Buzzkill! Royal Caribbean Cruises Is Increasing the Cost of Their Drink Packages!

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Royal Caribbean is making your “booze cruise” just a bit more expensive unfortunately.  Starting in 2019, they are raising prices on all 3 of their drink packages on board.

So if you’re looking to save on your next cruise, be sure to check out our guide to using credit card rewards to save on cruises!

Royal Caribbean’s Deluxe package will be increasing from $57 to $63 in range to $63 to $70 per person, per day.  This is the “all you can drink” package, and also includes a 40% discount on bottles of wine under $100, and a 20% discount on bottles over $100.

The Refreshment package (soda, water, juice, coffee, and bottled water) will be holding a steady price of $29 per day. This is an increase from the previous pricing of $26 to $29.  The Classic Soda package (unlimited soda) will cost ~$13 per day, up from a price of up to ~$10.  However, none of these prices include the mandatory 18% gratuity.

This shouldn’t be too alarming as I feel that these prices are pretty fair for standard drink prices and other cruise lines have been raising their prices.  Most alcoholic drinks range from ~$7 to ~$16 each, so not including bottled water or sodas, you’d need to be consuming 4 or 5 drinks per day just to break even.

While cruising is a very cost effective way to see many places on one trip, the pricing can get out of hand quickly.  Cruise lines make a large amount of money on the ancillary costs like gambling and drinking.  If you are trying to be a financially savvy traveler, I would highly avoid drinking on cruise ships.  As much as a cold margarita sounds nice as you are sitting poolside, you are most likely able to get 2 drinks off the boat for the same price.