MSC Drinks Package: Is It Actually Worth Buying?
Three packages, three types of passenger, one honest answer — with the numbers to back it up.
MSC Cruises has grown faster than almost any other line over the past decade, and part of that growth is down to a pricing model that looks appealingly simple from the outside. Book a higher fare tier, get drinks included. Job done.
In practice it's a little more involved than that. MSC offers three drinks packages — Easy, Classic, and Premium — each sitting at a different price point and covering a different range of drinks. Whether any of them represents genuine value depends on who you are, how much you drink, what you drink, and how many port days your itinerary includes.
This post runs the numbers properly. We've used a 7-night Caribbean itinerary as the baseline, with current MSC package pricing, and worked through three realistic passenger scenarios: a light drinker, a moderate drinker, and a couple where one person drinks and one doesn't.
The Three MSC Drinks Packages Explained
Easy Package
The entry-level option. The Easy package covers non-alcoholic drinks — water, soft drinks, juices, tea, coffee — plus a limited selection of house beer, wine by the glass, and well spirits. It does not cover cocktails, premium spirits, or anything branded.
Price: Approximately $25–$35 per person per day on a Caribbean sailing, depending on when you book. Pre-cruise purchases are typically cheaper than buying onboard.
Who it's designed for: Non-drinkers or very light drinkers who want unlimited soft drinks, coffee, and the occasional beer without watching the bill add up.
The catch: The alcoholic options are limited enough that anyone who drinks with any regularity will quickly find themselves ordering drinks that fall outside the package — and paying the difference.
Classic Package
The mid-tier option and the one most passengers end up considering seriously. The Classic package covers a broader selection: cocktails up to a set price threshold (typically around $8–$9 per drink), a wider range of wines by the glass, spirits, beer, soft drinks, water, and hot drinks.
Price: Approximately $45–$60 per person per day on a Caribbean sailing. Again, pre-cruise pricing is meaningfully lower than the onboard rate — MSC typically offers a 20–30% discount for packages purchased before embarkation.
Who it's designed for: Moderate drinkers who want flexibility without paying premium prices for every round. The coverage is broad enough for most people's actual drinking habits.
The catch: The per-drink price cap. A decent cocktail on MSC sits at $10–$14 at retail. The Classic package caps coverage at roughly $8–$9. Anything above that, you pay the difference. If your default order is a premium cocktail or a named-brand spirit, you'll be topping up regularly — which erodes the package's value.
Premium Package
The top tier. The Premium package removes the per-drink price cap (up to a generous ceiling, typically $20 per drink), covers premium spirits, champagne, a wider wine selection, and all the inclusions from the Classic package.
Price: Approximately $65–$85 per person per day on a Caribbean sailing.
Who it's designed for: Passengers who drink regularly, drink quality spirits or cocktails, and want to order without thinking about price per drink. Also worth considering if you're in a group where rounds add up quickly.
The catch: The daily cost is significant. At $75 per person per day for a couple over 7 nights, you're looking at $1,050 in drinks packages before a single drink is poured. That's a real number that needs to be earned back.
The Rules That Apply to All Three Packages
Before running the scenarios, three MSC-specific rules worth understanding:
Both adults in a cabin must purchase the same package. This is standard across almost every cruise line, not just MSC. If one person wants the Premium package, both must buy it — you cannot mix tiers within a cabin.
The package must cover the full voyage. You cannot buy it for selected days only. If you have four port days on a 7-night cruise and plan to eat and drink ashore on those days, you're still paying for the full 7 nights.
Packages are priced per person per day. The numbers look manageable daily but add up quickly when multiplied across both passengers and the full itinerary length.
The Scenarios
We've built three scenarios using a 7-night Caribbean itinerary with three port days and four sea days. Onboard drink prices are based on MSC's current Caribbean menu pricing. Package costs use the pre-cruise purchase rate.
Scenario 1: The Light Drinker
Profile: One or two drinks per day. Mostly beer or house wine. Happy with tap water, doesn't drink coffee. Not interested in cocktails. Primarily on the ship for sea days; goes ashore on port days and drinks locally.
Realistic daily consumption on sea days: 1 beer ($6), 1 glass of house wine ($7). Total retail: $13. Realistic daily consumption on port days: Negligible — drinking ashore.
Pay-as-you-go total (4 sea days x $13, 3 port days x $0): $52 for the voyage.
Easy package cost (7 nights x $30): $210. Classic package cost (7 nights x $52): $364.
Verdict for the light drinker: Neither package comes close to paying for itself. Pay as you go. The Easy package would need you to consume $30 of covered drinks every single day — including port days — to break even. A light drinker won't get there.
Scenario 2: The Moderate Drinker
Profile: Three to five drinks per day. A mix of beer, wine, and the occasional cocktail. Has coffee in the morning. Stays on the ship on port days for at least part of the day.
Realistic daily consumption (sea days): 2 coffees ($5 total), 1 beer ($6), 1 glass of wine ($7), 1 cocktail ($12). Total retail: $30. Realistic daily consumption (port days): 1 coffee ($2.50), 1 beer ($6). Total retail: $8.50.
Pay-as-you-go total (4 x $30) + (3 x $8.50): $145.50 for the voyage.
Classic package cost (7 nights x $52): $364.
At face value the package doesn't pay — $364 vs $145.50 in actual spend. But there's a nuance: the cocktail in this scenario costs $12 retail and the Classic package only covers drinks up to $8–$9. So under the Classic package, this passenger would pay $3–$4 out of pocket per cocktail anyway.
Revised pay-as-you-go figure accounting for Classic package coverage gaps: The Classic package covers the coffees, beer, and wine fully. The cocktail shortfall is roughly $3–$4 per day on sea days — an additional $12–$16 over the voyage on top of the package cost.
Effective Classic package total: ~$376–$380. Pay-as-you-go total: $145.50.
Verdict for the moderate drinker: Pay as you go, or upgrade to Premium only if cocktail consumption increases significantly. The Classic package doesn't earn its keep at this consumption level, and the coverage gaps on premium cocktails reduce its value further.
This is the scenario where using a calculator before you book pays off. The break-even point shifts based on your specific drink choices, your itinerary's port days, and whether you drink ashore.
CabinRate's drinks calculator lets you enter your MSC itinerary, your typical daily drink choices, and your package options — and shows you the break-even point for your specific trip rather than a generic average.
Scenario 3: The Couple — One Drinks, One Doesn't
Profile: Two adults sharing a cabin. One is a moderate-to-heavy drinker (4–6 drinks per day, mix of cocktails and wine). The other drinks soft drinks and coffee only — no alcohol.
This is the scenario where the both-must-purchase rule creates the most friction.
Drinker's realistic daily consumption (sea days): 2 coffees ($5), 2 glasses of wine ($14), 2 cocktails ($24). Total retail: $43. Non-drinker's realistic daily consumption: 3 soft drinks ($9), 2 coffees ($5). Total retail: $14.
Classic package cost for both (7 nights x $52 x 2 people): $728.
Drinker's pay-as-you-go total: (4 sea days x $43) + (3 port days x $15 estimate) = $217. Non-drinker's pay-as-you-go total: (7 days x $14) = $98. Combined pay-as-you-go total: $315.
Classic package vs. pay-as-you-go gap: $728 vs $315. The package costs more than double the realistic spend.
What about the Premium package? At $75 per person per day, the Premium package for both passengers over 7 nights costs $1,050. Still more than double the pay-as-you-go figure.
Is there a workaround? MSC does allow one passenger to take the Easy package while the other takes Classic or Premium — the rule is that both must purchase a package, not necessarily the same package. This is worth confirming directly with MSC at time of booking as policy can vary. If permitted, the non-drinker on Easy ($30/day) and the drinker on Classic ($52/day) costs $574 for the voyage — still above the $315 pay-as-you-go figure but meaningfully less than $728.
Verdict for the mixed couple: Run the numbers for your specific consumption before purchasing anything. The package almost certainly doesn't pay off in this scenario unless the drinking partner is consuming well above the moderate level we've modelled here.
The Pre-Cruise Discount: Does It Change the Calculation?
MSC typically offers packages at 20–30% below the onboard rate when purchased before embarkation. That's a real saving — but it doesn't change the fundamental maths. A package that doesn't break even at $52 per day doesn't break even at $40 per day either, unless your consumption is genuinely close to the threshold.
The pre-cruise discount matters most if you've already decided the package makes sense for you and you want to get the best price. It's not a reason to buy a package that doesn't otherwise add up.
The Honest Verdict
| Package | Daily Cost (pre-cruise) | Best For | Breaks Even At |
|---|---|---|---|
| Easy | ~$30/person | Non-drinkers, soft drink heavy users | ~3–4 covered drinks/day |
| Classic | ~$52/person | Moderate drinkers, beer/wine focused | ~5–6 covered drinks/day |
| Premium | ~$75/person | Heavy drinkers, cocktails and premium spirits | ~7–8 covered drinks/day |
Break-even figures assume average drink retail price of $8–$10 for Easy/Classic coverage range, $12–$15 for Premium.
The MSC drinks packages are straightforwardly good value for heavy drinkers on sea-day-heavy itineraries. They are poor value for light drinkers, mixed couples, and anyone with a high proportion of port days.
The number to calculate before you book: multiply your realistic daily drink spend by the number of days you'll actually be drinking onboard (not your total itinerary length). If that figure exceeds the package cost, buy it — and buy it before you board.
If it doesn't, pay as you go. The onboard prices aren't extortionate, and you'll spend less.
Package prices are approximate and based on publicly available MSC pricing for Caribbean sailings as of mid-2025. Prices vary by ship, sailing date, and booking timing. Always verify current package costs directly with MSC or your travel agent before booking. Exchange rate used: £1 = $1.27.