Is The Drink Package on a Carnival Cruise Worth It?

One thing that you seem to always hear about on cruises is the "drink package." It seems to be the order is you book your cruise, you book your excursions, and next comes the drink package. Each cruise line does their drink package a little differently, so whether or not you should get the drink package depends on which cruise line you're sailing with. This post is about Carnival's drink package, but if you want to know more about Royal Caribbean's drink package, then go to this post here. 

What is the Carnival Drink Package

There's actually several "drink packages" on a cruise. When people wear the shirts that say "watch out! I bought the drink package," they're actually referring to the Cheers Package, AKA the alcohol package. There's also the Bottomless Bubbles Package, AKA the soda package. The alcohol is the most expensive package, and the non-alcohol will be the least expensive package. For this post, if I'm talking about a drink package, I'm talking about the alcohol package, which Carnival calls their Cheers Package. 

What do you get in the Carnival Drink Package

The drink package is basically everything you'd get for the non-alcohol package (sodas and juices) plus alcohol. You get 15 drinks, up to $20 per drink . If you're wondering, most drinks at the bars will be under the $20 limit, but the specialty drinks are usually over the $20 limit. That doesn't mean you can't order a $20 drink, it just means you have to pay the difference for anything over $20. So if you have the drink package, a $21 drink will cost you $1 Bob. 

One thing you don't get in the drink package is full bottles of wine for dinner. You can either buy it buy the glass, or you can save 25% on a bottle of wine. 

How much is the Carnival Drink Package

Sadly, it depends. Carnival changes the price for each cruise. But, the price is always per person, per day. What this means is that you could go on 2 cruises and pay $85/per day on the first cruise and $100/per day on the second cruise. 

In general, people say you need to drink about 7 drinks a day to break even on the drink package, since drinks are about $14 each. 

Why the Carnival Drink Package is NOT Worth It

People always assume you must get the drink package, and I mostly disagree. In fact, I think that most cruisers would actually save money if they didn't get the drink package. You don't have to have the drink package in order to drink alcohol. If you don't have the drink package, then you just charge the drinks back to your room like you would at a hotel. The drink package is just you pre-paying for alcohol, but it's not the only way to drink alcohol on the ship. 

Don't get the drink package if your itinerary has a lot of port stops

You can't use your drink package when you're not on the ship. Let's take a hypothetical scenario of where your itinerary is Day 1 embarkation day, Day 2 port day, Day 3 port day, Day 4 sailing day, Day 5 disembarkation day. Let's assume your embarkation day boarding time is 3pm, you're at each port from 8am to 4pm, and your disembarkation time is 8am. In this scenario, you only have from 3pm - 12pm to use your drink package on Day 1; from 4pm - 12pm to use your drink package on Days 2 and 3; all day to use your drink package on Day 4; and you're probably not going to even drink on Day 5. 

Given that you have to drink 7 or more drinks each day to break even, how much do you think you can drink during these time periods? While 7 drinks might be totally feasible for you one day, can you do it 5 days in a row? What about if you add in drinking at a Margaritaville or Senor Frogs while you're off the ship? Can you drink 7 more drinks in the evening after drinking ashore? With a schedule like this, it's cheaper to pay per drink, even if you're drinking 5 drinks a day. 

Don't get the drink package if the other adults in your room don't drink

If one person 21+ in a room gets the drink package, everyone 21+ in that room has to get the drink package. This is to keep people from sharing drink packages. 

So if you're traveling with someone who chooses to be sober, or who just isn't a big enough drinker to drink the 7 drinks a day to justify a drink package, maybe you shouldn't get the drink package. Because the room rate is now two drink packages, it may just be cheaper for you to pay per drink. 

Don't get the drink package if you only drink wine

Each person 21+ can bring one bottle of wine with them in their carry-on bag. If you only drink wine, and you bring a bottle of wine with you, then there's no need to buy a drink package. You can take the bottle of wine to dinner and the server will pour you your own wine each night. My personal favorite thing to do is to bring a silicone wine glass and sit out on my balcony in the evenings and enjoy a glass of wine. 

And if anyone else you're traveling with is 21+, they can bring their own bottle of wine too. So that hypothetical person from my last point who doesn't really drink can bring your 2nd bottle of wine in their carry-on bag for you, and now you have 2 bottles of wine to last you a whole trip. 

Don't get the drink package if you think you might get seasick

Literally, there is nothing worse than being drunk or hungover on a  moving ship. If you think the room spins when you lay down on land, just imagine what it feels like when your bed is bobbing in the ocean. I'm not saying you can't drink during your cruise if you get seasick, but I am saying that you more-likely-than-not won't be drinking the 7+ drinks a day you need to break even with a drink package if you're already feeling queasy. 

Why the Carnival Drink Package IS Worth It

Get the drink package if your itinerary has a lot of sailing days

Let's take a hypothetical scenario of where your itinerary is Day 1 embarkation day, Day 2 sailing day, Day 3 port day, Day 4 sailing day, Day 5 disembarkation day. Let's assume your embarkation day boarding time is 11am, you're at each port from 8am to 4pm, and your disembarkation time is 9am. In this scenario, you have from 11am - 12pm to use your drink package on Day 1; all day to use your drink package on Day 2; from 4pm - 12pm to use your drink package on Day 3; all day to use your drink package on Day 4; and you're probably not going to even drink on Day 5.

Given this itinerary, it's a lot easier to fit 7 drinks per day on most of the days. This makes it more likely that you'll at least break even on the drink package for most days. 

Get the drink package if you don't plan on getting off at the port stops

On the other hand if you have no interest in getting off the ship, then you will be able to use your drink package all day even if your itinerary has a lot of port stops. The drink package is still available for you to use even when your ship is docked at a port. 

Get the drink package if you get it on sale

Prices go up as you get closer to the cruise, but you aren’t charged until right before the cruise so if it goes on sale, you can always cancel the drink package at the higher price and then buy it at a lower price. At $14 a drink, the drink package breaks even at only 4 drinks if you can get it for less than $56 a day, or 5 drinks for less than $70 a day. 

This makes it a lot more price efficient to get the drink package if you get it on a good sale. 

Get the drink package if you're a heavy drinker

If you are a heavy drinker, especially for cocktails or mixed drinks, then the drink package is probably a better deal for you. If you know that you can drink all day at the beach and then get on the ship and keep drinking, and then wake up and do it all again for several days in a row, then this is a good deal for you. Some people fully embrace "vacation mode" and are surprised at the drink bill at the end of their cruise. If you think you'll get close to breaking even on the package (and remember, this is easier to get if you get in on sale), then you might as well get the drink package. 

Should you get the drink package for your Carnival cruise

Personally, I think most people don't need the drink package, unless it's on a really good sale. 

My husband and I did the math, and for us it's just not worth it. I bring a bottle of white wine in my checked bag and have that at dinner, and my husband brings a bottle of sangria in his checked bag, and I have that in the room in the evenings. My husband will have the occasional 2-3 pina coladas during the day and we usually will share a bucket of beer on a sailing day. And we aim to make sure we have the opportunity to go somewhere all inclusive at our port stops. For us, that's enough alcohol for a trip and is significantly less than the almost $100 per person per day cost of the drink package. 

Travel Guide | Carnival Sunrise to the Bahamas

Ryan and I both grew up cruising. I've been on half a dozen cruises, mostly through Royal Caribbean with one Disney cruise. Ryan has been on about a dozen cruises, mostly through Carnival with one Royal Caribbean cruise. In June 2020, we were talking about how neither one of us had been on cruise in at least 5 years. So, I looked up prices on both Royal Caribbean (where I have a loyalty status) and Carnival (where Ry has loyalty status) and found a Carnival cruise at a great price for the week before our honeymoon. We were able to find a 5-night, e-stop cruise to the Bahamas and Turks & Caicos for April 2021, with a center-ship, high-level balcony room with the ability to pay $300 that day, and $150 a month up until our cruise. Being able to spread out our payments made this an easy impulse buy! I signed up for the Carnival loyalty program and pulled the trigger. 

What's great about Carnival's loyalty program is that for all cruises after your 1st cruise, you get a free liter of water bottle! This is per person! They don't exactly remind you of this, but you can just go to any bar and tell them your status (at least Red) and ask for your one free liter. After 25 days accumulated at sea (at least Gold status), you also get a free drink up to $10 at any bar after 5pm on the last day (yes, it's very specific but we just set a calendar reminder for my husband to go get his free drink).

I actually was 21 weeks pregnant for this cruise, so I had a unique experience. Technically, you're not supposed to sail past 24 weeks but I have no idea how the cruise confirms this because they just took my word and I also saw 2 other pregnant women who looked further along than me (I know everyone shows differently, but I don't know if they actually were under 24 weeks or if Carnival just didn't bother verifying this). Actually the only reason I think the cruise knew I was pregnant was because their website says you have to have a doctor fill out a form before you can cruise, but I couldn't find the actual form. I called their customer service and was told as long as I'm under 24 weeks there was no form needed (I'm assuming this is when my account got flagged as pregnant), but when we went to get on the boat they kept asking me for the form from my doctor and had to get a manager involved to let me on without the form that I was previously told I didn't need. I had previously been diagnosed with hyperemesis gravidarum (uncontrollable vomiting) and even hospitalized for it, on 2 different nausea prescriptions, and still throwing up almost daily up until our cruise so I was very nervous to go on the cruise, but it had been booked before we even tried for a baby. I took my nausea prescriptions along with Dramamine and didn't really feel I needed it. I don't normally get motion sickness so the rocking of the boat didn't do me in like I thought it would. I even took 2 smaller ship to shore boats and felt totally fine! I also thought it was VERY helpful to have essentially an unlimited variety of food non-stop so I could always eat right when I got hungry.

Carnival Sunrise Review

The Sunrise used to be the Triumph, but it got remodeled and renamed in 2019. The ship does look and feel updated, which I liked. It's a smaller ship, with only about 3,000 people. We really liked how the layout took advantage of the small size so it never felt like you had to walk far to get where you were going. Like any cruise, there were lots of small details that we loved. The Alchemy lounge at the back of the 5th floor was a great quiet place for us to play our favorite card game that we brought, but you can also borrow a deck of cards from guest services for free. The Red Frog Rum at the middle of the 9th floor (not to be confused with the Red Frog Pub at the front of the 5th floor) was a great place for a chill drink that had shuffle board and foosball hidden in the back corner. And the Skybox room in the back left corner of the Casino in the middle of the 5th floor was great for watching games on. We also  liked seeing the comedian, playing Deal or No Deal (the audience member won the grand prize on our ship!) playing trivia, and playing Bingo.

Now for my gripes... First off, the names are confusing as hell! As I just mentioned there's a Red Frog Rum and a Red Frog Pub. Why??? There's so many other colors and animals (like how they have Blue Iguana room) it just makes NO sense as to why the names are so similar and confusing. But wait, there's more! There's also a Liquid Lounge which is their main show lounge where Bingo/Deal or No Deal were played and excursions met (but to me sounds like a bar name) and a Limelight Lounge which is where there's karaoke and comedy shows. Again, too similar sounding so you can get confused. And oddly, the Limelight turns into the Punchliner when there's a comedy show, so it's confusing to call the exact same room 2 different names, depending on the activity in said room. This all makes it more difficult than it needs to be to meet up with someone in one of these rooms. 

My other complaint was that they didn't consistently enforce the "adults-only" rule in the designated area. We went to the adults only pool two days in a row and got splashed by kids playing Marco Polo while the lifeguards said nothing. After like 15 minutes, all the adults abandoned the pool because of the yelling and splashing. This is totally fine in the main pool, but we went there for a quiet area to sip pina coladas and read or relax in the pool. I'm not surprised that kids ended up in the adults-only pool, because the main pool felt tiny for a cruise. It looked about the size of a backyard pool.

The rooms on Carnival Sunrise

We got a balcony room on the 8th floor, room 8391, and absolutely loved it. Our room had 3 closets, a long desk, in-wall storage shelves, a couch with small coffee table, king bed (that splits into 2 twin beds), one nightstand (they could've fit 2 and I think it's weird there was only one), and a small patio furniture set. Not only did we have all of the space and light from the balcony and balcony door, but our window right by the balcony was HUGE so we basically had a full wall of windows. We played around and if you were outside on the balcony you couldn't hear someone on the inside talk or even raise their voice, but if you were on the inside you could hear someone on the balcony. 

One thing I was surprised at coming from Royal Caribbean was that there were no drawers in our room, only closets and cabinets. There was still plenty of room to store clothes, it was just weird to put underwear in a cabinet instead of a drawer. One thing I'm really glad I did was have 2 dozen water bottles delivered to our room on day 1. It was like $10 to do so and absolutely worth it. Sure you can also get free water from the several drink stations around the boat, but that tastes basically like tap water and cold filtered water straight from your fridge is much better on a hot, humid day. 

We also got the social wi-fi package ahead of time and I do recommend that (it's more expensive to purchase starting the night before the cruise and on-board). The next tier up is the value package which is essentially just the wi-fi package but with email and is about double the price per day so I think it's pointless. We could iMessage each other and people back home, Google, and post to Instagram. The only thing we couldn't do was stream music/videos, but we just downloaded those ahead of time. If you don't want to get the wi-fi package, you can also just pay $5 for messaging other cruisers in the Carnival Hub app so you can stay connected with everyone you're cruising with.

Eating on Carnival Sunrise

We thought we had early dining, but we accidentally booked the Your Time dining and that was a first for us. We LOVED it and honestly probably have permanently converted to this from normal dining. With formal dining, you eat at either 6 or 8 at a designated table every single night. The downside to this is that literally hundreds of people are lined up to eat at the exact same time so it can be a long wait to finally get to your seat and get fed. You also have to plan all of your activities around your dinner time. In comparison, with Your Time you just get on the app and reserve a table and usually by the time you get from your stateroom to the restaurant your table is ready so you just walk right in, give them your table number, and you're instantly seated. You're also at a new table every night so if you don't like your table location you're not stuck. We looked into it and the menus, restaurant decor, and entertainment were all the exact same as the normal dining (with the exception that you might just miss the entertainment). With Your Time, if you're not hungry or not ready to eat until later, your dinner can fit your schedule rather than the other way around. You also can eat any time from 5:30 - 9 so you have a huge window of when to eat. I definitely think this is the best option for families because of the flexibility.

For the Your Time dinner, the restaurant you eat at is on the back of the ship on the 3rd and 4th floors. Because of its location, we could definitely feel the boat rocking way more than we did in our room. We both realized after night 1 that we would need to take Dramamine while we were getting ready so we could make it to dinner. But, it did have beautiful views on 3 sides of the restaurant. The normal dinner was in a restaurant in the middle of the ship on the same floors, and I bet it rocked a lot less. The other main eating area was basically the entire 9th deck. The buffet was at the back of the boat, with a lobster station and pizza station behind it, and a taco station and burger station in front of it. So, you essentially had the taco/burgers between the main pool and buffet, and then the lobster/pizzas between the buffet and the adults pool. 

As always on a cruise, the food was great. A pro tip is that breakfast room service is free, so don't forget to put out the door sign and order breakfast in bed! There were other specialty restaurants on board that were for a fee like sushi and steak, but we didn't try those out because we felt there were more than enough free options. 

What to do on Carnival Sunrise

We did your typical cruise ship activities on board. My husband did a ropes course (make sure to bring closed-toe shoes if you plan to do this), we did Bingo, and we actually won a "stick on a ship" at trivia!

We also spent some time near the central bar on ship and just hung out at a table playing card games we had brought from home. You can rent a deck of cards from guest services, but we prefer to bring Monopoly Deal when it's just the two of us. We also wen to the SkyBox Sports Bar to watch some basketball together, and it was a really nice and comfortable bar. One of the nights we went to Deal or No Deal and the first girl actually won it! I had never seen someone win that before! After Deal or No Deal, they actually started up The Newlywed Game and Ryan really wanted to go (we were celebrating our 1 year anniversary [and babymoon] after all! Unfortunately for him, by now it was 9pm and as a pregnant girl, I was was too tired and had already been nodding off at that point.

We also went to the late-night comedian on board in the Limelight Lounge, and although most of his stuff was funny, some of it was raunchy just for the point of being raunchy so it was just meh. Another let down was the pool situation. We went to the adults-only pool at the back of the ship, and it consistently would have 4-5 kids playing marco-polo taking up the whole pool (which isn't that big to begin with), and there seemed to be no one enforcing the "adults only" part. I think part of the problem was poor planning, because they put this pool right near the pizza and ice cream stations. 

Exotic Eastern Caribbean cruise itinerary

 

Bahamas

We had 2 stops in the Bahamas, one in Nassau and one at their private island Princess Cay. For Nassau, I strongly recommend you stick to the group on the public beach or with an excursion. I do not believe it is safe to leave the port on your own, because apparently 2 people were robbed at gunpoint during our stop. Personally, we went for the Blue Lagoon VIP Adults Only excursion and I give it 4 stars. The Blue Lagoon is its own island so you take a smaller boat from the ship to the island. The island has an inflatables park in the ocean, a dolphin encounter, a shark encounter, and the adults only part. Everyone all rides the little boat together (snacks and alcohol are available but cost extra, even if you have the unlimited drinks excursion) and then split up into different groups based on your wrist bands. The VIP adults only had unlimited drinks, but it was only Bahama Mamas or non-alcoholic fruit punch, lemonade, or water. Lunch was included and we thought the food was great. There's also several staff members always walking around to bring you a drink or food, so I do think the VIP lives up to the name. And because the staff was always out serving, they were really good about keeping out anyone who wasn't in the group from crashing our private area. This is because the inflatable park and VIP area are connected by a bar (I think if you want to drink anything other than the Bahama Mamas you have to pay for drinks here). The lack of star is because the beach and fenced-in ocean part are TINY. As in like 2 minutes to walk from edge to edge. We brought our snorkel gear but there was definitely not enough room to snorkel in the water, even with over half of the group not being in the water. My biggest tip is to make it back to the boat about 20 minutes before they tell you to, because if you're on the last boat out like we were, you have to wait until they round up every last straggler onto your boat.

For Princess Cay, the ship anchors down in the middle of the ocean and then smaller boats take you from ship to shore. We didn't do any excursions and just booked a clamshell shade for the day. This turned out to be a GREAT use of our money! The clamshell was about $30 ahead of time and it was great to have a great spot reserved and to have shade. We will forever do this if it's an option on future cruises. You could also rent the normal snorkeling, water bikes, kayaks right there on the beach for pretty cheap, or use whatever you brought. The beach is a little on the rocky side, not bad, but I did think water shoes were helpful. The lunch had really good burgers, but for some reason the buffet was set up where you get your toppings, then burger, then condiments, so it's weird to have to construct your burger later. 

Turks & Caicos

We didn't have an excursion planned for Grand Turk, and it worked out for us. It's a pretty established port that has shopping and restaurants with a big pool surrounded by free lounge chairs or you can rent like a mini house. We grabbed lunch at Margaritaville and then headed to a chair by the pool. We were only there for about an hour before it just started downpouring on us with no end in sight, so we went back to the ship early. There was also a beach that looked really well-kept, but we didn't make it in time to see it. 

Overall thoughts of this cruise

This was my first Carnival cruise, and it was better than I expected. Carnival's own island, Princess Cay, definitely was much simpler than Royal Caribbean's Coco Cay that I'm used to. And while Carnival's ship had waterslides, mini golf, and a ropes course, it didn't seem to have much else. That's not to say that Carnival cruises are bad, it's just going from an over-the-top Royal Caribbean cruise to a "fine" Carnival cruise was an adjustment. I think I might like a Carnival cruise if I went on a bigger ship with more bells and whistles. But, Carnival is significantly cheaper than Royal Caribbean, so as an affordable getaway, it did the job just fine. I'd give this cruise an 8/10.