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INSIDER

Carnival brings the fun with its beverage options across its fleet

All cruises are different and that
extends to the food and drinks packages
that are available onboard. Carnival
Cruise Line invites its guests to “Choose
Fun.” That is its tagline and the fun is
designed to run through everything that
happens onboard. Zachary Sulkes, AVP,
Beverage Operations, Carnival Cruise
Line tells TMI that Carnival tries to infuse
fun in everything it does from a beverage
perspective. Sampling some beer brewed onboard at Carnival Vista’s Red Frog Pub & Brewery
“The drinks, the staff, the menus:
it is all fun. This leads to huge volume. fleetwide regardless if they have a Heroes of our beverage team, ecoSPIRITS and
Our guests order lots of drinks including bar onboard with $1 from every glass sold Bacardi is a great example of thinking in
cocktails, beers, waters, wines, etc.,” says going to Operation Homefront. ways that are truly out-of-the-box, or in this
Sulkes. There are also Carnival-exclusive case – out-of-the-bottle, to develop new
The drinks packages offered on beers available in cans on every ship. While partnerships and practices that further our
Carnival are unique to the cruise line. ParchedPig West Coast IPA, ThirstyFrog ongoing efforts,” says Sulkes.
“We handle drink packages much Caribbean Wheat and ParchedPig Toasted Bacardi was selected for the pilot
differently and do not rely on inclusion Amber Ale are also available as portable because it is among the most-ordered
of beverage packages to sell our cruises. pints. spirits across the fleet and a staple of
There are no free packages per se (unless Carnival has partnered with Lakeland, some of the craft cocktails most popular
you are high level casino player). So, Fla.-based Brew Hub to produce the beers. with Carnival guests. The rum will be
therefore, the amount of guests that have transferred from ecoTOTE to serving
packages is quite low in comparison to Close Loop Packaging to reduce single- format using ecoSPIRITS’ SmartPour™
all other cruise lines. And, we only have use glass at sea technology. New silver and red Bacardi-
2 packages. One that is only for sodas Carnival introduced a new pilot branded SmartPours will be placed in
and juices (Bottomless Bubbles) and the program that is introducing closed-loop select bars on the three ships for beverage
other that is all drinks $20 and under (but packaging to the cruise industry aboard team members to serve cocktails featuring
limited to 15 alcoholic drinks in a 24 hour Carnival Cruise Line ships in an attempt to Bacardi Superior rum.
period),” says Sulkes. reduce single-use glass. Carnival is constantly updating the
Carnival offers a diversity of offers for Through a collaboration with beverage options available on its ships to
its drink menus across its ships. Bacardi and innovative circular economy stay relevant with its guests.
“The XL class of ships have over 20 technology company ecoSPIRITS, the “We have increased our bourbon and
different beverage menus for guests to pilot will determine if re-usable containers whisky selection over the past few years
choose from depending on the location on developed by ecoSPIRITS can be used to and guests are very pleased with the offer.
the ship,” says Sulkes. serve Bacardi rum on Carnival ships, in We tried non-alcohol options at Alchemy
turn reducing single-use packaging by 95 Bar over the past year and it really didn’t
Brewing onboard percent. The concept is being tested for go well. It was not bad, but there were
Carnival Cruise Line is serving up three months on three ships operating from just not enough sales to justify the extra
a number of its own private-label beers Miami: Carnival Celebration, Carnival inventories. We are looking at some lo-
crafted by its in-house brewery team. Horizon, and Carnival Sunrise. alcohol options to see if the response is
Carnival was the first cruise line to can “As we continue to work towards our better,” says Sulkes.
and keg its own private label beers crafted sustainability goals, the collaborative work “Our guests still like fun, sweet drinks
in-house in 2019, after introducing the and we stick to that.”
onboard brewery concept on Carnival Vista Sulkes says the menu will definitely
in the Red Frog Pub & Brewery in 2016. evolve over the coming years.
Carnival Cruise Line now features “Stay tuned. As we don’t have another
onboard breweries on six ships, says new build ship coming for thee years, we
Sulkes. have time to review, refresh, and renew our
“We have a new beer brewed onboard offer to stay current with the guests and to
that is the Heroes American Pale Ale. The meet their expectations of FUN.”
hops are picked by a veterans group and
then we donate $1 from the sale of every Carnival has partnered with Bacardi
beer to Operation Homefront. We are now and ecoSPIRITS to reduce single
glass use at sea.
selling Heroes pint glasses on all ships

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