What's Actually Included in Free at Sea (and What You Can Remove)
Free at Sea bundles five perks. Two are genuinely free, two carry a gratuity you can remove, and one depends on the sailing. Here's how to tell them apart.
Free at Sea bundles five perks into nearly every Norwegian fare. Two of them — the WiFi package and the shore-excursion credit — are genuinely free, at $0. The other two that carry a price, the open bar and specialty dining, aren't free at all: they're pre-loaded into your total with a gratuity attached, and you can remove them with a click. The fifth, airfare, depends on the sailing.
That sorting is the whole point of this guide. "Free at Sea" reads like everything is included, but the useful version of the list separates what costs you nothing, what carries a removable charge, and what to check before you accept it. Here's the full breakdown — and how to take back off the parts you won't use.
Quick Answer — What's in Free at Sea, and What Does It Really Cost?
TL;DR| Item | In the bundle? | What it really costs |
|---|---|---|
| Unlimited Open Bar (drinks ≤ $15) | Yes | ~$28.50 pp/day gratuity — removable |
| WiFi (≈150 min, Starlink) | Yes | $0 — genuinely free |
| Specialty dining (3 meals) | Yes | $120 for two — removable |
| Shore-excursion credit ($50/port) | Yes | $0 — genuinely free, guest 1 only |
| Airfare (4+ day sailings) | Select sailings | Not always cheapest — check first |
- Two perks are genuinely free. The WiFi package and the excursion credit land at $0 — there's nothing to remove.
- Two carry a removable gratuity. The drink package (~$399 for two on a week, or ~$28.50 a day each) and dining ($120) are pre-loaded, but each comes off with a 'Remove' click.
- Daily gratuities are separate and standard. Every line charges a daily service charge — about $20/day pp on NCL — and it's the universal baseline, not a Free at Sea cost.
Everything Free at Sea Includes
Free at Sea is Norwegian's promotional bundle, attached to nearly every fare. The standard version packages five things, drawn from NCL's published promotion terms:
- The Unlimited Open Bar — covers most cocktails, beer, wine, and soda, up to a per-drink price of $15.
- A WiFi package — about 150 minutes on Norwegian's Starlink network. Not unlimited streaming on the standard tier.
- A specialty dining package — three meals at the ship's extra-charge restaurants on a 7–8 night sailing.
- A shore-excursion credit — $50 per port, applied to qualifying Norwegian excursions (first guest only).
- Reduced or "free" airfare — on select sailings of four nights or more, often as a buy-one-get-the-second offer.
The paid upgrade, Free at Sea Plus, swaps in premium drinks, streaming WiFi, and a dining discount for a published $49.99 per person, per day — a separate decision we work through in Free at Sea vs Free at Sea Plus.
What's Genuinely Free — and What Carries a Charge
Here's the same list, sorted by what it actually costs you. This is the table that matters:
| Free at Sea perk | Genuinely free? | What it actually costs |
|---|---|---|
| WiFi package (~150 min) | Yes | $0 — included at no charge |
| Shore-excursion credit ($50/port) | Yes | $0 — applied as a credit (first guest) |
| Unlimited Open Bar | No | ~$28.50 pp/day prepaid gratuity (~$399 for two on a week) |
| Specialty dining (3 meals) | No | $120 for two ($60 per guest) |
| Airfare (select sailings) | Depends | "Free" or reduced, but often pricier than booking your own |
The WiFi and excursion credit are the easy wins — they cost nothing and there's nothing to decide. The open bar and dining package are the two that carry a gratuity, and they're the two worth a deliberate keep-or-remove call. The airfare is its own judgment, because "free" flights routinely cost more than ones you book yourself — we cover that in how to use your Free at Sea perks.
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How to Remove the Packages You Won't Use
The reason this matters: those two priced packages are opt-out, not opt-in. Norwegian loads them into your total by default, so unless you act, you pay the gratuities whether you'll use the packages or not.
The fix is a single page most people never open. On the packages step during booking, each offer has a "Remove" button:
- Removing the Unlimited Open Bar dropped a live 7-night balcony quote by $399.
- Removing the specialty-dining package dropped it by another $120.
- That's $519 off the total — and the cruise fare itself never moved. Only the package costs came off.
"Free" means the perk is in the bundle. It doesn't mean it arrives without a charge — or that you have to keep it.
So the move is simple: keep the two genuinely free perks (they cost nothing), and decide deliberately on the two that carry a gratuity. Whether keeping the open bar pays off comes down to a real number — about two drinks a day — which we work out in full in is Free at Sea worth it. The pillar guide shows the whole booking-flow breakdown if you want to see the quote.
A Neutral Word on Norwegian Cruise Line Gratuities
Two different charges get lumped together as "gratuities," and keeping them straight is half the battle.
The daily onboard service charge is the standard one. As of June 2026, NCL's published rate is about $20 per person, per day on standard staterooms and about $25 on suites and The Haven. Every cruise line charges a daily service charge — only the rate varies — so this is the universal baseline, not a Norwegian quirk. It applies whether you bundle anything or not, and it isn't something Free at Sea adds or removes.
| Charge | Roughly | Is it a Free at Sea cost? |
|---|---|---|
| Daily onboard service charge (standard cabin) | ~$20 pp/day | No — standard on every line, applies regardless |
| Package gratuity on the "free" open bar | ~$28.50 pp/day (~$399 for two on a week) | Yes — and it's removable with the package |
The package gratuity is the Free-at-Sea-specific one — the ~$28.50 per person, per day on the open bar, and the per-meal charge on dining. Unlike the daily service charge, this one is avoidable: remove the package and it's gone. That's the distinction the brochure blurs, and it's the only "gratuity" you actually have a lever on.
The Question Underneath the Whole List
Sorting the perks gets your total right. But it can't tell you whether the fare the bundle is attached to is a fair price for that ship — and a clean package list on an overpriced cruise is still an overpriced cruise.
That's a price-history question, not a brochure question. One quote tells you what Norwegian is asking today; a history tells you whether that's a genuinely good week or just today's number. We explain how to read a fare against its own record in understanding cruise price history.
How We Source These Figures
A quick honesty note. We track cruise fares — the price of the cabin, monitored over time since October 2025. We do not track Norwegian's package prices or gratuity rates. Every dollar figure here — the ~$28.50-per-day open-bar gratuity, the $120 dining package, the ~$20-per-day daily service charge, the $49.99 Plus rate — comes from NCL's published rates as of June 2026, clearly attributed, and they can change, so confirm the current numbers on your booking. For our full methodology, see how it works.
All Aboard Deals Pro scores every Norwegian fare against that ship's own price history, so you know whether the all-in price is fair before you start tallying packages. And the free Cruise Radar Chrome extension shows you that score right on the booking page while you shop — so a "Free at Sea" fare never looks better than it actually is.
Frequently Asked Questions
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