If a Carnival cruise is on your 2027 wishlist, there's a deadline worth knowing about. John Heald, the line's well-known brand ambassador, has confirmed that Carnival's Value Packages will be available for 2027 sailings — but only for bookings made by September 30.
The packages bundle together the extras that can quietly inflate a cruise bill: drinks, WiFi, shore excursion discounts and more. They first launched in December 2025 and have already been extended several times, which has some observers wondering whether the September 30 cut-off will actually stick. Heald, for his part, isn't recommending anyone wait it out. His advice, roughly: if you want it, book it soon, because he doesn't know how long it will be around.
For anyone who already pays for a drinks package and internet on board, the maths can work out favourably. But there are catches, and a few of them sting for Australian travellers. The Zero Cheers (non-alcoholic) package included in the Essential Value Package comes with a shorter inclusions list Down Under — no premium tea and coffee, and no coconut water, smoothies or bottled protein shakes, all of which are covered in other markets.
A few other fine-print points matter before you commit. Every adult in a cabin must buy the same drinks package, so a couple with mismatched drinking habits can't split their choices. The package caps you at 15 alcoholic drinks per day, one drink at a time, and rules out sharing serves — think fishbowls, pitchers, buckets and floaters — even if you offer to pay for them separately.
The shore excursion component offers a $75 discount per package, which can make Carnival's own tours competitive with independent operators. But the discount applies to one person only, so families sailing with kids or others without the package should price both options carefully. And the Value WiFi plan won't stream video — fine for messaging and browsing, frustrating if you were planning to binge shows in your cabin.
If you've already locked in a 2027 Carnival sailing, the next few weeks are the window to run the numbers: add up what you'd realistically spend on drinks, internet and excursions, then compare that against the package price. Regular drinkers and connectivity addicts usually come out ahead; light drinkers travelling with kids on shore excursions may not.
The deadline may drift, as it has before, but betting on another extension is a gamble. Source: Cruise Passenger.
