Norwegian Just Pulled Your Drink Package on Its Private Island—And That’s Not the Whole Story

Norwegian Cruise Line is about to make a change that will directly hit the wallets of guests who sail to Great Stirrup Cay—and if you have a cruise booked with the line’s popular “More at Sea” package, you need to know about this before you leave the ship.

Starting March 1, 2026, Norwegian Cruise Line will no longer honor its shipboard beverage packages at Great Stirrup Cay, the cruise line’s private island in the Bahamas. As first reported by Travel and Tour World, guests who paid for the “More at Sea” drink package will find that package is essentially worthless the moment they step off the tender and onto the island’s sand.

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What’s Actually Changing

To be precise: any drink you buy at a bar or beach stand on Great Stirrup Cay will no longer be covered by the shipboard package you paid for. You’ll be paying out of pocket unless you purchase a separate, island-specific beverage package that Norwegian says it plans to introduce—though as of this writing, pricing, inclusions, and availability details have not been released.

What will still be free on the island? Water, iced tea, and juice. That’s it.

Norwegian has said more details on the new island package will be shared “closer to the package launch,” which is not exactly reassuring for guests who want to budget their trip accurately. If you’re sailing to Great Stirrup Cay between now and March 1, the current rules apply and your package is still valid. After that date, the equation changes entirely.

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Why Norwegian Is Doing This

Norwegian hasn’t released a formal statement explaining the business reasoning, but the context makes it fairly clear. The cruise line is making significant capital investments in Great Stirrup Cay in 2026—a new pier, expanded pool areas with complimentary loungers, a new splash pad for kids, and a full waterpark featuring 19 waterslides and an 800-foot dynamic river called Great Tides, scheduled to open sometime this summer.

When cruise lines build out private islands into full resort destinations, they also build out revenue streams to match. A private island with a waterpark, expanded infrastructure, and resort-style amenities is a very different product than a simple beach day. Cruise lines have learned—first from Royal Caribbean’s success with Perfect Day at CocoCay—that private islands can be serious profit centers, but only if guests are spending money there, not just drawing down a package they already bought aboard the ship.

In that light, the drink package change is less about nickel-and-diming guests and more about how Norwegian views Great Stirrup Cay going forward: not as an extension of the ship, but as a standalone destination with its own economic model.

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This Isn’t Norwegian’s Idea Alone

It’s worth noting that Norwegian didn’t invent this playbook. Carnival made a similar move when it launched Celebration Key, its new private island in Belize, keeping island spending separate from shipboard packages. The industry trend is clear—private islands are being repositioned as premium resort products, and the “your package covers everything” assumption is getting eroded, island by island.

For travelers who chose Norwegian specifically because the “More at Sea” package felt like genuine all-inclusive value, this change is a meaningful shift. A couple who each have the drink package and expected to use it during a four-to-six hour island stop could easily be looking at an additional $60 to $100 in unexpected spending, depending on how much they drink and what the new island package costs.

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What You Should Do Before Your Cruise

If you have a Norwegian cruise booked that includes a stop at Great Stirrup Cay after March 1, 2026, here’s how to approach this:

Check your sail date. If you’re sailing before March 1, the policy hasn’t changed for you. Your “More at Sea” package still works on the island.

Watch for Norwegian’s island package announcement. The cruise line has committed to releasing details on the new Great Stirrup Cay-specific beverage package before March 1. When that information drops, compare the price against what you’d spend buying drinks individually. For moderate drinkers, the island package may not be worth it.

Factor it into your total trip budget now. Don’t wait for the official announcement to adjust your expectations. Budget for the island stop as a separate, package-excluded expense and treat any future savings from the island package as a bonus.

Consider the complimentary options. Water, iced tea, and juice will still be free on the island. If you’re not heavy drinkers, or if your island day is focused on the waterpark and activities, this change may matter far less to you in practice.

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The Bigger Picture for Norwegian Cruisers

Great Stirrup Cay is not going to get worse as a destination—the infrastructure improvements are real and meaningful, and a 19-slide waterpark is a genuine upgrade over the beach-day experience that used to define a visit there. But Norwegian is also signaling that it wants to extract more direct revenue from private island stops, and that means guests should stop thinking of island days as “free” days covered by their package.

This is a shift in value proposition, and it’s worth being clear-eyed about. Norwegian’s “More at Sea” package has long been a selling point that made its cruises feel genuinely all-inclusive by comparison to competitors. Every carve-out from that package—whether it’s the island, a specialty restaurant that requires an upcharge, or a premium liquor that isn’t covered—erodes that perception a little more.

For now, the change is limited to Great Stirrup Cay. But the industry trend suggests this won’t be the last private island to get its own separate drink pricing. Norwegian passengers who book with the expectation that their package means “covered everywhere” should pay close attention to the fine print as the company continues investing in its private destinations.

The drinks on the ship are still yours. The drinks on the beach? That’s a different tab.