RedFrog Rum Bar and BlueIguana Tequila Bar to Provide Ultimate Poolside Vacation Experience

[CruiseNews]

Details on two fun and lively new poolside bars — RedFrog Rum Bar and BlueIguana Tequila Bar, part of Carnival’s new Fun Ship 2.0 shipboard enhancement program – were unveiled at a press conference earlier this week in New York. The Carnival Liberty will be the first ship to feature the new bars when it returns from a scheduled refurbishment later this month. Several more ships in the fleet will receive the new poolside bars over the next few years.

Located across from each other on the Lido Pool Deck midship, the bars will each feature a unique and memorable themed décor and specialty drink menus, as well as offer live poolside entertainment and DJ mixes throughout the day and into the early evening.

RedFrog Rum Bar is an extension of the wildly popular RedFrog Pub introduced on Carnival Magic earlier this year. The RedFrog Rum Bar has a Caribbean theme and serves tropical rum libations and rum-inspired frozen favorites, as well as Carnival’s own ThirstyFrog Red draft beer.

Mexican-themed BlueIguana Tequila Bar is a new concept designed around the laid-back, fun vacation vibe of a beach cantina. The bar specializes in delicious tequila-based frozen drinks and cocktails, along with a wide selection of draft and bottled Mexican beer.

The fun, engaging themes of both poolside hangouts are driven by their namesake characters, Red, the frog, and Blue, the iguana, with back stories explaining their origins on each bar’s menu. A friendly rivalry exists between the bars as they vie for guests’ attention, and each menu features one beverage allegedly “stolen” from the other. Both bars will have a guitar player performing popular numbers at different time periods throughout the day.

RedFrog Rum Bar’s teak bar with louvered shutters and ceiling fans provides a fun and funky Caribbean vibe, while the BlueIguana Tequila Bar features colorful Mexican tiles and blue accents that give it a cool “south of the border” ambiance. Both bars have a curved drink rail and their own distinctive flooring that will define the seating area near the bars, along with tables sporting tabletop art matching the appropriate character theme. Bartenders will wear island-inspired style guayabera shirts – in red and blue, themed to their respective venue – while wait staff will wear T-shirts with their bar’s character and clever phrases printed on the front and back.

RedFrog Rum Bar’s menu offers seven brands of rum, with a note that no other rums are “frog-approved.” Frozen coladas and daiquiris and drinks are featured, as well as a lineup of tropical cocktails, mojitos and spiked lemonade by the pitcher. ThirstyFrog Red and the Dominican Republic’s Presidente beers are on tap, and bottled brands from the Caribbean (Kalik) and Mexico (Corona) are also featured.

BlueIguana Tequila Bar’s menu offers a selection of seven brands of tequila, along with a varied lineup of frozen concoctions, cocktails and margaritas by the glass or by the pitcher. Beer selections are just as varied, with a choice of five Mexican bottled brews and a special beer cocktail called a Beer Michelada — spiced-up beer in a salt-rimmed glass – along with Dos Equis and Modelo Especial on tap.

The two new bars are part of Fun Ship 2.0, a multi-year initiative valued at more than $500 million that will completely transform the Carnival guest experience and is the largest and most ambitious project the company has ever undertaken.

Many of the new Fun Ship 2.0 features will first debut on Carnival Liberty in October 2011 with additional ships to receive the enhancements over the next few years.

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