MSC Cruises taps world’s top bars for upcoming voyages

Two of the world’s greatest bars are hitting the high seas!

Lucky passengers aboard the MSC Cruise ships, the Euribia and the World Europa, will enjoy exclusive pop-up bar activations from Barcelona’s finest cocktail destinations.

The Euribia is hosting SIPS (No. 1 in the World’s 50 Best Bars, 2023) as it sails the North Sea, while the World Europa hosts Paradiso (No. 1, 2022) as it circumnavigates the Mediterranean.

Both pop-ups will be serving from a “greatest hits” menu onboard through September. 

This is the latest in a line of luxury-leaning moves for the privately held Italian-Swiss MSC Cruises following partnerships with TimeVallée and Formula One.

“We’re delighted to bring the ‘World’s Greatest Bars’ concept on board our ships,” Jacques Van Staden, food and beverage vice president at MSC Cruises, said. “The new program brings our food and beverage offering to new heights, providing unforgettable experiences not seen before at sea.”

Guests on the Euribia will be treated to eleven cocktails from SIPS, a bar created by two of the world’s greatest bartenders, Marc Alvarez and Simone Caporale, who hide their mind-bending techniques behind playful presentations.

Patrons can choose a perfect negroni kept cool by white chocolate-coated ice (so the cubes can’t dilute the drink), a vodka cocktail topped with a bubble of smoke and a side of cava, or the hand-shaped, metal-cast vessel for the scotch-, Calvados- and ruby Port-based Primordial, among many other masterpieces — all deftly designed to be as elegant as they are surprising. 

Thirteen of Paradiso’s otherworldly cocktails are available aboard the Mediterranean-bound World Europa, and there isn’t a miss on the menu.

The bittersweet Kryptonita shows off Paradiso’s ability to delicately balance flavors with an electric presentation, while the Bacco Per Bacco plays with form and texture (using strawberry caviar and a grape-bunch goblet), and the Caribe Italiano transforms sweet Caribbean rum into a Parmesan-washed, umami-filled delight. Drinking these wild cocktails is like falling through the looking glass. 

These complicated techniques could falter in the hands of lesser bartenders, but the bar owners have faith in the MSC bar staff they trained. Caporale of SIPS described them as “super cool, very switched on, international.”

These super-cool international bartenders will spend the summer crisscrossing European waters, so for those cruising for some boozing, it’s all aboard and full-steam ahead.