Is the Drink Package Worth It on a Cruise? The Break-Even Math, Line by Line

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Buried in Carnival’s drink package terms is a rule that tells you a lot about cruise drinking: “Only one drink at a time may be ordered, there is a 10 minute wait time between orders and sharing is not permitted.”

Cruise lines don’t write rules like that for people who have two glasses of wine with dinner. They write them for people who are trying to get their money’s worth. And whether you can get your money’s worth is the whole question, because a drink package for two adults on a week-long Carnival cruise costs more than a thousand dollars before anyone has poured a thing.

Here’s the break-even math for the four biggest lines, using prices and rules from their own pages, checked on October 13, 2026.

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Is the Drink Package Worth It on a Cruise? The Short Answer

A cruise drink package is worth it if you’ll have roughly five to seven alcoholic drinks every day of the cruise, including port days. Below that, paying per drink is usually cheaper. The exact number depends on the line and the price you’re quoted: about seven cocktails a day on Carnival, four to twelve on Royal Caribbean depending on your sailing’s price, and far fewer on Norwegian, where the package comes with most fares and you pay only a daily charge.

Three things decide it more than your thirst does: you usually have to buy the package for every day of the cruise, often for every adult in the cabin, and the service charge lands on the package price too.

How Do You Work Out If a Drink Package Pays Off?

Divide the daily package price by the price of the drink you’d actually order. That’s how many of those drinks you need every day to break even.

One trap: compare like with like. On most lines a service charge goes on the package and on drinks bought one at a time, so it mostly cancels out. Compare the package price before service charge with menu prices before service charge, or compare both after it. Don’t mix them, or the package will look more expensive than it really is.

Then be honest about port days. A package is priced per day, but you’ll probably drink less on the day you spend climbing Mayan ruins or snorkelling. If you’ll drink eight cocktails on sea days and two on port days, your average is what counts.

The Break-Even Table

Here’s how many drinks a day each package needs, worked out from the lines’ own prices where they publish them.

Line and package	Daily price (pre-cruise)	Service charge	Break-even per day
Carnival CHEERS!	$69.95	+20% ($83.94 total)	About 7 specialty cocktails at $10.50, 7 glasses of wine at $9.50 or 11 beers at $6.50
Royal Caribbean Deluxe Beverage Package	Varies by sailing, roughly $56 to $120	+18% (package FAQ) or +20% (gratuities FAQ)	4 to 6 cocktails at $10 to $14 if you pay $56; 9 to 12 if you pay $120
Princess Plus (a bundle, not just drinks)	$70 from October 13, 2026 ($75 on Sun and Star Princess)	Bar service charges included	About $43 a day in menu prices, once you take off the $18 daily crew appreciation it covers
Norwegian, Free at Sea fares	Package included in the fare	You pay $28.50 a day (6+ nights) or $32 (2 to 5 nights)	About $24 to $27 a day in menu prices

Carnival CHEERS!: Is It Worth It?

Carnival is the easiest line to do the sums for, because it publishes almost everything. Its drink packages page lists CHEERS! at $69.95 per person, per day bought before the cruise and $74.95 on board, both “plus 20% service charge.” That makes $83.94 and $89.94 a day, the same totals Cruise Mummy lists. It covers spirits, cocktails, beer and wine by the glass with a menu price of $20 or less, plus sodas, juices and specialty coffees.

Carnival also publishes a sample price list: beer “starting at $6.50,” wine by the glass from $9.50, mixed drinks from $7.50 to $20, specialty cocktails from $10.50 and soft drinks at $2.75. Those are starting prices, so the real break-even is probably a little lower than our table. A couple on a seven-night cruise would pay about $1,175 for CHEERS! before the cruise.

The rules matter as much as the price. These are quoted from Carnival’s terms:

• Everyone buys: “Each adult assigned to the same stateroom must purchase the program.”
• Every day: “Guests must purchase the program for the entire cruise; this program is not offered on a per day basis.”
• A daily cap: “up to 15 alcoholic drinks, per 24-hour period (6:00am – 6:00am).” Sodas and other non-alcoholic drinks don’t count toward it.
• A late start from some ports: on ships sailing from Texas, Norfolk and New York, the package “begins on Day 2,” at 6 a.m. Carnival says that’s “due to state laws.”
• Not everywhere: it doesn’t cover drinks bought at Celebration Key, Half Moon Cay and Princess Cays in the Bahamas, and it isn’t offered on two-day cruises.
• A deadline to change your mind: a pre-purchased package is refundable until 10 p.m. Eastern the evening before you sail.

Carnival also sells Cheers! Zero Proof for non-drinkers, listed from $29.99 a day, and the Bottomless Bubbles soda package, from $11.99 a day for adults and $6.95 for children. Both have the same 20% service charge.

Royal Caribbean’s Deluxe Beverage Package: Is It Worth It?

Royal Caribbean is harder to pin down, because it doesn’t have one price. The price changes with the ship, the sailing date and demand. Cruise.Blog put the Deluxe Beverage Package at “$56 to $120 per person, per day” in February 2026, and Cruise Mummy gave $55 to $120 in September. That range is the whole answer: at the bottom it’s a bargain for a moderate drinker, and at the top you need to be a very committed one.

Cruise Mummy lists typical 2026 prices of $7 to $8 for a beer and $10 to $14 for a cocktail before gratuity. Royal Caribbean’s own package FAQ says the Deluxe package covers “any single beverage item with a value up to $14,” so a cocktail priced above that costs you the difference.

The rest of the rules, from Royal Caribbean’s FAQs:

• Everyone of drinking age in the cabin buys: the policy “requires all guests wishing to purchase the Deluxe Beverage Package to do so for ALL guests of legal drinking age in the same stateroom” (FAQ).
• The whole cruise: packages “are sold for the full length of your voyage rather than by the day” (FAQ).
• No daily limit, but “you’ll be served one drink at a time and packages can’t be shared” (FAQ).
• Not included: “Room service, minibar and Starbucks purchases” (FAQ). The package does work at Perfect Day at CocoCay and Labadee.
• The Freestyle cup is extra now. From March 15, 2026, the Deluxe package “will no longer include a Coca‑Cola® Freestyle Cup,” which costs $4.99 on board.

The 18% or 20% puzzle. Royal Caribbean’s beverage package gratuity FAQ says “an 18% gratuity will be automatically added” to a package. Its general gratuities FAQ says 20% is added to “beverages and beverage packages.” We read both on October 13, 2026. Check the checkout total in the Cruise Planner before you pay. Both pages say the gratuity can be changed at Guest Relations.

Princess Plus and Premier: Are They Worth It?

Princess doesn’t sell a simple drinks package as its headline option. It bundles drinks with other things. Princess Plus includes a beverage package for drinks “priced up to $15.00 USD” each, plus Wi-Fi, crew appreciation and other extras, according to Princess’s package terms. Premier covers drinks up to $20 each, with “no daily limit on included alcoholic beverages.” The Plus terms say only that it is “subject to daily limit,” without giving a number. The terms also say “Bar Service Charges are included in each Package,” so there’s no service charge on top.

The price went up today. For sailings departing on or after October 13, 2026, Plus rises from $65 to $70 a day bought before the cruise and from $70 to $75 on board. Premier goes from $100 to $105, or $110 on board, as both Cruise Hive and Cruise Mummy reported. Sun Princess and Star Princess cost $5 a day more. When we checked, Princess’s own terms page still showed the old $65 and $100, so check the price on your booking.

To compare Plus with paying as you go, take out what you’d pay anyway. Princess’s crew appreciation page charges $18 per person per day in standard cabins, and Plus covers it. That leaves about $52 a day for drinks and Wi-Fi. Drinks bought one at a time carry Princess’s “Service Charge of 20% of purchase,” so $52 buys about $43 of menu-priced drinks. If you’d want the Wi-Fi anyway, Plus pays off sooner.

Norwegian’s “Free” Drinks Package: Is It Worth It?

Norwegian flips the question. On most fares the drinks package comes as part of Free at Sea, but it isn’t free. Norwegian’s promotion terms list a price per person of $32 a day on two- to five-night cruises and $28.50 on cruises of six nights or more. Cruise Hive reported that the short-cruise rate rose from $28.50 to $32 on May 1, 2026, and describes the charge as the gratuity on the package. It also says guests can remove the package at booking.

Norwegian adds a 20% service charge to drinks bought one at a time (FAQ), so $28.50 a day matches about $24 of menu-priced drinks. That’s roughly two cocktails. For most people who drink at all, keeping it is the better deal. Cruise Hive’s example: two guests in a balcony cabin on a seven-night Norwegian Bliss Alaska cruise pay $399 in drink gratuities.

The terms set the limits: guests “are entitled to two beverages per person per transaction,” the package “may not be shared,” and the Connoisseur’s Collection and Signature Selection drinks are excluded. If guest one or two is under 21, they get the soda package instead.

When Is a Drink Package Not Worth It?

• Your cabin-mate barely drinks. On Carnival and Royal Caribbean you’d be buying a full package for them too. That can double your break-even.
• The itinerary is port-heavy. Five ports in seven days means five days you’ll probably drink less, and you still pay for them.
• You mostly drink coffee, tea and water. Plenty of drinks are already included in the fare. Our guide to what is included in a cruise lists them line by line.
• You plan to bring wine. Most big lines let adults carry some wine aboard. Our guide to bringing alcohol on a cruise has each line’s limits and corkage fees.
• You sail from Texas, Norfolk or New York with Carnival. Day one’s drinks aren’t covered, because CHEERS! starts at 6 a.m. on day two.

Your Drink Package Checklist

1. Write down a realistic day: drinks on a sea day, drinks on a port day, then average them over the itinerary.
2. Check the quoted price for your sailing, especially on Royal Caribbean, where it changes. On Carnival and Princess, buying before you sail is $5 a day cheaper.
3. Divide the daily price by your usual drink’s price, before service charge on both, and compare it with your average.
4. Multiply by every adult in the cabin on Carnival and Royal Caribbean.
5. Check the cap: $14 per drink on Royal Caribbean’s Deluxe, $15 on Princess Plus, $20 on Carnival and Princess Premier. Expensive cocktails cost extra.
6. Know the refund deadline: Carnival’s is 10 p.m. Eastern the evening before sailing. Royal Caribbean says cancellations “up to 2 days before the sail date are 100% refundable.”

Quick Answers

How many drinks a day make a cruise drink package worth it?

Usually five to seven alcoholic drinks a day, every day. On Carnival it’s about seven $10.50 cocktails. On Royal Caribbean it ranges from about four to twelve, depending on the price for your sailing.

Do both people in a cabin have to buy the drink package?

On Carnival and Royal Caribbean, yes. Carnival requires every adult in the stateroom to buy CHEERS!, and Royal Caribbean requires every guest of legal drinking age in the stateroom to buy the Deluxe package.

Can you buy a cruise drink package for just some days?

Not on Carnival or Royal Caribbean. Both sell packages only for the full length of the cruise.

Is there a limit on drinks with a cruise drink package?

Carnival allows up to 15 alcoholic drinks per day, from 6 a.m. to 6 a.m. Royal Caribbean’s Deluxe package has no daily limit but serves one drink at a time. Princess Premier has no daily limit, and Princess Plus has one.

The Bottom Line

A drink package isn’t a deal or a rip-off. It’s a bet on how much you’ll drink, placed before you’ve had a single drink. If you’ll have six or seven drinks a day on Carnival, or you’ve found a low Royal Caribbean price, it pays. If you’re a two-glasses-at-dinner cruiser, it almost certainly doesn’t, and on Carnival and Royal Caribbean your cabin-mate pays for it too. On Norwegian, keeping the included package usually makes sense if you drink at all. Do the division before you click “add to cart.” It takes a minute and could save hundreds of dollars.

Cruise Chaos earns nothing from cruise lines or booking links. Every price and rule in this guide links to where we read it, on the lines’ own pages wherever we could reach them, checked on October 13, 2026. Drink package prices change often, and Royal Caribbean’s change by sailing, so your Cruise Planner or booking is the final word. If something has changed, tell us and we’ll correct it.

Coming up on Cruise Chaos: how much spending money do you need for a cruise? We’ll add up gratuities, drinks, Wi-Fi and port days, line by line.

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Keep Reading

• How Do You Pay for Things on a Cruise?
• How Much to Tip on a Cruise
• Can You Bring Alcohol on a Cruise?

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Sources

• Carnival Cruise Line: Drink packages, including CHEERS! terms and sample beverage prices
• Royal Caribbean: What is the Deluxe Beverage Package?, Does everyone need to buy it?, Selected days, Sharing policy, Where can I use it?, Cancellation policy, Beverage package gratuities and Onboard service gratuities
• Princess Cruises: Princess Plus and Princess Premier terms and conditions and Crew appreciation and service charge policy
• Norwegian Cruise Line: Promotional terms and conditions and How do gratuities work?
• Cruise Hive: Princess Cruises hikes package prices and shakes up WiFi plans (September 28, 2026) and Norwegian Cruise Line targets short sailings with drink package price hike (May 1, 2026)
• Cruise Mummy: Princess Cruises reveals higher package rates and WiFi changes (September 29, 2026), Royal Caribbean drink packages: are they worth it? (September 8, 2026) and Carnival cruise drink packages 2026
• Cruise.Blog: Fans upset over new Royal Caribbean drink package change (February 2026)