Princess Cruises Drink Packages: The Ultimate Guide

When booking a Princess cruise, you’ll need to decide whether to get a drinks package or pay for your drinks individually.

With Princess Cruises, the decision isn’t as straightforward as “Is the Princess drink package worth it?” This is because Princess Cruises offers four different drinks packages, as well as two special fares – Princess Plus and Princess Premier – which both give you free drinks.

In fact, Princess Cruises’ pricing gets really confusing when you compare the drinks packages and the special fares.

Don’t worry – this simple guide will help you make the right decision about whether to buy a Princess Cruises drink package or upgrade to the Princess Plus or Princess Premier fares which come with free all-inclusive drinks.

Princess Cruises Drink Packages

Here are the four drink packages that are available…

Package	Includes	Advertised Cost	Actual Cost (Incl. Service Charge)
Plus Beverage Package	Drinks up to $15 each	$64.99 per day	$76.69 per day
Premier Beverage Package	Drinks up to $20 each	$84.99 per day	$100.29 per day
Zero Alcohol Package	All non-alcoholic drinks	$29.99 per day	$35.39 per day
Classic Soda Package	Sodas, juices, mocktails, smoothies	$14.99 per day	$17.69 per day

Prices are in US dollars. If you’re cruising from Australia, the pricing is different and is priced in AUD.

In addition to these packages, Princess Cruises offers the ‘Princess Plus fare’ and the ‘Princess Premier fare’. These bundle the drink packages with WiFi, crew tips and a whole host of other extras. I’ll give you more info on those further in this article.

If you just want the quick maths on whether a drink package is worth it, this calculator is for you…

Now, let’s take a closer look at Princess Cruises drinks prices and what you get in each package…

1. Plus Beverage Package

Price = $64.99 per day + 18% service charge (totalling $76.69)

Plus is the most popular drink package. But, if you prefer high-end crafted cocktails, premier wines, top-shelf spirits and Champagne, then you should upgrade to the Premier package…

2. Premier Beverage Package

Price = $84.99 per day + 18% service charge (totalling $100.29)

Unless you like to drink several alcoholic drinks each day, you’re unlikely to get your money worth from the alcohol packages. So instead, you should consider one of the following…

3. Zero-Alcohol Drink Package

Price = $29.99 per day + 18% service charge (totalling $35.39)

4. Classic Soda Package

Price = $14.99 per day + 18% service charge (totalling $17.69)

What’s not included?

None of the Princess drink packages include:

• Bottles of wine or spirits
• Buckets of beer
• One litre bottles of water (except when dining at speciality restaurants)
• Bottled juices
• Room service
• Mini bar
• Self-service or vending machines
• Items from retail shops
• Souvenir glasses

The Plus and Premier Beverage Package will get you a 25% discount on bottles of wine, one-litre bottles of water and cans of soda.

Princess Plus & Princess Premier Fares

Now before, you go ahead and buy a drink package, don’t!!!

You’re always better off getting the Princess Plus or Princess Premier fare that bundles in WiFi, tips and other extras, rather than just buying the drinks package.

Princess Plus	Princess Premier
Cost = $60 per day	Cost = $80 per day
Plus Beverage Package (including the service charge)	Premier Beverage Package (including the service charge)
WiFi (1 device per guest)	WiFi (4 devices per guest)
Crew tips	Crew tips
Premium desserts (2 per day)	Premium desserts (unlimited)
Fitness classes (2 per cruise)	Fitness classes (unlimited)
Drinks delivered anywhere on ship	Drinks delivered anywhere on ship
Room service delivery	Room service delivery
2 casual dining meals per guest	Unlimited casual dining meals per guest
	2 speciality dining meals per guest
	Photo package
	Medallion accessory
	Reserved theatre seating
	Princess Prizes

Both the Princess Plus fare and the Princess Premier fare are $15-20 per day cheaper than just getting the drink package, when you include the service charge costs of the drinks packages.

This doesn’t make much sense, I know. But that’s how it is. There are zero benefits to just buying the drinks packages on their own.

To make sure, I spoke to a member of Princess Cruises’ customer service team:

So for absolute clarity – if you think you’d want an alcoholic drinks package, don’t buy one – pay for the Princess Plus or Princess Premier fare instead.

If you’d like to know more about exactly what’s included, then I recommend that you check out my Princess Plus Vs Premier Guide to help you decide which to choose.

Upgrading after booking

You can upgrade your cruise to Princess Plus or Princess Premier after booking. To do that, you can call the travel agent that you booked with, or if you booked directly with Princess Cruises you can call them.

You can also upgrade on the first day of your cruise at one of the desks that you’ll find near the atrium.

Only the non-alcoholic packages are worth considering…

In short, the two alcoholic drinks packages are never worth buying. You get them included with the Plus or Premier cruise fares, along with other extras, but those special fares are cheaper than buying the drinks packages alone!

Whether or not the Plus or Premier cruise package is worth it depends on how many drinks you plan to drink each day.

The easiest way to calculate whether you should buy a drinks package or choose the Princess Plus or Premier fare is to use my drinks package calculator tool.

But, if you’d rather work it out for yourself, read on for the drinks prices…

Princess Cruises drinks prices

The bar prices on Princess Cruises ships are in line with most other cruise lines such as Carnival and P&O Cruises.

Here are photos of the poolside drinks menus that I took onboard Sky Princess in August 2023…

You can see more Princess Cruises drink menus here.

Some drinks are free!

It’s important to consider that there are some drinks that are free of charge for everyone, whether you have a Princess drinks package or not…

You can see a full list of free drinks on Princess Cruises here.

Don’t forget – you can bring your own booze

You can also bring drinks on to the ship in your luggage. This may reduce the overall amount that you spend on drinks during your cruise.

Princess Cruises allows each adult to bring one 750ml bottle of wine or champagne on board to drink in your stateroom.

You’re welcome to bring additional wine and champagne, but each bottle will have a $15 corkage fee. If you’ve paid the corkage fee, you can drink your wine anywhere on the ship, including in restaurants and bars.

Guests cruising with Princess Cruises can also bring an unlimited amount of soft drinks and water in cans, bottles or cartons.

Don’t sneak extra alcohol

Sneaking alcohol on to a cruise ship is not a good idea. Your luggage will be scanned and if you’re caught then the drinks will be discarded.

You won’t be able to get a free drinks package

From time to time, Princess Cruises used to offer free drinks packages as a booking incentive.

The last time this was offered was in 2019, when the ‘Sip + Sail’ promotion offered a free alcoholic drinks package to guests booking a balcony stateroom or suite, and a free non-alcoholic drinks package to guests booking an inside or oceanview stateroom.

As the Princess Plus Fare has now become permanent and the Princess Premier Fare was launched in 2022, it seems unlikely that free drinks packages will be offered on cruises in the foreseeable future.

While some cruise lines like Royal Caribbean have fluid drinks package pricing that goes up and down over time, on Princess cruises, the price is fixed.

The best way to get a discount on your Princess Cruises package is to opt for the Princess Plus Fare which includes free drinks, free wifi and free pre-paid gratuities.

Important Things To Know

Before you take your cruise, I want to make you aware of a few drink package-related things. If you get these wrong, you could face unexpected charges, or even risk having your drink package voided.

1. Not every guest in your cabin needs a package

Most cruise lines require that if one person has a drink package, then everybody in the cabin must have one. MSC Cruises even makes kids aged three and over get a kids package, if the parents want a drink package.

However, on Princess Cruises that is not the case. You may buy a drink package for only one person if you wish. But…

2. You cannot share drinks packages

Sharing of drinks packages is forbidden on Princess cruises. If you are caught giving drinks to another passenger, your drinks package may be cancelled without a refund.

3. Drinks packages aren’t available on every cruise

Princess Cruises’ drinks packages are not available on Australian cruises of six nights or less and are not available on one- or two-night cruises.

4. You can only have 15 alcoholic drinks per day

Alcoholic drinks are limited to 15 beverages per 24-hour period (6 am to 6 am).

Unlike on Carnival Cruises where the system prevents any further alcoholic drinks from being served, with Princess Cruises, any extra drinks may be served, but this is down to the discretion of the bartender.

So, if you don’t look drunk, you can go ahead and order that 16th drink, and you’ll be charged for it as if you didn’t have a package.

There is no limit to the number of non-alcoholic drinks that you can have per day.

5. You can order multiple drinks at a time

On a Princess Cruise, you can order multiple drinks at once, within reason. If you order too many the bartender will probably want to know who they are for and is likley to only serve one per person.

When there was along line at the bar, I queued up with my mum and ordered two beers (one each). She then immediately ordered two beers and was served. This is worth doing when the bar is very busy.

On the app, you can also order multiple drinks at once…

6. If you order expensive drinks, you just pay the difference

Let’s say you havew the Princess Plus Beverage Package that includes drinks priced at up to $15. If you order a drink that costs $16 drink, you will be charged the extra $1.

7. You must buy the package for every day of your cruise

As with all cruise drinks packages, If you buy a Princess Cruises drink package, you must buy it for every day of your cruise. You cannot buy it for only part of your cruise.

8. The minimum drinking age depends on where the cruise departs

On Princess cruises, guests must be 18, 20 or 21 years old, depending on the itinerary.

For cruises between Australia/New Zealand, China, Europe and Singapore ports, the drinking age is 18. For cruises between Japanese ports, the drinking age is 20. Everywhere else, it is 21.

9. The drinks package works on Princess Cays

When you buy a Princess drink package you’re not limited to only using it onboard your ship. The packages also work on Princess Cruises’ private island, Princess Cays, which is located in the Bahamas.

The bottom line

If you’re considering getting a drink package for your Princess Cruise, then you should instead consider the Princess Plus and Princess Premier fares.

The respective fares include their equivalent drinks packages, but are actually cheaper. It’s so confusing, but it’s true!

The only time to consider buying a standalone drinks package would be if you wanted a non-alcoholic one, but even then the Zero-Alcohol package, combined with tips, would be more expensive than the Plus fare. Only the Classic Soda Package makes sense as standalone purchases.

Read more about the Princess fare options, which include drinks packages, in my Princess Plus & Princess Premier guide.

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