No, Your Carnival Drink Package Won’t Work on Celebration Key

Will your drink package bought on a Carnival cruise work when visiting Celebration Key? While things could change, the answer right now is a definite “no,” according to the cruise line.

Celebration Key is a massive new private destination under construction. The new port of call is set to open in 2025. Sitting on hundreds of acres with roughly a mile of beach along the south shore of Grand Bahama, Carnival is building the ultimate destination for cruise passengers.

There will be the beach, a massive lagoon/pool for swimming, shops, restaurants, waterslides, tons of beach activities, a nature reserve, and a newly announced “Pearl Cove Beach Club” for adults to enjoy.

It was that announcement of the new beach club, however, that caught the attention of many Carnival fans and had them asking about drink packages at the new destination.

Most Private Destinations Allow Use of Drink Package. That’s Not the Case at Celebration Key

At many cruise line private destinations, the lines offer a nice perk. Drink packages (which allow you to pay one set daily price and drink whatever you want around the ship) typically only work when onboard the cruise ship. However, lines often extend their use to their private islands as well. For instance, Royal Caribbean’s drink package also works at the bars on CocoCay.

For passengers, this is essentially an extra day of use on the package versus the ship docking in an independent port of call. Even when in a port of call, passengers are still charged a full day for the cost of the package.

When Carnival announced the new Pearl Cove Beach Club, however, the press release mentioned three different options for admission. There was one offer with admission only, but also two other packages — one that included an open bar and another that included both drinks and food at the club’s restaurant.

That led many to ask if drink packages will work on Celebration Key since you have to pay extra for beverages if visiting the beach club.

The answer is that the CHEERS! beverage package will not work on Celebration Key when it opens in 2025.

Following the questions we saw from passengers, we dug into Carnival’s website for a definitive answer.

Under a section on excluded items with the beverage package, it states clearly that the package does not work in ports of call, “including Celebration Key, Half Moon Cay and Princess Cays.”

Take a look:

For passengers looking to save some money, seeing that the drink package doesn’t work while at Celebration Key is definitely a bummer.

Those with the drink package could always head back to the ship to grab a drink, enjoy it, and then return to Celebration Key. However, that’s definitely inconvenient.

And if you’re wanting to have a mai tai or a beer while sitting on the beach? It looks like you’re going to have to pay up… even if you already have the drink package.

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