NCL Brings Back Its Free at Sea Program and Here’s What’s Different Now
Norwegian Cruise Line has brought back its familiar Free at Sea program after retiring the short-lived More at Sea package introduced just last year. The change took effect on November 5, 2025, and applies to all new bookings moving forward.
While the name is the same, this isn’t the same Free at Sea cruisers may remember. NCL has adjusted the pricing and how the perks work.
According to the cruise line, the decision comes “by popular demand” from guests and travel partners who preferred the original name and format. While the perks remain largely the same, NCL has made a few adjustments to pricing and inclusions.
Free at Sea continues to bundle together NCL’s most popular perks: Unlimited Open Bar, Specialty Dining, Wi-Fi minutes, and a $50 shore excursion credit for the first guest in each stateroom. The program now uses flat, transparent pricing instead of the sliding scales introduced with More at Sea.
Guests 21 and older pay a flat rate of $28.50 per person, per day, which already includes gratuities. The specialty dining package now includes one to four meals per guest, depending on cruise length, and Wi-Fi has been standardized at 150 minutes per person for every sailing. The $50 shore excursion credit per port remains, though it only applies to NCL-booked tours.
A few terms still apply. The beverage package is not valid at Great Stirrup Cay for port calls on or after March 1, 2026, or at Harvest Caye at any time. Guests sailing under More at Sea can reprice their cruise if they’d like to move to the new program, but that may affect their total fare or other promotions.
The timing also lines up with NCL’s Black Friday sale, which offers 50 percent off all cruises. The Free at Sea offer can be combined with the sale, adding extra value during one of the line’s biggest booking weeks of the year.
Free at Sea has been a key part of NCL’s Freestyle Cruising experience for years, giving guests a way to bundle the most-used onboard perks for one set daily rate. After a year of confusion over the More at Sea rollout, its return brings the program back to a name most cruisers recognize.
Related: NCL Free at Sea 2.0 Explained – What’s Included and How It Works
Kathy Ava
Meet Kathy Ava, a food, travel, and cruise writer based in Los Angeles/Pasadena, and the owner and main writer of Tasty Itinerary. With over 20 years of experience planning trips and logistics at her full-time job and for herself, she's become a pro at crafting unforgettable tasty itineraries. She's always on the hunt for delicious, fun travel destinations and cruise itineraries. She firmly believes that life is short and we must make the most of it, so always say yes to dessert.