What Is Included in a Cruise Fare? Included vs Extra, Line by Line

A mainstream cruise fare includes your cabin, meals in the main dining room and buffet, most casual food counters, basic drinks such as tap water, coffee, tea and lemonade, the evening shows, pools, the fitness center, daytime kids clubs and the transport between every port. That is more than most first-time cruisers expect.

What it does not include is almost everything with a brand name or a bartender attached: gratuities, alcohol, soda on most lines, specialty restaurants, Wi-Fi, shore excursions, spa treatments and often room service. On a seven-night cruise for two, the extras commonly add as much again as the fare itself, and most of that is choice rather than obligation.

Included and extra at a glance

The pattern is very similar across Royal Caribbean, Carnival, Norwegian, Princess, Celebrity, Holland America and MSC. Disney is the main outlier, because it includes soft drinks.

Food: more is free than you think

Royal Caribbean’s FAQ lists the main dining room, the Windjammer buffet and a range of casual venues as included, plus continental breakfast delivered to your cabin. Every other mainstream line works the same way. You can order two starters or a second main course in the dining room at no charge, and you never need to pay for food to eat well.

The paid options are the specialty restaurants: steakhouses, Italian trattorias, sushi, teppanyaki and chef’s tables. These charge either a flat cover price or a la carte menu prices, and a service charge on top. Some ships also charge for specific items in otherwise free venues, such as a premium burger, gelato or specialty cupcakes. It varies by ship, so check the dining list in the line’s app.

Drinks: the biggest gray area

Every line includes a few basic drinks, and the list is shorter than people expect.

• Carnival includes non-bottled water, lemonade, unsweetened iced tea, hot chocolate and regular coffee and tea, in the main dining room and around the clock at the Lido, according to Carnival’s help center.
• Royal Caribbean includes water, tea, select juices and standard coffee.
• Princess includes juice at breakfast (but not fresh-squeezed orange juice), plus lemonade, milk and chocolate milk throughout the day.
• Disney includes soft drinks, coffee and tea at meals and at self-service drink stations, which makes it the most generous of the family lines on this point, according to Disney’s own FAQ.

Everything else is charged: soda on most lines, bottled water, specialty coffee, smoothies, fresh juice, beer, wine and cocktails. Bars add a service charge, 18 percent on Royal Caribbean and 20 percent on Carnival, Norwegian, Celebrity and Princess. Drink packages replace per-drink pricing with a daily fee; Carnival’s CHEERS! package is $83.94 per person per day bought before the cruise, including the service charge. Whether that saves money is a question of how much you drink, which we work through in are cruise drink packages worth it.

One way to cut the drinks bill is allowed by most lines: bringing your own wine. Royal Caribbean and Carnival both let each guest of drinking age carry one sealed 750 ml bottle of wine or champagne aboard on embarkation day. Drink it in your cabin and it costs nothing; open it in a restaurant or bar and a corkage fee of about $15 applies. Beer and spirits are not allowed, and MSC does not permit any alcohol at embarkation, so check your line before packing a bottle.

Gratuities: the charge nobody escapes

Daily gratuities are the largest extra that is not really optional. They are added to your onboard account per person, per night, and they are not part of the base fare on any of the big mainstream lines.

Children usually pay too. Carnival and MSC exempt under-2s, and Norwegian charges from age 3. For two adults on a seven-night Royal Caribbean cruise, that is $259 before anyone orders a drink. The full picture, including whether you can remove them, is in our guide to cruise gratuities.

Room service, entertainment and other surprises

These are the charges that most often surprise first-time cruisers, because they feel like they should be free.

• Room service. Royal Caribbean charges $7.95 per order plus an 18 percent gratuity, with continental breakfast still included. Norwegian charges up to $9.95 per order and $4.95 for breakfast, and waives it for suite guests. Princess charges $5 per phone order, or $14.99 per person per voyage for delivery anywhere on the ship through its app.
• Entertainment extras. Main theater shows are included, but some ships charge for escape rooms, virtual reality, laser tag, go-kart tracks, arcade games or premium shows. The ship’s app shows which.
• Fitness. The gym is included. Yoga, spin and boot camp classes frequently carry a fee.
• Kids. Daytime kids clubs are included. Nurseries for babies and late-night group babysitting cost extra, typically charged by the hour. See cruising with kids for the details by line.
• Laundry, photos and the spa. All extra, and priced per item or per session.
• Medical center. Consultations and treatment on board are billed to your account and are rarely covered by US health insurance.

Bundled fares that include more

Several lines sell fares or add-ons that fold the common extras into one price. These can be good value, but only if you would have bought the parts separately.

• Princess Plus costs $65 per person per day before the cruise and includes drinks up to $15 each, one device on MedallionNet, crew gratuities and some casual dining. Princess Premier, at $100 a day, adds more devices, unlimited specialty dining, photos and excursion credit, according to Princess’s package page.
• Celebrity All Included fares include Classic drinks and Basic Wi-Fi for everyone in the cabin, with drink service charges covered but daily crew gratuities still extra.
• Norwegian Free at Sea, for bookings from November 2025, includes an open bar, three specialty meals, 150 minutes of Wi-Fi and excursion credit, with the drink service charges prepaid. Free at Sea Plus adds unlimited Wi-Fi, premium drinks and prepaid daily gratuities.
• Holland America Have It All fares include a drinks package, Wi-Fi, a specialty dinner and excursion credit.

Royal Caribbean and Carnival sell their packages separately rather than as fare bundles. Comparing a bundled fare with a basic one means adding the gratuities, drinks and Wi-Fi to the basic fare first. Our guide to cruise Wi-Fi costs gives the internet prices you need for that sum.

What about taxes and port fees?

Taxes, fees and port expenses are always charged, per person. The only question is whether the price you are looking at includes them. As of 2026, Royal Caribbean’s and Carnival’s US websites show fares with them included; other lines and many agencies still add them at checkout. Our guide to cruise port fees and taxes explains what the charge covers and how much it usually adds.

Shore excursions are the other large extra. Walking off the ship in port is free, but organized tours cost $40 to several hundred dollars per person, and the trade-offs are covered in ship versus independent excursions.

How to keep the extras under control

1. Budget gratuities as part of the fare. They are not optional in practice, and they scale with the number of people and nights.
2. Decide on drinks and Wi-Fi before you sail. Pre-cruise prices are lower, and the decision is easier away from the bar.
3. Use the included venues. The main dining room and buffet are included for a reason. One specialty dinner is a treat; five is a budget line.
4. Check your onboard account every couple of days. The cruise card makes spending invisible, which is the main point made in our first cruise tips.
5. Compare suites on what they include. On some lines a suite adds a private restaurant, drinks or priority access, which changes the math against a standard cabin. See which cabin to book.

For a complete budget with realistic ranges for every line item, see how much a cruise really costs. The single most useful habit is simple: before you book, write down the four extras you know you will buy, price them on the line’s website, and add them to the fare. That total is the real price to compare.