I just came back from a cruise - it was a weeklong cruise with Holland America in various Caribbean spots. A great time was had by all, but there was one aspect that was a bit disappointing - the beer. Now, let me be clear - this was not a "beer cruise" (I don't know if that's a thing, but I'm assuming it is) and craft beer was not one of the main focuses of this cruise in any way. But I was hoping, having spent a bunch of money on a drink package, that they'd have a decent selection to choose from. And they really didn't. The only good beer I found on board was Lagunitas IPA, except for one of the bars which also had Guinness Foreign Extra Stout. Now, don't get me wrong, Lagunitas IPA is a nice beer, I've had it many times before and I'm sure I will again. But I was really expecting to have some more variety to choose from. Is this typical on cruises? Are there other lines / itineraries that have better options?
I recently went on a Caribbean cruise (Norwegian Cruise Lines) and the trip was organized by a lady affiliated with a beer club in a Florida community. There was one bar on the ship which featured craft beer. The majority of bars basically had macro beers but some other selections like Sam Adams Boston Lager. My guess is that cruise lines mostly cater to mainstream beer drinkers. Beyond the one bar which had a selection of craft beer I also drank some nice Bourbons, Scotch Whiskey, and other cocktails at other bars on the ship. Cheers!
You mean to tell me Bud, Bud Light, Mich Ultra, Coors, Coors Light, Corona, Miller Lite, Corona, and Stella are not enough variety for you? Shame.
We did a Disney cruise about 9yrs ago, right after I got into craft, and the closest thing I found to craft was Guinness. When we got back to shore I did manage to find some craft at Disney-world. You can bet that AB InBev 'helps curate' their 'craft' selections on cruise ships.
Quite common across cruise lines unfortunately. I cruise regularly and have never found more than a few decent options on a ship; it’s just not a primary focus. I like to find a shop in port and bring a couple local bottles/cans back on board.
Oh yeah, they had plenty of good cocktails, no lack of options on that front. Wine was decent too. That's part of what made the lack of beer options so odd, to me.
I agree it definitely depends on the cruise line, but this has been our experience as well. We just got back from an Oceania Cruise, and Lagunitas ipa, Leffe blond, and Guinness were the only decent options. They had a great wine and booze selection, but the beer selection was pretty lacking. Things have been better on Riverboat European cruises. There's typically been a German pils on tap, and a much more extensive selection of Belgian beers.
You'd think if AB-InBev was curating the onboard beer selections they would at least offer Mango Cart, Space Dust, and 312. You can't swing a dead cat in a grocery store or gas station around here without hitting a six-pack of this stuff.
I would be fine with a Goose Island IPA. If drinks are included, I figure I could drink a hundred of those over a few days.
I have done cruises with Carnival and Royal Caribbean. Usually the options are not good on board and grossly overpriced to where you will skip beer for cocktails. What I've found is researching what places in port might have good local options, and just packing some cans of craft beer in your luggage to enjoy while on the ship. This is cheaper and usually a batter deal. I did sign up to a beer sampling on a RC cruise which was fun, as they sampled six beers from around the world, gave the layman's description of beer styles, and a few of the folks that signed up were people we knew from cruise excursions.
Good craft probably has lower profit margins too. When all you can drink packages are in play that could come into effect. Couple that with a clientele that is probably beach drink-centric and it makes sense why it wouldn’t be a priority to have a great taplist.
I'm surprised RC and Carnival let you do that. I haven't cruised with either company, but years ago when I cruised with Norwegian, they x-rayed everyone's luggage and would hold your suitcase if you packed alcohol in it. They would hold your alcohol till you left the ship. As I'm sure you know, alcohol sales are a huge money maker for cruise lines like Carnival, RC and Norwegian. I would think the last thing they would want or allow is for passengers to bring their own alcohol.
Great info. Now I have even less desire to go on a cruise ship. Port of call bar beer selections might be interesting, but I'm not taking any chances. The only cruise that I would be interested going on is the Alaskan Arora Borealis cruise, if I can get some shrooms on board.
The day you board the ship, you can bring one bottle of wine or a reasonable amount of smaller containers that aren't worth their trouble. I regularly would bring 4-6 12oz cans of craft beer in ,my luggage. Cans of that size fit nicely in shoes packed away. And with a mini fridge in the cabin; it was nice to walk around deck with a good beer. What you cannot do is buy any alcohol in port and bring it on with you. That stuff gets scooped and you get it back when your cruise ends.
Cruise from Seattle to Juneau on Holland America had a fairly decent selection. This was probably 10 years ago? They had Anchor Steam. They also had, if I remember correctly, about 7 or so styles from Alaska Brewing. Sam Adams, Guinness. They had a "beer tasting" onboard that I signed up for. There was probably 12 or so who attended. Right off the bat the guy hosting the event informed everyone that the oldest brewery in the world was Stella Artois. Another guy and I quickly corrected him. At that point I knew it was amateur hour.
Par for the course unfortunately. Haven't done a cruise line beer tasting, but have attended several wine tastings and dinners. The assumption seems to be that the attendees know nothing about wine, and so the presentation is geared accordingly. The on board "expert" typically knows almost as little as the participants. Your post made me laugh, as I've used the same expression (amature hour) when attending some of these events. Several cruise lines were clearly using the events to get rid of obscure, slow selling wines that no one on board was ordering.
The best variety of beer on a cruise ship that I have found is at the District Brew House on the Norwegian Escape. The bar features 24 taps and claim to have 50 different bottles. With all that beer and all that food I walked off that ship up about 10 lbs. The itinerary for the cruise was Canada- New England with a stop in Portland Me where the wife and I went to Belleflower brewing and Bissell Brothers purchased a couple of cases,we had to check them when getting back on the ship they were delivered to our stateroom on the last night. A stop in Boston is also a good beer cruise port with Trillium and Treehouse close by, hopefully Treehouse will open a taproom in the Prudential ctr. soon.
That was the bar I referenced (without naming it) in post #3 above. The District Brew House did indeed have a nice selection of beers. I even attended a tutored beer tasting one afternoon in that bar. The person conducting the tasting was fairly knowledgeable but I felt compelled to correct him a couple of times. He took it well and even gave me refrigerator magnet as an 'award' afterwards. The selection of beers at the other bars on the Escape was rather disappointing. Oh well!?! Cheers! P.S. My wife loved the Mojito Bar. I never knew there was so many varieties of this cocktail!!
