Royal Caribbean: What’s Included & What Costs Extra

Royal Caribbean isn’t as all-inclusive as some people think.

Yes, a lot is included in your cruise fare. But not everything. And some of the extras surprise first-time cruisers when the final bill lands in their inbox.

I get messages about this all the time. “What’s actually free?” “Do I need to budget for loads more?” “Are the add-ons worth it?”

The good news? You get more than you might expect.

The bad news? A few costs catch people out.

Here’s exactly what’s included, what costs extra, and the one thing most cruisers don’t realise until it’s too late.

Drinks

Firstly, let’s talk about the thing that most people want to know about – the drinks!

Included Drinks

The free drinks on Royal Caribbean cruise ships are:

• Water (not bottled)
• Flavoured water
• Lemonade
• Tea
• Iced tea
• Coffee
• Hot chocolate
• Fruit juice (only at breakfast)

All other drinks are chargeable. You can add each drink to your bar tab via your SeaPass card and pay for your drinks at the end of your cruise, or you can buy a drinks package for all-inclusive drinks throughout your trip.

The free drinks aren’t available in all venues and at all times, but you can find out exactly where and when to get them here: Guide To Royal Caribbean’s Free Drinks.

Drink Prices

The drink prices on Royal Caribbean ships are:

• Beer – $8.25
• Glass of wine – $9 to $20
• Cocktail – $14
• Soft drink – $3.50
• Fancy coffee – $4
• Bottle of water – $3.25

You can see the bar menus for Royal Caribbean here: Royal Caribbean Drinks Menus With Prices.

Or Get a Drinks Package

The Deluxe Beverage Package typically costs between $55 and $115 per person, per day, before the 20% gratuity is added. Prices vary by ship, sailing length and demand.

If you don’t drink a lot of alcohol, the Deluxe Beverage Package is rarely worth it. Instead, you may wish to consider the Refreshment Package or the Classic Soda Package.

I have a full guide to Royal Caribbean drinks packages which answers all your questions about them here: Royal Caribbean Drink Packages.

Whether or not the Royal Caribbean drinks package is worth it can be tricky to work out. To make it easy for you, I’ve made a drinks package calculator.

Just enter the drinks that you like to have and it will estimate your bar bill with and without the package.

Food

The next most-asked questions relate to what food you get included with your cruise…

There’s Plenty of Food Included

Royal Caribbean cruises include meals and snacks in a choice of dining venues. For something special, you can pay an extra fee to dine in one of the many speciality dining venues onboard.

On each ship, you can eat for free in the Main Dining Room, the Windjammer and at least two more free dining venues.

You can eat for free in these Royal Caribbean complimentary dining venues:

• Main Dining Room – Formal restaurant
• Windjammer – Casual buffet-style restaurant
• Mini Bites – Poolside snacks
• Dog House – Hot dog stand
• Cafe Promenade – Cafe food
• Sorrento’s – Pizza slices
• Noodle Bar – Fast food noodles
• Vitality Cafe – Healthy breakfasts and lunches
• Cafe @ Two70 – Cafe food
• El Loco Fresh – Casual Mexican restaurant
• Splashaway Cafe – Kids’ poolside snacks
• Coastal Kitchen – Only for suite guests and Pinnacle Club members
• Room service – Only continental breakfast items are free

Not every dining venue is available on every ship, but there will always be a choice of options available, and the menus change every day.

Room service is free for continental breakfast items, but everything else has a $7.95 cover charge per order.

There’s really no need to pay anything extra for food as the free food is all excellent, but if you want to treat yourself, then you might want to consider dining in one of Royal Caribbean’s speciality restaurants.

Royal Caribbean Speciality Dining Prices

The prices for speciality dining on Royal Caribbean cruises vary depending on your ship, itinerary and when you book it.

To find the exact prices for each speciality restaurant on your particular cruise, you’ll need to log into Royal Caribbean’s cruise planner. 

To give you a rough idea, here are the speciality dining prices from two cruises I’ve taken. Prices will have increased since then, as Royal Caribbean adjusts pricing regularly, but this gives you a realistic ballpark of what to expect.

Children aged 5 and under dine in speciality restaurants for free. For children aged 6 to 12 you only pay $10 for speciality dining when ordering from the kids’ menu. 

Dining Packages – Worth It?

For a first cruise, I wouldn’t recommend booking speciality dining unless there’s a particular restaurant that you really wish to try. The free food is so good, and the speciality dining is more expensive on Royal Caribbean ships than with some other cruise lines.

The dining packages don’t give a big discount compared to booking speciality dining restaurants individually.

Dining packages don’t include premium dining experiences like Chef’s Table, Wine Pairing Dinners, Taste of Royal and Mystery Dinner Theatre. Izumi Hibachi has a $10 surcharge with a dining package. 

WiFi

Mobile phone signal at sea comes from maritime networks, and they are notoriously expensive. Using your normal data or making calls without realising can lead to eye-watering charges.

Unless you’re happy risking a hefty bill, it’s best to switch your phone to airplane mode once you leave port.

If you want to stay connected, you might want to get a WiFi package.

WiFi is not generally included on Royal Caribbean cruises, although WiFi packages are sometimes given as a free perk when booking during a promotional period.

There are three ways that you may be able to get WiFi for free during your cruise: How to get free WiFi on Royal Caribbean cruises.

WiFi Costs

Royal Caribbean’s VOOM internet, powered by Starlink, typically costs from around $20–$25 per day for one device when purchased pre-cruise. Prices can be higher onboard and vary by sailing length and demand.

The older cheaper, slower tier has now been phased out across the fleet following the rollout of Starlink.

You also have alternatives, such as buying an esim.

Tips

On your cruise, rather than tipping cash to individual staff members, guests are charged a set fee per day, which Royal Caribbean distributes evenly to its employees.

Royal Caribbean Automatic Gratuities

Royal Caribbean gratuities (also known as tips) cost $18.50 per person, per day for guests staying in Junior Suites and below and $21.00 per person, per day for guests in Grand Suites and above. This applies to guests of all ages, including children and babies.

You can choose to pre-pay your gratuities before your cruise or have them added to your onboard account to pay at the end.

No further tipping is required or expected on board, although some people (mostly US guests) do sometimes give cash tips as well to recognise exceptional service.

Suggested read: 56 amazing examples of Royal Caribbean customer service

If you have any questions about Royal Caribbean gratuities, you’ll find those answered here: Royal Caribbean gratuities.

On-Board Activities & Entertainment

Royal Caribbean ships have so much to do that it’s impossible to be bored. The great news is that almost everything is included for free.

Some Activities Cost Extra

Most activities on most Royal Caribbean ships are included in your cruise fare. So you won’t need to pay any extra for things like the FlowRider, climbing wall, zip line, ice skating, laser tag, mini-golf, water slides, shows or to use the gym.

However, on cruises departing from the UK, China and Singapore, there may be a fee to use the iFly and the North Star observation pod.

The price varies depending on your cruise. While these activities used to be free, the introduction of an extra charge means that each ride lasts longer, and you can avoid any queues. For more info, see this video by Cruise With Ben & David.

There are a few more things that cost extra on Royal Caribbean cruises. The prices vary depending on the ship and may go up and down according to demand, but here are some ballpark figures…

Prices of extra activities on Royal Caribbean ships:

• All-access ship tour – $49 to $129
• Escape room – $20
• Private FlowRider lessons – $69 to $552
• Fitness classes – $12
• Cooking classes – $35 to $70
• Spa and beauty services – From $32 for a wash and blow-dry to $2000+ for some treatments
• Casino and bingo – Various
• Art auctions – Each ship has several million dollars of art for sale
• Photographs – From $20 per print
• Video arcade – $1 to $3 per game
• Laundry – $2 to $15 per item
• Gift shop purchases – Various
• Medical services – From $150

Visits to the adults-only Solarium (pictured at the very top of this post) are included on most Royal Caribbean cruises. However, on cruises from China, this area is only available for guests staying in Gold or Silver suites or Crown & Anchor Diamond members and above.

Suggested read: Royal Caribbean Suite Perks

Childcare & Babysitting

One of the biggest perks of cruising for parents is that the kids’ clubs are the best in the world. Some parents barely see their kids all week because the kids want to spend all of their time having fun with their new friends in the kids’ club.

Royal Caribbean & Babysitting

Until 2018, Royal Caribbean used to offer babysitting in your stateroom, but this service has been discontinued.

However, for kids aged 3 to 11, the Adventure Ocean kids’ club is open until 10 pm for free, or 2 am for an extra fee. Under 3s can attend the Royal Babies and Royal Tots clubs until midnight.

Babysitting Costs

This table shows the charges for childcare on Royal Caribbean cruises:

Age	Time	Price
0 to 3	9am to 6pm	$6 per hour
0 to 3	6pm to 12am	$8 per hour
3 to 11	9am to 5pm	FREE
3 to 11	7pm to 10pm	FREE
3 to 11	10pm to 2am	$10 per hour
12 to 14	8pm to 1am	FREE
15 to 17	9pm to 1am	FREE

Under 3s are looked after in the Royal Babies & Tots Nursery. This isn’t available on every ship. You can see a list of ships that have it here: The best Royal Caribbean ships for kids.

Excursions

Royal Caribbean cruises don’t include shore excursions in the cost. You can see a brochure of shore excursions customised to your cruise and book excursions on your Royal Caribbean Cruise Planner.

Official Royal Caribbean cruise excursions can be very pricey, so you may want to look for cheaper alternatives on reputable websites like Viator or via the Shore Excursions Group. Alternatively, you can just get off the ship and do your own thing.

Private Island Activities

CocoCay Activities

If your cruise includes a visit to Royal Caribbean’s private Bahamian island, Perfect Day at CocoCay, then many of the activities are free of charge, but some have an extra fee.

This table shows the prices of activities on Perfect Day at Cococay:

Experience	Price
Thrill Waterpark	Age 4+: $44-$99 per person Age 0-3: Free
Zip Line	$79-$139 per person
Up, Up and Away helium balloon	Age 13+: $39-$99 per person Age 4-12: $24-$64 Age 0-3: Free
Coco Beach Club	Age 13+: $54-$99 per person Age 4-12: $34-$69 Age 0-3: Free
Kayaks, snorkels, beach mats etc	Various

Note: Prices for Perfect Day at CocoCay are dynamic and vary by sailing. These are typical price ranges seen in recent years, but peak dates can cost more.

You’ll find a list of everything that you can do for free here: CocoCay free activities

Royal Caribbean Key Program

Royal Caribbean offers ‘The Key’ – a program that gives premier access to exclusive experiences during your cruise.

The Key includes:

• Priority check-in and boarding
• Carry-on bag drop off 
• Welcome lunch on embarkation day
• Private hours on the rock climbing wall and FlowRider
• Priority departure at ports of call
• VIP seating at shows
• WiFi access
• Exclusive breakfast on debarkation day

The cost for The Key varies depending on your cruise, but it will be somewhere between $25 and $50 per person, per day. If one person wants The Key, then everyone in the cabin aged six and over must also buy it.

Is The Key Worth It? I’m Not Sure…

Personally, I don’t think that the Royal Caribbean Key is worth it.

However, if you plan to purchase WiFi anyway, like to be first off the ship in each port and like the idea of having set times for the rock climbing and FlowRider when you don’t have to queue, then it could be worth it for you.

The Bottom Line

If you’re cruising on a budget, you genuinely don’t need to spend much beyond your fare.

The only unavoidable extra is daily gratuities. And even those are sometimes covered by promotions or offset with onboard credit if you book at the right time.

That said, the temptation to spend is everywhere. Spa treatments. Speciality dining. Casino nights. Private island upgrades. It’s very easy to double your cruise fare without realising it.

Cruise lines design ships around optional extras, and onboard spending is a big part of the business model. Some guests barely spend anything. Others spend a lot, especially in the casino, and are often rewarded with discounts or even complimentary cruises.

The key is simple: decide your budget before you sail.

If you know what’s included and where the extras creep in, you stay in control of your bill, not the other way around.

Read more: What You MUST Know Before Hitting Any Cruise Ship Casino

Related Posts:

• Don’t Get Caught Out: 28 Hidden Cruise Costs You Need to Know About
• Royal Caribbean Junior Suite perks: Is it worth the upgrade?
• How To Use Your Royal Caribbean Onboard Credit Like A Pro
• Royal Caribbean Ships Ranked From Best To Worst