Update - Jan 10: Royal Caribbean’s website now shows slightly lower prices for some packages. For drinks, the Refreshment Package and the Water Bottle Packages are now cheaper. The prices in this article has been updated.

Unlike many previous Atlantis sailings, the Harmony 2023 cruise seems to have an abundance of different drinks packages available. But what do they include, what are the gotchas, and are they worth it?

All the Packages Available

• Drink Tickets (for alcohol)

• Classic Soda Package

• Refreshment Package

• Water Bottle Package

• Cafe Select Coffee Card

Drink Tickets

$225 for 20 tickets. Each ticket is good for any alcoholic drink up to $14 -OR- 2 non-alcoholic drinks

Atlantis has been offering drink tickets on some of their recent cruises and they’re offering them again on Harmony. $225 buys you 20 tickets, and each is good is good for any alcoholic drink up to $14, or two non-alcoholic drinks.

Assuming you use the tickets only for $14 drinks (you probably will as most drinks are now $14), you’d save $55 total compared to paying regularly, or $2.75 per drink.

Tickets also speed up the process of ringing up your order. The bartender doesn’t have to punch in your drink order at the electronic register in the same way when using a coupon like they do when paying the traditional way with your keycard.

When you buy the tickets, an 18% gratuity charge is automatically added, so 20 tickets cost a total of $266. The same 18% gratuity charge is added to drink orders pay for in the traditional way without tickets.

What to watch out for

• Royal Caribbean staff are not used to the coupons system - they don’t offer them on regular cruises - so make sure to check your stateroom charges to make sure you’re being charged properly for drinks paid with coupons.

• Coupons are not linked to any person or stateroom - you can give one to a friend, but if you lose them whoever finds it can use them

• Coupons do not work at the Starbucks

Is it worth it?

Yes for most drinkers. It’s very easy to order 2 or 3 drinks a day while on a cruise. The breakeven point is 16 drinks (assuming all orders are for $14 drinks), so even if you have a few tickets left at the end of the cruise you’re not losing out. The additional speed and convenience of paying with coupons is an added bonus.

How to buy them

Drink coupons are sold on the Atlantis website, not from Royal Caribbean:

1. Log into https://res.atlantisevents.com/Booking/Account/LogOn with your Atlantis account

2. Click on your name (in the top-right) and select Your Upcoming Reservation

3. Click the View/Modify button for the Harmony Southern Caribbean Cruise

4. Click the Add More Options button near the bottom of the page

5. From there, click Add Drink Tickets and you will be able to purchase drink tickets accordingly

Classic Soda Package

$8.99 / person / day (if purchased in advanced online)

This is the same soda package that Royal Caribbean sells on all their cruise ships. You get a “Coca-Cola souvenir cup” for self-served soda from one of the soda fountain machines and you can get soda at any bar or restaurant onboard.

The Coca-Cola souvenir cup is a special microchipped plastic tumbler, and the microchip is what allows it to work in the various Coca-Cola soda fountains machines on the ship. On Harmony, there are soda fountain machines inside the Windjammer buffet on deck 15, near the Sorrento’s pizza place on deck 5, and at the miniBites cafe on deck 16 near the sports court.

What to watch out for

• Everyone in the same stateroom must get the package. If you want the package, your roommates needs to get it too.

• The Classic Soda package is only for soda - not for anything else like bottled water or juice

• At bars and restaurants, you can only order 1 soda at a time per person (this is to prevent you from ordering drinks for others as the package is not supposed to be shared)

• Doesn’t cover room service. That is, you can’t call up room service to have them deliver soda to your room for free.

• None of the drinks packages work at the Starbucks

Is it worth it?

Probably worth it if you drink at least a couple of sodas a day, and definitely worth it if you drink more than that.

Refreshment Package

$27.99 / person / day (if purchased in advanced online)

The Refreshment Package is regular Royal Caribbean but it’s not offered on my Atlantis charters, so I’m pleasantly surprised to see it being offered here. It has all the perks of the Classic Soda package, but it also covers almost every other kind of non-alcoholic beverage you might wanna drink:

• Non-alcoholic cocktails (mocktails)

• Bottled still and sparkling water

• Premium coffees and teas

• Fresh-squeezed juices

• Johnny Rockets Shakes

• Juices, smoothies, and protein shakes at the Vitality Café

What to watch out for

• Does not work at the Starbucks - probably the only non-alcoholic drinks that this package doesn’t cover.

• Everyone in the same stateroom must get the package. If you want the package, your roommates needs to get it too.

• At bars and restaurants, you can only order 1 eligible drink at a time per person (this is to prevent you from ordering drinks for others as the package is not supposed to be shared)

• Doesn’t cover room service. That is, you can’t call up room service to have them deliver a Johnny Rockets Shake to your room for free.

Is it worth it?

This one is an investment, honey. Only if you constantly drink a lot of a variety of non-alcoholic beverages, except for specialty Starbucks coffees. This is for those who always have something other than water at every meal and are constantly sipping on sodas, jucies, or shakes between meals.

Folks who tend to be more heavy soda drinkers might be better served with the Classic Soda package and buying other drinks a la carte.

Water Bottle Package

$11.99 for 12 (12-oz) bottles, $16.99 for 24 (12-oz) bottles (if purchased in advanced online)

Drinking water is both very easy or weirdly difficult to get on a cruise, depending on your personal preferences. I go into more details in my Water On a Cruise Ship: Can I drink it? article, but suffice to say, if you want bottled water, you can either lug some onboard on boarding day or pay for one of the Water Bottle Packages offered.

With the Water Bottle Packages, you get either 12 or 24, 12-oz bottles. The bottles will be waiting for you in your stateroom on boarding day.

Unlike the other drinks packages, this one is very easy to share - they’re just bottles of water. If you and your roommates don’t think you can finish 24 bottles of water, you can easily share it with friends in another room.

What to watch out for

• There are reports that some ships will give you cans (not plastic bottles) of water.

Is it worth it?

If you strongly prefer bottled water, are not getting the Refreshment Package (which includes bottled water), and don’t want to lug them onto the ship yourself. $0.70 / bottle (if you order 24) is actually a pretty good price for bottled water

Note that most cruisers find themselves out and above most of the time where free water (and other beverages) are usually not far away, and as you wander the ship it’s usually not too hard to bring a cup of water from a cafe or the buffet back to your room.

Cafe Select Coffee Card

$31 (if purchased in advanced online)

This is kind of a weird one: $31 for 15 espresso-based coffees, but it does not include those from the Starbucks onboard. That works out to ~$2 a coffee which is pretty good. Unlike the other packages this is sharable, so you can order multiple lattes at the same time.

You get a physical card that gets punched for each drink you order (though I wonder if they’ve upgraded this to some electronic system since Covid)

What to watch out for

• Does not work at the Starbucks

Is it worth it?

I think this might make sense if you drink lots of lattes and cappuccinos (2 a day, every day), and don’t care to get them from Starbucks. Otherwise, probably less risky if you can split this with a friend.