9 Things to Know Before Buying a Cruise Drink Package
A cruise drink package can make the trip feel more all-inclusive, but it can also add hundreds of dollars to the bill before you order your first drink.
The mistake is comparing the package price only with cocktails. Water, specialty coffee, soda, mocktails, daily gratuities, cabin rules, port days, and drinks that are excluded can all change the math.
This guide focuses on what to check before you click Buy.
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A cruise drink package is most likely to make sense when you will consistently use several included drink categories every day — not just alcohol. When booking a cruise, calculate the full price for the entire sailing, including any automatic service charge; check whether another adult in your cabin must also buy a package; confirm the per-drink price cap and exclusions; and account for port-heavy days when you may spend less time onboard. Rules vary substantially by cruise line. As of August 2026, Carnival CHEERS! costs $83.94 per person per day online including its 20% service charge, while Royal Caribbean uses sailing-specific pricing and adds an 18% gratuity to beverage-package purchases. Princess sells broader Plus and Premier bundles rather than just drinks, so their value calculation also includes Wi-Fi, dining, crew appreciation, and other benefits.
1. Calculate the Total Cruise Cost, Not the Advertised Daily Number
A package advertised at a per-day price is usually a whole-cruise commitment.
Carnival currently says CHEERS! must be purchased for the entire voyage. Its online price is $83.94 per person, per day including the 20% service charge, versus $89.94 per person, per day including the 20% service charge when purchased onboard. Prices and policies can change, so verify your sailing before purchasing.
That means a seven-day cruise at the current online rate is about $587.58 per adult before considering any separate taxes that may apply when drinks are served in certain U.S. waters.
Royal Caribbean does not publish one universal Deluxe Beverage Package price. It says package pricing varies by sailing, so the price in your Cruise Planner is the relevant number for your trip. Royal Caribbean currently adds an 18% gratuity to beverage-package purchases except where prohibited by law.
Princess works differently. For 2026-and-beyond sailings under its current terms, Princess Plus starts at $65 per person per day pre-cruise on most ships and Princess Premier at $100 per person per day. Sun Princess and Star Princess are higher. Those are broader bundles that include drinks plus benefits such as Wi-Fi and crew appreciation, so comparing them with a stand-alone alcohol package is misleading.
Multiply the final checkout price by every required traveler and every required day. The number that matters is the total charge to your vacation budget, not the smallest per-day number in the promotion.
2. Your Cabin Mate Can Completely Change the Math
One person wanting unlimited cocktails does not always mean one package.
Royal Caribbean currently requires guests who purchase an alcoholic beverage package to purchase it for all guests of legal drinking age in the same stateroom. Carnival similarly says that if one guest age 21 or older in a stateroom buys CHEERS!, each adult assigned to that stateroom must purchase it.
This can turn what looked like a $500–$600 decision into a $1,000-plus cabin decision very quickly.
Do not assume a non-drinker automatically gets an exemption. If someone in the cabin cannot or does not drink alcohol, contact the cruise line and ask what options are available for your exact reservation rather than relying on an old forum post.
Before buying for one person, check whether the cruise line will require another adult on the reservation to buy a package too.
3. “Unlimited” Does Not Mean the Same Thing on Every Cruise Line
The word unlimited needs fine print.
Carnival CHEERS! currently permits up to 15 alcoholic drinks per 24-hour period, measured from 6:00 a.m. to 6:00 a.m. Applicable nonalcoholic beverages do not count toward that 15-drink alcohol limit. Once the alcohol limit is reached, Carnival says the guest will not be served additional alcoholic drinks.
Royal Caribbean describes its Deluxe Beverage Package as unlimited but applies a per-drink value cap. Current 2026 Royal Caribbean materials list included individual beverages up to $14, with exclusions and discounts applying to certain higher-priced items.
Princess changed its package structure for 2026 sailings. Under current terms, Princess Plus includes beverages up to $15 and has a 15-beverage daily limit with specific exceptions for specialty coffee/tea and bottled water. Princess Premier includes beverages up to $20 and, under the current 2026 terms, has no daily limit on included alcoholic beverages.
The takeaway is simple: compare the actual package rules, not the word “unlimited.”
4. Do the Break-Even Math Using What You Really Drink
A common calculation is:
Daily package cost ÷ average price of your drinks = approximate break-even number of drinks
But that is only the starting point.
Carnival’s current sample onboard prices include roughly:
| Beverage | Carnival sample price |
|---|---|
| Beer | $8–$8.50 |
| Wine by the glass | $11–$15.50 |
| Specialty cocktails | $12.25–$14.25 |
| Soft drinks | $3 |
| Specialty coffee | $3–$5.50 |
| Water | $2.50–$4.75 |
Using only $13 cocktails, an $83.94 CHEERS! day would require roughly 6.5 cocktails to equal the package price. But a traveler who has three cocktails, two specialty coffees, several waters, and a soda may reach a similar retail value without drinking six or seven alcoholic drinks.
The opposite is also true. If you normally have two glasses of wine with dinner and drink complimentary water and coffee the rest of the day, a package can be a poor value.
Write down an honest day: morning coffee, pool drink, lunch soda, afternoon water, pre-dinner cocktail, dinner wine, evening drink. Price that pattern instead of imagining your highest-consumption vacation day.
Do the calculation separately for sea days and port days.
5. Port Days Can Make an Expensive Package Harder to Justify
A seven-day package may include days when you are off the ship for eight or ten hours.
If you leave after breakfast, spend the day ashore, and return for dinner, you have much less time to use an onboard package. That matters on port-heavy itineraries.
Also check where the package actually works.
Carnival says CHEERS! and Bottomless Bubbles apply to onboard purchases and do not extend to destinations it visits, including Celebration Key.
Other cruise lines and private destinations can have different rules. Norwegian, for example, currently says its Free at Sea/More At Sea beverage-package inclusions continue at Great Stirrup Cay. Princess says its current Plus and Premier beverage benefits can be used at Princess Cays.
So “private island” does not automatically mean “my drink package works there.”
Count how many hours you expect to be off the ship. A package that looks reasonable on three sea days can look very different on an itinerary with a port almost every day.
6. Some Drinks and Places Are Still Excluded
A drink package is not a universal pass for everything liquid on the ship.
Royal Caribbean’s current Deluxe Beverage Package includes cocktails, beer, wine by the glass, bottled water, fountain soda, mocktails, premium coffee and tea, and other listed beverages, but licensed Starbucks locations are excluded. Current materials also exclude items such as room service, minibar purchases, souvenir glassware, and drinks above the package’s individual-drink limit, subject to the package terms.
Carnival CHEERS! excludes categories including room service, minibar/in-stateroom beverage programs, souvenir-glass beverages, bottles of liquor, pitchers, buckets, and certain other items.
Even soda-machine access can have unexpected fine print. Effective March 15, 2026, Royal Caribbean no longer includes a Coca-Cola Freestyle cup with the Deluxe Beverage Package or Refreshment Package. Guests who want to use Freestyle machines can purchase the RFID-enabled cup onboard for $4.99. The Classic Soda Package continues to include a Freestyle cup.
Before buying, look specifically for:
- Per-drink dollar limits
- Premium-brand exclusions
- Starbucks or branded-venue exclusions
- Room-service and minibar exclusions
- Bottled wine rules
- Souvenir glasses
- Private-island coverage
- Soda-machine requirements
The package can still be worthwhile, but only if the things you actually order are included.
7. Non-Drink Benefits Can Make a Bundle Worth More — or Hide the Real Comparison
Princess is the clearest example of why you should not compare every cruise line by “drinks per day.”
For most 2026 sailings, current Princess Plus pre-cruise pricing starts at $65 per guest per day and includes the Plus Beverage Package, Wi-Fi for one device per guest, crew appreciation, and additional benefits. Princess Premier starts at $100 and includes a higher beverage threshold plus expanded Wi-Fi, dining, shore-excursion credit, and other benefits under current terms.
If you were going to pay for Wi-Fi and crew appreciation anyway, assigning the full $65 or $100 daily price to “drinks” exaggerates what the beverage portion costs you.
The reverse can also happen: a bundle may look like a bargain because it includes many benefits you would never have purchased separately.
Value each included benefit at what you personally would have paid for it, not at the cruise line’s advertised retail value.
8. You May Not Need a Package Just to Get Water, Coffee, or Soda
Before paying for unlimited drinks, find out what your cruise fare already includes.
Carnival currently lists non-bottled water, lemonade, unsweetened iced tea, hot chocolate, and non-specialty coffee and tea among the beverages available without buying CHEERS!.
Royal Caribbean’s prohibited-items guidance similarly notes complimentary coffee, tea, juice, lemonade, and water at ship cafés and restaurants.
Royal Caribbean also currently allows guests to carry on limited nonalcoholic beverages on boarding day — up to 12 standard cans, bottles, or cartons of up to 17 oz per stateroom — under its current policy.
That does not mean every cruise line has the same carry-on allowance. Check your line’s current policy before bringing beverages to the terminal.
If you like keeping cold water nearby, an insulated tumbler can be useful around the ship even if you skip a drink package. Follow the ship’s hygiene rules when filling personal containers; do not assume you can place your own cup directly against a self-service dispenser.
9. Buying Before the Cruise Can Matter — but a “Sale” Is Not Automatically a Deal
Pre-cruise pricing can be lower.
Carnival currently charges $83.94 per person per day including service charge when CHEERS! is purchased online, versus $89.94 onboard.
Princess currently requires Plus or Premier to be purchased at least 96 hours before scheduled departure to receive its lower pre-cruise price. Under current terms, buying later or onboard costs more.
Royal Caribbean uses sailing-specific pricing and frequently sells packages through the Cruise Planner, so your actual reservation price matters more than a generic price quoted online.
Do not judge a promotion solely by a percentage-off banner. Save the actual final price per person per day and compare it when promotions change.
Also read the cancellation/refund terms before purchasing. They vary by cruise line and can change.
Screenshot the checkout price, including gratuity or service charge, when you buy. If your cruise line later offers a lower refundable pre-cruise price, check the current cancellation/rebooking rules before changing anything.
Before You Buy a Cruise Drink Package Checklist
- Find the final price per person per day, including gratuity or service charge.
- Multiply it by the full number of required cruise days.
- Check whether every adult in your stateroom must buy the package.
- List what you realistically drink on a sea day.
- List what you realistically drink on a port day.
- Include bottled water, soda, specialty coffee, juice, and mocktails in your calculation.
- Check the package’s individual-drink price cap.
- Check any daily alcoholic-drink limit.
- Check Starbucks, minibar, room-service, and souvenir-glass exclusions.
- Verify whether the package works at private destinations on your itinerary.
- Check what beverages your basic cruise fare already includes.
- Check whether your cruise line permits limited beverages to be carried onboard.
- Compare pre-cruise and onboard pricing.
- Read the current cancellation and refund terms before purchasing.
- Save a screenshot of the final price you paid.
FAQ
Is a cruise drink package worth it?
It depends on the final package cost, what you normally drink, how much time you spend onboard, and whether nonalcoholic drinks you would buy anyway are included. Calculate your own typical day rather than using a generic “number of cocktails” rule.
How many drinks do you need per day to make a cruise drink package worth it?
There is no universal number. Cocktail prices, package prices, included coffee/water/soda, gratuities, and per-drink limits differ by cruise line. Use the final daily package cost divided by the realistic retail value of everything you expect to drink.
Does everyone in the cabin have to buy a drink package?
For some alcoholic packages, yes. Royal Caribbean and Carnival currently require other adults of legal drinking age in the same stateroom to purchase an alcoholic package when one adult does, subject to their current terms.
Is gratuity included in cruise drink package prices?
It depends on the cruise line and how the price is displayed. Carnival currently advertises CHEERS! at $83.94 online including its 20% service charge. Royal Caribbean adds an 18% gratuity to beverage-package purchases. Always inspect the final checkout total.
Can I use my drink package on a cruise line’s private island?
Sometimes. Policies differ. Carnival currently excludes destinations including Celebration Key, while Norwegian says its applicable beverage-package inclusions continue at Great Stirrup Cay, and Princess extends current Plus/Premier beverage benefits to Princess Cays.
Can I share my cruise drink package?
Generally no. Major cruise lines treat beverage packages as personal and non-transferable. Sharing can violate the package terms.
The Bottom Line
Do not buy a cruise drink package because it makes the cruise feel “all-inclusive.” Buy it only if the actual rules and your actual drinking habits make the numbers work.
Start with the final whole-cruise cost. Then account for cabin-mate requirements, port days, complimentary beverages, coffee and bottled water you would otherwise buy, per-drink limits, exclusions, and where the package works.
For some travelers, the convenience alone is worth paying a little extra. For others, paying à la carte is substantially cheaper.
The right answer is not how many drinks someone on social media says you need. It is what your sailing’s package costs and what you will realistically consume.
Sources
- Royal Caribbean — Beverage Drink Packages
- Royal Caribbean — Deluxe Beverage Package
- Royal Caribbean — Beverage Package Gratuities
- Royal Caribbean — Food and Drink Onboard Policy
- Carnival — CHEERS! Beverage Program Q&A
- Carnival — Bottomless Bubbles
- Princess Cruises — Plus & Premier Terms and Conditions
- Princess Cruises — Plus & Premier Cruise Packages
- Norwegian Cruise Line — Everything to Know About Free at Sea