Is the Drink Package Worth It? Look at It From Every Angle

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Two people can sit at the same bar on the same ship, and one should buy the Deluxe Beverage Package while the other shouldn't. Using Royal Caribbean as the example The answer depends on your Crown & Anchor tier, the price you actually see, how you drink, and where your cruise takes you. This post walks through each of those so you can run your own numbers, and shares what happened when we ran ours.

Benefit details come from Royal Caribbean's official Crown & Anchor benefit grid for sailings from September 1, 2026. Earlier sailings may follow older rules, and Royal Caribbean can change terms at any time.

The price is a moving target

Royal Caribbean doesn't have one drink package price. Cost changes by ship, sailing date, demand and how close you are to departure. Two guests on the same voyage can even see different offers after a sale starts or ends.

Ignore the crossed-out "was" price and the percent-off banner. One tracker that logged prices for months found the Deluxe package tends to drift a few dollars at a time, and that big "% off" banners are measured against an inflated reference price. Your only real number is the daily price you see after signing in to your own reservation, plus 18% gratuity.

The math below uses three example prices, not quotes:

• Low: $47 per guest per day, roughly what some cruisers found during last year's Black Friday sale

• Typical: $75, near what price trackers report as a fleet midpoint

• List: $105, the reference price on the banner that few people actually pay

What each tier gets

• Gold, Platinum, Emerald: No free drinks and no package discount. You get 50% off two wine, beer or soda purchases per sailing, plus small one-time discounts on a drink and a coffee.

• Diamond: 4 free drink vouchers a day. Package sales are often labeled "Diamond & above," but there's no standing package discount at this tier.

• Diamond Plus: 5 vouchers a day, plus 30% off a package bought onboard.

• Pinnacle Club: 6 vouchers a day, plus 40% off a package bought onboard.

Each voucher covers one drink worth up to $14 ($15 on UK sailings). Vouchers work at any bar except licensed Starbucks, the Bionic Bar and the milkshake bar, and at private destinations except Royal Beach Clubs. They reset at 5:00 am daily and can't be combined for a pricier drink. The onboard member discounts can't be used online, and pre-cruise prices tend to be as good or better.

The break-even math

This assumes a $12 average drink, or about $14.16 with 18% gratuity. The numbers show total drinks per person per day needed for the package to beat paying as you go. Free vouchers count toward the total.

Tier Free/day Low ($47) Typical ($75) List ($105)

Gold to Emerald 0 ~4 ~6 ~9

Diamond 4 ~8 ~10 ~13

Diamond Plus 5 ~9 ~11 ~14

Pinnacle 6 ~10 ~12 ~15

The higher your tier, the harder the package is to justify, because each voucher removes a drink you'd otherwise pay for.

If you're Gold

Gold is where most cruisers start, and the package price is the only lever you have. At list price you need about nine drinks a day. At a low sale price, about four.

That makes Black Friday worth watching. Royal Caribbean's early access sale began on November 7 last year, and Black Friday 2026 falls on November 27. Prices vary by ship and can change during a sale, so re-check on Black Friday and Cyber Monday themselves. Diamond starts at 80 cruise points, which is one per night sailed and two per night in a suite.

If you're Diamond or above

Your free vouchers already work as a basic drink package that costs nothing extra. Buying the package on top means paying for drinks the vouchers would have covered. You can still come out ahead when the price is low and you drink heavily, but for most people on a port-heavy trip, vouchers plus a few paid extras cost less.

Your itinerary can flip the answer

The same person, in the same tier, can get different answers on different cruises. What matters is how many of your waking hours are spent where the package works. Royal Caribbean says it's honored at the ship's venues, Perfect Day CocoCay and Labadee. It doesn't cover the bars and restaurants you visit in port.

The port-heavy cruise: 12 days in the British Isles. Long days ashore mean many of your drinks are pub and restaurant purchases the package doesn't cover. You're paying for 12 days of coverage but using it mostly mornings, evenings and sea days.

The mixed cruise: 7 nights in the Southern Caribbean, no CocoCay. Itineraries vary, but you typically get several port days plus a sea day or two, and no private island where the package works all day. Sea days can be heavy drinking days, while port days may bring only a drink or two on board. If your ship visits a Royal Beach Club, check what your package or vouchers cover there.

The beach-day cruise: 4 nights in the Bahamas with CocoCay. Ships typically arrive around 7 a.m. and leave around 5 p.m., so you can drink at the island's bars for most of a day. Royal Caribbean says the package is active across the island, including the Coco Beach Club. Add the ship's bars and the package is in use far more of the time.

Package cost for two, with gratuity Low ($47) Typical ($75) List ($105)

12-day British Isles ~$1,331 ~$2,124 ~$2,974

7-night Southern Caribbean ~$776 ~$1,239 ~$1,735

4-night Bahamas ~$444 ~$708 ~$991

Shorter cruises also put less money at risk. Overestimate your drinking on the Bahamas cruise and you lose a few hundred dollars, not a couple thousand.

An illustration for the Southern Caribbean. Suppose you have 2 sea days where you drink 8 a day and 5 port days where you drink 3 on board. That averages about 4.4 drinks a day. A Gold cruiser needs about 4 at the low price and 6 at the typical price, so the package barely wins in a sale and loses otherwise. A Diamond cruiser needs about 8 to 10 total, so it loses either way. Swap in your own numbers.

The takeaway: Count your "package days," meaning sea days, private island days, and the ship time you'll actually spend drinking on port days. Then average your drinks over the whole sailing, not just the best day.

Our own test: 12 days in the British Isles

We weren't Diamond on our 12-day British Isles cruise, so we bought the Deluxe Beverage Package for the two of us. It came to $1,642.08 with gratuity, about $68 per person per day.

We didn't drink enough to cover it, even with 4 sea days. Paying à la carte would have cost us roughly $1,400 to $1,500, gratuity included, so the package cost about $140 to $240 more. Over 12 days, that's about $12 to $20 a day for the two of us. With 8 port days, a lot of our drinking happened at pubs and restaurants the package doesn't cover, which held our onboard total down.

That's a small premium for a cruise with no big bill at the end, and we were glad to skip it.

Now that we're Diamond, we wouldn't buy it. Each of us gets 4 free vouchers a day, about 96 drinks over 12 days, worth up to roughly $1,340 at $14 apiece. That would cover most of a tab like ours, leaving perhaps a couple hundred dollars out of pocket. It would be more if some vouchers went unused on light days, since they don't carry over.

The takeaway: For lower tiers, the package can work as a budgeting tool. Ours cost a modest premium for certainty, and that may be worth it to you. Once you reach Diamond, the vouchers do most of that job for free.

Look at it from every angle

1. Your tier. Gold gets no free drinks. Diamond and above get 4 to 6 a day.

2. The price you actually see. Use your own Cruise Planner price plus gratuity, not the list price.

3. Your real drinking habits. A wine at dinner and a coffee don't add up like four cocktails. Sea days usually run heavier than port days, so use an average.

4. Your itinerary. See the three cruises above.

5. Your travel partner. Every adult in the stateroom must buy the same package. If one of you drinks little, the math changes.

6. The alternatives. Paying per drink, using vouchers or coupons, or a cheaper soda or refreshment package can beat the Deluxe package for lighter drinkers.

7. The non-math angles. The package gives you budget certainty and no bar tab, which we valued on our British Isles cruise. But the urge to "get your money's worth" can make you drink more than planned, and you pay upfront whether you use it or not.

8. Timing and risk. Royal Caribbean lets you cancel and rebook most Cruise Planner purchases before sailing, so many cruisers re-check prices. Confirm the cancellation terms first, since refunds can take time to reach your card. Waiting until you're onboard usually costs more.

How to check your own numbers

1. Use a drink calculator, such as Cruise Mummy's. Enter one person's average day.

2. Subtract your voucher value if you're Diamond or above, roughly $48 to $56 for Diamond at $12 to $14 a drink.

3. If what's left is under the package price with gratuity, skip the package.

The bottom line

Lower tiers need heavy daily drinking at list price, but a low sale price can cut that roughly in half. Diamond and above usually do better with vouchers and a few paid extras. A private island day makes the package more attractive, and a port-heavy itinerary makes it less so. And sometimes the package is simply the price of not opening a big bill on the last night. Whatever your tier, run your own numbers with the real price, your own habits and your own itinerary.