Adult beverages play a fairly large role for most people on a cruise.
People who never crack open a beer or pour themselves a glass of wine before lunch tend to relax those rules once they board a ship. There's something that simply turns your brain onto vacation mode about ordering a margarita, a pina colada, or some other silly beach cocktail that kicks in when you board a ship.
Most cruise lines offer beverage packages that offer unlimited drinks. Royal Caribbean has its Deluxe Beverage Package (DBP) which offers passengers a truly unlimited experience. As long as you're not overtly drunk, anyone with the DBP can have as many adult beverages, specialty coffees, mocktails, sodas, and bottles of water as they want.
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Royal Caribbean uses a variable pricing model for its beverage packages. The cruise line's prices can range from around $60 per day (plus an 18% gratuity) to roughly twice that. Passengers, up to two days before their cruise sails, can track the price of the DBP and cancel it then rebook it if the price goes down.
Carnival's Cheers Beverage package has more clear pricing, but it also has a catch.
"The beverage package can only be purchased for the entire voyage at a rate of $59.95 per person, per day plus 18% service charge, via Carnival’s website and $64.95 per person, per day plus 18% service charge, if purchased once on board," the cruise line shares on its website.
Unlike Royal Caribbean's DBP, Carnival's Cheers limits passengers to 15 alcoholic beverages per day. Once that limit is hit, they are shut off an no more alcoholic drinks will be served.
Margaritaville at Sea, which has previously not offered an unlimited alcoholic beverage package will be adding one once its new ship, the Islander, begins sailing in June.
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Margaritaville at Sea adds a beverage package
The first Margaritaville at Sea ship, the Paradise, does not offer drink packages because no cruise line does on two-day cruises. That ship almost entirely sails two-day cruises, so the cruise line offers a discount on 10-drink tickets but does not offer a traditional package.
That will change with Margaritaville at Sea Islander, which will be sailing four and five-day itineraries. The cruise line is offering a beverage package that's priced like Carnival's while also sharing its most-lamented feature.
The Islander's Ultimate Beverage Chill Package will cost $59.99 per night per person along with an 18% gratuity. Like Carnival, the Margaritaville at Sea offering will have a 15 alcoholic drink limit. It's actually a little worse than what Carnival offers because the limits includes mocktails and the package does not include specialty coffee at its onboard coffee shop.
Here's what the package includes:
- All beers, wines by the glass, cocktails and Boat Drinks (up to $20 each)
- Unlimited soda and 500ml bottled water
- Juices, Mocktails and bottled/canned non-alcoholic beverages
- 25% off the menu price for wine and champagne by the bottle
For any individual drink that costs more than $20, passengers can opt to pay the difference.
"There is a maximum limit of 15 alcoholic and specialty drinks per day, per person using the Ultimate Beverage Chill. Soda and bottled water are unlimited and do not count toward this 15-drink maximum limit," the company posted on its website. "Specialty drinks include bottled non-alcoholic beverages, non-alcoholic specialty beverages like mocktails, and virgin daiquiri drinks."
Both Royal Caribbean and Carnival include specialty coffee in their beverage packages.
Margaritaville at Sea adds a new ship
MAS Islander will double the size of the company's fleet. The new ship begins sailing in June on 4 and 5-night cruises with stops in Key West, Cozumel, and Progreso.
The new ship is much larger than MAS Paradise and, like its sister ship, it has been revamped to give it the full Jimmy Buffett experience.
"The Margaritaville at Sea Islander spans 12 passenger decks accommodating 2,650 adventure-seeking passengers. Currently undergoing an extensive transformation, Margaritaville at Sea will fully redesign all 1,100 staterooms with custom styling reminiscent of the sand, sea, and sky and all new furnishings including Margaritaville's signature bedding, pillows, and linens," the company shared.
MAS Paradise has relatively few balconies and that's something that Islander will improve on.
"With more than 700 Breezy Balcony staterooms, Grand Terrace Suites, luxurious Corner Suites, and ultra-exclusive Islander suites, couples, families, and friends alike can chase the sunset from their spacious balconies with endless gulf breezes," the company added.
