Cruise lines push drink packages because they work — for the cruise line. The math for travelers is more nuanced. Drink packages are the most-marketed onboard add-on across the industry; the typical pre-cruise sales push starts about 90 days before sailing and runs at progressively-higher discount tiers until embarkation day. The break-even is lower than most casual cruisers think — but the per-day price floor has climbed meaningfully in the last three years, and there are now several specific cruise scenarios where the package math doesn't pencil out. Here's how to do the math for your trip, line by line, with the gotchas spelled out.
The current price floors
Royal Caribbean's Deluxe Beverage Package is currently $89/day per person plus 18% gratuity (so $105/day). Norwegian Cruise Line's Premium Plus is $109 + 20% (so $131/day). Celebrity Cruises' Premium beverage is $89 + 20% (so $107/day). Carnival's Cheers! Program runs $69 + 18% (so $81/day). [Princess](/cruise-lines/princess) Plus and Premier packages run $65 and $85 + gratuity respectively (so $77 and $100/day). [Holland America](/cruise-lines/holland-america)'s Signature Beverage Package is $63 + 18% (so $74/day) — the lowest of the major lines.
All four mass-market lines have lower-priced classic/standard tiers that exclude the higher-end pours (typically anything over $13–15 per drink list price). For most travelers the Deluxe/Premium tiers are worth the modest upgrade — the alternative is a "yes that's covered, no that one isn't" decision at every bar.
The break-even calculation, line by line
Mid-ship cocktails average $12–14 plus the auto-gratuity (typically 18–20 percent, applied automatically to every drink). A glass of wine runs $11–13. A bottled water is $3–4. A specialty coffee $5–6. A draft or bottled beer $7–10. A premium pour (top-shelf liquor, by-the-glass champagne) $14–18.
To break even on Royal Caribbean's $105/day Deluxe Package, you need roughly: two cocktails + two glasses of wine + two coffees + one bottled water per day. That's a real day, not a sip-counting day. Most travelers cruising on a sea-day-heavy itinerary hit it without trying. To break even on Norwegian's $131/day Premium Plus, the daily volume is meaningfully higher — three cocktails + two glasses of wine + a beer or two + the coffees and waters. Reachable, but harder.
The two variables that change the calculation: sea days (you're on the ship all day, easier to hit volume) and itinerary length (longer trips smooth out a low-volume day). A 7-night Caribbean with three sea days breaks even at meaningfully lower per-day volume than a 4-night with one sea day.
When the package doesn't pay
Skip the package if any of these apply:
**You're not drinking alcohol on a port-heavy itinerary.** You'll be off-ship through the middle of the day on three or four of the seven days, and the at-port bar volume drops to perhaps 1–2 drinks per port day. The math doesn't work.
**Your party of two won't both order the package.** Most major lines require both adult cabin occupants to buy the package if either one buys it (Royal Caribbean enforces this strictly; [Carnival](/articles/carnival-celebration-honest-look) less strictly). For a couple where one drinks meaningfully more than the other, the math falls apart fast.
**You've selected a cruise with a primarily-included beverage program.** Norwegian's Free at Sea promo bundles a beverage package into the booking; some [Virgin Voyages](/articles/virgin-voyages-adult-only-explained) sailings include the soft-drink package by default; many luxury-tier lines (Seabourn, Silversea) include the full beverage program in the fare.
**You're on a short 3–4-night sailing.** The break-even on a short cruise is harder to hit because you don't have the sea days to absorb the day-of-low-volume risk. Stick to pay-as-you-go for cruises under 5 nights unless you specifically know you'll volume-drink.
The Norwegian Free at Sea exception worth knowing
Norwegian's Free at Sea promotion bundles a beverage package "free" into the booking — but the gratuities on it are pre-paid by you, and they're calculated on the full package price. That comes out to $20–24/day per person regardless. Worth understanding before you opt in: the package isn't truly free; it's a discounted bundled product where you're paying the gratuity portion (roughly 18 percent of the headline package price) as a separate line item on your booking confirmation.
For most Norwegian travelers, Free at Sea is still the right pick because it bundles other items (specialty dining, WiFi minutes, shore-excursion credit) that you'd otherwise pay full price for. But the "free" framing in the marketing is misleading and the math should be done as a bundle, not as a free package.
The pre-cruise vs. onboard pricing question
Cruise lines almost always offer a pre-cruise discount on drink packages — typically 5–15 percent below the onboard price. Pre-cruise pricing windows open 60–90 days before sailing and tighten as embarkation approaches. The pre-cruise discount is real and worth taking if you've already decided to buy.
The smart counterintuitive move: don't buy on Day 1 if you're undecided. Most major lines allow drink-package purchase through the first 24–48 hours of the cruise (you forfeit the pre-cruise discount but gain the option to evaluate your actual drinking volume on Day 1). For travelers genuinely unsure whether the package will pay off, this is the right approach.
Drink package vs. soft-drink package vs. specialty coffee package
Beyond the headline alcohol packages, most lines offer two smaller bolt-on packages worth a separate analysis. The soft-drink/non-alcoholic package typically runs $25–40/day and includes sodas, premium juices, and bottled waters. The specialty coffee package (sometimes branded as a "coffee card" or "punch card") runs $30–60 for a fixed number of drinks and is the right pick for travelers who'll have 1–2 specialty coffees per day but won't drink alcohol.
For families with under-21 cabin occupants, the soft-drink package is often the right pick for the kids when the adults buy the alcohol package. Most lines allow you to mix and match this way without requiring everyone in the cabin to be on the same package tier.
The verdict — when to buy and when to skip
Buy the package if: you're on a 5+ night sailing with at least two sea days, you'll regularly drink 2+ alcoholic drinks per day plus coffees and waters, both adults in the cabin will use the package, and the pre-cruise discount is available. Skip the package if: you're on a short port-heavy itinerary, you're not drinking alcohol regularly, your party isn't aligned on package use, or you've already got a Norwegian Free at Sea bundle that effectively includes it.
How packages compare across the major lines
The cruise-line beverage packages aren't structurally identical. Royal Caribbean's Deluxe Beverage Package and Carnival's Cheers! cover most cocktails, beer, and wines by the glass up to a $14 (Royal) or $20 (Carnival) per-drink price ceiling. Drinks above the ceiling are charged at the full price minus the ceiling — useful for travelers who want a single Macallan 18 without having to buy it outright. [Norwegian](/cruise-lines/norwegian)'s Premium Beverage Package (typically bundled into Free at Sea) covers cocktails up to $15 per drink. [Princess](/cruise-lines/princess)'s Princess Plus and Premier bundles include the Plus or Premier Beverage Package at $15 or $20 per-drink ceilings respectively.
[Celebrity](/cruise-lines/celebrity)'s Always Included fare structure bundles the Classic Beverage Package (no per-drink ceiling on Classic-tier drinks) into the standard fare, which means most Celebrity bookings effectively include the beverage package without a separate decision. [Holland America](/cruise-lines/holland-america)'s Have It All bundle works similarly. For travelers comparison-shopping across lines, this structural difference matters — a Celebrity fare with the package included is typically priced comparably to a Royal Caribbean fare with the package as a $400-$500 add-on.
The drink package on shorter cruises
For cruises 4 nights or shorter, the math almost never works out for the beverage package. The break-even drink count on a 7-night cruise is 5–7 drinks per day; on a 4-night cruise it's typically 8–10 drinks per day because the per-night package cost is higher and the share of port-day non-drinking days is larger. For a 3-night Bahamas weekend, pay-as-you-go is almost always the right call — even heavy drinkers typically come out ahead vs. the package.
Frequently asked questions
**Do drink packages cover specialty coffees and bottled water?** Generally yes for the Deluxe/Premium tiers; sometimes excluded on the Standard/Classic tiers. Read the inclusions on your specific package — the marketing is consistent across cruise lines but the per-line exclusions vary.
**What happens to your drink package if you don't drink as much as you expected?** No refund — the package is a fixed daily charge, used or not. Most lines won't allow you to cancel mid-cruise either.
**Can you share your drink package with your partner?** No. Drink packages are per-person, and most lines actively monitor for sharing (the bar terminal logs each drink against your specific cabin number and folio). Sharing can result in revocation of the package without refund.
**Are drink packages worth it on a luxury cruise line?** Generally no — most luxury lines (Seabourn, Silversea, Regent) include the beverage program in the fare. The exception is the upgraded "premium spirits" packages, which typically run $25–60/day and add by-the-glass champagne and top-shelf liquor.
**Should you buy the drink package for a Caribbean cruise vs. an Alaska cruise?** Caribbean cruises produce higher pool-deck drink volume on sea days; Alaska cruises produce more cocktails-and-coffees programming. The break-even math works for both, but for Alaska the package math leans harder on the specialty-coffee inclusion (Alaska sea days are coffee-heavy).
