While cruises offer an all-inclusive vacation experience, the “all-in” portion does not include beverages on most Royal Caribbean International. (RCL) Carnival Cruise Line (CCL) and Norwegian Cruise Line (NCLH) cruise. Your basic cruise fare includes meals at a variety of restaurants, but if you want anything other than the very basic drinks (water, milk, coffee, tea, and a few soft drinks), you end up paying extra,
You can pay as you go on an a la carte basis, but many customers opt for an all-inclusive beverage package that means something different on each cruise line.
Happy Carnavals! The all-you-can-drink package was recently priced as low as $59.95 per person, per day plus 18% service charge if purchased before your cruise. Passengers waiting to make the purchase on board will pay $64.95 per person, per day plus 18% service charge. Carnival also imposes a 15-drink limit on passengers when it comes to alcoholic beverages.
Royal Caribbean’s Deluxe Beverage Package comes with all the alcohol you can safely consume (there is no limit, but visibly impaired passengers will not be served), but there is no fixed price. What you pay per day can vary from under $60 to around $100 per day depending on the length of your cruise and overall demand.
Norwegian, which charges even more for its drink packages, recently raised prices, and now, it’s doing something deal-seekers won’t like at all.
Carnival
Norwegian Cruise Line launches a beverage package
Norway charges the most for its beverage packages, and these prices have actually increased recently. The cruise line offers the Unlimited Open Bar Package, which includes all drinks up to $15, now $109 per person per day (up from $99). The Premium Plus beverage package, which includes nearly every beverage the cruise line serves, has increased from $128 to $138 per person per day.
However, the cruise line had a cheaper alternative. It offered a “Corks and Hats” package for $65 per passenger per day, which included beer and wine, but no hard liquor. The cruise line has not commented on the change, but has removed the beer and wine package from its website.
Norwegian bundles drinks packages with some of its cruise fares as part of its Free at Sea offers.
MSC can offer the best drink deals
MSC, which has been trying to break into the US market, may have the best deal when it comes to beverage packages. The cruise line actually has three separate liquor packages:
- Easy Pack: This offers a limited selection of beer, wine and spirits, but if you’re not careful, it’s unlimited and you can get good versions of most drinks
- Easy Plus Package: This package includes any drink up to $9 (which includes a surprising amount of drinks)
- Premium Extra Package: Basically, this includes everything but the really fancy drinks.
MSC has the best deal of any of the three cruise lines with the Easy Package coming in at $38 per person, per day, while the Easy Plus Package costs $51 per person, per day. The Premium Extra package, at $71 per person per day, comes in a bit higher than what you’d pay for Carnival’s package and in line with the normal range for what Royal Caribbean charges (though it can be a bit more depending on your cruise) .
