Why don't bartenders on cruise ships know how to make a Tom Collins?

[Philob]

This conversation will get interesting when the bartenders become robots and will we need to tip them?

[Joebucks]

22 hours ago, klfrodo said:

I've always wondered why people think a drink would be made the same way all over the world. Every culture is going to put their own spin on a recipe. Heck, people don't even make basic foods the same way across the street, let alone around the world.

You want a drink made a certain way, then call it.

 

There's a difference between made differently and made poorly

[cruisemom42]

9 hours ago, Kristelle said:

I think they would know a list of 2o or so most commonly ordered cocktails-  if something only has a few components but hardly ever anyone orders one, then they not likely to be familiar with it. 

I feel 20 is setting the bar pretty low (pun intended). I feel like your average barista knows more drinks than that!!

 

I read there are about 77 cocktails a good bartender should know…

[ExpatBride]

15 hours ago, klfrodo said:

And why would they? It’s no longer “our” world. It’s their world. It’s up to us to use our skills to adapt to the new world.

My niece is currently in beauty school and she's learning how to do perms and the old granny wash & set helmet 'do. Those are more out of date and dying faster than classic cocktails. But it makes sense for people to able to serve their clientele, regardless of whether or not they're on-trend.

[lisiamc]

On 6/2/2023 at 6:38 PM, tallyho8 said:

In most places a John Collins is made with Bourbon.

 

17 hours ago, evandbob said:

Perhaps today's 20 and 30 year old bartenders aren't aware of a drink that was popular back in the 1950's?

I’M barely aware of drinks popular in the 1950’s and I’m 66, so not exactly a spring chicken. I certainly wasn’t drinking in the 1950’s, but some of those are classics, and had a revival when Madmen was on the air.

[lisiamc]

3 hours ago, Philob said:

This conversation will get interesting when the bartenders become robots and will we need to tip them?

Probably that depends on whether they will make me a nice drink! And what would a robot like as a tip? Maybe a shiny new bolt? 😁

[K32682]

5 hours ago, whogo said:

I look at a Tom Collins as a fru fru drink.

 

On the "fru-fru" scale it would be higher than a gin and tonic, even with a Cuba Libre and lower than a pina colada or banana daiquiri. 😉

[ExpatBride]

54 minutes ago, K32682 said:

 

On the "fru-fru" scale it would be higher than a gin and tonic, even with a Cuba Libre and lower than a pina colada or banana daiquiri. 😉

 

Just call it a "rum & Coke" 🙄

Edited June 3, 2023 by ExpatBride

[tallyho8]

Bartenders frequently screw up other drinks I order as well. As simple as a rum and coke is they frequently put a slice of lime in it which makes it a Cuba Libre and completely changes the taste.

A mudslide is frequently ruined when they don't blend it long enough and it is full of chunks of ice. A Bloody Mary with vodka, Bloody Mary mix and ONE olive. A rum punch with so much fine crushed ice in it that 2 sips and it is gone. 

 

To make sure they make my favorite after-dinner drink, I print up some copies I bring with me and hand one to the bartender.

[fruitmachine]

5 hours ago, Philob said:

This conversation will get interesting when the bartenders become robots and will we need to tip them?

That's already happened on (I think) Royal Caribbean.  I read that you still get charged an 18% gratuity!

[whogo]

A "real" drink is liquor with or without water (frozen and/or liquid, still or fizzy). A drink becomes fru fru any time you add soda pop, fruit, a vegetable, liqueur, syrup, or a vegetable. If a Tom Collins has syrup, lemon juice and a cherry it is fru fru to the third degree, no umbrella required.

[tallyho8]

20 minutes ago, whogo said:

A "real" drink is liquor with or without water (frozen and/or liquid, still or fizzy). A drink becomes fru fru any time you add soda pop, fruit, a vegetable, liqueur, syrup, or a vegetable. If a Tom Collins has syrup, lemon juice and a cherry it is fru fru to the third degree, no umbrella required.

I have to disagree with you. A rum and coke is not a fru fru drink. According to most dictionaries, a fru fru drink is "girlish, or fancy with a few obscene meanings also.

[Kristelle]

6 hours ago, cruisemom42 said:

I feel 20 is setting the bar pretty low (pun intended). I feel like your average barista knows more drinks than that!!

 

I read there are about 77 cocktails a good bartender should know…

 

 

I just made up the number 20 off top of my head - yes, probably they would know well more than 20.

 

But point still remains they would know the ones most often ordered - and not ones somebody only orders very occasionally.

 

and of course what those main ones and very occasional ones are would vary between times and places and exactly what name xyz means would vary too.- so, I dont think it is realistic to expect them all to know exactly your drink in every time and place you go.

[Kristelle]

3 hours ago, tallyho8 said:

Bartenders frequently screw up other drinks I order as well. As simple as a rum and coke is they frequently put a slice of lime in it which makes it a Cuba Libre and completely changes the taste.

A mudslide is frequently ruined when they don't blend it long enough and it is full of chunks of ice. A Bloody Mary with vodka, Bloody Mary mix and ONE olive. A rum punch with so much fine crushed ice in it that 2 sips and it is gone. 

 

To make sure they make my favorite after-dinner drink, I print up some copies I bring with me and hand one to the bartender.

 

 

that seems a good idea - if you want a drink exactly the way you are used to it, then have a little laminated printout to show the bartender

 

and/or when ordering, say, rum and coke, just say No lime slice please.

 

or take it out as soon as you get it.

 

Really not getting all this angst about it.

[Philob]

21 minutes ago, Kristelle said:

I just made up the number 20 off top of my head - yes, probably they would know well more than 20.

The International Bartenders Association says bartenders should know how to make 77 "classic" drinks. The 77 should be made the same way anywhere in the world including cruise ships.

 

[Kristelle]

7 hours ago, Philob said:

The International Bartenders Association says bartenders should know how to make 77 "classic" drinks. The 77 should be made the same way anywhere in the world including cruise ships.

 

 

 

sure - but all customers might not expect same thing so best the bartender checks - communication works wonders - better they check if you want it made with gin or vodka, in OP example, rather than just make it the 'correct' way

and customer communicate - if you really don't want a lime slice, just say so rather than get on high horse about how rum and coke with lime slice would technically be a xyz instead

 

DH often orders Jim Beam or Jack Daniels and coke here (on land) and sometimes they put a lemon slice in it - no big deal, he just takes it out.

 

Also I'm sure we've all heard of Use it or Lose it - which applies to bartenders as well as everyone else - in reality you are going to remember those  things you most often do so if it is only very rarely that anyone orders a Tom Collins or whatever drink, unlikely bartender will remember it.

[UPNYGuy]

DW and I have run into this exact thing repeatedly. We have been told by bartenders (and observed firsthand) it has to do with people not knowing what they are ordering. Someone orders a tom collins and (correctly) wants it made with gin, and the next person comes up and orders it because they saw it on TikTok, but assumes it has vodka in it because it was in a trendy video.

 

and what they are seeing is a vodka sour, not a tom collins. 

 

I almost always have an issue when I request a dry gin martini, up with a twist. I always get asked if I want vodka or gin, and then I repeat myself. I dont blame them for going on autipilot, especially when you are serving a large population that *thinks* that knows what they are ordering, but in actuality is getting the drink order incorrect. 

 

I have also witnessed someone trying to order a 'tequila sour', and confusing the bartender. They were next to me, so I went 'that's more commonly known as a margarita".

[UPNYGuy]

On 6/2/2023 at 12:23 PM, klfrodo said:

I've always wondered why people think a drink would be made the same way all over the world. Every culture is going to put their own spin on a recipe. Heck, people don't even make basic foods the same way across the street, let alone around the world.

You want a drink made a certain way, then call it.

 

I can go to Brazil and order a caipirinha and it is made with cachaca, as it is on MSC and Royal Caribbean, and IMO the proper way. However, I can go to the D.R or Jamaica, and have it made with rum, which would be a local interpretation. Cachaca is a type of rum made from the sugarcane itself, whereas what most people know as rum is actually made from molasses. 

[navybankerteacher]

18 hours ago, ExpatBride said:

 

Just call it a "rum & Coke" 🙄

Reminds me of the “Happy Hour” in San Juan - when a rum and coke cost less than a Coca Cola.

[cruisemom42]

23 hours ago, Philob said:

This conversation will get interesting when the bartenders become robots and will we need to tip them?

 

More importantly, will you be able to get a bowl of micro-chips with your drink?

[Lois R]

19 hours ago, tallyho8 said:

Bartenders frequently screw up other drinks I order as well. As simple as a rum and coke is they frequently put a slice of lime in it which makes it a Cuba Libre and completely changes the taste.

A mudslide is frequently ruined when they don't blend it long enough and it is full of chunks of ice. A Bloody Mary with vodka, Bloody Mary mix and ONE olive. A rum punch with so much fine crushed ice in it that 2 sips and it is gone. 

 

To make sure they make my favorite after-dinner drink, I print up some copies I bring with me and hand one to the bartender.

This sounds really good to me😃....these ingredients make delicious drinks.........

[bonsai3s]

In the military...almost every weekend...we would ask up and down the barracks for any leftover liquor.

 

We would then put all the liquor in a huge bucket...mix it all up with ice. We all shared it...we were happy.

[K32682]

On 6/3/2023 at 3:38 PM, ExpatBride said:

 

Just call it a "rum & Coke" 🙄

 

A rum and coke lowers it on the fru-fru scale to the gin and tonic level. It takes a tick higher if you use diet coke.  Calling it a Cuba Libre takes it up another notch. 😁

 

 

Edited June 5, 2023 by K32682

[new_cruiser]

I sometimes like a Gin Rickey which is gin, lime juice and soda water served over ice with a lime garnish. Almost no bartenders today know what that is. I have to ask for gin, lime juice and soda water. Even ordering it that way, I had once where it was sweet and I sent it back being specific that it shouldn't have any simple syrup or other sweetener. What came back was still sweet - I suspect that they were using a sweetened lime mixer instead of plain lime juice. 

 

Many of the modern drinks are too sweet for my tastes. I sometimes like a mildly sweet drink with sour components like a margarita but I don't enjoy a very sweet drink.

[evandbob]

On 6/3/2023 at 2:24 PM, lisiamc said:

 

I’M barely aware of drinks popular in the 1950’s and I’m 66, so not exactly a spring chicken. I certainly wasn’t drinking in the 1950’s, but some of those are classics, and had a revival when Madmen was on the air.

Do you think that ships' bartenders watched Madmen?