Should You Buy Expensive Beverage Packages When Going On A Cruise? - LoyaltyLobby

A very contentious topic is the option of purchasing beverage packages when going on cruises and not having to worry about individual purchases, or are these bundles just a money grab by the cruise lines?

The products and pricing models of beverage packages vary by the cruise line and have changed over the years, and most recently, RCCL/Celebrity overhauled their own pricing when it went up to absurd levels.

Anyone who’s ever been on a cruise probably knows the feeling, you arrive at your cabin already exhausted from the boarding process and want to drop your belongings to head to the nearest cafe or bar.

But there it starts: Will you pay individually for each beverage purchase during the entire cruise and monitor your onboard account, or is a beverage package the better way to eliminate all that hassle?

The answer, as so often, is based on what you’re willing to pay in premium for the convenience of not having to sign individual receipts and keeping an eye on your account.

Here are the beverage package options of major cruise lines:

The main decision is if you want to have a package that includes alcohol, and if so, should it be a premium package with top-shelf spirits or the budget version with standard, lower-grade, brands?

One thing straight up: Alcohol packages are expensive, and you have to drink A LOT of alcohol to make it worthwhile. Keep in mind that the pricing is always per day and there is an additional gratuity charge, depending on the cruise line, between 18-20%. That means by the time you’re boarding your ship in the early afternoon, you’re already behind unless you manage to drink about 8-10 drinks that very same day.

I have seen passengers who do drink a lot, and let’s just say they’re usually in a pretty desolate state on the ship.

For myself I prefer to purchase the non-alcoholic beverage packages and if I want to drink alcohol I just purchase the drinks one by one. As I usually sail on Celebrity, I also take advantage of the Elite Happy Hours between 5-7pm where complimentary drinks are served on almost all bars.

Royal Caribbean offers Diamond’s and above four drinks daily loaded as coupons onto the Seapass Card and you can consume them all day at any outlet (I prefer Royal’s system over Celebrity’s as it’s more flexible). I’m sure other cruise lines have similar programs so having Elite status really pays off if you play your cards right.

However: What Celebrity did with their non-alcoholic drink packages is really horrible. They used to have many different products from water packages, coffee packages, Classis Non-Alc and also Premium Non-Alc which was my favorite as it included sparkling water and all specialty coffees.

The price for the water and classic package was between $11-16/daily. Now they have eliminated all these and simply offer ONE package called ZERO PROOF and that comes at $30/day. Insane!

The prices for the alcohol packages also went up:

In this case, even with a small pre-cruise sale discount of 7% you’re talking $848 for one week of alcoholic beverages. And while they call it “Premium” they’re not serving you JW Blue Label and even basic retail champagne such as Veuve Clicquot. It’s much lower-grade stuff.

If you sail as a couple, that’s $1700 for a week. And they usually make BOTH people in the cabin buy the same package though there are exceptions such as a medical condition or if you’re a recovering alcoholic (they usually can’t ask for documentation and have to take your word for it… wink wink).

Here is an example of a selection of all drink packages on Celebrity:

You are able to get a bit higher discount as a Casino guest or as Elite/elite+ member, but you have to call. It’s usually 10-15% but they don’t combine it with sales unless the agent makes a mistake.

That they consolidated all the drink packages into one ticked me off. My current cruise through the Panama Canal is 15 days long and I sure as hell won’t pay $500 for two weeks of non-alc beverages. So this time I did something I never used to do, ordered non-alc drinks via UBER Eats to my hotel (Soda, Sparkling Water) and took it onboard myself, which is allowed. My cost: $20.

Had Celebrity remained reasonable, I’d have probably said whatever and paid the $250 for two weeks but with double that amount I wasn’t willing to play ball.

Depending on the cruise line, you’re also allowed to bring 1-2 bottles of wine onboard for consumption. No hard liquor, though. Prohibited items are usually confiscated at security and can be picked up after the cruise from the “table of shame”.

At least some other companies like HAL, Norwegian and Royal Caribbean still offer a cheaper package for coffee and soda.

Conclusion

Cruise beverage packages almost always benefit the company and not the guest. Especially those that contain alcohol. I suggest to try and enjoy the holiday while not going too heavy on the alcohol and maybe an expensive alcohol package is not even needed. Especially if you have elite status or play at the casino where standard drinks (well drinks, beers) are free for active players.

The sweet spots are found in non-alcohol packages and some cruise lines still offer them at a very reasonable rate. You might have to look around a little for a good deal but they’re still there. If you have onboard credit it can be used to buy these packages and that’s a decent deal especially as most cruises are around a week.

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