All About Celebrity’s Drink Packages
Planning to sail aboard one of Celebrity Cruise Line’s ships? One thing you might want to look into is the drink packages. In this guide, we’ll break down the different drink package options and help you figure out if one is right for you.
Understanding How Celebrity Drink Packages Work
It can get a bit confusing when trying to figure out your options on Celebrity. That’s because you can either:
- Book a cruise fare with a drink package included
- or
- Add a drink package later using the online cruise planner, the Celebrity app, or onboard the ship
“All Included” Fares
When booking, Celebrity gives you the option to select an All Included fare. This upgrade includes a Classic Drink Package and a Basic Internet Package for every guest in the cabin.
It’s important to note that gratuities are no longer included in this fare type.
Once you’re booked with the basic package, you can choose to upgrade to either the Premium Drink Package or Premium Internet at any point before or during your cruise.
Celebrity Drink Package Pricing
Like its sister line Royal Caribbean, Celebrity uses dynamic pricing for its drink packages. That means the price you see can vary depending on the ship, itinerary, sail date, and even the day you’re booking.
Tip: If you see a lower price later, you can cancel your package and rebook at the new rate using the online cruise planner. It only takes a few minutes, but it can take 7–10 days for the refund to appear on your credit card.
Types of Celebrity Drink Packages
Celebrity Cruise Line offers three different “unlimited” drink packages onboard.
Classic Drink Package
The Classic Package is the most basic alcoholic drink package. It includes:
- Alcoholic drinks up to $12 per drink ($14 for sailings from the UK and Australia)
- Mocktails (frozen and non-frozen)
- Premium coffee and tea
- Sodas
- Bottled water
- Some juices (but not smoothies or Spa Café fresh juices)
If you order a drink over the $12 cap, you’ll just pay the difference plus 20% gratuity. For example, a $19 cocktail would cost you $7 plus $1.40 gratuity.
Note: Starting in mid-March 2025, Celebrity increased the Classic Package drink cap to $12 ($14 UK/AUS). At the same time, many cocktail prices onboard also went up.
The list price is usually around $89 a day plus 20% gratuity, but the price will vary for each sailing, and with promotions, it sometimes can get as low as $55.
Premium Drink Package
The Premium Package raises the limit to drinks up to $19 per drink ($23 for UK and AUS sailings). That covers a much larger portion of the cocktail and wine menus.
This package includes everything in the Classic Package, plus:
- Fresh-pressed juices from Spa Café
- Smoothies
- Premium bottled still and sparkling water
- An expanded selection of wines and top-shelf spirits
If you already have the Classic Package as part of your cruise fare, you can upgrade to the Premium Package. With sales, the upgrade has sometimes been as low as $7 per day.
The list price is usually around $99 a day plus 20% gratuity, but the price will vary for each sailing, and with promotions, it sometimes can get as low as $65.
Non-Alcoholic Drink Package
If you’re not a big drinker but like coffees and teas, the Non-Alcoholic Package might be a good fit. It includes:
- Mocktails
- Premium coffee and tea
- Premium soda
- Bottled still and sparkling water
- Fresh juices and smoothies from the Spa Café
It’s essentially all the non-alcoholic perks of the Premium Package.
The list price is usually around $45 a day plus 20% gratuity, but the price will vary for each sailing, and with promotions, it sometimes can get as low as $25.
Wait… No Soda Package?
Oddly enough, Celebrity doesn’t offer a soda-only package. It’s either the full Non-Alcoholic Package or nothing, which feels like a missed opportunity for soda drinkers who don’t need the extras.
Be warned, sodas onboard are expensive, ringing in at $4.75 each ($4 plus 20% gratuity).
Celebrity Drink Package Rules
There are a few rules you should know before purchasing:
- If one adult in a cabin purchases an alcoholic package, all adults in the cabin must purchase the same package.
- Celebrity makes exceptions for those who don’t drink. You can request a Non-Alcoholic Package instead by contacting their call center or speaking with guest services onboard.
- There’s no daily drink limit, unlike lines like Carnival, MSC, or Princess. You can order as many drinks as you like, but the staff can refuse service if you’re intoxicated.
- You can only order one drink at a time.
- Sharing packages is not allowed.
What Do Drinks Cost on Celebrity?
Drinks on Celebrity are not cheap. They’re priced about the same as what you’d find in a major city like New York or LA:
- Beers: around $12
- Cocktails: $12–$19
- Wines by the glass: average $16
Don’t forget, a 20% gratuity is automatically added to all drinks.
If you look at the drink menus, you’ll notice that many cocktails are at or over the $19 limit. That doesn’t mean you’ll always be charged extra, though. At the pool bar or other standard bars, bartenders can often make the same drink using alcohol that’s included in your package to avoid an upcharge. But that usually isn’t possible at the high-end bars like the Martini Bar, World Class Bar, and Eden Bar.
Here is a list from 2024 showing which liquors were included in each package. Celebrity has not updated this list for 2025 yet.
Is a Celebrity Drink Package Worth It?
It depends on your drinking habits.
Non-Alcoholic Package
If you drink a lot of coffee, water, or juices, you’ll need to average around 7 drinks a day to break even. For example, that could be 4 specialty coffees and 3 bottles of water per day.
Classic vs. Premium
With Celebrity’s drink prices being fairly high, especially on Edge Class ships, even casual cocktail drinkers might benefit from a package.
If you stick to beer and basic mixed drinks (like rum and Coke or gin and tonic), the Classic Package might be enough.
If you prefer:
- Craft cocktails
- Martinis from the Martini Bar
- Top-shelf liquor
…then the Premium Package is probably the better value. For example, if you order two $19 cocktails a day, you’ll pay an extra $14 a day (plus gratuity) if you have the Classic Package. That’s usually more than the cost to upgrade.
You also need to consider the peace of mind that can come with a drink package. Some people prefer booking a package, not for the money savings, but so they don’t have to worry about what they’re spending on board. There’s something about being able to order whatever you want and not worry about the bill. With Celebrity though, compared to mainstream cruise lines, that’s a bit more difficult because there are so many upcharge items that you have to be aware of what you’re ordering.
Calculate Your Savings
You can use our Cruise Drink Package Calculator to see if getting a drink package is worth it. Just enter the price you currently see for the package and what you usually drink.
For my last cruise, I skipped the “All Included” package and instead booked a la carte. Because I only needed internet for one person and waited for sales for the drink package, I saved $354 compared to buying it upfront with “All Included.”
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