Are you feeling overwhelmed by cruise drink packages? You’re not alone! I was in the same boat until I started researching to ensure I was getting the best value for my cruise—and maximising my onboard experience! If you’re searching for low-cost cruises, understanding these packages is crucial to avoid any pitfalls!
Recently, I discovered that there are 23 cruise lines catering to English-speaking travellers, each adopting a unique approach to their drink packages. Some of these packages include just beverages, while others offer additional perks like Wi-Fi, exercise classes, specialty dining, and even crew appreciation charges.
I won’t dive into the details of all 23 cruise lines—this post would take days to read! Instead, I’ll focus on seven cruise lines across different categories from mass-market to ultra luxury, offering you examples of the types of packages you might encounter. All amounts are in US dollars and reflect packages as advertised for the US market; prices may vary slightly for Australian and other markets. It’s wise to conduct your own research before booking, but don’t worry—this information will set you on the right path to understanding how each cruise line operates.
And after I go through the seven cruise lines’ drinks packages, I give an example of how I calculate if the package is worth it for us!
Royal Caribbean
Let’s start with Royal Caribbean, which offers three drinks packages—a method that’s fairly standard but unique because pricing varies by ship, itinerary, and even when you decide to purchase the package. Generally, it’s cheaper to buy before boarding, but not when booking. After you’ve made your reservation, Royal Caribbean often sends out promotional discounts that can lower package prices. They also offer fantastic deals for Black Friday. While their drinks packages focus solely on beverages, they do offer dining and Wi-Fi packages as well.
A key point to remember: if anyone in your cabin wants to purchase an alcoholic beverage package, all guests of legal drinking age in the same cabin must purchase the package together. However, other beverage packages can be bought by just one person, and all packages are for individual use—no sharing allowed!
Here’s a quick overview of Royal Caribbean’s drinks packages:
- Classic: This is soft drinks only, which includes the Freestyle drinks package, allowing you to use a souvenir cup at various Coke machines around the ship. The cost is $12.99 per person, per day.
- Refreshment: Includes everything in Classic, plus premium coffees and teas, freshly squeezed juices, bottled still and sparkling water, mocktails, and milkshakes at Johnny Rockets. The cost is $29 per person, per day.
- Deluxe: Includes Refreshment plus cocktails, spirits, liqueurs, beers, and wines by the glass (Starbucks drinks are not included). The cost is $56 to $105 per person, per day, depending on the ship and itinerary.
The Royal Caribbean website doesn’t show the pricing, so I got that from this article by the Points Guy.
Norwegian Cruise Line
Norwegian have recently announced that the current package – Free at Sea – is no longer being offered. While it continues to exist on cruises booked before the change that sail in 2024, any bookings since 1 October 2024 and all cruises sailing on or after 1 January 2025 will have the More at Sea included package. I’ll cover More at Sea, but firstly, for those sailing between now and the end of 2024 here is the information on Free at Sea.
Free at See is included in the cruise fare and offers:
- Unlimited open bar: Enjoy cocktails and spirits worth up to $15, selected beers and wines by the glass, unlimited soft drinks and juices, and 20% off bottles of champagne and wine.
- Specialty dining meals: The number of meals depends on the length of your cruise (for example, on a seven-night cruise in a balcony cabin, you receive two specialty dining meals).
- Shore excursion credit: You’ll get a $50 credit per shore excursion booked by the first person in your cabin.
- Free Wi-Fi: Amount varies with the length of your cruise; on a seven-night itinerary, you’ll receive 150 minutes per person.
You can upgrade to Free at Sea Plus, it’s $49 per adult, $29 per child, or $42 for a solo traveller per day, adding:
- Top-shelf cocktails and spirits, all beers and wines by the glass, and specific bottles of champagne and wine at dinner discounted by 40%, but this part of the upgrade is for the adults only of course!
- Still and sparkling water
- Starbucks drinks
- Energy drinks
- Two additional specialty dining meals
- Extra shore excursion credit of $50 per excursion for the second person in the cabin
- Unlimited Wi-Fi.
If you upgrade to Free at Sea Plus, you can further upgrade the Wi-Fi to a streaming package for an additional $10 per person, per day. Remember, if upgrading to Free at Sea Plus, all adults in the cabin must upgrade as well.
So what is More at Sea? It is also included in the cruise fare but there is no “More at Sea Plus” upgrade package. More at Sea offers:
- Unlimited open bar: Enjoy premium cocktails and spirits with no price cap, selected beers and wines by the glass, unlimited soft drinks and juices, and 20% off bottles of champagne and wine. More included brands than with Free at Sea.
- Specialty dining meals: The number of meals depends on the length of your cruise (for example, on a seven-night cruise in a balcony cabin, you receive two specialty dining meals).
- Shore excursion credit: You’ll get a $50 credit per shore excursion booked by the first person in your cabin.
- Free Wi-Fi: Amount varies with the length of your cruise; on a seven-night itinerary, you’ll receive 150 minutes per person.
If you want to upgrade any aspect of More at Sea, there are individual upgrade packages for beverages and internet. Beverage packages include a water package ($20 for 12 16oz (473ml) bottles, $35 for 24, $50 for $48), unlimited Starbucks package ($16 pp pd) and an unlimited soda package ($12 pp pd).
Princess Cruises
Moving on to Princess Cruises, there are two packages available: Plus and Premier. Both come at an additional cost, allowing you to sail without them and pay as you go if you prefer.
Princess Plus $60 per person per day
- Wi-Fi for one device per guest
- Drinks up to $15 each (including alcohol)
- Bottled water
- Specialty coffee
- Cocktails, beer, and wine. Alcoholic drinks are limited to 15 per person, per day
- Unlimited juice bar access
- Two premium desserts per person daily
- Two fitness classes per person for the entire cruise
- Two casual dining meals per person
- OceanNow delivery and room service delivery
- Daily crew appreciation
Princess Premier $90 per person per day
- Everything in the Plus package
- Wi-Fi for three additional devices per guest
- Unlimited beverages up to $20 each
- Unlimited specialty and casual dining meals
- A professional photo package
- Unlimited premium desserts
- Unlimited fitness classes
- Reserved theatre seating
- Participation in Princess Prizes
OceanNow delivery is a food and drink delivery service. You order on the Princess app, and it’s brought to you wherever you are on the ship. This is done by tracking the location of your cruise medallion on the MedallionNet system.
All adults in the cabin must have the same package.
Virgin Voyages
Virgin Voyages takes an “almost all-inclusive” approach, where your cruise fare encompasses
- Wi-Fi
- Tips and gratuities
- All dining
- Soft drinks
- Teas
- Drip coffee
- Still and sparkling water’
- Fitness classes
They don’t have drinks packages; instead, it’s a pay-as-you-go system. However, if you pre-load a “bar tab” with funds, you can receive a bonus. For example, if you add $200 to your bar tab, you’ll get $225 to spend on drinks.
Viking Ocean
Next, Viking Ocean also promotes an almost all-inclusive experience. They offer
- Complimentary wines, beers, and soft drinks with lunch and dinner
- Specialty coffees and teas available 24 hours a day.
You can additionally purchase the Silver Spirits beverage package for $25 per person, per night, which includes:
- unlimited drinks up to $18 each at onboard venues throughout the voyage
- A premium wine pairing at the Chef’s Table restaurant
- Discounts on tasting events
- A 30% discount on beverages over $18.
Oceania Cruises
Oceania Cruises is part of the Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings group and has also announced that the current package – Simply More – is no longer being offered. While it continues to exist on cruises booked before the change that sail in 2024, any bookings since 1 October 2024 and all cruises sailing on or after 1 January 2025 will have the Your World Included package. I’ll cover Your World Included, but firstly, for those sailing between now and the end of 2024 here is the information on Simply More.
The Simply More package is included in the cruise price and provides:
- A selection of champagne, wine, and beer during lunch and dinner
- Specialty dining
- In suite/stateroom dining
- Unlimited Wi-Fi
- Water, soft drinks, juice, mocktails, coffees and teas.
- Still and sparkling Vero water
- Gourmet ice cream
- Shore excursion credits
You can upgrade to the Prestige Select package for an additional $30 per person per day, which adds unlimited premium spirits, champagne, beer, and wine whenever and wherever you desire. Importantly, this upgrade doesn’t have to be purchased for everyone in your cabin.
The Your World Included package is included in the cruise price and provides:
- Specialty dining
- In suite/stateroom dining
- Unlimited Wi-Fi
- Sodas, specialty coffees and teas
- Still and sparkling Vero water
- Juices, smoothies, gourmet ice cream
- Group fitness classes
- Shipboard gratuities for stateroom attendants, butlers and dining waitstaff.
The Prestige Select beverage package is available from $59 per person per day.
Regent Seven Seas Cruises
Regent Seven Seas Cruises is the closest to an all-inclusive experience! Their fare covers:
- unlimited shore excursions
- select drinks (including fine wines, craft cocktails, and specialty coffees)
- all specialty dining
- a customisable in-suite mini bar replenished daily
- entertainment
- spa facilities
- Wi-Fi
- prepaid gratuities
- laundry service
- in-suite dining.
Should you purchase a drinks package?
It’s essential to remember that on any cruise line, should you desire a drink not included in your package, you can always pay as you go. Typically, a gratuity percentage will be added to your drink cost. Therefore, purchasing a drinks package isn’t mandatory, and if you don’t plan on enjoying many alcoholic beverages or specialty coffees, it might not make sense financially to opt for a package.
Package benefit analysis
So how can you decide whether to purchase a drinks package? Consider what you’ll actually use within the package—would you have bought those items anyway? I’ve compiled an example for how I would calculate the value of a package on a seven-day Princess cruise.
I’ll list the items covered by the package and estimate how much I’d spend without it. For instance, if I enjoyed two cocktails or spirit-based drinks each day, estimating around $12 per drink, I would spend about $168 over the cruise.
Calculating the total cost without the package, I find that it would reach $873. The Plus package is $60 per day, summing to $420. However, my casual dining estimates exceed the package allowance, and I plan to enjoy a couple of specialty restaurants, adding another $105 for a total of $525. This amount is still significantly less than the $873 I would spend without the package, making the Plus package a great choice for me.
Now, regarding the Premier package, which costs $630, I would still come out ahead compared to not having any package; however, it’s $105 more than the Plus package. This prompts me to consider whether I’d like to enjoy more specialty or casual dining options, or if I’d find value in a photo package. The Premier package also offers four Wi-Fi devices per person—which could be beneficial if I want to connect my phone, iPad, and laptop simultaneously. But if I’m content with my original estimates, then Plus is likely my best value.
To summarise, carefully analyse the package details, estimate your potential spending based on what you truly want to consume, and then determine if it’s worth the package cost. For me, a package also provides the comfort of not worrying about a hefty bill at the end of the cruise—I can indulge as I like, experiencing true luxury and relaxation while cruising!
Online drink package calculators
- Port Planner for Australian cruisers (Carnival Cruises Australia, P&O Australia, Princess, Royal Caribbean
- Cruise Mummy (Ambassador, Carnival, Celebrity, Costa, Cunard, Fred. Olsen, Holland America, MSC, Norwegian, P&O, Princess, Royal Caribbean)
- Cruzely (Carnival, Celebrity, MSC, Norwegian, Princess, Royal Caribbean)
