Royal Caribbean Is Pulling a $5 Perk From Its Most Expensive Drink Package — And Guests Are Fuming

Starting March 15, one of the small perks that made Royal Caribbean’s premium drink packages feel like a good deal is gone — unless you pay extra for it.

According to Royal Caribbean Blog, Royal Caribbean quietly updated its beverage package terms this week: effective March 15, 2026, the complimentary Coca-Cola souvenir cup and unlimited access to Coca-Cola Freestyle machines will no longer be included with the Deluxe Beverage Package or the Royal Refreshment Package. If you want the cup going forward, you’ll need to buy it onboard for $4.99.

It’s a small dollar amount. But the reaction from cruisers has been anything but small.

What’s Actually Changing

For years, guests who purchased Royal Caribbean’s premium non-alcoholic and alcohol-inclusive packages received a branded Coca-Cola souvenir cup alongside their package. That cup granted unlimited access to Freestyle machines scattered around the ship — the self-serve touchscreen soda stations that let guests pour everything from Pibb Xtra to specialty Fanta flavors at any hour of the day.

Now, that’s gone. Specifically:

• Deluxe Beverage Package (the alcohol-inclusive option, priced at $32–$115 per person per day depending on sailing): No longer includes the Freestyle cup or machine access.
• Royal Refreshment Package (the non-alcoholic package): Same deal — cup and machine access removed.
• Classic Soda Package (the budget soda-only option, priced at $9.99–$18 per person per day): Still includes the cup and Freestyle access.

The irony isn’t lost on observers: the most expensive drink packages now come with fewer soda perks than the cheapest one.

One Saving Grace for Some Guests

Royal Caribbean confirmed there is a grandfathering policy. According to the cruise line’s own statement: “Guests who purchased a Deluxe or Refreshment Package pre-cruise on or before 03/15/26 will not have to pay for a souvenir cup if they request one.”

So if you’ve already pre-purchased one of these packages before the cutoff date, your benefits are locked in. The change applies only to new package purchases made on or after March 15.

If you have an upcoming sailing and you haven’t added a drink package yet, this is worth factoring into your pre-cruise shopping decisions.

Why Guests Are Upset

“Unbelievably cheap on Royal’s part,” wrote one cruiser, summing up the prevailing mood online. The criticism centers less on the $4.99 price tag and more on what the change represents: a quiet reduction in value packaged as business-as-usual.

Royal Caribbean didn’t make a formal announcement about this change. It was discovered by guests reviewing their account details and package fine print — a fact that has added fuel to the fire. When a cruise line slashes a perk without so much as an email, it tends to feel like the company was hoping you wouldn’t notice.

There’s also a philosophical problem here. The Deluxe Beverage Package is already priced at a premium — up to $115 per person per day on some sailings. For that price, guests reasonably expect a robust set of inclusions. Removing a popular feature and charging separately for it, however modestly, chips away at the perception of value that makes the package worth buying in the first place.

The Counter-Argument

To be fair, some cruisers have pushed back on the outrage. The cups are physical objects that frequently end up unused or abandoned in staterooms. The actual soda drinkers who lived and died by their Freestyle machine access represent a subset of package holders. For occasional soda drinkers, $4.99 once per cruise is genuinely a small amount.

There’s also a reasonable environmental argument buried here — fewer souvenir cups means less plastic waste, a concern the industry has been grappling with as sustainability expectations rise.

And for those who actively want the perk, $4.99 is not exactly a hardship. The Freestyle machines aren’t being removed from ships; the cup is simply transitioning from a default inclusion to an optional add-on.

The Bigger Picture

This is not an isolated move. Over the past few years, Royal Caribbean — like every major cruise line — has been systematically restructuring what’s included in base packages versus what carries an additional charge. We’ve seen this pattern across gratuities, specialty dining, shore excursions, and now beverage packages.

Each individual change, in isolation, looks small. The cumulative effect, however, is a cruise experience where more and more of what guests once took for granted now carries a price tag. That’s not necessarily wrong — the cruise industry is running sophisticated revenue operations, and premium packages have always been a major profit lever. But guests notice, and their trust erodes a little each time a perk disappears without fanfare.

For cruisers planning 2026 sailings, the practical implication is simple: read your package details carefully. What was true about your drink package inclusions six months ago may not be true today. If Freestyle access matters to you, verify it’s still included before you pay.

And if you’re still on the fence about adding a drink package for a sailing after March 15 — the Classic Soda Package, ironically, now looks like the better deal for non-drinkers who want Freestyle access.

---

Source: Royal Caribbean Quietly Cuts a Drink Package Benefit — Royal Caribbean Blog