Just finished a cold but lovely weekend in the northeast. The primary purpose was to attend the memorial service for my best friend’s father. Joel Loeb passed away in January at 94 years old. He was a naval officer in the North Atlantic throughout WWII and a wonderful man, husband and father during his long and dignified life. Among other things, he was as proud of having gone to Princeton as anyone I’ve known. If you know Princeton people you know what that means. The old warrior got about as much out of life as one could expect. What more could one ask?
Speaking of Princeton, I spent the day before the memorial service on campus with some of my classmates at a meeting to kick off the 30th reunion cycle (2011, ouch). The attendees were able to spend time with a panel of students who are either juniors or seniors. If you want to renew your faith in the possibilities for making the world a better place, you should spend time with students like these. They are worldly, multidimensional, articulate, personable and totally committed to various paths of public and/or community service. As we would say at Royal Caribbean, this was a Wow.
Next week is the Cruise Shipping Miami conference, the biggest (by far) cruise conference of the year for cruise industry types. The conference used to be called Seatrade Miami. Virtually everyone still refers to it as Seatrade. I’m sure that must be frustrating for the new owners, but hey, we changed our name to Royal Caribbean International over 13 years ago and plenty of people still call us Royal Caribbean Cruise Line. Both Dan Hanrahan and I will be on the panel of cruise line CEO’s and therefore face the annual challenge of trying to be interesting while making sure we don’t say anything too noteworthy.
Adam,
I have a question that is not directly related to this post. My wife and I are avid cruisers and Royal Caribbean is our favorite cruise line. We have 11 past cruises and have two more scheduled for this year. We are also micro- and craft-brewed beer connoisseurs. Unfortunately, Royal Caribbean has fallen short of our expectation in this area. You do carry a good sized selection of domestic and foreign beers, but American craft breweries are sadly missing from the list. Royal Caribbean use to stock their own brand called Royal Ale, which we loved, but even that is no longer offered. Even Guinness Foreign Extra Stout which use to be a staple in your bar inventory is no longer available. We are finding it increasingly difficult to find a beer to drink in your selection. I would even bring my own on board, but I know that is a no-no.
Here is my question; are there any plans to start offering American craft-brewed beers on your ships? Other cruise lines like NCL and Princess do offer a modest selection of these beers in, at least, one of their bar venues. Drinkers of mass-produced beers have an ample supply to choose from, craft brew lovers, like ourselves, would greatly appreciate even a modest selection to accommodate our tastes as well.
Thanks for your consideration.