Cunard ships have their Golden Lions, there’s a Rising Sun on P&O’s Arcadia and a couple of Northern Lights on Fred Olsen ships. Norwegian Epic has an Irish version in O’Sheehan’s, and even Oasis of the Seas has the Globe and Atlas on its Royal Promenade shopping street
We’re talking about cruise ship pubs, where you might be able to sink a pint of Boddington’s or Stella Artois, and feast on fish and chips or chicken curry.
Now Carnival has announced that new ship Carnival Magic will be the first in the fleet to have its own pub. Except it doesn’t sound like a pub as we know it on this side of the Atlantic, and not even much like a pub as Americans know it.
At the risk of upsetting cruise director and blogger extraordinaire John Heald, I have to say that the Caribbean-themed RedFrog sounds like it will not be much like a Wetherspoons, an O’Neills or even an All Bar One – or any pub near his home in Margate.
In fact, with its “laid-back Caribbean vibe,” a design that proclaims itself “British West Indies meets Key West, evoking the warmth and friendliness of a local island watering hole,” and serving island-inspired drinks and snacks, including a selection of rums and Bahamian conch (pronounced “conk”) salad, it sounds like Carnival have taken their inspiration from the lively Senor Frog’s chain of bars which promise they are “where happy hour is never just an hour.”
The 3,690-passenger Magic, a sister ship for Carnival Dream, is being built by Fincantieri in Italy and will make its debut in the Mediterranean next May, moving to Galveston, Texas, in November.
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