I Ran the Numbers on 6 Cruise Lines So You Don't Have To
Royal Caribbean, Carnival, MSC, Norwegian, Celebrity, P&O — what you actually pay, what you actually get, and which line wins on value depending on who you are.
There's a reason cruise line stocks have outperformed most of the travel sector over the past five years. Royal Caribbean Group, Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings, Carnival Corporation — all have seen substantial share price growth since 2020. These are well-run businesses with pricing models that reward passengers who understand them and quietly cost more for those who don't.
This post is for the second group — or anyone who wants to move into the first.
Cruising is genuinely good value if you go in with clear eyes. The pricing structure has a lot of moving parts: base fares, gratuities, drinks packages, Wi-Fi, speciality dining, port charges. None of it is hidden exactly — it's all in the terms — but it isn't always presented in a way that makes the total easy to calculate before you book.
That's what this post does. Six major cruise lines, one representative itinerary, all the numbers laid out so you can make the comparison yourself.
What We're Comparing and Why It Matters
The brochure price is close to meaningless as a comparison tool. A £799 per person fare on one line and a £1,299 fare on another might end up costing you roughly the same once you add the components that are non-optional in practice.
The variables that actually determine your total spend:
- Base fare — cabin price, typically per person, based on double occupancy
- Gratuities — daily service charge, either prepaid or charged onboard
- Drinks — included, package available, or pay-as-you-go
- Wi-Fi — included or charged separately
- Speciality dining — what's included in the main dining room vs. what costs extra
- Port charges and taxes — usually unavoidable, sometimes buried in the small print
- Solo passenger supplement — relevant to a significant minority of cruisers
We're using a 7-night Caribbean itinerary as the baseline, two adults sharing an inside cabin, departing in mid-season (not peak, not off-peak). Where pricing varies significantly by route, we note it.
The Six Lines at a Glance
Royal Caribbean
Who it's for: Families, first-timers, people who want the big-ship experience.
Royal Caribbean runs some of the largest ships afloat. Icon of the Seas, launched in 2024, carries over 7,000 passengers. That scale has two effects on value: first, the onboard amenities are genuinely impressive (waterparks, ice rinks, multiple pools); second, the ship is effectively a floating retail environment designed to part you from money.
Base fare: Mid-range. A 7-night Caribbean inside cabin typically runs £900–£1,400 per person depending on ship and timing.
Gratuities: $18 per person per day (as of 2025), charged automatically unless you prepay. On a 7-night cruise, that's $252 per couple before you've bought a single drink. Royal Caribbean periodically increases this figure — it has gone up multiple times in recent years.
Drinks: Not included. The Royal Refreshment package (non-alcoholic) runs around $29 per person per day. The Deluxe Beverage Package — alcoholic drinks included — is approximately $75–$110 per person per day depending on when you buy it. Crucially, if one person in a cabin buys the package, the other must too. That's a rule across almost every cruise line, and it fundamentally changes the maths for couples where one person barely drinks.
Wi-Fi: Not included. Expect to pay $20–$30 per device per day, or around $100–$150 per device for the voyage.
Bottom line for a 7-night couple (inside cabin, drinks package, Wi-Fi, gratuities): Roughly £3,800–£5,200 all in, depending on ship and offers. The sticker price tells you perhaps half the story.
Carnival
Who it's for: Value-seekers, the US domestic market, party atmosphere.
Carnival is the largest cruise line in the world by passenger numbers. It is also, bluntly, the most unapologetically commercial. The onboard experience is built around revenue generation — casinos, shops, upsells at every turn. That's not a moral judgement; it's a business model. Know it going in.
Base fare: Lower than most competitors. A 7-night Caribbean inside cabin can be found for £650–£1,000 per person, making it one of the cheaper entry points.
Gratuities: $18 per person per day — the same as Royal Caribbean. This has become something of an industry floor rate.
Drinks: Not included as standard. Carnival's Cheers! package runs approximately $60–$70 per person per day and covers most alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks up to a $20 retail value. Same rule applies: both adults in a cabin must purchase it. There's also a daily limit of 15 alcoholic drinks per person — a rule that exists across most lines that offer beverage packages.
Wi-Fi: Not included. Social media-only packages start around $8 per day; full access runs $18–$25 per day.
Value note: Carnival runs frequent sales and early-booking discounts that can genuinely move the needle. The line also has a loyalty programme (VIFP Club) that delivers real perks at higher tiers. If you cruise Carnival regularly, the loyalty benefits are worth calculating.
Bottom line for a 7-night couple: Roughly £3,200–£4,400 all in. Lower floor than Royal Caribbean, similar ceiling once you add extras.
MSC Cruises
Who it's for: European travellers, value-conscious passengers, those who want included drinks without the premium.
MSC is the fastest-growing cruise line in the world and is particularly strong in the UK and European market. Its pricing model is meaningfully different from the US-headquartered lines: it uses a tiered fare structure (Bella, Fantastica, Aurea, and All-Inclusive) where higher tiers bundle more inclusions.
Base fare: Competitive. Inside cabins on a 7-night Caribbean cruise start around £700–£1,100 per person at Bella level.
Gratuities: €14 per person per day for European sailings; around $16 for Caribbean. Slightly lower than Royal Caribbean and Carnival, but the gap isn't dramatic.
Drinks: This is where MSC's model diverges. The All-Inclusive fare bundles drinks, Wi-Fi, and specialty dining into a single price. The premium for this over the base Bella fare is significant — often £300–£500 per person for a 7-night cruise — but for a couple who both drink, it can represent genuine value over paying à la carte.
Wi-Fi: Included at higher fare tiers; charged separately (around €15–€20 per day) at Bella level.
Key MSC caveat: The Bella fare has restrictions — you don't choose your cabin location or dining time. For some passengers this is fine; for others it's a dealbreaker. Read the tier differences carefully before booking.
Bottom line for a 7-night couple (All-Inclusive fare): Roughly £3,400–£4,800 all in. The bundling makes budgeting more predictable than lines where everything is charged separately.
Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL)
Who it's for: Passengers who want flexibility, the "Free at Sea" generation, those who want to dine when they want.
NCL pioneered "freestyle cruising" — no fixed dining times, no formal dress codes. It remains genuinely more relaxed than some competitors in terms of onboard structure. Its Free at Sea promotion, which has run in various forms for years, bundles extras that other lines charge for separately.
Base fare: Mid-to-upper range. Inside cabins on a 7-night Caribbean cruise typically run £900–£1,400 per person.
Gratuities: $20 per person per day — the highest of the six lines on this list. On a 7-night cruise, that's $280 per couple in gratuities alone.
Drinks: NCL's Free at Sea package (when offered) includes a beverage package — though read the terms. The "free" drinks package covers beverages up to $15 each; premium drinks cost the difference. A significant portion of the cocktail menu sits above that threshold on the newer ships.
Wi-Fi: Often included as part of Free at Sea, but typically limited to one device. Additional devices cost extra.
Speciality dining: NCL has an unusually large number of speciality restaurants, and the Free at Sea package typically includes a set number of speciality dining credits. The main dining room food receives mixed reviews; the speciality restaurants are generally better.
Bottom line for a 7-night couple: Roughly £3,800–£5,400 all in. The Free at Sea inclusions are real, but the high daily gratuity and the gap between the headline drinks package and actual drink prices add up faster than the marketing implies.
Celebrity Cruises
Who it's for: Adults who want a premium experience without going full luxury, couples, the over-40s market.
Celebrity sits in the premium tier — above mass-market lines like Carnival and Royal Caribbean (its parent company), below true luxury lines like Silversea or Seabourn. The product is genuinely different: better food, less frenetic atmosphere, stronger service ratios.
Base fare: Higher. A 7-night Caribbean inside cabin typically runs £1,100–£1,700 per person. You are paying more to start.
Gratuities: $18–$19 per person per day, broadly in line with Royal Caribbean.
Drinks: Celebrity's "Always Included" fare bundles classic drinks, Wi-Fi, and gratuities into the base price. This is significant — it makes the headline price more honest than competitors, because the add-ons are already in. The Classic Drinks package covers most drinks up to $10; the Premium package (an upgrade) removes that cap.
Wi-Fi: Included in the Always Included fare (one device). Upgrading to unlimited devices costs extra.
The honest trade-off: You pay more upfront with Celebrity. Whether you come out ahead depends entirely on how much you'd spend on drinks and Wi-Fi on a line where they're not included. For a couple who drinks moderately and uses the internet, Celebrity's bundled pricing often beats the itemised total on Royal Caribbean.
Bottom line for a 7-night couple (Always Included): Roughly £4,200–£5,800 all in. Higher floor, but fewer surprises.
P&O Cruises
Who it's for: The UK market specifically, British passengers who want a familiar experience, families and older couples.
P&O is the most UK-specific line on this list — its ships depart primarily from Southampton, its currency onboard is sterling, and its product is calibrated for British tastes. For UK passengers who want to avoid flights, P&O is often the most convenient option.
Base fare: Variable. Inside cabins on a 7-night cruise start around £700–£1,200 per person, but P&O's pricing model includes regular sales and early-booking discounts that are worth watching.
Gratuities: P&O changed its gratuity model in 2022. Gratuities are now included in the fare rather than charged separately — a genuine structural difference from the US lines. This removes the daily surprise charge that catches many passengers off guard.
Drinks: Not included as standard. P&O offers drinks packages starting around £35–£55 per person per day. The package options are simpler than some US lines — fewer tiers, less complexity.
Wi-Fi: Not included. Packages run roughly £10–£20 per day depending on speed and duration.
The P&O value case: The included gratuities make the total cost calculation more straightforward than US lines. Combined with no-fly departures from Southampton for UK passengers, the all-in cost can be competitive even though the base fare isn't always the lowest.
Bottom line for a 7-night couple: Roughly £3,000–£4,400 all in. One of the more predictable totals on this list.
The Comparison Table
| Line | 7-Night Inside (per person) | Daily Gratuity (per person) | Drinks Included? | Wi-Fi Included? | Est. Total (couple, 7 nights) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Royal Caribbean | £900–£1,400 | $18 | No | No | £3,800–£5,200 |
| Carnival | £650–£1,000 | $18 | No | No | £3,200–£4,400 |
| MSC (All-Incl.) | £700–£1,100 | €14 | Yes (AI tier) | Yes (AI tier) | £3,400–£4,800 |
| Norwegian | £900–£1,400 | $20 | Partial (FAS) | Partial (FAS) | £3,800–£5,400 |
| Celebrity (AI) | £1,100–£1,700 | $18–19 | Yes (classic) | Yes (1 device) | £4,200–£5,800 |
| P&O | £700–£1,200 | Included | No | No | £3,000–£4,400 |
Estimates based on mid-season 7-night Caribbean itinerary, two adults, inside cabin, drinks package where not included, basic Wi-Fi. Exchange rates approximate. Prices vary significantly by ship, sailing date, and booking timing.
The Variables That Change Everything
Port days
If your itinerary has five port days out of seven, you'll be off the ship for most of the day on the majority of sailing days. A drinks package that costs £50 per person per day starts looking very different when you're spending eight hours ashore. This is one of the most commonly ignored factors in cruise budgeting.
CabinRate's drinks calculator accounts for port days — you enter your itinerary and it adjusts the break-even calculation accordingly, which almost no other tool does.
The non-drinking partner problem
Every major line requires both passengers in a cabin to purchase the drinks package if either one does. If one of you drinks and one doesn't, you're paying for a package for someone who'll use it for soft drinks and juice. At £50–£70 per person per day, that's a significant cost on a 7-night cruise.
The workaround: some lines allow one passenger to purchase a non-alcoholic package at a lower daily rate while the other takes the full package. MSC and Celebrity both offer this. Royal Caribbean and Carnival are less flexible. Check before you book.
Solo passengers
Every line on this list charges a single supplement — an additional percentage applied to solo passengers because cabin pricing is based on double occupancy. Supplements range from 10% to 100% depending on line, ship, and sailing. Norwegian has the most solo-friendly cabins (dedicated Studio cabins with no supplement on some ships). P&O has introduced solo cabins on newer ships. The others vary by vessel.
If you're travelling solo, the total cost picture changes substantially — factor this in before comparing sticker prices.
Which Line Actually Wins?
It depends on who you are, which is the only honest answer.
For pure lowest-cost entry: Carnival. Lower base fares, frequent sales, and a straightforward product. Go in knowing what it is.
For best bundled value (couple, both drink, want predictability): MSC All-Inclusive or Celebrity Always Included. The maths works if you'd be buying drinks and Wi-Fi anyway.
For UK passengers who want no-fly and no gratuity surprises: P&O. Simpler cost structure, departs from Southampton, gratuities included.
For the biggest ship experience: Royal Caribbean. You're paying for the hardware and the spectacle. Just do the full cost calculation before you board.
For a notch above mass-market without going luxury: Celebrity. Better food and service than Royal Caribbean, genuinely more included in the base fare.
For flexible dining and a sociable onboard atmosphere: Norwegian. But run the numbers carefully — the $20 daily gratuity and the drinks package small print matter.
Do the Calculation Before You Book
The single most useful thing you can do before committing to a cruise is calculate your realistic total spend, not the fare price. Factor in your drinking habits, your itinerary's port days, whether your partner drinks, and what Wi-Fi access you actually need.
CabinRate's cruise drinks calculator does the heavy lifting on the drinks component — you enter your line, your itinerary, how much you typically drink, and whether your partner drinks, and it tells you whether a package makes financial sense for your specific trip. It's free and it takes about two minutes.
The cruise lines are good at making the extras feel optional. Most of them aren't, in practice. Know the number before you book.
All prices are approximate and based on publicly available information as of mid-2025. Cruise line pricing changes frequently — always verify current figures before booking. Exchange rates used: £1 = $1.27.