Are Cruise Drink Packages Worth It? Do the Maths First

A cruise drink package costs $70 to $120 per person per day on most mainstream lines, and it only pays for itself if you drink a lot more than you probably think. The arithmetic is simple, the answer is usually no, and the lines rely on you not doing the sum.

The break-even sum

Work out the number of drinks per day you need to buy at menu prices to match the package cost. On a typical mainstream ship:

• A cocktail is $12 to $16
• A glass of wine is $10 to $14
• A beer is $7 to $9
• A speciality coffee is $5 to $6
• A bottle of water is $3 to $4

At a $90 per day package and $13 average drink, you need roughly seven drinks every single day to break even. Not seven on the sea days and two on the port days: seven on average, including the day you fly home hungover and the day you spend ashore.

Why the packages still often sell

Because they feel like they remove a decision, and that is worth something real. Passengers with packages stop thinking about whether the second cocktail is worth $14, and on a holiday that mental freedom has value even when the maths says otherwise.

There is also a genuine trap the packages solve: onboard accounts make spending invisible. Without a package, a family can be $700 into drinks by day five without noticing, and the package at least caps it.

When a package is clearly worth it

• You genuinely drink six or more alcoholic drinks a day and know it
• You also drink several speciality coffees, bottled waters or fizzy drinks daily, which quietly add $15 to $20 a day
• You are on a long voyage with many sea days, where there is little else to do and the drinking rate rises
• The line requires all adults in a cabin to buy it, and one of you drinks heavily enough to carry both

When it clearly is not

• You drink two or three glasses of wine with dinner and nothing else
• You have a port-heavy itinerary and are ashore most days
• You are sailing somewhere you will want to drink ashore instead
• You are pregnant, teetotal, or on medication, in which case check whether a soft drink package makes sense on its own

The rules people miss

Both adults in a cabin usually have to buy it. Most lines require every adult sharing a cabin to take the package if one does, which is specifically designed to stop couples sharing one. If only one of you drinks, the effective cost per drinker doubles.

There is a price ceiling. Packages cover drinks up to a set price, often $12 to $15. Anything above it is charged as the difference, not refused, so a good wine list can still run up a bill.

There is usually an hourly limit. Many lines cap it at one drink every five minutes or fifteen drinks a day, which is there to prevent buying rounds for other people rather than to restrain you.

It does not cover port days ashore, obviously, or anything bought in the shops to take home.

The cheaper middle ground

Several lines sell a soft drink and speciality coffee package for $10 to $15 a day, which breaks even at two or three coffees. For a lot of passengers that is the package that actually makes sense.

Most lines also let you bring a bottle of wine per adult aboard at embarkation, and charge corkage only if you drink it in a restaurant. Drunk in your cabin or on your balcony, it costs nothing extra.

For how drinks fit into the wider budget, see what a cruise actually costs.