When it comes to coffee on cruise ships, there are usually two main options. Most major cruise lines, including both Carnival and Royal Caribbean, offer free brewed coffee throughout the day. At the very least, it can be found in the buffet area and in the main dining room, but it’s not uncommon to see coffee stations set up in other locations, such as in the casino.
There is also typically a premium coffee option available. Carnival Cruise Line offers its JavaBlue Café, Royal Caribbean ships offer premium coffees at Café Promenade, and Celebrity ships feature Café Al Bacio, just to name a few. These all serve hand-crafted espresso-based beverages, and may have other premium offerings, even for non-coffee drinkers.
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Royal Caribbean takes it a step further on some of its ships. Starbucks locations can be found on nine Royal Caribbean ships, including all six Oasis-class ships. The cruise line partnered with Starbucks in 2010, opening the first-ever Starbucks at sea on the new (at the time) Allure of the Seas. There is a Starbucks location on Icon of the Seas, and there will likely be locations on the other Icon-class ships as they enter service over the next few years.
However, the agreement with Starbucks is simply a licensing deal and isn’t an exclusive one. Norwegian Cruise Line ships, for example, have Starbucks locations throughout the fleet.
No Starbucks on Carnival?
On the other hand, Carnival has not yet partnered with the coffee giant to bring cafes to its ships, and it doesn’t appear particularly likely to happen.
In a recent Facebook poll, Carnival brand ambassador John Heald asked whether cruisers would be interested in seeing Starbucks locations on the cruise line’s ships. And with over 44,000 votes on Heald’s poll, the answer was definitive.
There were two options involving Starbucks on Heald’s poll:
- “Carnival would sell much more coffee if you had Starbucks.”
- “I would not be interested in having a Starbucks on the ship.”
Respondents overwhelmingly selected the latter option. With a nearly eight-to-one ratio, cruisers said they wouldn’t be in favor of bringing Starbucks cafes onto Carnival’s ships.
Why don’t Carnival cruisers want Starbucks?
At first, it might seem like many cruisers would welcome an additional coffee option, especially since it’s almost certain that many passengers on the typical Carnival cruise regularly buy Starbucks coffee drinks in their day-to-day lives.
Some comments on Heald’s poll correctly pointed out that relatively few people order drinks from Starbucks on other cruise lines, compared with the standard premium coffee shops. And there are some good reasons for that.
On Royal Caribbean’s ships, Starbucks drinks are not included in any drink package, while hand-crafted beverages from Café Promenade (which use Starbucks coffee) are. Plus, the beverages sold at Starbucks are significantly more expensive than comparable drinks served at the alternative.
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Heald follower Amanda Bays said, “Having recently taken a Music cruise on another cruise line, there were lots of people buying Starbucks each day, but I would have to say that a lot more people were buying the coffee at the regular coffee shop that was not labeled “Starbucks brand”.
Others commented that the existing offerings are more than enough. “Please, enough with Starbucks. The coffee on board is perfectly fine and they do a fantastic job every morning,” said Teresa Gingerich Toth. Jacquie Brown Reid added “The coffee shop on board is fine. Don’t need Starbucks higher prices.” And Margaret Marioni said that “Carnivals coffee shops are great-no Starbucks!”
In fact, even after scrolling through hundreds of comments on Heald’s post, the most positive replies I found were some that indicated that they would likely buy a drink at Starbucks but it wasn’t needed. Remarkably, not one comment on Heald’s post as of this writing was enthusiastically in favor of adding a Starbucks to a Carnival cruise ship.
