Adults-Only Cruise Line
Virgin Alcohol Policy
What you can bring aboard, the corkage rules, drink packages, and the drinking age on a Virgin cruise in 2026, verified against the official policy.
Quick answer
Virgin lets you bring some of your own alcohol aboard at embarkation. Virgin Voyages has no traditional drink packages. The onboard drinking age is 21 in US waters and 18 on international sailings.
Bringing your own alcohol
Allowed, with limits
Sailors may bring two 750 ml bottles of wine, sparkling wine, or Champagne per cabin in carry-on bags on embarkation day. No liquor or beer is allowed. Alcohol found in checked luggage is collected and returned at the end of the voyage. Specialty liquors bought in port are handed to security and held until the final night.
Corkage fee
$25 per bottle
Virgin Voyages charges a $25 corkage fee to serve your own wine at its eateries, and you can pay it with your Bar Tab.
Drink packages
Not offered
Virgin Voyages has no traditional drink packages.
Bar Tab is optional, and not every Sailor in a cabin has to buy one. It can be used to buy drinks for others. It must be pre-purchased in the app or My Account up to 24 hours before sailing and cannot be bought on board. Unused credit is not refundable, and it cannot be used for packaged items such as bottles of wine or spirits to take home.
Minimum drinking age
21
Virgin is an adults-only line: the minimum age to book and sail is 18. Sailors 18 and older may drink in international waters unless the itinerary restricts it. The US drinking age of 21 applies in the United States, and on Alaska itineraries all Sailors must be 21 or older to buy or drink alcohol.
Good to know
Virgin Voyages does not sell a traditional unlimited drink package. Instead it offers Bar Tab, prepaid drink credit bought in the app or your account up to 24 hours before sailing (it is not sold on board), which adds bonus credit and covers premium drinks for you or anyone you choose; not every Sailor in a cabin has to buy one. Essential drinks, including filtered still and sparkling water, non-pressed juices, sodas, teas, and drip coffee, are included.
Frequently asked questions
Can I bring my own alcohol on a Virgin cruise?
What is Virgin's corkage fee?
Does Virgin have a drink package?
How do you pay for drinks on Virgin?
What is the drinking age on a Virgin cruise?
Does the drinking age change between US waters and international waters on Virgin?
More on Virgin
Alcohol policies on other cruise lines
Travel data researcher and publisher
Caden Sorenson runs Travel Vient, an independent travel research site built on a verified database of airline baggage rules, airport connection times, cruise line policies, and eSIM plans. He built the verification pipeline behind it: each record is read from the company or government page that publishes it (connection times: OAG data via ExpertFlyer), stored with that source link and the sentence it came from, and re-checked on a schedule. He is a senior staff engineer with 15+ years building software, a Computer Science graduate of Utah State University, and based in Logan, Utah.
Figures link to the source they were read from and show the date last checked; some cite a travel publication or aggregator rather than the company.
Sources
Facts, costs, and travel details in this guide were verified against the following sources. See our research methodology for how we vet and update data.
- Virgin: Bar tab accessed 2026-10-02
- Virgin: Drinks accessed 2026-10-02
If a figure looks wrong, email hello@vient.org, see how we handle corrections, or browse past fixes in our public changelog.
Cruise lines change alcohol policies and prices without notice. Confirm with the line before you sail.