You can save a lot of money if you know when to buy a Royal Caribbean drink package, even as much as 40% off the total price.
One of the most popular cruise add-ons available are beverage packages because they offer a flat fee for unlimited drinks.
It's a convenient way to avoid a high bar tab, but enjoy drinks on your vacation without worrying about bills later.
Unfortunately, they aren't cheap if you pay the regular price onboard the ship. The onboard price for the Deluxe Beverage Package costs typically around $115 per person, per day.
The good news is there are sales offered throughout the year to get a significant discount, but you need to know when to book.
Many of these sales are tied to major holidays, such as Black Friday, July 4th, and New Years. But there are other sales too, and each has the potential to save money.
Without a doubt, buying a drink package early could save you as much as 40% off the onboard price of a drink package.
How to get the 40% off deal
The secret to getting a discount on a Royal Caribbean drink package is to buy it before your cruise begins.
The highest price you'll pay is if you buy a drink package on the ship, so avoid that mistake by booking it early.
To see how much of a discount is being offered on a drink package, you can log into your Royal Caribbean account in the cruise line app or on their website. Navigate to your sailing and you can spot check the price there.
On any day, the price will be cheaper online, but the price can fluctuate in the months before your cruise begins.
Depending on the sale, there could be no discount on your sailing, or truly deep savings. Royal Caribbean usually advertises "up to 40% off", which means it may not be exactly that sort of a discount.
Moreover, there are different drink packages. So depending on the promotion it could be the Deluxe Beverage Package or the Evian Water Package that has a 40% discount.
Royal Caribbean uses variable pricing, and that means drink packages cost differently from sailing to sailing, and ship to ship. Plus, there can be deeper discounts offered on select days.
Most sales last just a few days, so you'll need to act quickly before the price goes back up.
The best sale of the year is typically on Black Friday, when the cruise line has the deepest discounts.
Is the drink package worth it at 40% off?
The lower you can buy the drink package, the easier it is to get your money's worth from the drink package.
The Deluxe Beverage Package includes a lot of different beverages, such as beer, wine by the glass, liquors, premium coffees, juices, and sodas. There are so many possible combinations of drinks you could order during your sailing.
In looking at Royal Caribbean drink prices, it's easy to see how quickly your bar tab would be if you paid for drinks a la carte.
- Cocktails: $10-$14
- Beers: $8-$9
- Specialty coffees: $3-$5
- Bottled water: $2.25
If you bought the Deluxe Beverage Package at $65.99 per person, per day, you could "break even" if you ordered 3 cocktails, 1 premium coffee, 1 beer, and 1 bottled water per day.
That's fairly easy to accomplish on a sea day, but port days make it more difficult because you're usually off the ship on a shore excursion. That reduces the amount of hours to take advantage of your drink package benefit.
It's much easier to make the value proposition work in your favor if you are a social drinker, specialty coffee lover, or like to try a a lot of drinks.
In short, a drink package is worth it if you drink enough every day to have it save money.
Tips for booking the drink package
Be sure to look at drink package prices as soon as possible. There's usually an ebb and a flow to pricing, so getting in on the lowest price is easier the earlier you start looking.
My advice is book the drink package as soon as you can because you can always cancel or reprice later.
There's no penalty for cancelling a beverage package purchase before the cruise begins, whether you change your mind or want to take advantage of a lower price.
Adding the drink package to your cart does not lock the price. You must buy it to get it at the given price.
You can also take advantage of onboard credit and stack the savings.
If Royal Caribbean is offering 30, 35, or 40% off the drink package, you can lower the price further by applying any onboard credit you have.
Even after you buy it, you can always cancel and rebook at a lower price.
If you bought it at 35% off, and then a few months later a 40% off deal appears, you can cancel and immediately re-book under the new price.
There's no penalty for cancelling and rebooking, and the refund from the original purchase will come back to your original form of payment in about a week or less. Any onboard credit you used for the purchase will become available immediately.
Things to know before you buy
Royal Caribbean has important rules about its drink package you'll want to know before you buy any.
The most important rule is you cannot share drinks if you buy any of the three unlimited drink packages: Deluxe, Royal Refreshment, or Soda packages. Sharing will get you in trouble and loss of a drink package without refund.
If you want to buy the Deluxe Beverage Package, all adults in the same stateroom are required to purchase the same package.
Any drink package you buy adds gratuities on top of the cost. It's called a "service fee" in the line item, but it covers tips when you order a drink. Be sure to factor this cost into your package price, especially when re-pricing packages.
Lastly, your drink package works almost everywhere, but it doesn't cover room service or Starbucks drinks at a Starbucks kiosk.
