~$28.50
NCL 'free' open bar — daily cost to keep it (per person)
Pricing AnalysisNorwegian Cruise LineFree at Sea
Is Free at Sea Worth It? The Drinks-Per-Day Math
Norwegian's 'free' open bar costs about $28.50 a day to keep. Here's the break-even — and how it stacks up against what Royal and Celebrity charge for the same thing.
Keeping Norwegian's "free" Unlimited Open Bar costs about $28.50 a person, a day. That sounds like a contradiction until you remember the package carries a prepaid gratuity. Here's the part that reframes the whole decision: across our daily price tracking, Royal Caribbean's Deluxe Beverage Package and Celebrity's beverage packages both run about $80 a day for the same kind of unlimited drinks. NCL's "free" open bar costs roughly a third of what its rivals charge for the equivalent — if you'll drink enough to use it.
That "if" is the entire question. Norwegian pre-loads the packages into your total and lets you remove them one at a time, so "is Free at Sea worth it?" isn't one verdict — it's a keep-or-remove call on each package. (The pillar covers how the Remove button works.) And each call comes down to a number, not a shrug. Let's do the math.
Quick Answer — Is Free at Sea Worth It?
TL;DR| The package | Keep it if… | Remove it if… |
|---|---|---|
| Unlimited Open Bar (~$28.50/day pp) | You'll have 2+ drinks a day | You'll have 1 a day or fewer |
| Specialty dining (3 meals, $120 for two) | You'll do any specialty dinner | You'll stick to the main dining rooms |
| WiFi + excursion credit ($0) | Always — they're genuinely free | Never — nothing to remove |
- The drink break-even is about 2 drinks a day. Keep the open bar above it, remove it below — a typical drink runs roughly $15 all-in à la carte.
- NCL's 'free' open bar is the cheapest at sea. About $28.50/day to keep it, against the ~$80/day Royal and Celebrity charge for the same package — our tracked prices.
- Specialty dining almost always stays. At about $20 a meal it undercuts the $50–$90 you'd pay à la carte for the same dinner.
The Drinks-Per-Day Break-Even
Keep the open bar costs a flat $28.50 a day. Remove it and you pay per drink. The line between them is about two drinks a day.
The open bar is "free," but keeping it costs a fixed, prepaid gratuity — about $28.50 per person, per day, or roughly $399 for a couple on a week. You pay that whether you order two drinks or twenty.
Remove it instead, and you pay à la carte. A typical NCL drink runs about $12–$16 on the published bar menus, and an automatic 20% gratuity gets added to each one — so call it roughly $15 all-in for a mid-menu cocktail. The package covers any single drink priced up to $15, which is most of the standard menu.
So the question is simple: how many drinks a day before paying as you go costs more than the $28.50 package?
| Drinks per day (per person) | À-la-carte daily spend* | Versus keeping the open bar (~$28.50/day) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | ~$15 | Remove — the package costs nearly double what you'd spend |
| 2 | ~$30 | Break-even — a genuine toss-up |
| 3 | ~$45 | Keep — the package wins by about $17 a day |
| 4 | ~$60 | Keep — clearly |
| 5+ | ~$75+ | Keep — easily |
*A typical NCL drink runs about $12–$16; with the automatic 20% gratuity that's roughly $15 all-in. NCL's published menu prices, not our data.
The break-even lands right around two drinks a day. Above it, the package is the cheaper choice; below it, you're paying for drinks you won't order.
One honest limit: the base package caps each drink at $15. Top-shelf liquor and premium wine above that cap aren't fully covered — and that's the Free at Sea Plus question, not this one.
The Dining Package Is Almost Always a Keep
The specialty-dining package is the easier call. Three meals run $120 for a couple — that's $60 a guest, or about $20 per specialty dinner, per person.
À la carte, the same dinner at one of NCL's specialty restaurants runs roughly $50 to $90 a head on the published menus. So the package undercuts paying out of pocket by more than half on the very first meal.
The math here barely needs a table: if you'll eat at even one specialty restaurant on the sailing, keep the dining package. The only travelers who should remove it are the ones who'll stick to the main dining rooms and buffet — which are genuinely included, and genuinely good. There's no light-user trap on dining the way there is on drinks, because the per-meal price is already so far below retail.
See whether a cruise price is worth booking — twice a week, free
Free Monday + Friday emails — market reports, price drops, and where the deals are.
How NCL's "Free" Drinks Compare to Royal and Celebrity
This is the part the brochure can't show you: what the same package costs on the other two big premium lines.
We track beverage-package prices on Royal Caribbean and Celebrity every day, across their fleets. That gives the NCL drink decision a reference point you can't get from Norwegian's site alone — what an unlimited drinks package actually costs at sea, line to line.
~$80
Royal Deluxe package — our tracked daily price (per person)
~$89
Celebrity Premium package — our tracked daily price (per person)
Here's the head-to-head, per person, per day:
| Line | Standard alcohol package | Typical price (per person, per day) | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Norwegian | "Free" Open Bar (Free at Sea) | ~$28.50 | NCL published gratuity |
| Royal Caribbean | Deluxe Beverage Package | ~$80 | Our tracking, 30 ships |
| Celebrity | Classic Drinks Package | ~$80 | Our tracking, 14 ships |
| Celebrity | Premium Drinks Package | ~$89 | Our tracking, 14 ships |
Two things make the gap even wider than it looks. First, Royal and Celebrity typically add an 18% gratuity on top of those prices at checkout, while NCL's $28.50 already includes its gratuity — so the real-world gap is bigger than the column shows. Second, Royal's Deluxe and Celebrity's Classic are the closest equivalents to NCL's open bar; Celebrity's Premium tier is a notch above.
Keeping NCL's "free" open bar costs about a third of what the same package runs on Royal or Celebrity. That's a real edge — but only for someone who'll clear two drinks a day. Below that, even a bargain package is more than you'd spend paying as you go.
That's the honest read. The package is genuinely well-priced relative to the competition — but "cheaper than Royal" and "worth it for you" aren't the same sentence. The break-even table above is still the one that decides it. For the full Norwegian-versus-everyone-else picture, see is Norwegian Cruise Line worth it.
So, Keep It or Remove It?
Because each package comes off independently, the verdict isn't one answer — it's a quick read against how you actually cruise.
Keep It or Remove It — by How You Cruise
You and your partner each have 2+ drinks a day
→ Keep the open bar. You clear the ~$28.50/day gratuity easily — and it's a third of what Royal or Celebrity charge for the same package.
You're a light drinker — one drink a day or fewer
→ Remove the open bar. Pay à la carte and pocket the ~$28.50/day; below two drinks a day the package costs more than you'd spend.
You'll eat at even one specialty restaurant
→ Keep the dining package. At ~$20 a meal it beats the $50–$90 you'd pay à la carte for the same dinner.
Port-heavy itinerary, off the ship most days
→ Remove both. You're not aboard enough to clear either gratuity — the included dining rooms cover your sea-day meals.
Solo cruiser
→ Watch the fare first. The single supplement can swamp the perk math, so the cruise price matters more than the packages.
The pattern underneath all of these is the same. The open bar rewards people who'd drink anyway and quietly taxes people who wouldn't; the dining package rewards almost anyone who'll set foot in a specialty restaurant; and the free perks — WiFi and the excursion credit — stay no matter what, because there's nothing to remove. The mistake isn't picking wrong. It's never opening the packages page and deciding at all.
Once you've settled what to keep, the last step is using everything you've paid for. The shore-excursion credit and "free" airfare are the perks travelers most often leave on the table — here's how to actually use your Free at Sea perks. And for the full inclusion list and exactly which charges are removable, see what's actually included in Free at Sea.
The Question Underneath "Worth It"
There's a step most "Free at Sea worth it" articles skip. Before you weigh any package, you have to know whether the fare itself is fair — because a great open-bar deal attached to an overpriced cruise is still an overpriced cruise.
A typical inside fare on Norwegian's newest ships runs roughly $150 to $180 a night per person right now. But $164 a night on Bliss only means something once you know whether that's a genuinely good week or just today's asking price — and one quote can't tell you that. That's a price-history question. You can see what typical fares look like across lines in our guide to average cruise prices.
How We Track This Data
The Royal Caribbean and Celebrity package prices are ours — monitored daily across 30 Royal ships and 14 Celebrity ships, current through June 2026. The NCL figures are Norwegian's published numbers: the ~$28.50-per-day open-bar gratuity, the à-la-carte menu prices, and the $120 dining package. We track Norwegian fares, not its packages, so those perk values are clearly attributed, not estimated by us. For our full methodology, see how it works.
All Aboard Deals Pro scores every fare against that ship's own price history, so before you weigh whether Free at Sea's perks are worth it, you can tell whether the fare underneath them is a fair price. To check that score live while you shop on Norwegian's site, add the free Cruise Radar extension.
Frequently Asked Questions
It comes down to how much of each package you'll use. Norwegian pre-loads the packages into your total but lets you remove them, so 'worth it' is a keep-or-remove call on each one. The 'free' open bar costs about $28.50 per person, per day to keep — roughly the price of two drinks — so above two drinks a day it's worth keeping, and below that you're better off removing it and paying à la carte. The specialty-dining package, at about $20 a meal, is worth keeping if you'll eat at even one specialty restaurant.
About two a day, per person. Keeping the Unlimited Open Bar costs roughly $28.50 per person, per day in prepaid gratuity. A typical NCL drink runs about $12–$16, or roughly $15 once the automatic 20% gratuity is added. So two drinks a day (about $30 à la carte) is the break-even; three or more and the package clearly wins; one or fewer and you'd save by removing it. 'Drinks' includes sodas, specialty coffees, bottled water, and juice too, so the count adds up faster than just cocktails.
Yes, by a wide margin. Keeping NCL's 'free' open bar costs about $28.50 per person, per day. Across our daily tracking, Royal Caribbean's Deluxe Beverage Package runs about $80 per person, per day and Celebrity's beverage packages run about $80–$89 — and both typically add an 18% gratuity on top at checkout, while NCL's figure already includes its gratuity. So NCL's open bar costs roughly a third of the equivalent package on Royal or Celebrity.
Remove it if you'll average one drink a day or fewer, or if you're on a port-heavy itinerary and off the ship most days — at that rate the ~$28.50/day gratuity costs more than you'd spend buying drinks individually. Keep it if you and anyone in your cabin will average two or more drinks a day. On the packages page during booking, each offer has a 'Remove' button that drops its cost straight out of your total.
About the author
Graham H — Founder, All Aboard Deals
Graham has been cruising for over a decade and has sailed on 15+ cruises across Royal Caribbean, Carnival, Norwegian, and Virgin.
He built All Aboard Deals to track cruise prices the same way traders track charts — monitoring 29,000+ sailings and spotting fares that fall well below their recent averages.
Editorial Standards
All guides are based on real pricing data, live fare checks, and historical trends. Content is updated as ships launch and prices change. Questions or corrections? Contact us