Buzzkill! Royal Caribbean Cruises Is Increasing the Cost of Their Drink Packages!
Signing up for credit cards through partner links earns us a commission. Terms apply to the offers listed on this page. Here’s our full advertising policy: How we make money.
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.
If you’re ready to take your travel savings to the next level, subscribe to our newsletter!
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. That’s $750 when you redeem through Chase Ultimate Rewards®.
Enjoy benefits such as a $50 annual Ultimate Rewards Hotel Credit, 5x on travel purchased through Chase Ultimate Rewards®, 3x on dining and 2x on all other travel purchases, plus more.
Get 25% more value when you redeem for airfare, hotels, car rentals and cruises through Chase Ultimate Rewards®. For example, 60,000 points are worth $750 toward travel.
Count on Trip Cancellation/Interruption Insurance, Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver, Lost Luggage Insurance and more.
Get complimentary access to DashPass which unlocks $0 delivery fees and lower service fees for a minimum of one year when you activate by December 31, 2024.
Intro APR on purchases
N/A
Regular APR
20.49% – 27.49% Variable
Annual Fee
$95
Balance Transfer Fee
Either $5 or 5% of the amount of each transfer, whichever is greater.
Rates & Fees
Other
MORE INFO
Editorial Note: We're the Million Mile Secrets team. And we're proud of our content, opinions and analysis, and of our reader's comments. These haven’t been reviewed, approved or endorsed by any of the airlines, hotels, or credit card issuers which we often write about. And that’s just how we like it! :)
Join the Discussion!