Cruise line offers free booze on board

Passengers on board a Miami-based Norwegian Cruise Line ship will benefit from free beer, wine and premium spirits from next year, the company has announced.

Drinks are served: Brits drink on average 16 cocktails over a two week cruise (Photo: Flickr)

In a bid to attract more passengers for its short cruises out of Miami, Norwegian Cruise Line said on Wednesday that its Miami-based Norwegian Sky ship would be serving free drinks to all passengers from 2016, as reported by the Miami Herald. 

Starting in January, the cruise line will include unlimited wine, beer, spirits and soda up to $11 in the cost of the cruise fare on Norwegian Sky, which sails three- and four-day itineraries from Miami. Drinks at the cruise line’s private island in the Bahamas, Great Stirrup Cay, will also be free.

“We’re super excited about this,” said Norwegian president and chief operating officer Andy Stuart during a press conference at the annual cruise3sixty conference in Fort Lauderdale. “We think it’s absolutely a standout change.”

While most cruise lines offer an alcohol drinks package of some kind, most set their fares lower and charge extra for drinks.

Stuart added: “We really saw it resonate, and we really felt there was an opportunity to differentiate Norwegian Sky in the three- and four-day market to make it an all-inclusive product. We think our guests are going to get on board and feel more freestyle. It takes away the stress of who’s going to buy this round of drinks?”

The price of cruises on Norwegian Sky next year have been increased “a little bit”, said Stuart, but below what it would cost to buy a drinks package, which would have cost $60 a day per person.