Cruising

Carnival Keeps Drink Prices At 2019/2020 Levels

Last Updated on June 3, 2025

Update 8/1/2021: we’ve added menus from some of the new bars on Carnival’s newest ship, Mardi Gras.

On July 3rd, Carnival Cruise Line launched its first passenger sailings in over 15 months. It’s been a rough time for cruise lines, with the COVID shutdown in the US all but closing up shop for these businesses. Cruise lines lost a lot of money; Carnival Corporation (the parent company of Carnival Cruise Lines) posted a loss of $2.1 billion for the second quarter of the year. A big fear was that cruise lines would jack up on-board prices to compensate for the lost income. This week we saw that this is NOT the case with Carnival. 

Increasing drink prices would have been an easy way to get some extra income once sailing resumed. Cruise lines don’t post their drink menus with prices online, and the time between cruises is so usually long, so if you increased the cost of drinks by a bit, almost no one would notice. Also, since Carnival is currently using electronic menus with QR codes, rather than print menus, they could easily change prices without worrying about the cost of printing new menus. Then again, Carnival is more of a budget cruise line, with the most reasonable single drink price we’ve seen. Increasing it could hurt their brand. 

Now with cruises sailing again, we’ve been able to see bar menus with the current prices. Then we compared those to the drink menus that we saw on one of the last cruises before the shutdown, a 7-day on the Carnival Horizon (see the live blog for this cruise). The good news is, Carnival’s 2021 drink prices have stayed the same as 2019/2020. 

Pina Colada at Carnival's Red Frog Rum Bar on the Carnival Vista

Carnival 2021 Drink Prices and Bar Menus

Below you’ll find the bar menus we have available so far. We’ll update this post as we get more. Carnival has a pretty robust beverage program and usually has different drinks available at nearly every bar on a ship, so you’ll see a ton of drink options below. For drinks offered at multiple venues, the prices are consistent (i.e., a Coors Light and the Atrium Bar will cost the same as a Coors Light at the Pool Bar). 

If you want to see if the Carnival unlimited drink package (called Cheers) might be good for you. You can learn more about it the Cheers package here.


Atrium Bar Drink Menu

This bar is available on most Carnival cruise ships. While it has different names, this is the menu for the bar that’s in the lobby or atrium of the ship.

Ocean Plaza Bar Drink Menu

This bar is on the Carnival Breeze, Carnival Dream, Carnival Horizon, Carnival Magic, Carnival Panorama, and Carnival Vista.

Guy’s Pig & Anchor Smokehouse and Brewhouse Drink Menu

This bar is on the Carnival Celebration, Carnival Horizon, Carnival Mardi Gras, and Carnival Panorama.

If you’re a beer fan, I highly recommend the Brewery Tour for $30 a person. You can read more about the Carnival Pig & Anchor Brewery Tour here.

Havana Bar Drink Menu

This bar is on the Carnival Celebration, Carnival Horizon, Carnival Mardi Gras, Carnival Panorama, and Carnival Vista.

Drink menu from Carnival's Havana Bar on Carnival Vista

Piano Bar 88 Drink Menu

This bar is available on most Carnival cruise ships. It may have a different name, but the piano bar’s menu will usually be similar.

Fahrenheit 555 Wine List

This venue is available on most Carnival cruise ships. It may have a different name, but the steakhouses wine list will usually be similar.

Main Dining Room Wine List

This venue is available on most Carnival cruise ships.

Fortune Teller Bar

The Fortune Teller Bar is the newest bar available exclusively on the Carnival Mardi Gras.

Brass Magnolia Bar

You can find Brass Magnolia in the French Quarter Zone on the Carnival Mardi Gras.

Carnival Brass Magnolia Bar menu
Brass Magnolia Cocktail Menu
Brass Magnolia on Carnival Mardi Gras Wine List
Brass Magnolia Wines and Beers

Don’t want to pay for each individual drink?

For those who don’t want to pay a ‘la cart for drinks, Carnival has an unlimited drink package, called Cheers. Try our Drink Package Calculator to see if it’s worth it financially for you or learn more about the Cheers package here.

CruiseSpotlight is an Amazon Associate. We may earn a commission when you click links to retailers and purchase goods.

Randy Young

Randy Young is the founder and editor-in-chief at Cruise Spotlight. He has been in marketing for 20 years and has been cruising for just as long. Over the years, he's worked with products like TVs, copiers, light bulbs, and EV chargers, but cruising has always been his passion. There's nothing Randy likes more than the first couple of hours on a ship, exploring every nook and cranny and seeing how it's different from everything else out there. He's known for providing detailed and analytical coverage of cruising to help cruisers get a comprehensive picture of a ship's offerings.

Comments are closed.