Craft Beer?

Are there any Princess people that care about the beer served on the ships? It seems like even Carnival, as well as RCI, Celebrity, and, most likely other lines actually care about providing craft brews. The Sea Witch line was promising, and, then they took it away - supposedly it was a 50th Anniversary "special"? I don't really care about having a brewery on board, or, even craft drafts (which would be awesome), but, please, just offer up some decent American craft beers! That, or, let me bring beer on board - heck - I'll even pay a "corkage" fee.

Anyone else?

PS - I'm ready to jump ship!!!

Are there any Princess people that care about the beer served on the ships? It seems like even Carnival, as well as RCI, Celebrity, and, most likely other lines actually care about providing craft brews. The Sea Witch line was promising, and, then they took it away - supposedly it was a 50th Anniversary "special"? I don't really care about having a brewery on board, or, even craft drafts (which would be awesome), but, please, just offer up some decent American craft beers! That, or, let me bring beer on board - heck - I'll even pay a "corkage" fee.

Anyone else?

PS - I'm ready to jump ship!!!

I suspect Seawitch was a failed endeavor and not really a "50th anniversary special". They were horrible!! The only barely tolerable one to me was the red ale, and I'm not usually a red ale kind of gal. The IPA was not very good and I was disappointed in came from my home town, Strike Brewing company (which I've never been to).

My husband would agree with you. He hates that Princess does not have good beer. He also would be willing to pay a corkage fee for beer.

Out of curiosity, what beer is Carnival selling that you are happy with?

I wouldn't say we are ready to jump ship, but it would be very appreciated if they had more beer options. I don't mind New Castle but I don't like drinking out of a plastic cup and it's only available up deck.

Princess definitely needs to up their game. Cannot stand the aluminium bottles of Budweiser etc. Actually thought that Sea Witch was a good alternative. Was it the best beer ever? No, but it was better than the generic domestic rubbish they have. Maybe one day they’ll have an epiphany.

Sea Witch was the worst bitter tasting drink I have ever had. And I have drank beer all over the world. Horrible stuff. Would rather drink warm Tiger beer.

Sea Witch wasn't very good. We live in Chico, CA where Sierra Nevada Brewing Company is located so we understand about highly-hopped beer. Lots of folks who hated the Sea Witch brew hated the flavor of hops as they are used to crappy "regular" American beer. That wasn't our issue. We just didn't care for the beer although it was better than most of what Princess offers. We found a few left over bottles of Alaskan Brewing Company beer on our last cruise as the ship had just transitioned from the Alaska run. We snagged some of those to take back to the cabin. For beer we mostly drank Bass Ale or Newcastle on tap. Princess really does have a pretty poor selection of beer.

I am a craft beer drinker and was disappointed that my Star Princess cruise to Whittier served no craft beer, but was very pleased that the Island Princess from Whittier served serveral Alaskan Brewery selections.

I suspect Seawitch was a failed endeavor and not really a "50th anniversary special". They were horrible!! The only barely tolerable one to me was the red ale, and I'm not usually a red ale kind of gal. The IPA was not very good and I was disappointed in came from my home town, Strike Brewing company (which I've never been to).

 

 

 

My husband would agree with you. He hates that Princess does not have good beer. He also would be willing to pay a corkage fee for beer.

 

 

 

Out of curiosity, what beer is Carnival selling that you are happy with?

 

 

 

I wouldn't say we are ready to jump ship, but it would be very appreciated if they had more beer options. I don't mind New Castle but I don't like drinking out of a plastic cup and it's only available up deck.

Carnival has its own Red Frog beer on its ships, few new builds even have a brewery. Red Frog is s decent red.

Could transfer your New Castle to a glass from another bar.

Recently came off a Celebrity cruise where I was delighted to see they had bottles of Dog Fish Head 90 (which was included on our Premium Drink package). Would love to see Princess stocking similar quality IPAs.

Hank

Last year my husband and I were on the Star for 15 days and we were struck by the waste of space of the Chocolate Shop on the Plaza Deck (between Vines and the Library/Computer lounge). We thought this would be a great space for a Craft Beer lounge - We didn't think it would take that much of a renovation to create a bar area and we thought they could offer a rotating variety of craft beers, especially from some of the beer meccas that they visit (Vancouver, Portland, etc). This could easily be customized to wherever they visit (Hawaii, Alaska) and then they could also substitute the larger brand names when they run out the of craft beer (and I bet they would). They could even do tasting flights (like they do in Vines) and a once per cruise, beer pairing dinner (for a fee, of course!).

I'm sure there are all sorts of rules, regulations and legal stuff that stands in the way of this happening, but wouldn't it be wonderful if they at least made the effort? There's wine bars, cocktail bars, the martini bars (and a massive martini menu), why can't they see that this would be a big draw for their customers?

Recently came off a Celebrity cruise where I was delighted to see they had bottles of Dog Fish Head 90 (which was included on our Premium Drink package). Would love to see Princess stocking similar quality IPAs.

 

 

 

Hank

Omg!! That’s amazing!! DH would love that!! I wish Princess would get better beer

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Carnival has its own Red Frog beer on its ships, few new builds even have a brewery. Red Frog is s decent red.

 

Could transfer your New Castle to a glass from another bar.

Pouring from one glass to another is never good with beer, foam.

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Thrak,

Sierra Nevada is so good you should stop comparing any beer to them. My goodness man you'll never find something as good.

Hlitner -- my goodness, that's enough to make me consider a change in lines! Dogfish 90! The only thing that could make it better would be Dogfish 120 when it was available.

Princess-- I wish you looked on this board...but my goodness, while I can find beverages to drink (Guinness, or Bass, Bodingtons), but the options are so small. Though I wonder if you changed if the complaints wouldn't start to be that Princess doesn't carry this or that. But man..some additional options would be good.

Thanks all. Counting down the days!

Pouring from one glass to another is never good with beer, foam.

 

 

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Yeah. I know but it’s a suggestion.

Yeah. I know but it’s a suggestion.

Thanks [emoji4]

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They do carry a nice selection of various Alaska Brewing company offerings when they are up there. Just off the Regal. Guinness and New Castle were available as draft in the Wheel House. Heineken and New Castle were in the aft bar behind Horizon Court.. and that may have been the extent of the draft beers. No real craft beer. In some of the islands they have "Virgin Island" varieties, and the Island Hopping IPA is OK... if you look at the fine print you'll see these St. John Brewing Company selections are actually made in Portland, ME.

Thrak,

Sierra Nevada is so good you should stop comparing any beer to them. My goodness man you'll never find something as good.

 

I take it you have never visited Talkeetna and tried the Denali Brewing Company beer then? I wish I could get that stuff here. We bought crazy amounts of it in Alaska but it didn't make it very far and certainly not all the way home. We took a 7 week camping trip last summer to Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Alberta, British Columbia, Yukon, and Alaska. Lots of beer but none as good as the stuff from Denali Brewing Company. They have a double IPA and a Stout to make you cry.

As for Sierra Nevada, the best beers tend to only be available for a short while and only in the brew pub. Gotta love having a good brewery in town. Ken Grossman did pretty well for a guy who dropped out of college to make beer. He's worth well over a billion dollars today.

As for Sierra Nevada, the best beers tend to only be available for a short while and only in the brew pub. Gotta love having a good brewery in town. Ken Grossman did pretty well for a guy who dropped out of college to make beer. He's worth well over a billion dollars today.

Thrak, I assume living in Chico that you've done the SN Beer Geek tour? If you want to see perfection, go visit the brewery in NC...it's AMAZING. (This coming from a guy with the original Pale Ale label inked on his bicep lol) I can't even begin to describe the place to you...makes the Chico taproom look like motel 6 haha

Also if you do Asheville, take the New Belgium tour, they did a great job too. So much beer, so little time.

I have to agree with others, the beer selection on Princess is terrible. We're from the UK and can get Guinness everywhere, and similarly Newcastle Brown Ale. I love Guinness, not a fan of Newcastle Brown, but they're not exactly 'holiday' (vacation, not Christmas!) beers.

Everyone produces decent beer now, and there's enough of it made by big enough producers that volume shouldn't be an issue.

I'd love to be able to bring a six-pack of beer on board instead of a bottle of wine.

We might sail more often if they had DogFish Head 90!

Thrak,

Sierra Nevada is so good you should stop comparing any beer to them. My goodness man you'll never find something as good.

 

Hlitner -- my goodness, that's enough to make me consider a change in lines! Dogfish 90! The only thing that could make it better would be Dogfish 120 when it was available.

 

 

Princess-- I wish you looked on this board...but my goodness, while I can find beverages to drink (Guinness, or Bass, Bodingtons), but the options are so small. Though I wonder if you changed if the complaints wouldn't start to be that Princess doesn't carry this or that. But man..some additional options would be good.

 

 

Thanks all. Counting down the days!

Funny thing about the Dogfish Head 90. We were on the Reflection for 21 days on on the first sea day I stopped by the outdoor grill (its one deck up from the main pool) to grab a burger and beer. I asked the server if they had any IPAs and he mentioned a few normal brews....and then pulled up a bottle of the Dogfish Head and said, "we have some of this....but its very powerful!" I just started laughing and the rest was history. I was truly surprised to see this on any cruise ship. The bar guy was from Jamaica and the next day I went back for some beer and asked him if they had any 120! He just roared and said if they served that on the ship somebody would need to be going around with a liter to pick up the passengers :).

I have been pretty critical of the many cut-backs (and price hikes) on Celebrity. But absolutely no complaints about their beer selection which is the best we have seen on any cruise line.

Hank

Just Googled this Dogfish Head IPA. Sounds perfect. Would love it if Princess started serving it. No more complaints of watered down drinks if they did.

Surely Sierra Nevada, which I love, would be a good choice as it shouldn’t be difficult to source in high volume.

Please Princess. Up you beer game!

They do carry a nice selection of various Alaska Brewing company offerings when they are up there. Just off the Regal. Guinness and New Castle were available as draft in the Wheel House. Heineken and New Castle were in the aft bar behind Horizon Court.. and that may have been the extent of the draft beers. No real craft beer. In some of the islands they have "Virgin Island" varieties' date=' and the Island Hopping IPA is OK... if you look at the fine print you'll see these St. John Brewing Company selections are actually made in Portland, ME.[/quote']

Ah, Heineken. While I was in high school/college, they were running ads bragging that they were the number one beer in Europe. I thought that was impressive until I realized that Budweiser was running ads that they were number 1 in the USA. (Which they were then). Lesson learned: Number 1 doesn't automatically equal good.

 

Other college beers: Molson Golden, Henry Weinhard's (what bottling number), and generic BEER, among others. We used to calculate the cost to buzz ratio for decisions sometimes. Started as a joke after a business class.

 

Anyway, I'd like to chime in for an expanded choice of beers. Wouldn't even have to offer a bucket.

 

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Ah, Heineken. While I was in high school/college, they were running ads bragging that they were the number one beer in Europe. I thought that was impressive until I realized that Budweiser was running ads that they were number 1 in the USA. (Which they were then). Lesson learned: Number 1 doesn't automatically equal good.

 

Other college beers: Molson Golden, Henry Weinhard's (what bottling number), and generic BEER, among others. We used to calculate the cost to buzz ratio for decisions sometimes. Started as a joke after a business class.

 

Anyway, I'd like to chime in for an expanded choice of beers. Wouldn't even have to offer a bucket.

 

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In colleges throughout the upper Midwest the low budget swill was often Falstaff (with a "Concentration" type puzzle under the bottle cap). Blatz, Drewrys and Milwaukee's Best were some of the others considered.

We have the same issue with a couple of "trying to be upscale" local restaurants . All kinds of wine selection but the beer is limited to bud, bud light and miller light. Right now I have a 1/2 barrel of Karben 4 fantasy factory in my kegerator.

How hard would it be to have just one decent IPA (how about Bells Two Hearts ?) on tap in one bar on the ship? A single portable kegerator like I have could be done anywhere. At $5 a glass it would mean about $750 in profit per keg. OK, $5 is what I pay locally in a bar, maybe more like $7.50 on board so make that $1,200/keg profit.

The aluminum can of fizzy water just doesn't do it for me. What beer lover wouldn't pay more for something that actually tasted good.

Better shoot for a better bottled beer selection. As costs can be controlled much better on a cruise ship with bottles. Also, you are probably going to have to push for a beer selection from one of the InBev controlled craft brewers as they have the distribution and clout to make it onto the ships.