Why Unlimited Drink Packages on Cruise Ships Aren't Worth It

We just got back from a very relaxing and rejuvenating Caribbean cruise. The weather was great, the food was amazing, all my pictures from the islands were all #nofilter. But we need to talk about what is going on with the cocktails on cruise ships.

"It's crazy...no matter how much I drink, I just can't get drunk!" --Cruise Passenger Guy in Sunglasses

And I'm not just talking about one particular cruise line, because I've been on multiple brands. I'm talking about all of them (that I've been on). The drinks seem to be watered down.

Here's an actual conversation I witnessed this week between a guy and a bartender on the cruise ship:

Guy Wearing Sunglasses: "Hey, what's your strongest mixed drink?"

Bartender: "A Long Island Iced Tea."

Guy Wearing Sunglasses: "I'll take one of those. It's crazy, no matter how much I drink, I just can't get drunk!"

Bartender: "Try doing a shot and a drink together."

When I got back to our chairs, I laughed about it when I told my wife what I had overheard. She totally agreed. Not that she had been TRYING to get drunk, but she agreed that the drinks didn't seem to be affecting her at all. "I feel like I'd get sick from the sugar rush of the juice before I started feeling anything from the alcohol," she told me.

Then, when my wife ordered a margarita during our visit to Margaritaville at Grand Turk, she said her head was spinning from having just one full-strength drink. There was a very real, undeniable difference in the potency of the drink.

We were on the cruise for eight nights with more than 4,900 passengers, many of whom had purchased the all inclusive drink package. We didn't witness any rowdy people at all.

Think about that. Thousands of people...day drinking all day long for eight days in the sunshine...not one rowdy person.

If our suspicions are true, this must be the reason behind it. The cruise lines aren't looking for crowds of people to get rowdy over 18,000-foot-deep ocean waters.