Coca Cola was how to be able to check people's souvenir glasses to make sure they purchased the unlimited soda package they offer. Royal Caribbean plans on using the souvenir glasses that come with the package for the machines. Right now, whenever someone goes up to get a soda at the drinks stand, they have to show their seapass to prove they bought the unlimited soda package (and the DO check) otherwise they have to pay (was $2 a glass when I sailed in November) for each class of soda (bit of a pain). Royal Caribbean and Coca Cola worked out a radio frequency identification thingy that will be attached some how to the souvenir glasses that the machine will be able to check to make sure the customer has bought the package.
I believe the freestyle machines will cause more people to buy Royal Caribbean's unlimited soda package because of the greatly improved choices the machines will offer as well as being more convenient for the customer (they won't have to wait for a bar person to pull them a soda from the soda machine). Royal Caribbean should benefit in another way as this will free up some of their staff that have to work behind the drinks bar.
According to the blog post (http://www.answeritroyally.com/blog/?p=4971#comment-80778), Royal Caribbean deployed the machine to their Majesty of the Seas and will continue to deploy it to its U.S. based ships this year. Royal Caribbean said they'll continue to deploy the machines in 2013 presumably to its ships overseas though this isn't stated. I would hope they'd be able to do that. Sadly, in my case, I won't get to try out one of these really cool machines until next year when I hopefully do a few cruises based out of the U.S. Happy Sailing All!!!!!
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