Drinks Packages on Ships – The Lowdown

This issue is one of the most frequently-discussed during the cruise booking process, and is, confusingly, one of those factors in a constant state of flux, but here’s the current state of play….

If you want drinks automatically included, and you can afford them, most of the ‘Luxury’ cruise brands, such as Regent, Silversea and Seabourn include all drinks.  Some lines have packages available for only a small supplement, such as Viking and NCL (whose ‘Free at Sea’ deal is very popular, at just £99pp for a 1-week cruise!), whilst others, such as Royal Caribbean, Princess, Celebrity and Cunard charge a higher rate of anything from US$45 up to US$60 per person per day.  If you want drinks included at a bargain price, then Marella (TUI) are your best bet.

So what about just paying as you go?  It runs true to form that the ‘U.S.’ cruise brands charge the highest prices for individual drinks, and also add a compulsory gratuity charge of at least 15% too (hence the high cost of their’ drinks packages), so if you want better prices for individual drinks, stick to the cruise lines that focus on the UK market, such as P+O, Fred Olsen or Cruise and Maritime Voyages, as all these lines don’t tend to charge much more than you would pay down your local boozer, plus they usually offer beer on draught too!

So what about if one of you drinks a lot, but the other person in the cabin doesn’t drink so much?  It used to be a strict rule with many cruise lines that both passengers in the same cabin had to have the same package, but some lines have relaxed the rules now, so that one can have the alcohol package, whilst the other can just have the soda package.

However, things are always likely to change, so always check with your trusted agent prior to booking 🙂