Norwegian Cruise Line has made significant changes to its beverage package lineup over the past several months. Now it’s making perhaps the biggest change of all.
Months ago we reported that the cruise line made a small tweak when it removed a kid’s soda package from its website, instead showing just one higher-priced package for all guests. And then the cruise line recently added an Unlimited Starbucks package for those who enjoy having their coffee at sea.
Fast forward, and just a few weeks ago NCL bumped up the price of its alcoholic beverage packages listed on its site. Previously, the basic open bar package ran $99 per day while the Premium Plus package was $128. Both of those prices were increased by $10 per day — a significant jump.
At the time, we also mentioned how the cruise line’s list price for the ‘Caps and Corks’ package didn’t budge.
This package is more limited than the open bar deals in that it offers soda, beers, and wines by the glass, but not cocktails/liquor. However, for passengers who drink exclusively beer or wine, the package can offer a significant savings. The list price shown on the website was $65 per person, per day — or about 60% of the cost of the open bar offer.
Now it appears that option is going away. In an update to NCL’s listing of onboard packages, we noticed that the Corks and Caps offer is no longer shown. Take a look:
Realistically, it’s not clear exactly how many people opted for this package. After all, it is more limited in what’s offered.
As well, NCL’s popular “Free at Sea” deal includes the higher-priced Unlimited Open Bar Package that includes beer, wine, cocktails, and more. So if passengers opted for this deal, then the Corks and Caps wasn’t even on their radar.
So this could be a move by NCL to just simplify its lineup of drink package offerings. Even so, for those who took advantage of the lower-priced Corks and Caps package, then an opportunity to save some cash seems to no longer be available. It looks like they will have to step up to the higher-priced Unlimited Open Bar deal if they want a drink package.
This move also comes as cruise lines across the board continue to push prices higher to offset inflation and return to profitability following the pandemic pause. Recent moves include Carnival raising prices on Internet access and NCL’s prior price increases.
