How Much Is WiFi on a Cruise (2026 Data)

On nearly every cruise line, internet access costs extra.¹ The cheapest paid Wi-Fi plan on 10 major cruise lines costs an average of $23.74² per device per day in 2026, so keeping one phone online for a week costs about $166.15². Streaming plans cost more, up to $49.00³ a day.

Wi-Fi is only one of the daily charges that start once the ship sails. Automatic gratuities, drink packages with their service charges, tips outside the daily charge and optional insurance all add to the bill, and together they make onboard spending a large business: Royal Caribbean took in $92.60⁴² per passenger per cruise day on board in 2025. This page prices each extra, line by line.

How much WiFi costs on each cruise line

Cruise lines sell internet by the day and by the device, and at Carnival a plan bought ahead has to cover the whole cruise.⁵ The cheapest paid plan bought before sailing costs from $16.00⁶ a day on MSC to $30.00³⁷ on Disney and Virgin, and the middle of the 10 lines sits at $23.49². Carnival's Social plan costs $20.40⁵ a day, Margaritaville's Connect plan starts at $19.99⁸ a night and Holland America's Premium plan works out to $26.00⁹ a day on a 7-day package.

Carnival, Holland America and Margaritaville sell Wi-Fi at fixed prices anyone can see before booking; their three cheapest plans average $22.13² a day, close to the 10-line figure. On the other seven lines the price appears only after a cruise is booked and can change from one sailing to the next. The entry-level plans are mostly social-media or browsing tiers, so on most lines streaming video needs a dearer plan, from $21.00⁶ a day on MSC to $49.00 on Disney.³ Royal Caribbean is the exception: its one plan already includes streaming.¹⁰

Buying before the cruise vs on board

Where a line publishes both prices, buying ahead is cheaper. Carnival's Social plan costs $20.40 a day before the cruise and $22.00⁵ on board, a premium of $1.60² a day or 7.8%². Its Premium plan rises from $25.50 to $28.00, or 9.8%². Short 24-hour plans cost more again: $28.00⁵ for Value and $35.00 for Premium.

Because a plan bought ahead must cover every day of the cruise, the daily price multiplies by the length of the trip. Carnival's Social plan comes to $142.80² for one device over 7 days; at the cheapest rate on the list, MSC's, a week costs $112.00², and at the top of the list, $210.00². Families can share: Carnival's Premium Multi-Device plan, sold only before the cruise, costs $90.00¹⁴ a day for up to 4 devices, or $22.50² per device.

Royal Caribbean shows the same gap between buying ahead and buying at sea: its VOOM plan is reported at $21.99 a day bought before the cruise and $28.99 bought on board, $7.00² a day more.¹⁰

Satellite internet at sea

What the money buys has changed since the big cruise groups moved to low-orbit satellite service. Royal Caribbean's parent company announced Starlink for its ships on August 30, 2022, the first cruise group to do so, and set the end of the first quarter of 2023 as its target.¹⁵ The group behind Norwegian, Oceania and Regent followed on April 6, 2023, with a phased rollout.¹⁶ By February 28, 2024, MSC had fitted 15¹⁷ of its 22 ships and aimed to finish the fleet by May 2024.

Some smaller extras sit outside the daily plans. Chat in Carnival's HUB app starts at $5.00¹⁴ per user for the whole voyage, and guests with an active internet plan get free Wi-Fi at the line's private destinations, Celebration Key and RelaxAway, Half Moon Cay.

Connectivity turns out to be one of the smaller daily extras. A drink package can cost several times as much.

How much is a drink package on a cruise?

Unlimited drink packages are sold per person per day, and most lines add an automatic service charge of 18% to 20% on top of the listed price. Counting that charge, the six lines with a clear all-in price range from $59.99² a day on Margaritaville to $165.60² on NCL, 2.76² times as much, and average $101.10² per person per day.

The listed price is rarely the price paid. Carnival's CHEERS! package is $69.95¹⁸ a day before the cruise plus a 20% service charge, $83.94¹⁴ in total. NCL's Premium Plus package, at about $138¹⁹ a day, becomes $165.60 with its 20% charge. Royal Caribbean prices its Deluxe package ship by ship, from $70 to $96 with a middle value of $84²⁰ across 29 ships, and adds 18%, for $99.12².

Four other lines sell drinks differently. MSC's Premium Extra package costs about $85²⁵ a day on sailings of four nights or more and $95 on three-night sailings, and the prepaid price already includes an 18% beverage gratuity, so it is not comparable with the listed-price-plus-charge figures above. Princess folds drinks into its Plus and Premier bundles, described below. Disney sells no unlimited alcohol package at all, only drinks by the glass or bottle.²⁶ Virgin sells a prepaid Bar Tab of $100²⁷ to $1,000 instead of a daily package.

Holland America sells three packages before the cruise: Elite at $60.95²³ a day for drinks up to $16, Signature at $55.95 for drinks up to $12 and up to 15 drinks a day, and the alcohol-free Quench at $17.95, each plus 20%.

How much is the drink package on a Margaritaville cruise

Margaritaville's Ultimate Beverage Chill package starts at $49.99²⁴ per person per night. The line adds a 20% service charge, which brings it to $59.99, the lowest all-in price among the six lines with a clear total.² The same line also has the highest of the 10 standard daily gratuities in the chart below, $22.00²⁹ per person, in force since February 1, 2025, so the drinks saving is partly offset by the daily charge.

How much is the Celebrity cruise drink package

Celebrity's Premium package is reported to start from $109²¹ per person per day in 2026, and the price varies by sailing. The line adds a 20% gratuity to beverages and beverage packages, which lifts the all-in price to $130.80², second only to NCL among the six lines.²²

Carnival's drink menu, package by package

Carnival publishes its whole drink menu with prices. The CHEERS! package costs $69.95 a day before the cruise and $74.95¹⁸ on board, or $89.94¹⁴ with the service charge, so buying ahead saves $5.00² a day before the charge and $6.00² after it. The alcohol-free CHEERS! Zero Proof package costs $29.99¹⁴ a day, $35.99² with the charge, or $41.99 in total when bought on board.

For sparkling wine, the Bottomless Bubbles package costs $11.99¹⁴ a day for adults and $6.95 for children. Carnival raised the adult price from $9.50 on April 2, 2026, the same day it raised its gratuities.³⁰

Whether a package pays off depends on how much a guest drinks. Beer starts at $6.50¹⁸ and specialty cocktails at $10.50¹⁸ before the service charge, so the $69.95 listed package price equals about 10.76² beers or 6.66² specialty cocktails a day at the starting prices. CHEERS! covers drinks up to a $20.00¹⁴ menu price and takes 25% off dearer ones. Over 7 days it comes to $587.58² per adult with the service charge.

Bundles that fold drinks, Wi-Fi and tips together

Two lines sell bundles that cover several extras at once. Princess Plus costs $65²⁸ per person per day and Princess Premier $100²⁸, or $70 and $105 on Sun Princess and Star Princess. Both include drinks up to $15 or $20 each and Wi-Fi for 1 or 4 devices, and both pay the daily crew appreciation charge on the guest's behalf.

Holland America's Have It All costs $60³¹ per person per day for departures before summer 2027 and $65 after that. It bundles the Signature drink package, the Surf Wi-Fi plan, 1 to 3 specialty dinners and $100 to $300 of shore-excursion credit.

Packages and bundles are optional. The daily gratuity is the one extra nearly every cruiser pays.

How much to tip on a cruise

Most lines add a gratuity, also called a service charge or crew appreciation, to each guest's account every day. Across the 10 major lines the standard-cabin rate runs from $16.00³² a day on Disney to $22.00 on Margaritaville, with an average of $18.60² per person per day. At that average, a 7-night cruise adds $130.20² per person, or $260.40² for two.

Royal Caribbean charges $18.50³³ per person per day, Carnival $17.00¹⁴, NCL $20.00³⁴ and Princess $18.00³⁵. Virgin's older Legacy fares include gratuities; its newer VoyageFair Choices fares charge $20.00 a day if prepaid and $22.00 if paid on board.³⁶

Suites pay more, and the gap varies by line. Royal Caribbean charges $21.00³³ a day in suites, NCL $25.00³⁴ in The Haven and suites, and MSC $23.00³⁸ in its Yacht Club since May 11, 2026. The top suite rate among the 10 lines is Disney's concierge charge, reported at $27.25³² per person per day. Celebrity has two suite levels: $20.50 for Concierge and AquaClass and $24.50 for The Retreat.²²

How gratuities have risen since 2011

Gratuities rise in steps of 50 cents to $4.00 at a time, and several lines raised them in 2026. Royal Caribbean's standard rate went from $9.75 to $11.65³⁹ on July 1, 2011, and stands at $18.50 today, a rise of $6.85² or 58.8%². It stayed at $14.50⁴⁰ from January 2, 2018, until September 7, 2022, then rose three times in just over two years, to $16.00, $18.00 and $18.50.⁴¹⁴²

Carnival charged $13.99⁴³ from December 1, 2018, and has charged $17.00 since April 2, 2026, up 21.5%². NCL made the biggest single jump in the table: from $16.00 to $20.00 on January 1, 2023, a 25%² rise.⁴⁴

Tracked year by year, the rate in force at the end of each year shows the staircase. Royal Caribbean's stood at $14.50 from 2018 to 2021 and has been $18.50³³ since the end of 2024.

Carnival's rate followed a similar path at a lower level, from $13.99⁴³ at the end of 2018 to $17.00 in 2026.¹⁴

Four lines raised their standard gratuity in 2026 alone: Celebrity by 8.3%², Carnival and MSC by 6.25%² each, and Holland America by 5.9%².^45303837

Service charges on drinks, dining and spa

The daily gratuity is not the only automatic charge. Most lines add a percentage to every drink and to some other purchases: 20%^182235232419 at Carnival, Celebrity, Princess, Holland America, Margaritaville and NCL, and 18% at Royal Caribbean.²⁰ Celebrity also applies its 20% to spa services, specialty dining, room service and the minibar.²² On NCL's Hawaii sailings, a further 4.275%³⁴ general excise tax is added to the prepaid service charge.

The daily charge covers the crew a guest sees every day. The people who carry bags at the pier and lead tours ashore sit outside it.

Tips outside the daily gratuity

Beyond the automatic charge, tipping is up to the guest, and suggested amounts exist for only a few roles.¹⁴

How much to tip a porter at the cruise terminal

At Carnival's terminals, curbside porters, who take checked bags, are customarily tipped $1¹⁴ per bag. They do not work for the cruise line, so problems go to the porter management on site. Princess likewise calls the tip customary and notes that the porters are not its employees, but gives no amount.⁴⁶ The table sets out what the lines say about each role.

How much to tip a cruise steward

Nothing extra is required. The daily gratuity already pays the cabin crew: Carnival says 100%¹⁴ of gratuities go to the crew guests deal with, such as stateroom attendants. Any extra cash tip is at the guest's discretion, and on Carnival and Princess the daily charge can be adjusted on board before the cruise ends.¹⁴³⁵

How much to tip a cruise waiter

Dining-room waiters also share the daily gratuity. Drinks and specialty restaurants work differently: Carnival adds its 20% service charge to beverage purchases and specialty-dining fees, so the tip is already on the bill. Room service is the exception, where a gratuity may be given as the service is rendered.¹⁴

How much do you tip on cruise excursions?

Carnival's shore-excursion pages suggest $1⁴⁷ per person for a half-day excursion and $2 for a full-day one, and call the tip discretionary. Royal Caribbean calls a tip for the tour guide always appreciated but always optional.⁴⁸

How much is cruise insurance?

Cruise insurance comes in two forms: the cruise line's own protection plan, sold with the booking, and independent travel insurance. Comprehensive cruise policies bought through one large US comparison marketplace averaged $540⁴⁹ per policy in 2026, or 6.8%⁴⁹ of the insured trip cost; most cost between 4% and 10% of the trip. The average insured cruise cost $7,908⁴⁹ per trip, not per person, and single premiums ran from $188 to $1,089.

A policy that covers only medical costs averaged $102⁴⁹, and adding optional upgrades lifted the average comprehensive premium to $808. On the average trip, 6.8% works out to $537.74², close to the average premium.

The lines' own plans are priced in three different ways. Carnival's Vacation Protection starts at $49⁵⁰ per person and covers baggage up to $1,500, medical costs up to $20,000 and evacuation up to $50,000.

Princess charges a share of the fare: 10%⁵¹ of the total fare for Cancellation Protection on fares up to $5,000 and 8% from $5,000, or 12% for Platinum Protection, with a $59 minimum. On a $3,000 fare, Cancellation Protection costs $300².

Holland America prices its Cruise Protection Plan by fare band. The Standard plan costs $79⁵² per person on fares up to $800 and $329 on fares of $3,501 to $4,000, while Platinum runs from $99 to $439. Within a band the share falls as the fare rises: on the $2,001 to $2,500 band, the $209 Standard plan is 10.4%² of a $2,001 fare and 8.36%² of a $2,500 one.

From one cabin's bill to the cruise companies' own accounts: onboard spending is a business in its own right.

What cruise lines earn from onboard spending

Everything bought on board, from drinks and Wi-Fi to the casino, spa, shops and shore excursions, is reported by the listed cruise companies as onboard and other revenue. Divided by passenger cruise days, one passenger on board for one day, it shows what the company takes in per guest per day. That is company revenue, not what guests spend: it also counts items such as cancellation fees and vacation protection sales, and for shops and services run by concessionaires it counts only the percentage the company receives.⁴ At Royal Caribbean it rose from $57.17⁵³² per passenger cruise day in 2010 to $92.60 in 2025, up 62%².

The rise was not smooth. Onboard revenue per day stayed between $57.17 and $62.91⁵⁴² from 2010 to 2016, then climbed to $69.05⁵⁵² in 2019. In 2021, when ships restarted at 49.3%⁵⁶ occupancy, it jumped to $101.84². It settled at $86.93 in 2022 and has risen every year since.

The company's onboard revenue grew faster than its passenger numbers. It reached $5,419 million⁴ in 2025, 2.94² times the 2010 figure, while passenger cruise days grew 1.81² times, from about 32.3 million to 58.5 million.⁵³

Onboard revenue also makes up a bigger share of total revenue than it used to. They were 27.3%² of Royal Caribbean's total revenue in 2010 and 30.2%² in 2025, 2.9² percentage points more. The pandemic years pushed the share to 38.6% in 2021, when total revenue collapsed.⁵⁶

The other two listed cruise groups show the same pattern. At Carnival's parent group, onboard revenue per passenger cruise day was $71.96⁶¹² in 2019 and $90.48⁶²² in 2025, up 25.7%², and onboard revenue was 34.6% of total revenue in 2025.⁶² Its 2021 figure, $111.02, reflects the same restart effect seen at Royal Caribbean.

The group behind Norwegian, Oceania and Regent takes in the most per guest on board of the three: $124.21⁶⁵² per passenger cruise day in 2025, up 31.8%² from $94.24 in 2019 and 1.34² times Royal Caribbean's figure.

Measured from 2019, the last full year before the pandemic, Royal Caribbean's onboard revenue per passenger day grew 34.1%², ahead of the Norwegian group's 31.8% and Carnival's 25.7%. All three figures are in current dollars, before inflation.

Where US cruise passengers sail and cruise jobs are

Cruise passengers are concentrated in a few states. In 2024, cruise passengers made 45,729⁶⁹ thousand visits to US states, and Florida alone accounted for 22,668⁶⁹ thousand of them, 49.6%² or about half. Alaska followed with 6,238 thousand, then Texas with 3,400 thousand and California with 3,093 thousand.

Drink, Wi-Fi and gratuity prices do not vary by state, so the map shows a related measure: jobs supported by cruise tourism per 100,000 residents. Alaska leads with 1,547.8², 2.09² times Florida's 739.7², because its 11,400 cruise jobs are spread over just 736,537 residents.⁶⁹⁷⁰ Louisiana, Washington and Hawaii follow at 164.7, 148.8 and 104.5.

Florida's lead in passengers comes with the most jobs in absolute terms: 172,100⁶⁹ jobs in Florida were supported by cruise tourism in 2024, against 11,400 in Alaska. At the other end of the map, Vermont's rate of 15.5 rests on about 100 jobs, so figures for small states are rough.

What the extras add up to on a 7-night cruise

Put together, the fixed daily extras add up quickly. At the averages on this page, the standard gratuity and the cheapest Wi-Fi plan come to $42.34² per person per day, or $296.35² over 7 days, before a single drink. The weekly bill, extra by extra, at the averages above:

• Gratuity at the 10-line average: $130.20 per person per week.²
• Cheapest Wi-Fi plan at the 10-line average: $166.15 per device per week.²
• Carnival's CHEERS! package with service charge: $587.58 per adult per week.¹⁴
• Comprehensive insurance at the market average: 6.8% of the trip cost.⁴⁹

For a Royal Caribbean guest, the standard gratuity and the pre-cruise VOOM plan alone total $40.49² a day, equal to 43.7%² of what the company took in on board per passenger cruise day in 2025.

Conclusions

1. The fixed daily extras add up before any optional spending. The average gratuity plus the average cheapest Wi-Fi plan is $42.34 per person per day, $296.35 a week, before a single drink.²
2. The printed price is rarely the price. Most drink packages add an 18% to 20% service charge, and the six all-in package prices differ 2.76 times from the lowest to the highest.²
3. Buying ahead is the one built-in discount the lines publish. Carnival's drink package is $6.00 a day cheaper all-in before the cruise, and its Social Wi-Fi plan $1.60 a day cheaper.⁵¹⁴
4. Onboard revenue has grown faster than passenger numbers. Royal Caribbean's onboard revenue grew 2.94 times from 2010 to 2025 while its passenger cruise days grew 1.81 times, so revenue per passenger day rose 62%, and its standard gratuity rose 58.8% since 2011.²