Cruise passengers are used to seeing prices for many things go up. From cruise fares to gratuity charges, there’s been plenty of price increases. But the latest change to Princess Cruises’ drink package may be one of the biggest changes to date in the value of what you get for what you pay.
Drink packages are a popular item on cruises. Instead of paying the hefty prices for individual drinks, passengers can purchase a package and get what they want for one daily price. Want a cocktail? It’s included. A beer? Included. Soda, water, coffee? Included, included, included.
Depending on the cruise line, the packages run about $80-$100 per day after the automatic gratuity is included. It’s a considerable cost, but when you start doing the math and include both alcoholic and non-alcoholic it can be a good deal for many.
Most cruise lines offer the package with unlimited drinks included. So you can drink as much as you want. A couple of exceptions have always been Carnival and Princess.
These two lines (which have the same parent company) have traditionally offered up 15 alcoholic drinks per day. Order more than that, and the package no longer works.
There has always been an important distinction between alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks, however. While passengers are limited to 15 alcoholic drinks with the package, non-alcoholic beverages such as waters, soda, and coffees have always been unlimited.
Now Princess is making a change that caps the number of drinks to 15 per day, no matter if they are alcoholic or non-alcoholic. It’s a massive shift that could drastically reduce the value for many passengers.
In the Terms and Conditions of the cruise line’s Plus Beverage Package, it says that for drink packages purchased before July 22, 2025 (or for cruises in 2025):
“Alcoholic drinks are limited to 15 beverages per 24-hour period (6 a.m. to 6 a.m.). Alcoholic drinks requested above the daily limits are at the discretion of the shipboard management and crew and charged at regular menu prices.
“Non-alcoholic drinks, and bottles of wine sold at 25% discount, do NOT have this limitation, nor do they count toward this maximum.”
The fine print for 2026 and later cruises with drink packages bought after July 22, 2025 see a very different set of terms. There, it now states:
“Plus Beverage Package is limited to 15 beverages per 24-hour period (6 a.m. to 6 a.m.). Beverages requested above the daily limits are charged at regular menu prices. This limitation applies to alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages.”
If you don’t drink 15 beverages a day overall, then you won’t see an impact. But if you enjoy imbibing, then you could run into a limit to what’s included.
Before a soda or mocktail or juice wouldn’t count toward your limit. So if you had an orange juice with breakfast or a soda with lunch, you could still get your full allotment of 15 alcoholic drinks. Now, those extras cut into what you can have overall.
So if you’re someone that mixes alcoholic drinks and non-alcoholic drinks, you could end up having to pay more out of pocket to get everything you normally have if it adds up to more than 15.
There are a couple of very important exceptions.
First, bottled water does NOT count toward the 15 drink limit. So if you like to mix waters in with your drinking, you don’t have to worry about it limiting your wine, beer, or cocktails on the ship.
As well, if you purchase Princess’ higher-tier drink package — the Premier Beverage Package — then the 15 drink limit (alcoholic or otherwise) doesn’t apply and hasn’t since August 2024.
In other words, this change only applies to the basic beverage package.
If you’re shopping for the beverage package or getting it included with Princess Plus on your upcoming cruise, this is definitely a change you’ll want to keep in mind.
