Are the Holland America Drink Packages Worth Buying?
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So you’re planning a Holland America cruise? Then you’ll want the scoop on their drink packages!
We’ve written about HAL’s Cellar wine packages, which bundle bottles of wine and can save you up to 25%.
But what if you’d like a cold beer at lunch, a pre-dinner gin-and-tonic, a couple of glasses of wine with your meal, and maybe a cocktail or nightcap while enjoying the evening show?
Well, Holland America also offers several other alcohol packages, where you pay a set price to enjoy unlimited (well, almost!) beer, cocktails, spirits and wine by the glass.
We’ve sailed with HAL at least five times now, most recently aboard the new Rotterdam in the southern Caribbean.
Apart from having a great time (naturally!), we checked out the drink prices, menus and package details. (And for the most up-to-date prices, we called Holland America in July, 2025.)
Here’s everything you need to know to decide which Holland America beverage package – if any – is right for you!
Featured reader comment
Contents: Holland America drinks prices and beverage packages
Quick guide to the Holland America drink packages
You can pay for drinks as you go (see below for drinks prices and menus.) Or choose a package.
Holland America’s three alcohol packages, with per person daily rates, are:
(On longer cruises (for example, 50+ days), HAL sometimes offers special discounted pricing on packages.)
A few important details:
Note: All prices are in U.S. dollars.
Holland America Elite Beverage Package
This is HAL’s top-tier drinks package:
- Cost – $55.95 p.p. a day if bought in advance (or $65.95 (onboard), plus 18% gratuity
- Alcoholic drinks – Covers up to 15 drinks a day (premium cocktails, beer, spirits and wines by the glass), costing $15 or less each
- Non-alcoholic drinks – Unlimited, including Perrier water, sodas, smoothies and cappuccino
Ambassador cocktails
Some of the cocktails come from Dale DeGroff, who consulted with the cruise line to shake up their drinks program. A legend in the mixology world, he’s a two-time James Beard Award winner and “one of the world’s foremost cocktail experts,” according to The New York Times.
You’ll find creations like DeGroff’s Alliance – a Peruvian-inspired cocktail made with BarSol Pisco, strawberry, lychee, ginger and Prosecco.
HAL also partners with other cocktail ambassadors.
On Hawaii and South Pacific cruises, for example, look for tropical creations by tiki culture guru and historian, Jeff “Beachbum” Berry – like The Merry Mariner, made with Planteray Xaymaca rum, allspice, vanilla and tiki bitters ($13).
Sample $15-or-less drinks
Some examples of cocktails $15 and under:
- Roadhouse Drop (Grey Goose vodka, raspberry, fresh lemon juice) – $12.50
- Patrona Paloma (Patron Silver tequila, fresh grapefruit, lime, soda) – $13
Elite wines by the glass might include:
- Sokol Blosser Evolution Pinot Noir (Oregon’s Willamette Valley)
- Le Grand Courtage Brut Rosé (France)
- Fantinel Borgo Tesis Pinot Grigio (Italy)
Want something over the $15 limit? Just pay the difference. (There aren’t many drinks priced at more than $15 and the extra cost is minimal.) For example:
- A $16 Smoked Cherry Old Fashioned (with Woodford Reserve Bourbon, Angostura and orange bitters, smoked with cherry wood) – Pay $1 extra.
- A $17 glass of Oberon Cabernet Sauvignon (California) – That’s $2 more.
Doing the math
For the Elite package, you’d have to spend about $56 a day on alcoholic drinks to break even (on the advance purchase price):
- Four or more $15 alcoholic drinks a day
- OR
- Five or more $11 drinks a day
All your non-alcoholic drinks like specialty coffees will be free too. This is a very nice bonus!
Holland America Signature Beverage Package
This is Holland America’s most popular alcohol package:
- Cost – $50.95 p.p. a day (in advance) or $60.95 (onboard), plus 18% gratuity
- Alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks – Covers up to a total of 15 drinks a day, priced at $11 or less
With this package, you can enjoy any combination of 15 drinks a day – for example, cocktails, wines by the glass, Coke, cappuccino and smoothies – that cost $11 each or less.
Sample $11-or-less drinks
Some examples of liquor and wine at $11 or less:
- Classic Negroni (Bombay Sapphire gin, Carpano Antica Vermouth, Campari) – $11
- Margarita (Cazadores Blanco tequila and lime) – $11
- Santa Margherita Pinot Grigio (Italy)– $11
- Stella Artois beer – $7.75
If you’d like to try a drink that costs more than $11, you only need to pay the difference.
Doing the math
To break even on the advance Signature rate of about $51 a day, you’d need to drink, for example:
- Two cappuccinos, one Perrier and three to four cocktails or glasses of wine a day
- OR
- Four to five alcoholic drinks a day (skipping specialty non-alcoholic drinks)
Drink more than this? You’re saving money. Plus, your cappuccinos and sodas are “free” within your 15 daily drinks cap.
Even with water, diet sodas, lattes, wine at lunch and dinner, and brandy before retiring, most guests say they rarely hit the 15-drink cap. And they can just pay the $1 or $3 difference if a drink goes over the $11 limit.
For many cruisers, the Signature package hits the sweet spot when it comes to drinks.
Have it All Package
This is Holland America’s most-inclusive package:
- Cost – $60 p.p. a day if bought in advance (or $70 (onboard), plus 18% gratuity
- Signature drink package – Included
- Shore excursions credit – Included
- Specialty dining – Covers the specialty dining reservation fee at either Pinnacle Grill, Canaletto or Tamarind
- Wi-Fi – Includes the Wi-Fi “Surf Package”
Shore excursion and specialty dining credit details
The value of the shore excursion and the number of specialty meals depend on how long your cruise is.
- 6 to 9 days – $100 shore excursion credit + one specialty dining meal
- 10 to 20 days – $200 shore excursion credit + two specialty dining meals
- 21+ days – $300 shore excursion credit + three specialty dining meals
The “Have it All” package is available on most cruises and for most fare types. See details.
Doing the math
If a drinks package makes sense for you, the Have it All Package is even better value.
Take a typical 7-night cruise. For about $9 (plus gratuity) a day more than the Signature package (about $63 extra, plus gratuity, for the week), you also get:
- Basic Wi-Fi – The WiFi Surf package alone costs $18.14 a day, so this is a $127 value
- One specialty dining reservation – The surf-and-turf Pinnacle Grill, HAL’s most popular specialty restaurant, normally costs $52
- $100 shore excursion credit
That’s a value of at least $275 for a 7-night cruise – for which you pay about $63 (plus gratuity) more than the Signature price.
Other packages
Holland America Quench Beverage Package
This is their no-alcohol package.
- Cost – $17.95 p.p. a day, plus 18% gratuity
- Non-alcoholic drinks – Covers up to a total of 15 drinks a day (juices, Coke, Red Bull, mocktails, bottled water, premium coffees like espresso and cappuccino, and the like
We can’t do without our cappuccinos and lattes, so we were grateful HAL treated us each to their Quench package on our recent Rotterdam cruise.
Toward the end of our voyage, we found out that even milkshakes are included! Guess which one of us couldn’t resist promptly using their Quench package to order a chocolate milkshake that afternoon!
Holland America Coca-Cola Package
Here’s one for soda lovers – the Coca-Cola Freestyle package:
- Cost – $8 p.p. a day, plus 18% gratuity
- Fountain sodas – Covers unlimited fountain sodas
Note: This drinks package is only available on Pinnacle Class ships (Konigsdam, Nieuw Statendam and Rotterdam).
Fine print for all Holland America Line drink packages
- Both adults must buy – Cruising with a partner or friend in the same cabin? If one of you gets a drinks package, the other person has to as well. No splitting or “sharing” is allowed.
- What’s not included – Drinks from your in-room mini-bar, room service beverages, self-serve beer from the pool deck taps and any drinks bought on HAL’s private island (Half Moon Cay) aren’t covered.
- Every day counts – You can’t cherry-pick days. The package must be purchased for the full duration of your cruise.
- Save by booking in advance – You must buy your Holland America package at least 3 days in advance to get the discounted price. If you wait until buying it onboard, you’ll pay $10 more per day.
- Added gratuity – An automatic 18% service charge is tacked on to the price of all beverage packages, both alcoholic and non-alcoholic.
Drink prices on Holland America (no package)
What do drinks cost if you don’t buy a package?
Cocktails
The average price of cocktails is between $11 and $13.
Hard liquor
Drinks like Cointreau and Baileys Irish Cream cost $11. Most cordials cost between $10.50 and $12 – though a Remy Mart XO is $28 a glass.
De Lijn Gin
To celebrate its 150 years of sailing, HAL introduced its own brand of gin, De Lijn gin, in 2023.
It’s crafted from Nieuw Western Dry gin, cold infused with a blend of Dutch-inspired botanicals.
Try it – you’ll like it!
Beer
Looking for beer on the Holland America drinks menu?
A 16-ounce glass of Stella Artois, Guinness Stout or Blue Moon Belgian White is yours for $7.75. Cider costs the same.
Wines by the glass
Most wines by the glass cost around $11 to $12 each.
Non-alcoholic drinks
Prices for some of the most common non-alcoholic beverages are:
- Mocktails – $8
- Bottled water (16 ounces) – $5
- Canned water (12 ounces) – $3.75
- Coca-Cola and soft drinks – $2.95
- Red Bull energy drinks – $5
- San Pellegrino mineral water (750 ml) – $5.50
Specialty coffee
A medium-size cappuccino or café latte costs $3.75 each.
Large specialty coffees cost $4.25 each.
Added gratuity
An 18% gratuity is automatically added to your account for all alcohol and beverage purchases.
Frequently asked questions about drinks on Holland America
What drinks are free on Holland America?
Don’t worry, you’re not going to go thirsty if you don’t buy any of the Holland America Line beverage packages!
As you’d expect, your cruise fare includes complimentary beverages like filtered drinking water, regular brewed coffee, tea, non-bottled water, iced tea, lemonade, milk and juice at breakfast.
Can you upgrade from the Signature package (in the Have it All) to the Elite package?
Yes – but only onboard. It costs $10 p.p. extra a day, plus 18% gratuity ($11.80 total p.p. a day.
Both guests in the same cabin must upgrade, and you must do it before using any drinks from the Signature package. Head to a bartender (not a server) to request the upgrade.
Is the day of embarkation included?
Yes. your drink package – and any upgrade – kicks in on embarkation day. Even if you board mid-afternoon and don’t drink much that first day, you’re still charged for it.
How is the price of a mixed drink calculated?
You’re only charged for the alcohol – not the mixer. So a vodka and soda, for example, counts as one drink based on the vodka’s price.
Does Holland America have wine packages?
As well as the liquor beverage packages on Holland America (for cocktails, beer and wines by the glass), there are packages for buying wines by the bottle – called the Sommelier Suite – which can save you up to 25% per bottle.
HAL offers three Cellar wine packages, featuring red and white wines from top wine regions like Italy, France, Argentina and California. You can buy a 4-, 6- or 8-bottle package.
Note: An 18% service charge is added to the wine package price, just like with HAL’s other drink packages.
For full details, see our guide on Holland America’s wine packages.
What if you don’t drink alcohol but want good drinking water?
You can buy bottled or canned water onboard. But we suggest asking your cabin steward for a flask of filtered water each day. Ours was happy to provide one, refilled both morning and night (no charge).
You could also bring your own reusable bottle and fill it from the filtered water stations at the buffet.
So, are the drinks packages on Holland America worth it?
If you’ll only have one or two alcoholic drinks (plus, say, a cappuccino) a day, a package isn’t right for you.
But if you enjoy cocktails, wine, specialty coffees and bottled water – and think you’ll have three or more alcoholic drinks a day – then a package could be good value.
There’s also the convenience factor. It’s a nice feeling not to think twice every time you order a drink or worry about a hefty bar tab at the end of your cruise.
HAL Signature vs. Elite Beverage Package
Assuming a package makes sense for you, how do you choose between Signature and Elite?
If you lean toward premium cocktails or wines over $11, the Elite package is worth the upgrade. It costs about $5 more per day (plus gratuity), but just two $15 drinks daily will cover that difference.
And with Elite, you also get unlimited bottled water, sodas and specialty coffees.
“Have it All” – the smarter deal?
This package includes the Signature drinks package plus extras like WiFi, a specialty dining night and shore excursion credit. On a 7-night cruise, that’s over $200 in added perks ($275 value less the $63 extra Have it All cost) that you’re likely to use anyway.
It’s better value overall – and if you want top-shelf drinks, you can upgrade to the Elite package once onboard.
What we chose
We’re not big cocktail or beer drinkers, but we do love wine with dinner. So we went for the Sommelier Suite Cellar No. 2 package of six bottles of wine. And when George fancied a beer once at lunch, we just paid separately for that.
The wine package saved us a bit – and it was a fun way to taste some wines we hadn’t tried before.
Your turn!
What about you? Is a Holland America beverage package worth it for you? Let us know in the Comments below!
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We were hosted by Holland America as media guests for review purposes. But as professional travel writers, our opinions are always our own. After all, what’s the point if we can’t tell it like it is?
About the authors
Are the drinks in the room included if you stay in a Neptune suite?
You’ll have a stocked mini-bar in a Neptune Suite. But it’s a “no-host” bar, meaning you have to pay for the drinks, even if you have the HAL drink package. It’s probably not the answer you were looking for, but at least you now know :-).
Thanks for the articles you write!
For the Signature Drinks package, you mention Margaritas, Cosmopolitans and Mai Tais. Does it include my faves – Bloody Mary, Pina Colada, Apricot Sour and Sea Breeze? What about Riesling or White Zinfandel?
Thank you.
Hi Diane,
The drinks we’ve mentioned are just some examples. We expect you could get the drinks you want. Bloody Mary and Pina Colada cocktails are pretty common, so we think the bartenders should be able to whip these up for you.
And if they cost more than the Signature package cap of $11 per cocktail or glass of wine, you’d simply pay the small difference.
I find these drink packages very confusing.
We will be first time HAL cruisers in Japan in April 2024.
We have cruised many times on Princess, Celebrity, and once on Oceania. They seem more straightforward to me. We usually get the “Elite” (equivalent package).
What I am having a very difficult time seeing is some very basic information. Which liquors do they offer on which package? (I gather that it is just based on the $ amount)?
We have a couple of go-to drinks between us, and I would just like to know what and where we can get them – if at all.
For example, do they have anejo tequila (for drinking just straight or rocks) and what brands? What gins do they have and can they be purchased at any of the bars?
We’re not really interested in all the fancy cocktail offerings.
Hi Andrew,
Yes, the drinks packages are based on the dollar amount of the drink. We’ve added a new section to make this clear :-).
We know HAL offers De Lijn Gin and other types of gins. For tequila, we don’t specifically know if anejo tequila is on their menu. But we expect the cruise line offers a variety of pure whiskeys, gins and other hard liquors not covered here.
Thanks for taking the time to comment!
Very timely finding this article.
We leave for our Holland America Alaskan Cruise in 29 days! Our first cruise!
It’s so daunting figuring out which packages to get and whether it’s worth the price (almost as much as picking excursion choices!).
My wife and I are not big drinkers. I might have 1 beer with dinner on occasion and she might have 1 glass of wine but overall we are tea, coffee and soda drinkers.
Primarily, though, we’re water drinkers. I don’t really like the idea of “non-bottled” water as it’s probably just tap. So we are leaning towards the non-alcoholic Quench package.
Thanks for the very thorough write up.
It helped a lot!
Thanks for the kind comments, and have a great Alaska cruise!