# Are cruise ship drink packages cost-effective? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 16, 2025, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-cruise-ship-drink-packages-cost-effective/1015665 "2025-03-16T15:47:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2025, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-cruise-ship-drink-packages-cost-effective/1015665/41 "2025-03-17T20:34:13Z")
We generally cruise because my lovely wife has medical dietary issues that are much easier to address on a cruise ship than when traveling on our own or by other means. Neither of us particularly drinks alcohol (I have an average of a drink a month, which always gets me ticked as “none” at medical offices; she doesn’t drink) or soda (save the occasional ginger beer or root beer). Also, as two women traveling, we like to know that someone will take notice if we vanish at a port, and to have the option to take a ship’s tour if, say, it’s in Russia where LGBTQ+ advocacy is considered extremist. ---
**Author:** ![JohnGalt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johngalt/32/184_2.png) [@JohnGalt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnGalt)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2025, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-cruise-ship-drink-packages-cost-effective/1015665/42 "2025-03-17T20:46:28Z")
We had an Alaskan NCL cruise last summer, but didn’t order the drinks package because we rarely drink alcohol. We didn’t even get the soda package, and found the free lemonade and juices to be just fine. We ordered soft drinks a few times, and half of the time we didn’t get charged. The one time we had a glass of wine, they again didn’t charge, since it was the last night of the cruise and we had the last of the bottle. So you just might get to drink free (if you have puppy-dog eyes like we do). ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2025, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-cruise-ship-drink-packages-cost-effective/1015665/43 "2025-03-17T21:48:45Z")
Factually true, but that’s also a common financial fallacy, where the reality is not nearly as attractive as the idea at first appears. > **Off topic, so hidden** > > But that only helps to the degree your mortgage interest deduction is greater than the standard deduction. For 2025 that’s $30K for a couple. So if they pay $30,100 in _interest_, they get to deduct an extra $100 off their taxes for a savings of about $30. > > Rounding mightily … > At current mortgage rates of about 6% you’d need a $500K mortgage to pay that much interest in year 1. During which you’d also pay about $12,500 in principal. > > Somebody able to swing a $500K mortgage is not going to get rich saving $30 on their taxes each year. Nor is that $30/year going to go far towards replacing a roof, painting the exterior, or replacing any of the appliances. Or even keeping the lawn irrigated & pest-free. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2025, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-cruise-ship-drink-packages-cost-effective/1015665/44 "2025-03-18T14:56:55Z")
> [@doreen](#): > > I understand the limited budget makes things like drink packages matter - but the larger, mass-market cruises tend to have a lot of optional spending. Just so you know. It’s really hard to avoid getting an invoice at the end of the cruise even if you prepay service charges. If you don’t get a drink package and the invoice is for a drink or two a day, it won’t be much. But I just booked a 19 day cruise with 8 ports - that means I will almost certainly be booking 8 excursions through the cruise ship and I know my husband will play bingo and those are of course not included in the cruise fare ( the excursions are on some of the really expensive lines) We’ve found that different cruise lines nickel and dime you different amounts, but most have been doing it a lot more over the last 20 years. It’s less the money than the annoyance. In 2000 Princess to Alaska had free kitchen tours which were cool. NCL a few years later charged. NCL had a lot more small charges than Holland America. I don’t think we had any extra charges on our Viking river cruise. Limited opportunity, true. ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2025, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-cruise-ship-drink-packages-cost-effective/1015665/45 "2025-03-18T19:09:52Z")
I’m not really talking about nickel and diming , just about opportunities to spend, which someone who hasn’t taken a cruise or hasn’t taken one in many years might not be aware of. ( My first cruise was in 1985 and I don’t recall if there were excursions offered or a casino or restaurants that weren’t included) I mean, someone somewhere probably gets off a cruise with a tiny invoice if they take no excursions, don’t play bingo, don’t buy any photos, don’t get any spa services and don’t buy any food or drink that’s not included but I don’t know anyone who does that. Even if someone buys independent excursions, that’s still an extra cost. I’ve seen a couple of cruise lines that include all excursions - but of course , that just means you’re paying for them in the much higher fare ( which I couldn’t even find online - you had to email a request for pricing). ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2025, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-cruise-ship-drink-packages-cost-effective/1015665/46 "2025-03-18T19:21:42Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > But you get that tax break on the mortgage! Not for most middle-class. When they combined the standard deduction and exemption into a larger standard deduction, that killed itemizing for a lot of people. > [@JohnGalt](#): > > We had an Alaskan NCL cruise last summer, So did we. > [@doreen](#): > > I’m not really talking about nickel and diming , just about opportunities to spend, Which NCL makes it easy by just showing your card. Do other cruise lines do it that way? ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2025, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-cruise-ship-drink-packages-cost-effective/1015665/47 "2025-03-18T19:32:23Z")
I think they all do. I know I always hear people refer to a Sign and Sail card, which is what Carnival calls theirs and I have also heard about Seapass - Royal Caribbean, I think. Making it easy to spend isn’t the only reason - it’s faster and easier to swipe a card that it is to collect cash and make change which is part of the reason that so many places have gone cashless. I definitely remember hearing a story about some relatives having to settle their sons’ bar bill before debarking 35 years ago so I assume that even back then , you charged purchases to your room. ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2025, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-cruise-ship-drink-packages-cost-effective/1015665/48 "2025-03-18T20:03:35Z")
> [@doreen](#): > > I’m not really talking about nickel and diming , just about opportunities to spend, which someone who hasn’t taken a cruise or hasn’t taken one in many years might not be aware of. Yes, the fellow who organizes the cruises I usually go on has commented on this for several years now. Most cruise lines are publishing prices for cruises that look pretty good, just to get you on to the boat, where they have many opportunities to sell more stuff to you. These days, that’s where they make their most profit. And it’s not just traditional add-ons, like playing in the casino or having a spa day. More and more areas on the ship are becoming add-on charges. Upscale restaurants that aren’t included in the cruise fare are pretty much standard. Lounges that are only available to high-end customers who pay a lot more than others on the cruise. Art auctions, shore excursions, jewelry sales, alternative medicine practitioners, it all generates revenue. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2025, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-cruise-ship-drink-packages-cost-effective/1015665/49 "2025-03-18T22:00:59Z")
> [@doreen](#): > > I’m not really talking about nickel and diming , just about opportunities to spend, which someone who hasn’t taken a cruise or hasn’t taken one in many years might not be aware of. ( My first cruise was in 1985 and I don’t recall if there were excursions offered or a casino or restaurants that weren’t included) My first was the QE2 in 1980, and they had a casino. No excursions - hard to have them in the middle of the Atlantic! The one I did in 1987 definitely had excursions for extra cost. But those get reserved up front usually, and the cost is pretty clear. I don’t play in the casino, but casinos are casinos, and I don’t count it as a surprise. However my NCL cruises in the Mediterranean and Baltic seemed to have the cruise director talking about great activities every five minutes, all of which cost money. IIRC, even things like trivia contests, which I was used to being free, if the prize was a cheap ship-themed souvenir. (I have a bunch.) It wasn’t the money, it was the constant selling that pissed me off. The lack of that was one of the things I liked about Viking. ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Mouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mighty_mouse/32/7776_2.png) [@Mighty\_Mouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Mouse)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2025, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-cruise-ship-drink-packages-cost-effective/1015665/50 "2025-03-18T22:28:52Z")
I don’t cruise, but my aunt who goes at least twice a year (she’s now in her 80s god bless her) and has been going for 40 years, says that in the 1980s she would literally go for a ten day cruise and not spend a single dollar on board. She might shop in the ports of call or eat a lunch on shore in a restaurant, but nothing on board the ship. Now she says she has to budget 50% of the cruise price for add-ons. Sometimes more than 100%. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2025, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-cruise-ship-drink-packages-cost-effective/1015665/51 "2025-03-18T22:44:03Z")
Other than excursions and a couple of drinks, we spend nothing. What is your aunt buying? ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2025, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-cruise-ship-drink-packages-cost-effective/1015665/52 "2025-03-18T22:46:04Z")
> [@doreen](#): > > Even if someone buys independent excursions, that’s still an extra cost. Paying for excursions seems like an odd thing to call an “extra cost”. I wouldn’t pay for a hotel room in Rome and then complain that it didn’t include a trip to the Vatican, for instance. > [@susan](#): > > Other than excursions and a couple of drinks, we spend nothing. Same here. I guess you could categorize the mandatory gratuities as an “add-on”, though. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2025, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-cruise-ship-drink-packages-cost-effective/1015665/53 "2025-03-18T23:12:04Z")
> [@susan](#): > > Other than excursions and a couple of drinks, we spend nothing. What is your aunt buying? I’m not her, but we buy big boy/girl drinks, we buy upgraded meals, we buy massages, cigars, hairdressing, etc. And tip the special workers directly. It adds right up. ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Mouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mighty_mouse/32/7776_2.png) [@Mighty\_Mouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Mouse)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2025, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-cruise-ship-drink-packages-cost-effective/1015665/54 "2025-03-18T23:18:53Z")
These kinds of things, also upgrades to excursions. She’s gotten more spendy as she’s grown older and is less concerned about outliving her money. She doesn’t buy drinks packages, so all her alcoholic beverages and sometimes sodas are extra. I should have mentioned that most of her cruises are in the Mediterranean and the Far East. I think the pricing policies might be different than those that depart from the US. ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2025, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-cruise-ship-drink-packages-cost-effective/1015665/55 "2025-03-18T23:27:41Z")
> [@hogarth](#): > > Paying for excursions seems like an odd thing to call an “extra cost”. I wouldn’t pay for a hotel room in Rome and then complain that it didn’t include a trip to the Vatican, for instance. It was in the context of having a tiny invoice at the end of a cruise - if you have a tiny invoice because you only bought independent excursions, it’s a cost just like it would have been if you bought the excursions through the ship. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2025, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-cruise-ship-drink-packages-cost-effective/1015665/56 "2025-03-19T00:36:48Z")
> [@doreen](#): > > It was in the context of having a tiny invoice at the end of a cruise - if you have a tiny invoice because you only bought independent excursions [..] We generally buy most of our excursions up-front before the cruise begins (otherwise the ones we want might not be available). ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2025, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-cruise-ship-drink-packages-cost-effective/1015665/57 "2025-03-19T00:46:17Z")
We too, but if you look at Cruise Critic, you’ll see the guy who knows the best guide in town, who does it for half the price of the ship, and knows the guy who runs all the museums. It also depends on the cruise. When we did the Baltic, the ship docked in Stockholm easy walking distance from the subway, so we could go to the Vasa museum on our own. In Saint Petersburg, though, I wouldn’t have wanted to try it on our own. ---
**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2025, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-cruise-ship-drink-packages-cost-effective/1015665/58 "2025-03-19T00:56:18Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > We’ve found that different cruise lines nickel and dime you different amounts, but most have been doing it a lot more over the last 20 years. It’s not just cruises. _Everyone_ does it now. I’ve been in McDonalds that have a sign telling you how many sauces you get with each size small, fried, bite-sized chicken parts. You want _one_ extra sauce on a 20 piece? that’ll cost you 25¢ or 50¢ more. Sheetz (convenience store chain) has touch screen/customized food ordering. Ketchup & yellow mustard are free, honey mustard, BBQ sauce or any of the other sauces are 35¢ more. Even _seasoning_ has an upcharge! ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2025, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-cruise-ship-drink-packages-cost-effective/1015665/59 "2025-03-19T18:36:39Z")
And the airline industry is the master of this. When I started flying you paid your fare and you were done. Now it’s “oh, so you want oxygen? $20.” ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2025, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-cruise-ship-drink-packages-cost-effective/1015665/60 "2025-03-19T23:57:18Z")
Well, and yet not. I don’t know that hyperbole serves the argument well. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-cruise-ship-drink-packages-cost-effective/1015665.md?page=2)