What is an ‘all-inclusive’ cruise fare?
In May 2019, the whole Marella fleet became “all-inclusive.” The ‘all-inclusive’ cruise fare doesn’t include excursions or speciality restaurants but does include drinks and gratuities.
In September 2018 I took my first Marella cruise. I knew that the line offered ‘all inclusive’ cruises but I honestly had no idea what this meant.
Every day of the cruise, I was surprised to discover that something I’d pay extra for on another cruise line was included in Marella’s cruise fare.
To learn more about what is included, (and the things that surprised me), click here.
Different Bar Menus
Each bar will have a different menu with different speciality drinks available on it.
For example bar eleven has an extensive list of cocktails and the atrium serves frozen cocktails. All bars, however, seem to serve drinks from the standard Marella drinks menu.
“Into the drink” standard menu (available in all bars)
** MARELLA CRUISES ALL INCLUSIVE DRINKS **
Marella Cruises All Inclusive Drinks – Draught Beers
Fosters (Full or half pint)
John Smiths (Full or half pint)
Strongbow (Full or half pint)
Bottled & Canned Beers
Corona
Budweiser
Becks
Peroni
Non-alcoholic beer
Guinness
Marella Cruises All Inclusive Drinks – Wine & Fizz (by the glass is either 175ml/250ml)
Prosecco (by the glass)
Cava (by the glass)
House Rose (by the glass)
Tempranillo-Merlot Rose (by the glass)
House White
Sauvignon Blanc
Pinot Grigio
House Red
Merlot
Cabernet Sauvignon
Marella Cruises All Inclusive Drinks – Classic Cocktails
Cocktail of the day
Black Russian (Vodka and Coffee Liqueur mixed with cola and served on the rocks)
Singapore Sling (Gin, Cherry Brandy, Orange Liqueur, Pineapple juice, bitters and lime)
Classic Margarita (tequila and Orange Liqueur, shaken with lime and sugar)
Classic Daiquiri (Light Rum, lime and sugar, served straight up)
Marella Cruises All Inclusive Drinks – Frozen Cocktails
Classic Margarita (Tequila and orange liqueur blended with lime and sugar)
Peach Margarita (Tequila, triple sec and lime juice blended together with peach juice)
Very Berry Daiquiri (White rum and lime juice blended together with strawberry and raspberry puree)
Banana Daiquiri (White rule and creme de banana blended together with banana puree)
Pina Colada (White rum, pineapple and coconut mix)
Miami Vice (White rum, strawberry, pineapple and coconut)
Marella Cruises All Inclusive Drinks – Our favourite cocktails
Long Island iced tea (Vodka, Gin, White Rum, Tequila and orange liqueur, lemon juice, sugar and cola)
Raspberry Collins (Gin and Raspberry, lemon and sugar fizzed with soda)
Lemon Tree (Light rum, raspberry liqueur, fresh mint, passion fruit nectar and lemon juice)
Wibble (Gin, blackberry liqueur, grapefruit juice, lemon juice and sugar)
Marella Cruises All Inclusive Drinks – The bartender’s choice
West Indies Yellowbird (Light rum, banana liqueur, Galliano, pineapple and orange juice)
Zombie (Light and dark rum, orange liqueur, apricot brandy, lemon, pineapple and orange juice with almond syrup)
Hurricane (Light rum, passionfruit nectar, lemon juice, orange juice and grenadine)
Banana Banshee (White chocolate liqueur, banana liqueur, cream and milk with a banana puree)
Marella Cruises All Inclusive Drinks – Martini collection
Classic Vodka Martini (Vodka, vermouth, served with an olive or a lemon twist)
Classic Gin Martini (Gin, vermouth, served with an olive or a lemon twist)
French Martini (Vodka, raspberry liqueur, pineapple juice)
Cosmopolitan (Vodka, triple sec, lime and cranberry)
Marella Cruises All Inclusive Drinks – All-time favourites
Tequila Sunrise (Tequila, orange juice, grenadine)
Cuba Libra (White rum, cola and lime)
Pimm’s Cup (Pimm’s No. 1 and lemonade)
Bloody Mary (Vodka, tomato juice)
Electric Lemonade (Vodka, Blue Curacao, sour mix and lemonade)
Mai Tai (Light rum, dark rum and orange liqueur, almond syrup, lime and pineapple juice)
Marella Cruises All Inclusive Drinks – Mocktails
Virgin Emotion (Pineapple and orange juice mixed with strawberry syrup)
Virgin Colada (Coconut milk mixed with cream and pineapple juice)
Fruit Smoothie (Fruit punch with banana, peach and mango syrup)
Shirley Temple (Lemonade and grenadine)
Virgin Daiquiri (Banana, lemon or peach blended with lemon juice)
Marella Cruises All Inclusive Drinks – Aperitifs, Liqueurs, Ports and Sherries
Aperitif
Martini Dry Vermouth
Bianco Vermouth Martini
Martini Red Vermouth
Pimm’s No. 1
Dubonnet
Campari
Aperol
Pernod
Fernet Branca
Port
Sandeman Ruby
Cockburn’s Special Reserve
Sherry
Harveys Bristol Cream
Croft Original
Liqueur
Amaretto
Baileys Irish Cream
Cherry Brandy
Chambord
Cointreau
Drambuie
Kahlua
Southern Comfort
Tia Maria
Marella Cruises All Inclusive Drinks- Gins, Vodkas, Rums and Tequilas
Gin
Gordon’s
Beefeater London Dry Gin
Tanqueray
Vodka
Smirnoff
Stolichnaya
Rum
Bacardi
Malibu
Captain Morgan
Tequila
Jose Cuervo Silver
Jose Cuervo Gold
Marella Cruises All Inclusive Drinks – Whiskies and Brandies
Scotch
Teacher’s
Johnnie Walker Red
Bell’s
The Famous Grouse
Brandies
Fundador
Metaxa 5 star
American and Irish
Jim Beam
Jamesson
Marella Cruises All Inclusive Drinks – Soft drinks
All fountain soda’s by the glass
Juice
Orange
Pineapple
Cranberry
Tomato
Apple
Grapefruit
How does ‘all-inclusive’ work?
I was really surprised at the variety of alcoholic drinks available in the all-inclusive package. It was a little strange at first to see crew members handing out beers or prosecco as you walked past, but I soon got used to it.
Below is a picture of the stalls that they have set up by the bar and at the entrance to places like the theatre and snack shack.
When being given your drink you will be asked for your room number, but won’t be charged. I suppose they just want to keep an eye on how much everybody is drinking!
Can You Bring Alcohol on a Marella Cruise?
Marella will confiscate all alcohol brought on-board by passengers, with the exception of alcohol purchased on the outbound flight to the ship – proof of purchase will be required. – source.
Drinking Age With Marella: 18
You are able to bring some alcohol onboard on most other cruise lines. To learn more, check out this post about the alcohol policies on major cruise lines: Can You Bring Alcohol on a Cruise? Cruise Ship Guide.
Other menus
Apart from the main menu listed above, the other bars also have their own menus. The drinks marked with a * have an extra charge.
Pool Bar Menu
Live Room Bar Menu
I’ve only uploaded the pages with the included drinks!
Is it worth upgrading to the Premium drinks on Marella Cruises?
I would say that it is worth upgrading if you like to drink a lot of tea/coffee, you enjoy a cocktail, or you dislike fountain soda.
I don’t think that it would be worth it for me to upgrade. It only costs £50 to upgrade so if you are considering it I would say do it. A premium drinks package on Royal Caribbean is nearly over £50 a day.
It really does depend on what you like to drink. Upgrading does get you more alcohol but also gets you soda in cans and tea/coffee in the Coffee Port cafe.
For me, I would use the cans and tea/coffee a LOT more than the extra alcohol.
To find out about a Marella cruise I took where I decided to upgrade to the premium drinks package below. I took a friend along and decided to treat us so we could have cans of soda, instead of fountain:
Before You Go
Find out what “All-inclusive” on a Marella cruise actually means here:
Marella Cruises All Inclusive Drinks List (and Menus)
Find out how to reduce the price of your holiday with Marella by using discount codes here:
How to Find Discounts on Marella and TUI Cruises (Coupon Codes, Always Available)
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Frank Cornish
Monday 26th of February 2024
Hi Emma,we have been on many cruises with Marella,as you have.Unfortunately last year we went on the Voyager and we were very disappointed with the changes that have been made.The drinks have been changed and the food in the main dining-room has been downgraded. The buffet has changed to Kitchens and will be replaced on all Marella ships.The different stations in the buffet was the same every day.We were very disappointed with the changes they have made.Frank(Elvis)
veronica
Sunday 23rd of January 2022
my husband is a diabetic are any zero/sugar free drinks included
M Jones
Wednesday 24th of April 2019
I have cruised on marella ships a number of times and have always been satisfied with what they provided, but now we are very disappointed that they are insisting on us paying for all inclusive when we are teetotal and drink very little fizzy drinks, . We should have the option to purchase any extras that we need and not be forced to pay for someone else to indulge in as much drink as they can get at our expense and may even get drunk and disrupt other peoples holidays, a bottle of water a day will certainly not cost the amount extra that we have to pay for the cruise. I am sure that we are not on our own in thinking this is outrageous and just another way for the company to make more profits.
Stephen
Saturday 16th of February 2019
[email protected] If you drink a lot of coffee/tea/soft drinks, but no alcohol, do you need to purchase premium drinks package ? Seems Strange ??
Emma Le Teace
Saturday 16th of February 2019
Hey Stephen, nobody needs to purchase the premium drinks at all. There will be tea and coffee availble in the buffet all of the time and fountain soda is free. The premium package would be worth it if you wanted tea/coffee from the coffee port onboard and wanted soda in cans.
Hope that helps! Thanks for your comment :)
Rhiannon
Monday 28th of January 2019
We are going on your cruise from tenerife on Friday. Can you assure us that cranberry juice is readily available as my husband has a health concern that involves drinking at least one litre a day. Many thanks . R Southall
Emma Le Teace
Thursday 31st of January 2019
Hey Rhiannon, there is no way that i can assure you of that. It totally depends on the ship and they might not have any. You may be able to bring some on if you had a doctors note stating that it was for medical reasons?
Sorry I cannot be more help but I don't want to give you false hope! Bars usually have cranberry juice but the buffet doesn't always. It would be expensive to buy a litre a day from the bars...