"Beverage Packages"???

[LILLY]

Room service, 24 hrs.

[Geoff]

The free coffee in the Lido cafe is available 24 hours, and is ok coffee. I confess to drinking it whenever I'm not drinking gin. It's not as good as Peet's or even Starbucks, but it is always fresh, and is better than most cheap coffee.

[Doctor Chris]

A whole boat load of people that love beer and blues; I feel like I am about to be reunited with my long lost family. See y'all soon.

[Rags]

A whole boat load of people that love beer and blues; I feel like I am about to be reunited with my long lost family. See y'all soon.

For years, we have been calling the blues festivals our "family reunions", so it will be great to add another "family reunion" to this year's blues travels!!!

[Julie Richardson (PDXaviatrix)]

I want good coffee, and I want it BEFORE I get dressed. Maxine brought a small coffeemaker in October 09 and we never had a problem. On the January cruise, I did the same, but we got a message on our phone saying that we were not allowed to use it due to fire safety, etc. So, I wound the cord around it every time I finished with it. Until then, the privacy please card was kept in the door. No more problems.

They don't line the trash cans in the room, so I brought zip plastic sandwich bags to dispose of the grounds. After the call, I grabbed a handful of those white bags from the public restrooms that they use for feminine product disposal, and put the zip bag in there so they wouldn't give me crap. You KNOW the steward isn't going to check that for contents!

Wendy picked up the coffee maker for me in Ft Lauderdale at the Walgreens store for $10, and it came with a reuseable filter basket.

[Julie Richardson (PDXaviatrix)]

You can buy the booze with or without the mixers. You can order it from your room or ahead of time. A full liter of Absolute was $32. Sky vodka was $28 for 1.15 liters.

If you pre-order your booze on Holland America's website, check the box that says to deliver it "at sea". Otherwise, you will pay local sales tax. Seems to be a technicality, as it was in the room when we got there.

I brought individual packets of Crystal Lite drink mix for mixer.

[LindaSFSD]

For future reference, you can purchase alcohol on board that is not listed in what you can have sent to your room. I am a picky tequila drinker and Jose Cuervo was the only tequila that was listed as available. However, when I called room service, I asked for a bottle of Patron Silver and they said okay. However, they called me back a few mins later to let me know that they "did not have Patron Silver" but could send a bottle of Patron Reposado to my room. I said okay and gulped when I signed the bill for $138.00 (including gratuity that they add). I must admit...the Reposado was wonderful, better than the silver; however I noticed you could get silver at the bars... Oh well. What did I learn on this cruise? That I have now stepped up a bit in my tequila pickiness!

[Sunny]

I like to mix Clamato juice (I know...it's a Canadian thing) with my beer and sometimes with vodka (a Bloody Caesar). It is often hard to come by on the boat and, if they have it, they charge about $4.00 for a small can...so, I bring my own. If you like an unusual mix or non-alcholic beverage, or use a lot of it, you might want to take it on board yourself. On another cruise, not the Blues Cruise, I took a case of water. The whole case cost less that one bottle of water at ship prices. We mostly used it when going ashore. BTW, tap water is drinkable and there is always ice water available in Lido cafeteria or at bars. HAL used to sell buckets of beer at a discount...5 beers for the price of 4...I noticed that they no longer did that in Jan.
Alison

[deborahb]

I bought good beer at the bars and it wasn't particularly expensive - maybe $4 a bottle. Also bought a soda card for the caffeine so I could stay awake late...

[Sunny]

I'm planning on taking my Diablo Energy Strips for staying awake...although I'm also considering taking some diet Red Bull...