Everything You Need to Know About Soft Drinks on Disney Cruise Line

Disney Cruise Line is one of the few ocean cruise entities where soft drinks are substantially included in the price of your cruise. Here’s everything you need to know about soft drinks on DCL.

Where can I get soft drinks on the Disney Cruise Line ships?

You can get soft drinks in all restaurant and bar locations as well as at fountain dispensers on the main pool deck and from room service.

What soft drinks are available on the DCL ships?

Just as with the Disney theme parks, Disney Cruise Line only serves soft drinks in the Coca-Cola family. All the soda (or pop if you’re from the Midwest) provided on the ships is branded under the Coke umbrella.

There may be some slight variation by ship or by sailing (particularly in sailings that don’t start in the U.S.), but you can generally find Coke, Diet Coke, Coke Zero, Sprite, Sprite Zero, Barq’s Root Beer, Fanta Orange, and Schweppes Ginger Ale at least somewhere on the ship. Other Coca-Cola-owned soft drinks, such as Minute Maid lemonade, Vitamin Water, Fuze Iced Tea, and PowerAde are also available.

And it’s all free?

Well, no.

Most soft drinks are free at the pool deck dispensers, in the buffet restaurant (Marceline Market on the Wish, Cabanas everywhere else), and in the main dining rooms. You’re welcome to get free refills at these locations as often as you want in whatever quantity you desire.

When do I have to pay for soft drinks?

You have to pay for soft drinks at the bars and from room service. As a general rule of thumb, if you’re getting soda/water/etc. in a sealed can or bottle, you have to pay for it. If you get it from a fountain or you’re in the main dining rooms, you don’t.

What counts as a main dining room?

Each of the five currently operational Disney Cruise Line ships has three main dining rooms (these are also called rotational dining rooms). They are:

• Dream: Animator’s Palate, Enchanted Garden, Royal Palace
• Fantasy: Animator’s Palate, Enchanted Garden, Royal Court
• Magic: Animator’s Palate, Lumiere’s, Rapunzel’s Royal Table
• Wish: 1923, Arendell: A Frozen Dining Adventure, Worlds of Marvel
• Wonder: Animator’s Palate, Tiana’s Place, Triton’s

How much does soda cost at the bars?

With the caveat that prices change and Disney is sometimes inconsistent, canned soda it typically $2.00 plus an 18% automatic gratuity. This is generally cheaper than the per ounce cost of packaged soda in the Disney theme parks.

So why would I pay for this canned soda when I can get it for free elsewhere on the ship?

Convenience mostly.

Let’s say you’re with some friends/family in an onboard bar. They’re ordering rounds of alcohol but you decide you want a soda. You could leave the bar, travel several decks away to the pool deck, grab a free soda, and then walk several decks back to re-join your friends. Or, you could order a can of Coke at the bar for $2.00.

For some folks, taking the budget route will be the way to go, but for others it will make more sense, in the grand scheme of a multi-thousand-dollar vacation, to just bite the bullet and pay for the soda.

Similarly, you’ll pay for soda if you get room service, which is otherwise mostly free. In this situation, you’ve decided to eat in your room, so going up to the pool deck for free soda somewhat defeats the purpose of getting room service in the first place.

Are all onboard soda flavors available at all locations?

No. Again, there may be variations depending on the ship and it’s route, but generally you can find the following at the fountain dispensers in the buffet restaurant and on the pool deck: Coke, Diet Coke, Coke Zero, Sprite, Fuze Iced Tea, Minute Maid Zero Sugar Lemonade, Vitamin Water XXX acai-blueberry-pomegranate, and plain filtered water.

To get other variations, something like Diet Sprite, root beer, or ginger ale for example, you’ll have to ask for a can at a bar or via room service. This means that you’ll have to pay.

How large are the cups at the fountain stations?

Most cups near the pool deck soda fountains are 12 ounces. In the buffet restaurant there are usually a few sizes of reusable plastic cups, none are larger than 16 ounces.

Do I serve myself at the soda fountains or does a cast member do this?

As of today, onboard fountain soda is back to being self-serve. During the high point of the COVID-19 pandemic, cast members were serving all food and beverages, including fountain soft drinks.

I’ve also encountered a few situations during cold and flu season pre-pandemic where cast members were serving fountain soda rather than giving guests direct access, but this is not the norm.

I’m a BIG soda drinker. The cups that Disney provides are too small for me. Can I use my own?

Sort of. You’re welcome to bring a large insulated cup with you onboard. Yeti, Corksicle, Stanley, and Tervis are all popular brands with guests who want to keep larger quantities of cold soda with them.

HOWEVER, you should not fill your Tervis (or similar) directly from the fountain. DCL requests that guests use the disposable cups at the fountain and pour from those into your tumbler. This is to prevent contamination of the spigots from cups that you may have put against your mouth to drink from (ewww).

How do I clean my personal insulated cup?

Bring a small container of dish soap and wash it in your stateroom. This is also how guests with younger kids wash baby bottles and sippy cups.

Can I buy a large insulated cup on the ship?

There are usually insulated cups sold on the DCL ships, though it’s always possible that they could sell out on your sailing before you have a chance to get to the shops. If you absolutely must have a reusable cup, bring it with you.

I only like to drink Pepsi. Can I bring it on the ship?

Sure. You can bring any reasonable quantity of non-alcoholic beverage with you onto the ship. The caveats are that everything must be unopened in factory-sealed containers. And you bring the beverage with you as part of your carry-on luggage and NOT part of your checked luggage. So the limit of how much you can bring onboard is somewhat bounded by what you can carry. Note: the rules for bringing your own alcohol onboard are very different.

Can I bring my Pepsi with me into all areas of the ship?

No one is going to stop you from bringing a non-alcoholic beverage with you anywhere on the ship that beverages are allowed. So, feel free to drink your carried on soda at the pool (assuming it’s not in a glass container) or in the movie theater.

The same goes for soda you’ve acquired on the pool deck. Go ahead and bring that with you into the theaters. No problem.

Is there somewhere to keep soft drinks cold in my room?

Every Disney Cruise Line stateroom has a small beverage cooler in the room. On the Wish, these are located in a drawer. On the other ships, the beverage cooler is like a dorm refrigerator.

Can I bring a soda with me into an onboard bar?

Technically yes.

Picture a scenario where you’re at the pool deck with a soft drink. You realize that your favorite trivia game is about to start in an onboard bar. You take your soda with you to trivia and enjoy the game. This is perfectly “legal” and many, many guests do this multiple times per day.

However, if you have the means, I’d ask you to consider the bartenders whose primary source of income is tips on guests’ bar bills. If you bring your own soda with you, a bartender is likely wiping down your table and throwing away your empty cup, and not really getting paid for this. When you have an opportunity to tip any of the service people onboard, try to be as generous as possible.

I’m not a soda drinker. Are there other non-alcoholic beverages available?

Yep. I already mentioned the Vitamin Water, Minute Maid Lemonade, iced tea, and filtered water available from the fountains. You’ll also find that the buffet restaurant and pool deck beverage areas have apple, orange, and cranberry juices included for free. You can also get these items included in the main dining rooms. Additionally, hot tea, hot cocoa, and basic coffee are available in the buffet restaurants, main dining rooms, and by the pool deck. You can also ask for milk of various sorts in any restaurant.

Is there anything more interesting available?

The Dream and Fantasy ships both have a juice bar adjacent to their gyms. These offer a variety of custom blended juice combinations, generally costing between $6.00-10.00 each, depending on what you want added. Some of these items are also available at the many small coffee locations on the Disney Wish.

Additionally, some of the onboard beverage locations may have items like bottled komucha, bottled probiotic beverages, Core Power smoothies, bottled cold coffees and teas, and other items.

Each ship also has at least one coffee bar that offers many of the same types of drinks you can get at your local Starbucks (lattes, cappuccinos, cold brew, etc.).

And many of the onboard bars have a selection of specialty zero-proof cocktails.

I drink soda at breakfast (don’t judge), but I don’t see soda listed on the room service breakfast menu. What can I do?

No worries, just write what you want on the blank space under the condiments section. There will be the usual fee, but they’ll be happy to bring you canned soda.

I don’t see standard soft drinks listed on the ships’ bar menus? Does that mean I can’t get a soda there?

While the printed menus in the bars are limited to the specialty drinks of that location. They can also provide basic soft drinks and common mixed alcoholic drinks as well.

Do I have to pay for soda on Castaway Cay?

The situation on Disney’s private island, Castaway Cay, is largely similar to the situation onboard the ships. There are fountain soft drink dispensers near the restaurants. These drinks are included at no additional charge. If you want a canned soda from a bar or from a roving bartender, there is a fee. Prices are similar to those on the ships.

Got any fun DCL soft drink hacks?

Other than putting a splash of lemonade into my Diet Coke, my favorite hack is to get some free pool-deck soft-serve vanilla ice cream in cup. Then head over to the fountains and fill the rest of the cup with Coke. Yummy Coke Float at no charge!