Carnival Shocks Guests with Price Increases

December 5, 2024 Randy Young

Just off the heels of Black Friday, when most companies offer deals and sales, Carnival implemented a 12-22% price increase for onboard purchases like the Cheers Drink Package and Wi-Fi. These new prices went into effect immediately, with no prior notification from the cruise line. We look at all the changes below.

Carnival’s CHEERS Package Increases 17% for Cruises of 6 Days or More

One of the changes Carnival made was to eliminate the lower price of the CHEERS Drink Package for sailings of 6 nights or more. Previously, these sailings had a lower price for the CHEERS package than sailings of 5 days or less.

Now, all sailings will pay the same. The price is $82.54 per person per day if purchased beforehand on the Carnival website, and $88.44 if purchased onboard. This price includes the 18% gratuity (before June, the 18% wasn’t added until it was in your cart).

Anyone who purchases the Cheers package will also have to pay an 18% service fee on the package.

Sailing Length	Old Price	New Price	Change
5 days or less (pre-cruise)	$82.54	$82.54	0%
5 days or less (onboard)	$88.44	$88.44	0%
6 days or more (pre-cruise)	$70.74	$82.54	17%
6 days or more (onboard)	$76.64	$88.44	15%

This price represents a change of $12 a day, or 17%, for the longer sailings; guests on shorter sailings aren’t impacted. This increase is the first change in the CHEERS price since October 2023, when Carnival increased the price for shorter sailings.

That means for a 7-day cruise, the alcohol package for a cabin of two people (all adults 21+ in a cabin must get it) would cost $1,156—$165 more than before.

Carnival Wi-Fi Goes Up 12-22%

At the same time, Carnival has quietly raised the price of internet aboard its ships. Internet isn’t required onboard, you can still use the Carnival HUB app if you don’t have an internet plan, but many guests like to stay in touch with those at home.

Carnival offers four different Wi-Fi packages, and all packages have gone up. The highest increase is for the Social Plan, which only allows access to social media like Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and other sites. The cost of that plan has increased by a staggering 22% to $18.70 per day. The other three packages increased by 12%, running between $15 and $21 daily.

	Pre-Purchase Price	Onboard Price	Increase
Social Plan	$18.70	$22.00	22%
Value Plan	$21.10	$26.00	13%
Premium Plan	$23.80	$28.00	12%
Multi-device Plan (4 devices)	$84.00	Not Available	12%

Note that even in the highest/premium plan, Carnival still chooses to block Wi-Fi calling/texting (something that works on nearly every other cruise line).

The last increase was in December 2023, but Carnival has been steadily increasing the cost of these packages over the years.

	Aug 22	Sep 22	Jan 23	Dec 23	Dec 24
Social Plan	$8.50	$10.20	$12.75	$15.30	$18.70 (22% increase)
Value Plan	$11.05	$14.45	$17.00	$19.55	$21.10 (13% increase)
Premium Plan	$14.45	$17.00	$18.70	$21.25	$23.80 (12% increase)

Pre-cruise cost per person per day

Change in Communication Strategy by Carnival

Over the past two years, people have gotten used to price increases. But with inflation currently at 2.6%, these cost increases are falling on deaf ears.

The biggest problem, though, seems to be how Carnival implemented this change. Carnival has a history of proactively notifying guests about upcoming changes to onboard prices. This time, Carnival gave no notice, they didn’t fully update their website, and Carnival customer service wasn’t properly prepared when guests called in about the increase.

When confronted with the issue, Carnival Brand Ambassador John Heald said, “I think that most restaurants and hotels and cruise lines do not normally give email or press release warnings if they are going to increase a price of well anything really. But I absolutely understand your frustration and I promise to make sure the right people see it.“

Based on that comment and the fact that Carnival quietly increased pricing at the Steakhouse and Bonsai Teppanyaki last month, also with no notification, it can be assumed Carnival will no longer be informing guests of upcoming changes. We have reached out to Carnival for a comment but haven’t heard back at the time of publication.