Bonus Post: Cruise Lines and Beer

Over the last three posts, I've talked about cruising and wine. However, I cannot let those go by without talking a bit about beer.

Even though I typically drink wine aboard a cruise ship, there are some beer choices available. They are outlined below:

Our very first cruise was aboard Royal Caribbean's Monarch of the Seas. When we got on board, to our surprise, they had their own beer available, called the Royal Beer. It is brewed in Belgium. We drank a lot of those on board.

Our second cruise was aboard Holland America's Ryndam. I was pretty excited about it, wondering what beer offerings Holland America had, seeing that Royal Caribbean had their own beer. To my disappointment, it was not much. Mostly, it was domestics, with import options being Heineken and Grolsch. I actually asked the cellar master aboard the Ryndam about the beer selection, and he said that they occasionally get Alaskan Amber on their runs to Alaska, but that is about it.

Our third cruise was aboard Carnival's Elation. I really did not know what to expect. To my pleasant surprise, the Elation had several imports worth drinking. They had Pilsner Urquell, Boddingtons, and Guinness, all nice alternatives to American light lager swill.

When our fourth cruise was in the planning stages, I wanted to find the cruise line with the best beer selection, since the cruise was for my birthday, and I, of course, am into beer. Doing my research, I found the drink menus for Norwegian Cruise Lines. Holy cow, they had beer like Warsteiner, Celebrator, Sam Smith, and Pilsner Urquell. They also had a English style pub on board and a German Bier Garten. This looked like the cruise line for me.

Unfortunately, we read the reviews of Norwegian Cruise Line ships at the online review site, Cruise Critic, and they were less than stellar. In fact, some of them were downright vicious, especially about food and service. This began a great debate about whether or not to take the cruise. Unfortunately, we decided not to do it, and opted for Holland America's Oosterdam instead, despite Holland America's poor beer selection.

As you can see, the beer selection aboard some cruise lines are not terrible. Obviously, some are better than others. However, like our Norwegian debate, there are other things to consider other than beer. I hope that this gives some insight to what is available beer wise aboard cruise ships. Cheers.