It’s not often that I say you should never buy a cruise line’s drinks package, but with NCL I can say that with confidence. In fact, I’m not entirely sure it’s even possible to buy it now.
But that doesn’t mean I’m telling you not to enjoy all the drinks you want to onboard. It’s just that, with NCL, there’s a better way.
NCL’s drinks packages have often been the most expensive, and sometimes most confusing, of any. But things are now a lot simpler and a lot more affordable.
NCL Drink Package list
There are four different adult beverage packages available on Norwegian Cruise Line cruises. These are:
- More at Sea Premium Beverage Package (AKA Open Bar) – included with More at Sea fares
- More at Sea Premium Beverage Package (AKA Open Bar) for Pride of America cruises only – included with More at Sea fares
- Unlimited Soda Package – $12.50 per day
- Unlimited Starbucks Package – $16.50 per day
More at Sea Premium Beverage Package
Formerly known as the Ultimate Beverage Package, and sometimes referred to as the Open Bar, NCL’s main drinks package is now called the Premium Beverage Package.
The Premium Beverage Package entitles guests to a wide selection of beers, wines by the glass, cocktails, spirits and soft drinks. It used to be limited to drinks with a $15 price or less but that’s no longer the case.
You get this drinks package included when you buy a More at Sea fare. The drinks package used to cost $109 per person, per day and More at Sea always costs less than this – so don’t even try to get the drinks package on its own.
Pay for More at Sea and you’ll get the drinks plus a lot more included too – free WiFi minutes, shore excursion credit and speciality dining meals.
Cost: Included with More at Sea
The Premium Beverage Package Includes:
- Cocktails – 100s of different ones
- Beers and Ciders – Bottled and draft
- Wine – Over 20 wines by the glass
- Gin & Vodka – 16 brands
- Rum – 16 brands
- Whiskey, brandy and other spirits – 33 brands
- Liqueurs and cordials – 24 brands
- Sodas, tonics and juices – A large selection
It does NOT include:
- Super premium brands
- Bottled water
- Lavazza or Starbucks coffees
- Beer buckets
- Bottles of wine
- Vending machines or wine dispensers
- Mini bar or room service
- Tastings, flights and experiences
More at Sea Premium Beverage Package – Pride of America
The second drinks package is very similar to the main one, but it applies to Pride of America sailings only.
There are some differences in the drinks included, but also in the price you’ll pay.
You get this drinks package when booking a More at Sea fare on Pride of America, but the key difference is you still need to pay the 20% gratuity for the drinks package – which works out at $21.80 per day.
That quickly adds up over the whole cruise and your whole party, so bear that in mind before you pay for the upgrade.
Cost: Included with More at Sea but $21.80 per person, per day gratuity applies
The Premium Plus Beverage Package Includes:
- Everything in the Premium Beverage Package
- Bottled water
- Speciality coffee in dining rooms
- Ultra-premium spirits
It does NOT include:
- Beer buckets
- All bottles of wine or those served outside of dinner
- Speciality coffees served outside the restaurants
- Vending machines or wine dispensers
- Mini bar or room service
- Tastings, flights and experiences
Unlimited Soda
The soda package is great for kids or people who choose to avoid alcohol. It offers unlimited fountain soda.
Cost: $12.50 per day.
The Soda Package Includes:
- Pepsi & Diet Pepsi
- Sierra Mist
- Mountain Dew
- Ginger Ale
- Tonic Water
- Club Soda
Unlimited Starbucks Package
Love your Starbucks coffee? You can get an unlimited fix if you choose this package, including all the speciality beverages served at the on-board coffee shop. It doesn’t include snacks, unfortunately!
Cost: $16.50 per day.
The Unlimited Starbucks Package Includes:
- Classic teas and coffees
- Speciality coffees
Discontinued drinks packages
Before NCL shifted to More at Sea offers in late 2024, there used to be two tiers to the main drinks package. The standard one included all drinks up to a cap of $15, while the more premium option (which cost almost $140 per person, per day!) was a lot more inclusive.
Things were streamlined with the introduction of More at Sea and now you just get the standard drinks package, but with that $15 drink cap removed and a wider selection of premium options included.
There also used to be another drinks package available with NCL, known as “Corks and Caps”. The package cost $65 per person, per day and included beers, wines and soft drinks. It was removed in late 2022.
NCL beverage service charge
When considering the price of the NCL drink packages, it’s important to also think about the service charge or gratuity that’s added.
Norwegian Cruise Line automatically adds a 20% service charge to each drink package at the checkout – although you don’t pay this if you’ve got your package through a More at Sea fare, except for on Pride of America sailings.
NCL Drink Package Prices including the service charge:
- Premium = Included in More at Sea fare
- Premium (Pride of America) = Included but $21.80 per person, per day gratuity
- Soda = $12.50 + 20% = $15 per person, per day
- Unlimited Starbucks = £12.95 + 20% = $19.80 per person, per day
NCL More at Sea Promotion – a little more on what you get
Norwegian Cruise Line’s More at Sea promotion gives guests a list of extra perks, including the Unlimited Open Bar drinks package.
- Premium Drinks Package
- Speciality Dining Package
- Free WiFi Minutes
- Shore Excursion Credit
More at Sea will always – always – be cheaper than paying the old prices for a drinks package. So if you want all-inclusive alcohol on your NCL cruise, pay for More at Sea. Don’t even ask about the drinks package on its own!
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So Is the More at Sea Promotion a good deal?
If you’re considering getting a drinks package, then More at Sea is absolutely a good deal. You’ll likely pay an average of around $40 or £50 per day, which is a lot less than the old drinks package prices.
Plus you’ll get at least one free speciality dining meal, some free WiFi minutes, and up to $50 off every shore excursion you book. Not bad at all!
However if you only want to stick to the non-alcoholic drinks packages then More at Sea might cost you more, and may not be worth it – especially if you don’t really care about the speciality restaurants, or book excursions with a third party.
NCL drink prices
Here’s a rough breakdown of the prices you can expect to pay for your drinks on an NCL cruise if you don’t pay for the package.
- Cocktail: $11 – $14
- Glass of wine: $9 – $10
- Pint of beer: $9
- Bottle of beer: $6 – $7
- Liquor: $10 – $17
- Soft drink: $3.50
- Energy drink: $6.50
- Coffee: $3 – $4
- Large water: $6
So, as you can see, it’s really easy to spend $20 per day on drinks if you purchase them individually. Even one glass of wine, one beer and a couple of soft drinks per day would be enough to make choosing the More at Sea offer worthwhile.
However, you must remember that most coffees and bottled water are not included in the package. You’d need to pay for those separately.
Free drinks you always get with Norwegian Cruise Line
The following drinks are available free of charge on NCL ships:
- Tea and coffee
- Lemonade
- Iced tea
- Water and flavoured water by the glass
- Fresh fruit juices (at breakfast)
It’s important to note that these free drinks are only available in the buffet and restaurants. You won’t be able to get any free drinks at the bars aside from tap water.
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More useful info on NCL’s drinks package policies
Some extra things you might want to know…
Drinking age on NCL cruises
Being an American cruise line, the Norwegian Cruise Line drinking age policy states that the minimum age for drinking alcohol is 21 years. However, when the ship is at least 3 miles from the coast, guests aged 18 and over can consume beer or wine.
International waters
Guests who are 18 to 20 years of age can purchase and consume beer or wine when the ship is in international waters (3 miles from land). The parent or legal guardian must be on board the sailing with the young adult and present themselves at the Front Desk so they can sign the form allowing the consumption of beer and wine only.
Please note, that this only applies to beer and wine and that temporary guardianship for the purposes of sailing isn’t allowed; only a permanent legal guardian can sign the form.
Mediterranean cruises
On NCL cruises embarking in a country where the legal drinking age is lower than 21, those aged 18, 19 or 20 are generally not permitted to consume alcohol. However, there may be exceptions to this rule.
It all depends on the laws of each country and the agreements in place with the cruise line. Specific information for each cruise can be obtained from Norwegian Cruise Line.
Suggested read: How old do you have to be to drink on a cruise?
Bringing your own drinks onboard
Norwegian Cruise Line permits guests to bring unlimited bottles of wine onboard. This is subject to a corkage fee of $15. You may drink your wine wherever you like on the ship. No other drinks are permitted to be brought on board, with the exception of purified water for medical use.
Suggested read: Can you take drinks on a cruise ship?
Sharing drinks packages
NCL does not allow sharing of drink packages. If one person has a drinks package, all adults in the stateroom must have the same package and children must have a soda package.
If one guest cannot drink alcohol for any reason such as pregnancy, health or addiction, you should contact NCL to ask if they will waive their normal rules.
Where you can use the drinks package
You can use your drinks package in all bars, lounges, restaurants and on one of Norwegian Cruise Line’s private islands, Great Stirrup Cay, but not on the other island, Harvest Caye.
Taking drinks in the pools and hot tubs
On NCL cruise ships you are generally allowed to take drinks into the swimming pools and hot tubs as long as they’re in plastic glasses.
Final thoughts
Individual drinks are pretty expensive on Norwegian Cruise Line. And the old drinks packages that included alcohol used to be super-expensive – easily the most expensive at sea.
However, this is mostly irrelevant, as the More at Sea programme allows you to get a free drinks package (plus other benefits like dining) at a much lower cost, when you consider everything included.
If you don’t drink much alcohol and prefer bottled water, tea, coffee and lemonade, you may be better off declining More at Sea and just going for a cruise-only fare.
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Jenni Fielding is the founder of Cruise Mummy. She has worked in the cruise industry since 2015 and has taken over 30 cruises. Now, she helps over 1 million people per month to plan their perfect cruise holidays.
Hi If I take a free at sea package on my next cruise. Will it cover wine by the glass at the main dining room? From your experience how is the wine by the glass service? do you have to wait a long time to have the wine server attention and get your glass of wine or they usually very proactive in serving your refill?
It will be my main source of alcohol consumption and I do dot want to have to beg to get a second or third wine of glass.
Thank you
Just came back from a NCL cruise in the Canary Islands and I can now answer my question. I was globally very satisfied with the dring package. About 5 different white wines and around 6 different red wines were available. In addition port wine was available within the 15$ per glass limit of the drink package. The wines were good but not great (the white wines were a bit better in my opinion). It was not very cheap wines. At the dining room and restaurants it was easy to have wine by the glass and the waiters were very happy to offer another glass. In my case, I was happy with the package.
Hi Jenny
Interesting article. we are just back from our second cruise. we were on the Norwegian Sun.
A point on the gratuities, sorry if already covered, but they are optional. If you don’t pre pay then you can go to the onboard customer services and request they are removed. They did say that you can only do this 3 days before disembarkation (when asked why they said ‘you may change your mind !).
This took $560 off our bill !
We did the free on board and it was a no brainer for the 4 of us, we did drink our money’s worth 😁.
Also we filled water bottles up either from the cold water points at the buffet restaurants or from glasses we took back to the cabin.
Overall great experience with NCL, I am now a converted cruiser from being a sceptic and am looking at our next one.🛳️
Richard
Thanks for your comment, Richard. I’m glad to hear that you enjoyed your cruise. I’d just like to leave this link here for anyone who’s looking for more info about whether it’s a good idea to remove gratuities: https://www.cruisemummy.co.uk/refuse-pay-gratuities-on-cruise/
so you took the tips off and the crew that worked so hard got nothing?
Hi, great content. I have a question. We booked the balcony suite and it came with the “free-at-sea-package”. But we would have to pay about $450 for the 20% service charge.
If we decline that, would we still be able to get the drinks and pay only the 20% service charge individually for every drink we order?
Or would we then being charged the full price for every drink, same as if we would not not have “free-at-sea” package?
Steven
You can decline the Free at Sea package and pay for drinks individually if you prefer.
if you decline you are declining the free at sea. you are then on your own. each drink at full price plus 20%. is $450 really that much to tip?
we declined once on board and had them removed from bill at end of cruise Steven
I did read that if in Australia we do not pay the gratuities?
I’m just making sure this is correct. I have never paid gratuities on a drinks package prior to covid. But we all understand things change.
Your post was extremely helpful. We usually book with an agent from Vacations To Go. Unfortunately, friends that will be going with us made the arrangements. We thought she made them with our agent but did not. She went through Norwegian. We have found that they seem to charge more and the information is so confusing. You have done a wonderful job explaining everything. We had no idea that they charge 20% on top of drink package. We usually go on Carnival or Royal Caribbean. We will be traveling out of Tampa, Florida on the Pride.
Hi Jean. I’m glad you found this to be useful. I hope you enjoy your cruise. Thanks! Jenni
Going to Carribean in March and your comments have been so helpful. I was going to upgrade from premium to premium plus as I thought this was the only one that included the 20% service. I now know they both do so can save myself some money (although it was the inclusion of champagne in premium plus that lured me) thank you gorgeous your helpful unbiased answers. Janet UK
You’re most welcome. Enjoy your cruise! Jenni
Hi, if a book an NCL cruise with the free at sea drinks package and prepay my gratuities will i still be charged 20% beverage gratuities on every drink i order?
Hi Christopher. That depends on where you live. If you book in the UK or Australia, gratuities on the drinks package are included: https://www.ncl.com/uk/en/terms-and-conditions/promotions. However, if you book in the US, you will have to pay a 20% gratuity on the retail value of the Premium Beverage Package. This equates to $19.80 USD per person per day. https://www.ncl.com/termsandconditions/promotions. (I’ve put the links to the info in here, but you may only be able to view the link for the country you’re in currently.) Jenni
Hi, we have booked aboard NCL EPIC, for early next year (2021). My wife and I are travelling with my sister, so there’ll be three adults in a mini suite. When we booked our agent told us he was only able to allocate the premium drinks package, via “Free at sea” to the first two guests. Will we be able to add my sister to the Free at sea for $99 either onboard or before we sail. Many thanks. Paul.
Hi Paul. I would expect that you would have to pay the full drinks package price for your third guest rather than the $99 price. Your travel agent will be able to confirm that for you. Jenni
I’m going on my first cruise for my son’s wedding next May on the Joy. We all got the premium beverage package and 3rd/4th guests free package. I noticed when I logged in there is an option to pay in advance a $210 service fee. It says if you don’t pay in advance, this amount will be added to your room account on board the ship. I don’t quite understand this fee – it sounds like a mandatory fee but an option to pay it up front? I know my son and his fiance have many young friends going, some with young children and some barely scraping enough for the cruise. Are they going to be surprised by this fee? Are there any other surprises other than what is above for first time cruisers?
Hi Mary. Norwegian Cruise Line add a 20% service charge to beverage packages. There’s also a daily charge for gratuities which is currently $14.50 per person, per day. I haven’t cruised on-board Norwegian Joy myself, but I have been on the sister ship, Norwegian Encore and I found that some of the activities on-board such as the go-kart track, virtual reality arcade and laser tag had an extra charge. NCL is, unfortunately, one of the cruise lines that charges the most for these kinds of things. Jenni
As of Jan 2020, Premium Beverage Package seems to have been renamed to Adult Beverage Package – can someone confirm they are the same?
Yes, they are the same. They sometimes use the words ‘Adult Beverage Package’ on documents but it’s the same as Premium Beverage Package and Ultimate Beverage Package.
Your post was very helpful. I am booked for Pride of America in August 2020 and purchased the Free at Sea drink package for my husband and myself. However, I am now skeptical because I cannot seem to find what’s included. Do you have any idea? Thank you!
Thanks Sharon. Here’s the info I think you’re looking for: https://www.ncl.com/uk/en/terms/hawaii-beverage-package I hope this helps. Jenni
Hi I have a quick question about the free at sea packages. the name implies that it is only free when at sea. does that mean that you only get the packaged whilst sailing at sea or does it include the time in port. I ask as we often back on the ship by lunchtime and enjoy an afternoon drink by the pool.
Great question! Yes, drinks are also free when you’re in port. You’re probably not the only one to be confused by that.
Hi Jenni,
Thank you for your information. I have a question. We (4 adults) booked a cruise at NCL for 12 days. Because we booked a suite we were automatically upgraded for the free at sea getting the 5 perks.
Person 1&2 got the premium beverage package. Are persons 3&4 obliged to buy the same premium beverage package? It makes no sense for us to buy it since the whole party doesn’t drink alcohol. Whereas the drinks we prefer (fresh juice, coffeespecialties, bottled water) are not included. Furthermore we are only 5 days at sea, and 7 on the islands for the whole day.
What advice do you have for us?
The cruise: NCL Pearl from Miami to NYC
Looking forward to your advice.
Kind regards San
Hi San. Thanks for your question. Seeing as you got the 5 perks included for only two people, I wouldn’t think that they would be able to make you buy it for the other two. Did you book with a travel agent? They will be able to confirm that for you. Jenni
I have never been to a cruise and your article is very useful for me!
We usually drink water, cocktails and wine! Do you think NCL Premium Plus Beverage Package is what we need?
It totally depends on how much you drink. I like to work out how many drinks I’d need per day to break even and then decide. Jenni
Thanks for the information. Traveling on the Encore on January 5, glad to see all the vodkas and rims with the free at Sea program. Just will need to pay for water. What are the sizes of water? Can you order a jug for your room?
Hi. The large water is about 600ml. We were given bottles of water in our room in plastic-free packaging. I’m not sure if this is the same on every cruise. The tap water is fine to drink too. Jenni