Royal Caribbean offers beverage packages that meet pretty much every passenger’s needs.
At the top of the pricing chart is the cruise line’s Deluxe Beverage Package, which offers unlimited drinks. That includes soda, water, mocktails, milkshakes, fresh-squeezed juice, and alcoholic beverages.
Related: Carnival Cruise Line, Royal Caribbean both charge unpopular fee
Unlike many cruise lines, Royal Caribbean’s deluxe package truly offers unlimited alcohol, as long as a passenger appears sober. The packages at Carnival and MSC Cruises limit passengers to 15 alcoholic drinks.
Below the Deluxe Beverage Package Royal Caribbean offers a refreshment package. This offer includes unlimited drinks except for alcohol. Carnival Cruise Line does not offer an equivalent to this one..
Carnival Brand Ambassador John Heald has answered questions about this issue many times.
“Would Carnival consider adding another drink program the just included bottled water/specialty coffees/shakes?” an unidentified cruiser asked back in November.
“I’m sure this has probably been asked before. I’m just not a big alcohol drinker so the Cheers package doesn’t really fit for me and I don’t drink much soda at all either. I am, however, a big fan of the specialty coffee shops.”
Heald has answered this one over and over again:
“Hello, I just want to add to the conversation that we have looked very hard at doing different packages but the hard part for us is finding the savings to pass on to the guest. But things change so let’s see what the future holds. Thank you all.”
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Carnival’s Cheers package includes 15 alcoholic drinks per day.
Image source: Carnival Corp.
Royal Caribbean has more drink offers than Carnival
Royal Caribbean enables a passenger who does not (or chooses not to) drink alcohol to opt for a refreshment package if they’re staying in a cabin with another adult who buys the Deluxe Beverage Package. (That offer can be arranged only by calling the cruise line.)
Because Carnival does not offer an equivalent refreshment package, it requires all passengers 21 and over staying in the same cabin to buy the Cheers package if one of them does. It does not make any exceptions, even when one passenger can’t drink alcohol for medical reasons.
Both Royal Caribbean and Carnival offer all-you-can-drink soda offers, including refillable cups and sodas from any bar.
Royal Caribbean also sells a coffee card, giving a passenger 10 specialty coffee drinks. Those drinks are charged by the espresso shot, so a multiple-shot cappuccino or latte would be counted as the equivalent number of drinks.
The Royal Caribbean coffee card is unusual in that a cruiser can carry it over to future trips. That’s not the case for any other beverage offer, including the 10-alcoholic-beverage cards that occasionally are sold on select Royal Caribbean cruises.
Carnival does not have an equivalent 10-coffee card, but it does offer a java deal.
Carnival does have a little-known beverage offering
Again, Brand Ambassador Heald frequently fields questions about his cruise line’s beverage packages. He was recently asked about offering a coffee card or some sort of coffee package,
“This is one of my favorite things to do. Drink coffee and stare out at the sea,” one passenger posted on Heald’s Facebook page with a photo of her coffee on a balcony. “When will Carnival offer a coffee package for us coffee lovers?”
Heald pointed out that Carnival indeed does offer a deal on specialty coffee drinks.
“Remember for every six coffees you purchase, the seventh one is free. Make sure you have the card just punched at the coffee shop just for that,” Heald wrote. Specialty coffees cost around $5 to $7 apiece on Carnival.
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Disney Cruise Line offers a similar card across its coffee shops.
Carnival offers free brewed coffee, decaf, hot water for tea, and hot chocolate in multiple places on its cruise ships.
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