Alan drinks beer. Specifically, he drinks one beer with lunch, one or two beers in the afternoon near the pool, and sometimes a beer with dinner. This is his vacation pattern and it has been consistent across multiple trips. He is not a heavy drinker. He is a man who has budgeted approximately three beers per vacation day and sticks to it with the same discipline he applies to the family spreadsheet.
I have a glass of wine at dinner most nights and I drink from the free juice and coffee stations the rest of the time. On sailings where we do Palo, I have two glasses of wine with dinner and feel briefly like a person whose life is more sophisticated than it is.
This is the context in which I evaluated the Disney cruise drink packages.
What the Packages Are
Disney Cruise Line offers several drink packages that you can purchase before or at the beginning of your sailing. The specifics change, but the general structure is:
Premium Beverage Package: Covers alcoholic and non-alcoholic specialty beverages throughout the cruise. This includes cocktails, wine, beer, specialty coffee, juices, smoothies, and sodas. It covers drinks at restaurants, bars, and most venues across the ship.
Non-Alcoholic Package (or Soda Package): Covers specialty non-alcoholic beverages and sodas. Juice, smoothies, specialty coffees, fountain drinks.
Wine and Beer Package: A more limited package covering wine and beer only, which is what it sounds like.
Pricing varies by sailing length and market, but the premium package for one adult typically runs around $50 to $60 per day. For a 5-night sailing, that is $250 to $300 per person before tax.
Worth noting: beer, wine by the glass, and cocktails are individually priced between $7 and $15 each without a package. Non-alcoholic specialty beverages like smoothies and specialty coffees are around $5 to $8 each.
The Math for Alan
Alan’s typical daily drink consumption on a Disney cruise:
- 1 beer at lunch: approximately $8
- 2 beers at the pool in the afternoon: approximately $16
- 1 beer with dinner: approximately $8
- Total: approximately $32 per day
Over 5 days, Alan’s beer bill without a package is approximately $160.
The premium package for Alan would cost approximately $275 for the same sailing.
The math does not work for Alan. He would need to drink significantly more than he does to break even on the package, and he does not want to drink that much. The package would make financial sense only if he were having 4 or 5 drinks per day every day of the sailing, plus a specialty coffee or two.
The Math for Me
My daily drink consumption:
- 1 glass of wine at dinner: approximately $12
- Coffee from Cabanas (complimentary): $0
- Water (complimentary): $0
- The occasional juice (complimentary at meals): $0
My beverage bill without a package over 5 days is approximately $60. Add the Palo dinner evening where I have two glasses of wine instead of one and maybe a cocktail: maybe $90 total.
The premium package for me would cost approximately $275. The math does not work for me either.
When Would the Package Make Sense?
The package makes financial sense if you are someone who drinks frequently throughout the day, mixes alcoholic and non-alcoholic specialty beverages, regularly orders cocktails (which are more expensive than beer), and drinks at every venue across the ship.
If you are the kind of vacation drinker who has a cocktail at 11am, a couple of drinks over lunch, drinks at the pool, a drink before dinner, wine at dinner, and a nightcap, you are probably breaking even or coming out ahead on the premium package.
If you are Alan, you are not.
What Is Actually Free (No Package Required)
This is important to understand before you decide on a package:
- Coffee and hot tea: complimentary in the main dining restaurants and at Cabanas
- Regular drip coffee: complimentary in multiple locations
- Juice: complimentary at breakfast in the dining rooms and at Cabanas
- Water: complimentary everywhere
- Milk: complimentary at meals
- Soft drinks (fountain): complimentary in the main dining restaurants and at some other locations
The complimentary beverage situation on a Disney cruise is better than on many other cruise lines. A family that does not drink alcohol and does not order specialty coffee drinks may not need any beverage package at all.
My Recommendation
Do the math for your specific family before you buy. Think through what a typical vacation day of drinking looks like for the adults in your group, multiply it by the sailing length, and compare that to the package cost.
For families who drink moderately, the package does not pencil out. For families where one or both adults are consistent cocktail drinkers throughout the day, it might.
I have seen this come up in Disney cruise groups where people get very enthusiastic about the package and frame it as a no-brainer. It is not a no-brainer. It is a math problem. Do the math and see what comes out.
We have never purchased a drink package. We have never regretted it. But we are also not three-cocktails-a-day people on vacation and I am not going to pretend otherwise.
