Carnival Cruises Drink Packages: Are They Worth the Money?

Different cruise, but same premise: should you spend your hard-earned money on Carnival Cruises drink packages? We think not.

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We’ve had a discussion already about the overpriced drink package on Celebrity Cruises. But now we get to tear apart the Carnival drink packages this time.

How much are drinks on Carnival Cruises?

If you want to purchase a drink on your next Carnival cruise, how much will it cost you? The two pictures below are from our 2025 cruise. In 2026, we’ve seen prices generally unchanged from our experience. Here are the range of prices you’ll expect to pay this year:

Beer: $8 to $10
Beer (non-alcoholic): $8 to $9
Wine: $11 to $15
Cocktails: $12 to $14
Mocktails: $9 to $11
Soda: $2 to $3

This is where a drink package might come in handy, if you could just drink to your heart’s content and not hit your wallet too heavily.

How much do Carnival drink packages cost?

While other cruise ships might have more variety of drink packages, Carnival Cruises keeps it relatively simple with just two. One drink package includes alcoholic drinks and one is strictly for non-alcoholic drinks.

You’ll find the high-level details of each package below:

Package	What It Includes	Typical Price Range	Who It’s Good For
Bottomless Bubbles	Unlimited juice and soda	$11.21 per adult per day or $8.20 per child per day before mandatory 20% tip	Soda addicts
Cheers!	Cocktails, wine, and beer up to $20 each, soda	$69.95 – $82.54 per person per day before mandatory 20% tip	Heavy drinkers

You might find discounted pricing for the drink packages, but generally not more than about 10% to 20% off. Prices might vary based on cruise length (as cheap as $69.95 on shorter cruises) and can cost more if you purchase it on the ship.

Note that Carnival listed on its website that the price for Bottomless Bubbles will go up on April 2, 2026.

What’s included in Carnival drink packages?

Cheers! to the alcoholic drink package

The alcoholic Carnival drink package is called Cheers! What does this package buy you in 2026?

All spirits (including cocktails), beer, wine by the glass with a price of $20 or lower
Sodas, zero-proof frozen cocktails, energy drinks, specialty coffee, hot tea, 500ml bottled water, other non-alcoholic bottled beverages
Packaged water in the Dining Room and Specialty Restaurants
25% off any spirit or wine by the glass above $20
25% off wine or champagne by the bottle
25% off beverage seminars and classes

There is a limit of 15 alcoholic drinks per 24-hour period (yeesh). If one adult in the cabin purchases the package, all other adults must also buy it. The good news is that kids in your cabin are not forced into the non-alcoholic package against their will when you buy the alcoholic version.

Oh, and unlike other cruise lines, there are no religious exceptions or recovering alcoholics exception for other adults in the same cabin. Regardless of whether they choose to drink or not, all adults must buy it if they’re in the same cabin. Clearly the focus is more on revenue protection than for the wallets of sober guests.

Carnival’s Bottomless Bubbles

The non-alcoholic beverage package is called Bottomless Bubbles. What does this one include?

Unlimited soda, served one at a time
Juices: orange, cranberry, tomato, pineapple, and grapefruit juice

And that’s it. Sadly, bottled water, mocktails, and specialty coffee are not included.

Just like the Cheers! drink package, they now force all adults to get the package when someone in the room gets it. This wasn’t the case when we took our cruise in April 2025, so it just goes to show how they’re continuing the edit the program. When we cruised, there was no requirement to have others in the room purchase the package.

Free drinks for all Carnival guests

I hope you’re aware that some drinks are free while cruising on Carnival and there’s no need to purchase any extra drink package to get them.

Throughout the day, you can get the following free drinks:

Milk
Water
Lemonade
Iced tea
Coffee and hot tea

And then additionally during breakfast service, you’ll get your choice of the following beverages:

Orange juice
Apple juice
Passionfruit orange guava (POG)

Running the math on the Carnival drink packages

Is Cheers! worth the price?

Let’s methodically break this down. First of all, ignore the 15-drink maximum for now. I certainly hope you’re not personally consuming that much each and every day while on the ship. You don’t want to spend time at sick bay.

Next, don’t fixate on the $20 per drink price that the package covers. Most drinks are well below that threshold and unless you’re indulging in premium liquor, it’s going to be hard to hit that price. You’re going to find that many drinks on the ship are well below that threshold. For this analysis, let’s assume the average cost of a drink is about $14 or as low as $10 per drink for beer. For the sake of argument, we’ll ignore the mandatory tip on the drink package.

Further assume you’re only doing the math for one person. How many drinks do you need to drink per day to make up the price of the package? We calculate about 6 cocktails per day ($82.54 / $14) or north of 8 beers per day to breakeven.

Some considerations on what this implies:

You might be tempted by all-day drinking on days at sea, which is understandable if you have nowhere to go.
The full price applies for embarkation day, a day you might not get onto the ship until the afternoon.
If you plan for excursions when you’re at port, it becomes more difficult to spend time drinking on the ship.
Any day you spend drinking less than average, you’d have to make up with higher than average consumption to breakeven.

What we’re calculating is the breakeven threshold. You won’t start seeing savings unless your average creeps well beyond the averages above. Of course, that 15-drink maximum looms in the distance.

Since all other adults in your cabin must also purchase the alcoholic package, you might need to make up for your roommate(s). I’m sure there are some who might consider it a fun challenge, but we’d rather not find out if we’re a winner in this game.

Is Bottomless Bubbles worth the price?

Let’s look at this from the angle of an adult. For $11.21/day, you can drink all the soda and juice you want. For soda, you could just bring cans of soda onto the ship at embarkation and at each port. Or you buy a can of soda for about $3 while on the ship. That equates to about four sodas per day to breakeven.

Again, this is four sodas on average per day. I’m sure people could drink that amount, even with reduced time on the ship when at port. It’s more cost effective to just bring your own on board, but we could see some finding value with this.

With juice, there might be some marginal value if you’d rather have more options at breakfast, but for many, the value will come from the included soda.

Alternatives to Carnival drink packages

Let’s say you don’t want to pay for Carnival drink packages. How else might you get free or reduced price alcohol and other drinks?

Bring-your-own rules and allowances

If you check Carnival’s terms, you’ll find references to what Carnival Cruises will allow you to bring with you when boarding:

12 unopened cans/cartons of 12-oz (or less) of non-alcoholic beverages (i.e., sparkling water, soda, energy drinks, juice, milk).
During embarkation day only: each adult may bring one unopened 750ml bottle of wine or champagne in their carry-on luggage. Wine cannot be over 15% ABV.

No bottles are allowed onboard, so if you want to bring water, keep in mind that you’ll need canned or box water. You also can’t carry aboard beer or hard liquor.

The rules on soda isn’t quite as generous as other ships, but at least they allow it!

Dine at select specialty restaurants on the first night

As part of a promotion to get people into their specialty restaurants on the first night, you might find an offer for a bottle of wine for every two adults. This was specifically offered at the following restaurants:

Steakhouse
Rudi’s Seagrill (not on the Carnival Horizon)
Il Viaggio (not on the Carnival Horizon)
Jiji
Cucina

Want the cheapest investment possible to get a free bottle of wine? That would either be Jiji or Cucina del Capitano (both starting at $24/adult). Now, you’re likely looking at the least expensive wine, but free is free.

Earn it from a casino offer

We discussed this in our conversation about the Carnival casino, but you can unlock free drinks in the casino with play. Or if you’re sailing on a casino offer, it might already be provided without needing to earn it.

The casino offer provides the same deal as elsewhere on the ship: a 15 drink maximum for beer, cocktails, or glasses of wine. Technically, it might be out of the way if you keep heading down to the casino to fill up, but it might not be so bad if your room were on the same floor as the casino?

But if you’re like me, and you get free drinks at the casino, it certainly feels like a waste to be buying unlimited drinks elsewhere on the ship. So why deal with the extra stress?

Drink local at port

One of the things we enjoy far more than drinking on the cruise ship is drinking at each port. It offers more of a local flair than the typical generic stuff on the ship. Not only that, but the drinks tend to also be cheaper if you get away from the port. If you end up buying the Cheers! package on the ship, you’ll be less inclined to go local. And that’s a shame, really.

FAQ with Celebrity Cruises drink packages

What happens if I go over the $20 per drink allowance on the Cheers! package?

You will only receive a 25% discount on any beverage above $20. That means a $24 drink will cost you $18 plus tip. Unfortunately, you won’t get a $20 discount on the drink.

Can I order more than one drink at a time?

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.

Can I cancel a package after purchase?

Yes and no. The Cheers! drink package is non-refundable after purchase. The Bottomless Bubbles drink package is only refundable until 10PM ET the night before the cruise starts, otherwise it is non-refundable.

Does Cheers! also include the same non-alcoholic beverages as Bottomless Bubbles?

Yes, they both cover the same non-alcoholic drinks.

I don’t drink alcohol. Can I avoid paying for the Cheers! package if someone else in the room pays for it?

No, unfortunately not. Carnival does not allow for an exemption for other adults in the room. Children under the legal drinking age do not need to purchase a drink package.

Are drink packages valid both on and off the ship?

No, drink packages are only valid when on the ship.

Do non-alcoholic drinks count toward the 15-drink maximum on the Cheers! package?

No, only alcoholic drinks are included in the drink limit.

How is a day counted for the purpose of the 15-drink maximum?

A day is considered the 24-hour period from 6AM one day to 5:59AM the next.

What happens if I drink at a US port?

If you drink at a US port, your folio will be assessed a 10% tax for the unadjusted price of the drink. A $3 drink will result in a $0.30 charge to your account while a $15 drink will run you $1.50. This applies for both alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages and applies even if you have a drink package.

Bottom line

While some may feel it’s better to just not look at the price, you should absolutely consider the price before buying Carnival drink packages. Just drink what you want, when you want, and avoid the pain of trying to make sure you’re getting a deal. We think that unless you’re a heavy drinker, odds are you’ll do better off by just paying for what you drink without the package. Our total from our cruise only ran $140 for the two of us for the entire cruise.

That said, some might find usefulness from the Bottomless Bubbles package just for the soda.

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