Diageo to “elevate craft” of cruise line bartenders

Diageo is further “elevating the craft” of cruise line bartenders with the launch of Diageo Reserve World Class Global Travel 2014.

Bartenders from Princess Cruises, Norwegian Cruise Line, Royal Caribbean International and Celebrity Cruises will participate in Diageo World Class Global Travel 2014

This year Diageo has partnered with Royal Caribbean International and Celebrity Cruises, as well as last year’s partners Princess Cruises and Norwegian Cruise Line, to bring the total number of bartenders entering to 5,500 – almost 15 times the number of entrants as last year.

All 5,500 cruise line bartenders will be trained in areas such as showmanship, gin distillation and Mediterranean cocktails, and then whittled down to just four in a series of heats.

The final four will compete against one another in a semi-final in Miami, Florida on 5 June, before just one bartender is chosen to go through to the Diageo World Class Bartender of the Year final in London.

The Global Travel programme will be managed this year by Mario Seijo, World Class global winner for Latin America and Caribbean in 2013.

Louise Higgins, marketing director, Diageo GTME Western, said: “World Class has become synonymous with creativity, style and sophistication, constantly pushing the boundaries of contemporary and experiential cocktail culture.

“This is our biggest year ever by some way and we are excited to see these bartenders will take their cocktail making skills to new levels in the world’s most credible cocktail competition.”

Last year’s Diageo World Class competition, which was won by Spain’s David Rios, took place on-board a cruise ship in the Mediterranean.