Are you ready to purchase a Royal Caribbean unlimited drink package?
Beverage packages have become incredibly popular with passengers because they like the idea of locking in the price of their drinks onboard by getting an unlimited drink package so they have one less thing to worry about.
Here is how you can purchase a drink package for your Royal Caribbean cruise.
Online before the cruise
To pre-order any drink package online, go to Royal Caribbean's Cruise Planner and choose which drink packages you want to order.
Drink packages are available for ordering online many months in advance of a cruise sailing date. In fact, it is one of the first items available for purchase via the Cruise Planner.
Buying a Royal Caribbean drink package before your cruise begins offers two significant advantages: you can split up the total cost of the cruise vacation because the drink package cost will be charged at the time of purchase and it will be ready to be used once you board the ship.
As an example, the price on Icon of the Seas for the Deluxe Beverage package that included unlimited alcohol will cost $643.93 per person (before gratuity) for a 7-night cruise. For two guests with gratuity, that comes out to $1,519.56.
Read more: Guide to Icon of the Seas
While that is a lot of money up-front, you could pay it off now on a different credit card billing cycle, and not have to pay it on top of other purchases made on your sailing. Guests can pay off the drink packages before the cruise even begins, which means less of a bill that will be incurred following the conclusion of a cruise.
Moreover, most sailings offer some sort of pre-purchase discount on the drink package, which can bring that cost down. Pre-purchasing a drink package online is the most reliable way of saving money on a drink package purchase (compared to booking it onboard).
Going back to our example, Royal Caribbean advertises the price is 20% off onboard prices.
As an added benefit, buying online means you won't have to waste time waiting to buy a drink package onboard the ship.
In short, your best choice is to pre-purchase a drink package before the cruise to get the lowest price and save time once you get on the ship.
Phone
There is one more method of pre-purchasing an unlimited drink package and that is by phone.
Guests may call (800) 398-9819 in the U.S. or Canada to reserve drink packages for their cruise.
If there's ever a choice, it's faster and easier to book a drink package online rather than the phone, however, there is one reason to call in and that's if you want to buy the drink package with alcohol but get someone else in the room a different drink package.
Royal Caribbean's rules stipulate if one adult gets the Deluxe Beverage Package, then all other adults in the cabin have to get one too. This is to prevent sharing of drink package benefits.
If there's an adult booked in the cabin that does not or cannot drink alcohol, you can call Royal Caribbean and ask for that adult to instead get the Refreshment package, which is the non-alcoholic option.
You have to call in to get this workaround, as it cannot be done online.
Onboard
Another option is to wait and purchase the drink package onboard your Royal Caribbean cruise.
Drink packages can be purchased at various kiosks set up around the ship, as well as any bar or lounge.
There only real advantage of waiting to buy a drink package onboard is if you choose to purchase a drink package on a day other than embarkation day.
In that case, Royal Caribbean will prorate the cost of the package for the remainder of the cruise.
If you know you're going to get the drink package, buy it online pre-cruise to save money and time. The onboard price will absolutely cost more per day than if pre-purchased.
