| Package | Price and condition | Planning use |
|---|---|---|
| Royal Caribbean Deluxe Beverage Package | Fleet median $75 per person per day before 18% gratuity, about $88.50 all-in; per-ship prices run $49–$90 before gratuity | Judge it on the all-in figure for your ship, not the advertised price |
| Royal Caribbean Refreshment Package | $29–$40 per person per day plus 18%; non-alcoholic only | Suits coffee and soda drinkers and families with kids |
| Carnival CHEERS! Zero Proof | $29.99 per person per day plus gratuities | A lower-cost route for guests who skip alcohol but want specialty coffee |
| Princess Plus | $65 per person per day pre-cruise, $70 onboard; gratuities included | Compare it with other lines only after adding gratuity to their prices |
| Norwegian Free at Sea Plus upgrade | $49.99 per person per day (ages 21+), with mandatory prepaid gratuities of $28.50 per person per day (ages 21+) | Add the prepaid gratuity before comparing it with any other package |
Figures come from Cruise Clarify’s Royal Caribbean breakdown and All Aboard Travel and Cruise’s package comparison; prices vary by ship.
Is the drink package worth it on a cruise? Only if you will reliably drink past the break-even count, which on Royal Caribbean is five or more drinks a day, counted at the all-in price with gratuity.
Drink spending sits beside meal costs, so it helps to know is food included on a cruise before you price either one.
Break-even: when a package starts winning
A package wins when the drinks you would otherwise buy one by one cost more than its all-in daily price. On Royal Caribbean, it takes five or more drinks a day, specialty coffees included, at the tracked median of about $88.50 all-in. A reviewer who sailed with the line puts the figure at 5 to 7 drinks per day every day of the sailing.
Carnival’s CHEERS! package is listed at $69.95 per person per day, or $83.94 with gratuity. At an assumed average drink price, about 5–6 drinks a day break even before gratuity, and about 6–7 with it.
Pay-per-drink prices explain why the count moves. Cruise Clarify reports recent Royal Caribbean sailings with cocktails at $12–$16, beer at $7–$10 and specialty coffees at $5–$7. A beer drinker therefore needs more drinks than a cocktail drinker to cover the same package, and a coffee-heavy day does less for the sum than a cocktail-heavy one.
What this changes in practice:
- Price your own habits. Use the menu prices of the drinks you will really order, then compare the total with the all-in daily price including gratuity, not the advertised figure.
- Be realistic about days ashore. Port days leave fewer chances to reach the daily count, so a package suits itineraries heavy on sea days better than port-heavy ones.
- Check loyalty perks first. A reviewer reports that Diamond Plus members get five complimentary drinks per day each, up to $15 each, loaded onto their cards. Those drinks are already paid for, so a package would be covering fewer of your drinks.
Who should buy and who should skip
A package suits steady drinkers who order cocktails, wine or coffee from morning to night and would clear the daily counts above without trying. It suits guests who value one fixed bill more than the last few dollars of savings. It is a poor fit for someone who orders a drink with dinner and little else, because the break-even counts sit well above a casual pace.
- Buy the alcoholic package if your honest daily count clears the threshold for your line, including gratuity, and you will be aboard rather than ashore for most of each day.
- Skip it and pay per drink if you drink lightly, if your drinks are mostly beer at the lower end of the price range, or if loyalty drinks already cover your usual orders.
- Look at a non-alcoholic package if you live on coffee and soda. Royal Caribbean positions its Refreshment Package for coffee and soda drinkers and families with kids.
What a package covers
Inclusions differ by line, and the cap on individual drinks or daily totals decides how far a package stretches. Check the ceiling before you assume a favourite cocktail is covered.
Royal Caribbean Deluxe Beverage Package
According to Cruise Clarify, the package covers any single beverage item with a value up to $14. The $14 figure is a ceiling, not a typical price, so a premium cocktail priced above it is not fully covered. Royal publishes no daily drink limit, which is unusual among the lines checked.
Bottled wine is discounted rather than free: 40% off bottles up to $100 and 20% off bottles above $100. The Freestyle Cup stopped being included from March 15, 2026, with no cut to the package price, and it now costs $4.99 onboard. If that cup was part of your plan, the effective value of the package is lower than older reviews suggest.
Carnival CHEERS!
Carnival’s package carries a limit of 15 alcoholic drinks per 24-hour period. That cap sits far above the break-even counts, so it matters mainly to the heaviest drinkers rather than to most guests deciding whether to buy.
Gratuity and the price you actually pay
Gratuity changes the comparison more than any other line item. Royal Caribbean adds an 18% gratuity at checkout that is not in the advertised price. Carnival’s listed price gains the same kind of surcharge, which is why the $69.95 figure becomes $83.94 once gratuity is included, per Cruzely.
Norwegian handles it differently: the mandatory prepaid gratuities of $28.50 per person per day (ages 21+) cover bar and dining components. Princess Plus builds gratuities into the package, which alone run about $16–$18 per person per day. A bundle that includes gratuity can look expensive beside a sticker price that leaves it out, so compare every package at its all-in price.
Sharing and cabin rules
You cannot treat one package as a shared allowance for the whole cabin. On Royal Caribbean, every adult of legal drinking age in the same stateroom under the same booking must purchase the same alcoholic package. A light drinker travelling with a heavy drinker therefore pays the full package price too, and the break-even test has to work for both people, not just the one who will drink most.
If the two drinking habits differ widely, price a non-alcoholic option or per-drink spending for the lighter drinker before buying. Rules on other lines can differ, so read your line’s own terms before relying on a partner’s package.
Cheaper alternatives to the full package
- Pay per drink. This wins when your daily count falls below the break-even range. The Royal Caribbean prices above show how little a coffee or beer adds compared with a cocktail.
- Buy a non-alcoholic package. Carnival’s Zero Proof option includes specialty coffees, energy drinks, bottled water and zero-proof cocktails. Carnival’s Bottomless Bubbles soda-only package is $9.50 per adult per day and $6.95 per child per day.
- Weigh the bigger spending picture. If dining value is also driving your choice of ship, The Cruise Line With the Best Food in 2026: Top Picks, Why They Shine, And How To Choose – Electracruises compares lines on food.
- Plan a single evening instead of a sailing. The daily break-even test here is built for multi-day sailings; for a one-night outing, see Sail Into Romance: The Ultimate Guide To Dinner Cruises In NYC (2026) – Electracruises.
Frequently asked questions
Is it cheaper to buy a package before sailing?
Generally yes on the lines checked. Royal Caribbean packages cost 10–40% more when bought aboard, and Princess Plus is $65 per person per day pre-cruise against $70 onboard.
Do drink packages cover specialty coffee?
On Royal Caribbean, specialty coffees count toward the drinks that make the package pay off, but ships with a licensed Starbucks charge full retail and no package covers it. Carnival’s Zero Proof package includes specialty coffees.
Does Norwegian Cruise Line sell a standalone drink package?
Not as a separate daily-price purchase. The Unlimited Open Bar comes with the Free at Sea promotion, and the paid add-on is the Free at Sea Plus upgrade shown in the table above.
What did a Royal Caribbean package cost on a recent week-long sailing?
One reviewer reported the Deluxe Beverage Package running around $80 per person per day before gratuity, about $1,320 for two on a 7-night cruise.
