Brews Cruise: Craft Beer Cruises Set Sail

The cruise industry is jumping on the booming craft beer scene with the addition of beer-themed cruises featuring onboard tastings, visits to local breweries and special presentations from beer experts.

Craft beer lovers can appreciate good brews on the high seas next month with Crystal Cruises’ beer-focused cruise setting sail Nov. 5 from New York to Miami. Excursions to micro- and nano-breweries in and around New York and Charleston, samplings, expert presentations and beer dinners are all on tap.

The award-winning Funky Buddha Brewery partnered with Celebrity Cruises and Be Well Travel to introduce the inaugural Funky Buddha Craft Brew Cruise, taking beer lovers aboard the Celebrity Constellation and offering a variety of Funky Buddha Brewery beers during events and parties next spring. Taking place March 12–16, 2015, the four-day, four-night voyage travels to Nassau and Key West from Port Everglades and includes a beer-filled schedule.

Avalon Waterways offers a taste of world-famous European beers with its eight-day Tulip Time river cruise departing April 10, 2015, from Amsterdam. Passengers will get to enjoy onboard tastings, visitors to historic breweries and lectures on European beer-brewing techniques, as well as drinking in the beautiful Keukenhof Gardens and world’s largest bulb flower park.

For brews with a view, Magic Happens Travel will host its 18^th Alaska Brews Cruise, departing Aug. 28 from Seattle for destinations in Alaska including Ketchikan, Tracy Arm Fjord, Juneau, Skagway and the Alaska Inside Passage. Samplings of rare beers crafted in the Northwest region will be offered, as well as trips to remote breweries.