Are Cruise Drink Packages Worth It? A Full Analysis + Calculator

Affiliate disclosure: Some of the links below are affiliate links, which means we may earn a small commission if you sign up or book through them, at no extra cost to you. We only recommend tools we use and love.

After many, many cruises, and managing a community full of cruisers, we’ve heard the same question come up over and over and over again. I see people building spreadsheets, asking in forums, and trying to get a definitive answer to a question that just comes down to you.

Cruise drinks packages have become expensive. We’re talkin’ as high as $70-100 per DAY, which oftentimes costs more than the cruise itself.

So, we’ve decided to break it all down for you. We’ve also built a really fun and easy cruise drinks package calculator below, and we’d love for you to give it a try.

Is A Cruise Drinks Package Worth It?

Let’s talk about the most important thing that many people forget when it comes to drinks packages.. cruises don’t offer them to lose money. They offer them as a way to make money.

With that in mind, think of any drinks package like a bet. The cruise line is betting you’ll drink less than the package costs, and you’re betting you’ll drink more.

And just like a casino (cruise lines famously win with those, too.. cough, cough!), the cruise line usually wins.

Therefore, in most cases, you shouldn’t get a drinks package.

But the question still stands.. how much do you really drink, and where will you be drinking it?

Use our cruise drink packages calculator below to help you understand more about your drinking habits (absolutely no judgment intended here ha!) on a cruise and whether a package will benefit you.

Cruise Drinks Package Calculator

How To Break-Even With A Drinks Package

Every cruise line prices things a little differently, and prices change constantly, but here are some rough ballpark numbers:

The deluxe or premium alcohol package usually runs somewhere between $60 and $95 per person, per day, before or after an 18% gratuity depending on the cruise line.

On a good pre-cruise sale you might catch it in the $50 range, but those are tough to find.

Individual drink prices tend to look like this:

Cocktails around $14 (closer to $16.50 once you add the automatic 18% gratuity)
Beer around $8
Glass of wine anywhere from $9 to $14
Soda around $3.50
Specialty coffee $6 to $9
Bottled water a couple bucks

So let’s say your drinks package is $80 a day, and a cocktail costs about $16.50 all in, that’s just under five cocktails a day, every single day, to break even on alcohol alone.

On most sailings, the break-even is somewhere around five to seven alcoholic drinks per person, per day.

So.. do you drink five to seven drinks a day, every day, for the length of your cruise?

Remember, this is not, “could you on one crazy day,” but every single day.

For a lot of people, the answer is no. If the answer for you is yes, that’s okay, too.

Don’t Forget the Non-Alcoholic Drinks

I also want to point out as someone who doesn’t drink alcohol but loves other types of drinks like ginger beer, coffees, soda water, etc.. your drinks package would include anything that’s not their basic offerings.

So think:

Fresh juice
Lattes and other specialty coffees
Mocktails
Milkshakes
Smoothies
Bottled water
Sodas and other pop

These things do add up fast, so if you’re like me and you enjoy these kinds of drinks, the drinks package might be worth it for you.

That said, most of these drinks cost less than alcoholic drinks, so you’d have to drink a LOT of these each day for it to break even.

Even still, I recommend running your numbers and make sure you count EVERYTHING, not just booze.

Expert Tip: Read the fine print on what’s included. On some cruise lines the standalone Starbucks kiosk isn’t covered in the drinks package, only the café coffee is. And soda cups or “freestyle” machines are sometimes a separate add-on, too. It really varies by cruise line and ship.

Don’t Forget Port Days vs. Sea Days

If you take one thing from this whole post, make it this one because this is what most people forget about..

Your drink package only works on the cruise ship itself. It does nothing for you while you’re off exploring a port city. So the most important question and thing to factor in when you’re doing your drinks math is, how many days will you be onboard with a drink in your hand?

If you have more sea days than port days, you might lean toward getting the drinks package. But if you have more port days than sea days, I’d recommend leaning toward the pay as you go option.

Because if you think about it.. a port-heavy European or Mediterranean cruise where you’re off the ship from morning until 8 p.m. exploring Rome or Santorini, you physically cannot drink enough onboard to justify the package for that day, and you probably don’t want to be hungover for a 7 a.m. excursion the next day.

On the contrary, a three or four-day Bahamas cruise with mostly sea days, or a sailing where you’ve done the ports before and plan to stay onboard is one where you might consider the drinks package.

Because if every day is a pool-and-cocktails day, then hitting your break-even point is going to be pretty easy.

5 Situations When the Drink Package Makes Sense

Although I’ve provided a lot of info about the drinks package already, and you may have even played around with my calculator above, I’m sure some of you are still unsure about whether you should get the drinks package or not.

It’s understandable, especially as someone who likes options AND likes to save money.

So here are 5 situations that I give my travel agent clients that help them decide if they should purchase a drinks package:

You’re a genuine daily drinker on vacation. If five to seven drinks a day sounds pretty normal for your trip, you’ll likely come out ahead, especially once you factor in coffees and water. Again, there’s absolutely no shame in that. You do you, you’re on vacation!

It’s a short, sea-day-heavy cruise. If you’re on a three to four night cruise and you’re not visiting a lot of ports, especially ports you’re not as interested in, a drinks package might make sense for you.

You found it on a deep sale. Drink package prices are dynamic and fluctuate daily. People regularly find packages for $50 to $60 a day pre-cruise when the onboard price is $90+. At that price, the math falls more in your favor.

You love variety, but hate wasting money. With a drinks package, you can order something new, hate it, set it down, and grab something else without feeling like you just threw away $16.

You want your brain to be on vacation too. More on this one next.

A Drinks Package For Peace of Mind

Not every person buys a drinks package based on the math. There are a lot of people who buy it because they don’t want to think about it.

It’s called convenience, and I can’t tell you how many times I’ve opted for “convenience” while on a vacation because.. I’M ON VACATION FOR CRYING OUT LOUD.

If you’re someone who spends a lot of time stressing about everyday purchases in real life, the whole point of the cruise might be to not do that for a week.

If you know that’s you, that you’ll have a better, more relaxed vacation not watching your tab run up, then the package can be worth it for less stress overall, even if you lose some money.

IMPORTANT: Everyone in the Cabin Has to Buy ONE

This one trips up a lot of people because it’s not as heavily stated before you purchase. But for nearly every major cruise line, if one adult in a cabin buys the alcohol package, then every adult of drinking age in that cabin has to buy it too.

And while that seems odd, the cruise lines have a point.. they do this specifically to stop people from buying one package and sharing it with the other travelers in their group.

The Workarounds

There are a few workarounds for this if you and your partner differ in drinking habits.

First, if one of you is a non-drinker, that partner can usually buy a cheaper non-alcoholic or soda-only package instead of the more expensive alcohol one.

And second, there are sometimes medical or pregnancy exceptions that exist, but this truly varies based on the cruise line, and many cruise lines don’t offer this anymore.

Consider Your Loyalty Status

Once you hit higher levels in a cruise line’s loyalty program (Diamond and above on Royal Caribbean, Platinum and up on Carnival, and so on), you often get free drinks.

That can mean four or five complimentary drinks per person, per day, plus access to happy-hour lounges.

At that point, most people find the package no longer makes sense, because their free drinks cover most of what they’d want.

Consider The Casino

If you’re a gambler, many cruise lines comp your drinks while you play, and frequent players earn offers that include free drink perks. If you’re already spending time in the casino, consider this before purchasing a drink package.

One important warning: I’m no therapist, but do not start gambling just to get free drinks. To earn enough points for the perk, you’d typically run thousands of dollars, and the expected loss on that easily trumps the cost of a drink package.

How to Drink on a Cruise Without the Package

If you decided to skip the drinks package, you still have plenty of options for drinking.

Pay as you go. This is the simplest choice. Every drink you buy goes on your sea pass card, and the app tracks your running total, which is really helpful when you’re trying to keep track of your spending. You can even pre-load cruise cash to budget yourself; also very helpful.

Bring your own wine. Most lines (not MSC) let each adult bring one or two bottles of wine aboard at embarkation. Pour a glass in your room, or bring it to dinner and pay a small corkage fee.

Buy a wine package. If you’re a wino, the wine bundles (like Carnival’s for example) get you several bottles at a discount, and they’ll store what you don’t finish for next time.

Order a bottle to your room. Many lines let you pre-order a bottle of liquor delivered to your cabin. It’s obviously going to be marked up, but it works out far cheaper per drink than the bar, especially if you bring your own mixers and grab ice from your steward.

Bring soda and water. Most lines let you carry on a 12-pack of soda or water per person at embarkation, and you can usually restock in port.

Drink in port. This is a common trick (not necessarily a trick, but hey) among cruisers because drinks ashore are usually cheaper and more fun, and it’s part of experiencing the place. $3 margaritas in Mexico are going to be wayyy better than the $16 one on the ship.

Hunt for deals and freebies. While on board, look for the daily drink special, happy hours, buckets of beer (buy five, get six), and “make it a double” for a few dollars more. And keep an eye out for free-drink events like past-passenger parties, the captain’s welcome toast, art auctions pouring free bubbly, and wine or liquor tastings.

Use discounted gift cards. You can often buy cruise line gift cards at around 10% off (AARP is a common source) and load them onto your onboard account to save a bit.

The Final Verdict

For typical drinkers, or anyone on a port-heavy itinerary, the drink package usually isn’t worth it.

You’ll almost always spend less paying as you go, and you’ll skip the weird pressure to drink more than you want just to break even or come out ahead.

But for the daily vacation drinker, the deal-hunter that catches a good pre-cruise price, or the person who really values a worry-free week, a drinks package can absolutely be worth it.

Be sure to use our cruise drinks package calculator above to understand which route is best for you!

And be sure to let us know if you have any questions. We’ve worked with so many people booking cruises over the past few years that we have heard it all and can almost guarantee an easy answer.