Princess Adds Handshake Speakeasy Cocktails At Sea

Princess Cruises is bringing one of North America's most decorated cocktail bars on board its ships, through a new partnership with Mexico City's Handshake Speakeasy that will add five exclusive drinks to the fleet's menus. The Handshake cocktails debut on Star Princess on November 14, 2025, before rolling out to all 17 Princess ships in the following weeks, with recipes created by co owner and lead mixologist Eric Van Beek and his team.

For travelers, this means that a bar program recognized at the top of the World's 50 Best Bars lists will now be part of Princess Cruises' standard cocktail offering, especially in Crooners and in the premium Sanctuary Collection spaces. It is a clear move to position Princess as a line for guests who care about serious, modern cocktails rather than only classic cruise drinks.

Princess Cruises And Handshake Speakeasy Partnership

Handshake Speakeasy, tucked inside an NH Hotel in Mexico City's Colonia Juárez district, has been named The Best Bar in North America for two consecutive years, and sits near the top of the overall World's 50 Best Bars global ranking. The bar is known for tight, theatrical service, a hidden flavor lab, and cocktails that layer textures and aromas as carefully as their spirits.

Princess says this is Handshake's first ever collaboration with a cruise line, and that the deal centers on five bespoke cocktails created specifically for the fleet. Three will be served in the guest favorite Crooners bar, while two will be reserved exclusively for venues tied to The Sanctuary Collection, the new ship within a ship style suite and lounge concept that Princess is rolling out on its newest ships.

The named drinks lean heavily on both classic spirits and layered flavors. Pan Am Punch blends Bacardi Superior rum, Aperol, lemon, orgeat, and tropical notes. Green Tea uses Bombay Sapphire gin with lemon, vanilla, coconut, and matcha. Banana Bread Old Fashioned reworks a whiskey staple with Rittenhouse rye, banana, walnut brown butter, and maple. The Sanctuary menu adds Hibiscus and Spice, based on Pantalones Tequila Blanco with hibiscus, lime, cinnamon, Cointreau, and vanilla, plus Red Fruit and Roses with Elyx vodka, strawberry, rose water, jasmine tea, and lime.

The partnership will also come with a digital storytelling series led by Rob Floyd, Princess Cruises' global mixologist ambassador, who filmed segments in Mexico City that show markets, ingredients, and the Handshake team at work while Van Beek designs the shipboard cocktails. That content is meant to give passengers a sense that they are stepping into a curated bar experience rather than simply ordering a one off drink.

Latest Developments

According to Princess, the Handshake Speakeasy cocktails go live on Star Princess on November 14, 2025, then expand across the rest of the fleet "in the weeks that follow," reaching all 17 ships once menu rollouts and training are complete. The line has not published a precise calendar for when individual ships will receive the new menus, so travelers booked outside Star Princess should treat rollout timing as approximate for now.

The collaboration slots into Princess Cruises' broader Love Line Premium Liquors collection, which already features celebrity backed spirits and wines such as Pantalones Organic Tequila by Camila and Matthew McConaughey, Meili Vodka by Jason Momoa and Blaine Halvorson, Sláinte Irish Whiskey by Liev Schreiber, and a mix of branded wines and non alcoholic sparkling options from names like Elizabeth Banks and Kylie Minogue. The Handshake cocktails give the line a more tightly defined cocktail identity to go with that bottle list.

Princess is also pushing the upgraded cocktail program hardest in higher tier spaces. Crooners is already one of the line's most popular lounges, and The Sanctuary Collection is designed as a premium experience with dedicated spaces and upgraded amenities, so positioning Handshake drinks there signals that the line wants cocktails to be part of its upsell story.

Analysis

Background, Handshake Speakeasy is not a cruise line invention or a celebrity vanity label, but a small, high control bar that industry voters have kept at the top of the North America's 50 Best Bars list for multiple years. For Princess, bringing that brand on board is a way to borrow credibility from a city bar that cocktail focused travelers already recognize, similar to how some lines partner with Michelin starred chefs or boutique coffee roasters.

For travelers, the practical question is where and when they will actually taste these drinks. If you are booked on Star Princess on or after November 14, 2025, you can expect to see the Handshake Speakeasy cocktails highlighted in the daily program and the Princess app, with Crooners and The Sanctuary Collection venues as the primary homes for the menu. On other ships, it is safer to assume that the rollout will land in late 2025 or early 2026, and to check with a travel advisor or Princess directly if the Handshake cocktails are a key part of your decision.

The drink list itself is also telling about Princess Cruises' direction. Ingredients like matcha tea, walnut brown butter, and jasmine tea signal a willingness to go beyond frozen cocktails and simple highballs, while still using familiar bases like gin, rum, rye whiskey, tequila, and vodka. Travelers who care about spirit brands will notice that the recipes lean into labels already featured in the Love Line Premium Liquors collection, for example Pantalones tequila and Elyx vodka, which helps tie the bar menus and retail offerings together.

This partnership also fits a broader trend of cruise lines racing to upgrade their bar programs, as travelers who already drink at high level bars at home now expect similar quality at sea. Rather than building everything in house, lines are increasingly co branding with award winning bars, celebrity mixologists, and premium spirits portfolios. In that context, Handshake Speakeasy gives Princess Cruises a distinct talking point that lines without bar partners will struggle to match, especially with the World's 50 Best Bars recognition behind it.

From a planning perspective, the main tradeoff for travelers is whether to prioritize access to the Handshake cocktails when choosing a ship or cabin. Guests who already prefer Princess for its itineraries may simply treat the drinks as a nice extra in Crooners. Travelers who place a high value on craft cocktails, and who are willing to pay for The Sanctuary Collection or similar higher tier products, may see this as another reason to choose Princess over mass market competitors on comparable routes.

Final Thoughts

Princess Cruises' collaboration with Handshake Speakeasy is a relatively small change in hard product terms, but it carries outsized signaling value. By putting a bar program recognized as North America's Best Bar onto Star Princess first, then spreading it across the full fleet, the line is telling cocktail focused travelers that they can expect something closer to a Mexico City level drink experience while at sea. For guests who value that kind of bar culture, Princess Cruises Handshake Speakeasy cocktails may become one of the deciding features when comparing ships and sailings over the next few seasons.

Sources

• Princess Cruises Partners with Handshake Speakeasy, North America's Best Bar, to Create Five Exclusive Cocktails at Sea
• Princess Cruises Partners with Handshake Speakeasy, North America's Best Bar, to Create Five Exclusive Cocktails at Sea
• Mexican marvel, five reasons Handshake Speakeasy tops the North American bar scene
• North America's 50 Best Bars 2025 Revealed
• Princess and Handshake Speakeasy Create Exclusive Cocktails