Inflation has hit hard on land, and it’s creeping into taking a trip at sea as well. Cruise lines have bumped up prices on everything from Internet service to drink packages to gratuities in recent months, and now there’s another price increase coming.
In this case, the dollar amount is small, but it still means more money from your wallet.
We noticed a change in pricing on Norwegian Cruise Line’s website. The cruise line’s soda package, which gives you “endless fountain soda” during the cruise, has increased in price from $7.95 per day to $9.95 per day.
Take a look at the website pricing from before the change and after:
That increase is just $2 more per person, per day, but it does come out to a 25% increase in the cost of the package, which gives you all the Pepsi, Diet Pepsi, Mt. Dew, Sierra Mist, and more, that you want to drink.
So what does this mean in total for your cruise?
Someone purchasing the package for a week-long cruise would have previously spent $66.78 when the 20% gratuity that NCL charges for the offer is also included.
With the price increase, that same package would now cost $83.58 for a 7-day cruise. That’s nearly $17 more for a week’s worth of soda on the ship.
Notably, unlike other cruise lines like Carnival and Royal Caribbean, NCL does not allow passengers to bring on non-alcoholic drinks like soda and water. In other words, you can’t just bring on your own to avoid the price increase.
We did notice, however, that the alcoholic beverage package prices — which also include unlimited soda — have not changed in price.
Follows Previous Removal of Lower-Priced Package for Kids
This is actually the second change to the soda package pricing in recent months for the cruise line.
Back in March, we noticed that NCL removed its soda program for children from its website. That package offered the same unlimited soda during the cruise but was priced at $5.95 per day for kids 12 years and under.
In other words, everyone buying the soda package would then be charged the previous $7.95 per day cost, no matter their age. And now, that price is bumped up to $9.95, plus gratuity.
Norwegian also raised the price of onboard gratuities from $15.50 to $16 per day for most cabins starting this past April. Rooms in The Haven (NCL’s premium area on the ship) and suites saw an increase from $18.50 to $20.00 per person, per day.
