Based on my casual observation of other guests on the Celebrity Solstice, it would seem like the Celebrity Cruises drink packages are popular. However, I’ve run the math on these packages and I simply do not see the value here.
View other posts in this series:
- Trip Introduction: Cruising the Last Frontier
- Review: WestJet 737-800MAX Economy Class LAX-YVR
- Superb Service and Surprisingly Good Food: The Hyatt Regency Vancouver
- Vancouver with Kids: Fun in the Great Outdoors
- Family Dining in Vancouver: The Best of What We Ate
- Review: Celebrity Solstice Alaska Cruise – Part 1 – Booking and Room
- Review: Celebrity Solstice Alaska Cruise – Part 2 – Dining
- Review: Celebrity Solstice Alaska Cruise – Part 3 – Onboard Entertainment
- Review: Celebrity Solstice Alaska Cruise – Part 4 – Ship Features
- Disappointing Wi-Fi on Celebrity Solstice
- PSA: Do Not Waste Money on Celebrity Cruises Drink Packages (this post)
- Pro Tip: Celebrity Cruises Gives Free Parking at MGM Resorts
- Icy Strait Point: A Simple Alaskan Port Town
- Skagway: A Small But Enjoyable Port
- A Brief Encounter at Dawes Glacier
- Juneau: Full of Outdoors Experiences
- Ketchikan: Home to Salmon and Lumberjacks
- Review: Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounge YVR (Transborder / US Flights)
- Review: Air Canada 737-800MAX Business Class YVR-LAX
How much are drinks on Celebrity Cruises?
Let’s say you want to imbibe on a drink on your next Celebrity cruise. How much will it cost you? The two pictures below are from our 2024 cruise. However, we’ve seen more recent photos that show everything increased by $1 or $2. Here are the range of prices you’ll expect to pay in 2026:
- Beer: $10 to $13
- Beer (non-alcoholic): $8 to $11
- Wine: $12 to $19
- Cocktails: $12 to $19
- Mocktails: $7 to $10
- Soda: $6 to $7
- Other non-alcoholic bottled beverages: $6 to $8
Over the course of your cruise, those drinks will add up in cost. Wouldn’t it be nice if all of these drinks were included in the cost of a package?
How much do Celebrity Cruises drink packages cost?
Rather annoyingly, you cannot actually directly see how much a Celebrity Cruises drink package costs. If you go to their website, you’ll find the landing page for it but it won’t give you the price. Rather, they want you to log in and see your personalized price. The true price of the package may vary based things like on your status, the ship you’re on, the length of the cruise, special promotions, and so forth. By hiding the cost, they could more easily pass through an increase to the price and few might know.
There are three drink packages to choose from, and the rough prices are as follows:
| Package | What It Includes | Typical Price Range | Who It’s Good For |
|---|---|---|---|
| Non-alcoholic drink package | Soda, frozen smoothies, Red Bull, mocktails | $25 to $30 per person per day, before mandatory 20% tip | Soda addicts |
| Classic drink package | Cocktails, wine, and beer up to $12 each, soda | $60 to $90 per person per day, before mandatory 20% tip | Heavy drinkers |
| Premium drink package | Cocktails, wine, and beer up to $19 each, and all non-alcoholic drink package inclusions | $70 to $100 per person per day, before mandatory 20% tip | Heavy drinkers who prefer expensive wines or juices |
Bottled wine is also discounted if you have the classic or premium drink package. There is a 15% discount on bottled wine for the classic drink package. The discount moves up to 20% for the premium drink package. You’ll find more choices in the form of bottled wine than what they will pour by the glass.
Drink packages are less expensive when you buy them before your cruise than when you purchase them onboard the ship. If you’re considering a package, it might be beneficial to wait for a sale, such as during Black Friday.
Free drinks for all guests
On the plus side, not all drinks will cost you money. From the Celebrity Cruises website, you’ll find the following blurb somewhat hidden in the FAQ section: “We provide coffee, tea, iced tea, lemonade, hot tea, milk, non-bottled water, hot chocolate, orange juice and other assorted juices onboard complimentary.”
No drink package required. Sweet! Who doesn’t like free drinks on Celebrity Cruises?
These drinks are available during regular dining hours and can be found either in the main dining room or in the buffet section (though note that I only noticed orange juice in the morning). For those wondering, no, the orange juice did not taste freshly squeezed, the lemonade tasted full of sugar, and the milk sometimes tasted a little watered down. The other free juices available on our Celebrity Solstice cruise were apple juice, cranberry juice, and POG (passionfruit, orange, guava).
Working the math on the classic drink package
Our own personal experience is from 2024, when the classic drink covered drinks up to $10 and drinks themselves were slightly cheaper. However, the same math still applies today.
What is the cost of the classic drink package from our 2024 cruise? On our seven-night Alaska cruise, the full price of the classic drink package was $500/adult before the automatic 20% gratuity. The premium drink package is $100/adult more expensive before gratuity. For the sake of argument, let’s then just normalize out the gratuity part as you would normally pay the amount on each drink. For a room with two adults, the expectation just to hit break-even is 100 total alcoholic beverages over the course of seven nights. Ouch.
A seven-night cruise could be thought of as seven days of drinking (since all bars are closed on debarkation day). Though perhaps that is a bit generous. You might not get onboard until the afternoon on embarkation day. You’re likely going to be off the ship while at port. Over the course of seven days, each adult needs to average seven alcoholic drinks a day to get your money’s worth. Sure, there have been days when I drank heavily, but I wouldn’t dream of doing that over the course of a full week.
The good news that there are frequent sales for Celebrity Cruises drink packages, and you might find a sale that can get you a decent 25% discount off the full price. I have heard the discount could potentially get as high as 50% off, but I never saw it get that high in advance of my cruise (40% off was the best I saw).
Let’s assume you’re able to find 40% off for the package. Could you drink 4.2 drinks per person per day just to break even? Should you? We can’t answer the health aspect of it, but we could see heavy drinkers benefitting from a package only if you get it at a significant discount. And that’s just break-even. If you average 4.5 drinks a day, you only saved yourself from paying for 1.8 drinks over the course of a six-night cruise. Miss a day of drinking and it will be that much harder to catch up.
Personally, I don’t like the pressure of feeling like I need to drink to get better value of out it. For the average person, we feel safe in saying it’s not worth it and in fact a waste of money.
Don’t forget you’re going to be exploring ports off the ship
I want to emphasize that point I made above: more likely than not, you will get off the ship to explore town. Doing that will eat into the time that you’ll be drinking onboard the ship. It might sound possible to drink heavily on at-sea days because you might think what else are you going to do?
But you’ll inevitably head into town, go on a tour, or otherwise want to explore the area. The longer you’re in town, the less likely you’ll be able to meet your drink quota. Could you drink in the morning before getting off and then drink heavily upon your return? Yes, you can but I’m not your doctor and you might find it challenging to do so with less time on the ship.
And that’s not even getting into the potential hangover you might have after drinking so heavily.
The math looks more favorable on the premium drink package but…
At first glance, the premium drink package might look like a fantastic deal. You’re getting an extra $7/drink allowance per drink, but the cost of the package is only marginally more per day.
To that we would say: don’t be fooled by the $19/drink allowance on the premium drink package if you’re not drinking glasses of wine. Most mixed drinks are just barely over the $12/drink allowance of the classic drink package. Unless you’re drinking the more expensive wines, you’re probably not going to be hitting the $19 limit.
The drink prices sure do seem like they’re positioned to make it look like you’re getting a good deal on the premium drink package, don’t they?
What value the premium drink package does bring is actually in the non-alcoholic drinks, where the offering mirrors the zero proof drink package. If you want your juices from the Spa Cafe along with the alcohol, perhaps you might want to consider the premium drink package. Don’t just do it for the alcohol or you might be disappointed.
Bring-your-own rules and allowances
Thankfully, you also don’t need to pay the extra prices for alcohol if you want to drink. Each guest is able to bring their own alcohol on board with them.
If you wanted to bring aboard your own drinks, how do you avoid paying for Celebrity Cruises drink packages? The FAQ linked above does outline what is acceptable.
- One 750-ml bottle of wine per guest of drinking age, packed in carry-on
- Any non-alcoholic beverages they can hand-carry
I should note that I know other cruise lines have limitations on bottled water out of fear that guests have replaced the water inside with alcohol and thus need to bring aboard canned or boxed water. We brought bottled water (including our own reusable bottles) onboard the ship and did not run into any problems.
Our experience: it was cheaper to pay as we drank than to bother with Celebrity Cruises drink packages
Based on my math coming in, I decided to ignore the Celebrity Cruises drink packages. Over the course of the seven night cruise, I had eight alcoholic beverages and one bottle of wine while onboard the ship. That ended up being a total of about $150 after gratuity, $50 of which was from the bottle of wine (which wouldn’t have been included anyways under any of the drink programs). While the Celebrity Cruises drink packages offer a discount on bottles of wine, our introductory level of status with Celebrity Cruises by default gave a 10% discount, so you’re not missing out on too much.
Part of the difficulty we had in drinking a lot came from the fact that we had completely packed days off the ship at each port.
We felt no pressure to drink excessively, and we saved hundreds in doing so. Not having a drink package available didn’t lessen our overall experience onboard the ship. We still drank as much as we wanted.
FAQ with Celebrity Cruises drink packages
By package, the limits on alcoholic drinks are as follows:
– The classic drink package allows for alcoholic drinks up to $12 each
– The premium drink package allows for alcoholic drinks up to $19 each
What happens if you purchase a drink that is more expensive than your package allows? You’ll pay the difference between the drink price and what your package allows, plus a mandatory 20% tip on that differential. For example, if you wanted a $19 glass of wine but have the classic drink package, you’ll pay $8.40 for the drink ($7 plus 20% tip).
In practice, bartenders will confirm you’ll need to pay once they notice which package you have.
No, you cannot order more than one drink at a time with any drink package. The intent of the package is to be used only for a single person. That said, there is neither a speed limit nor a maximum number of drinks you can order per day.
Yes and no. They will not be valid at most ports or on excursions you book. If you want to get a drink at a random bar in the city, your Celebrity Cruises drink package will not help you.
However, there are two “private island”-like experiences where drink packages are recognized: Labadee and CocoCay. Your drink packages will thankfully work here.
Yes and no. The expectation is for everyone staying in the same cabin to purchase the same drink package provided they are of legal drinking age. If you order the package online, you’ll find that’s the case as the website will automatically attach the package for all.
However, there are some exceptions to this rule when adults purchase a classic or premium drink package:
– Children 12 years old and under: do not need to purchase any package regardless of what adults choose
– Teens (13-20 years old in the US/Canada, 13-17 elsewhere): a non-alcoholic zero proof drink package is required
– Pregnant guests: a non-alcoholic zero proof drink package is required
– Recovering alcoholics or those with medical concerns: a non-alcoholic zero proof drink package is required
We’ll set aside the moral question of you purchasing an alcoholic all-you-can-drink package if you’re in the same room as a recovering alcoholic. If you want to purchase a package including for one passenger but not other adults, you’ll want to call up Celebrity Cruises.
Yes, you can easily do that online prior to your cruise. It will be 100% refundable if canceled up to 2 days before your cruise starts. Once onboard, talk with customer service, who can cancel remaining days on your package.
No, not all packages cover the same set of non-alcoholic drinks.
The non-alcoholic and premium drink packages include all non-alcoholic drinks. However, the classic drink package does not include the following:
– Premium sodas
– Frozen or fresh smoothies
– Fresh juices from the Spa Cafe
– Premium bottled still and sparkling water
Closing thoughts on Celebrity Cruises drink packages
This is ultimately both a personal decision and a math decision. We’ve talked about the math and how it probably doesn’t work for most, but it can still come down to your own choice. Some people just want things covered on their cruise and don’t want to think about the math. We are inherently math people, so we can’t fully relate, but we know there are others out there who do. If you’re a heavy drinker, maybe you’d find interest in the alcoholic packages. If you’re a heavy soda drinker, maybe you’ll approve of the non-alcoholic zero proof drink package.
We’d like to leave you with a final consideration for the alcoholic drink packages when you’re at port. If I had bought the drink package onboard the ship, I likely would not have tried any drinks while not on the ship and frankly that would have been a miss. While at each port, I drank a few local beers and mixed drinks. Frankly, these drinks were much better than what was available onboard the ship. On top of that, the average cost of alcohol while on land was cheaper than on the ship. Do yourself (and your wallet) a favor and drink local.
Do you have a different opinion on Celebrity Cruises drink packages?
Suggested reading:
- Carnival Drink Packages Are Not Worth The Money
- Points Choice: Royal Caribbean Avoids the Carnival Trap
- Global Entry: What Is It And Why It’s Needed
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