CruiseStar
The math behind a drink package
A drink package charges one flat daily rate, automatically added to your onboard account, covering drinks up to a certain per-item price cap instead of paying per round. As a rough rule of thumb, if you're realistically having more than five or six drinks a day, counting coffee, soda, and specialty drinks under some packages, it usually pays for itself. Casual drinkers having one or two a day tend to come out ahead paying a la carte instead. One catch worth knowing before you buy: nearly every line requires all adults sharing a cabin to purchase the same package, specifically so one person can't buy it and quietly share with a cabinmate.
Gratuities are their own separate thing
Most lines automatically add a daily per-person service charge, typically somewhere in the $16-$25 range, to cover housekeeping, dining, and other service staff, and it's entirely separate from any tip you add to a drink or specialty dinner. You can technically adjust or remove it at guest services, though most guests leave it as-is since it's how staff actually get paid; if you want to tip differently, adjusting the amount is generally easier than removing it outright. Good news if you did buy a drink package: an 18% gratuity is usually already baked into the price, so you won't see extra tip lines on individual drinks purchased under it.
A few things worth checking before you buy
Basic non-alcoholic packages sometimes exclude specialty espresso drinks or premium bottled water even while covering soda and juice, so it's worth reading what a specific tier actually includes rather than assuming. Pre-cruise pricing is also almost always cheaper than buying the same package once onboard, and promotional discounts on advance purchases are common enough that it's worth pricing out before you sail. And if a drink runs over the package's price cap, you're not penalized for the whole purchase, you just pay the small difference for that one item.