It's been a while, what's going on with RCCL beverage pricing/policies.....?

We've cruised Royal, Carnival and Princess....mainly Princess. Our last Royal cruise was November 2015 aboard the Navigator and we've sailed the Oasis too. My impression is that Royal has raised liquor prices way higher than other lines, I feel to steer us towards buying the beverage package. We don't purchase beverage packages, but if they're thrown in to the deal at booking we're up for it. Just off the Crown Princess and drink prices were $8 bucks to $10 usually, I've heard Royal is much higher. I also heard they're selling "drink cards".....? Is this true....what are the details....? Our next cruise will be aboard the Explorer of the Seas in September and I'm trying to get a feel for it now......thanks for any info you can provide us.

Fancy drinks (higher shelf/blender/frozen) will be around the limit of the beverage package on that sailing, usually $12 or $13.

Drink card usually comes in the last half of the cruise (with rare excpetions) and give you 10 drinks (can be shared) for around $79 plus 18%.