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.
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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.
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