Tuesday, April 1, 2014

Hijacked! Fruity Drinks on the High Seas


Hi there!  This is Eric's wife Sarajo (or Sj as he often calls me) doing a little blog takeover for the day.  Last week while my husband was stuck at home holding down the fort, I was off on a grand adventure with my friend Kathleen... cruising the Caribbean and making jewelry with about 48 other bead ladies!  Sound crazy?  Crazy fun!  I swear that this is a real thing.  You can check out my post all about the Bead Cruise over on my blog HERE.

The one thing that my sweet husband asked in return for letting me go off on a girls trip (other than rum cake, of course) was for me to take notes and pictures of the fruity cruise drinks I consumed and report back for his blog.  So, I'm now making good on that promise.

My first cruise drink was sort of an accident, but it was also one of the fruitiest/cruisey-ist in many ways.  The Aquarium bar was out of one of the components for my first choice drink and I panicked.  I didn't notice that the drink I ordered, the Batidas, had half  & half in it.  Also, I missed that there was supposedly a choice of fruit (not a blend of them) and the waitress didn't clarify what I wanted... so what I ended up with was basically an adult strawberry milkshake!  It wasn't terrible, but the half & half made it VERY rich and it just wasn't what I was expecting.

iPhones are not great at low light... but here's me with my Batidas on the first night of the cruise.
Day two our group had our disco party in the Chamber night club.  We got free drinks and I tried the Yellow Bird.  I'm not entirely sure what was in that other than rum, but it was a little watered down so I can't really give it a fair review.  That night also brought about the discovery of my favorite drink of the cruise, the Elderphire!  Made with Bombay Sapphire gin, elderflower, sugarcane, and fresh lemon this drink was sweet, tart, and refreshing.  This is the only cocktail I ordered multiple times.  Perhaps that makes my "research" a little less complete, but sometimes you want what you want.  We also tried the Elderflower Lemonade which was similar but not quite as tasty as the Elderphire.  It's a mix of elderflower, Absolute vodka, and lemonade.

Elderphires in love?  I loved how they usually did something cute with the straw wrappers!
On day three (night actually!) we went back to the Chamber night club for a little dancing with our new friend Kashmira where we all ordered Lemon Drop martinis.  This was a pleasant suprise for me since I'd ordered this drink (at least I think it was the same thing) someplace else and it had been way too tart for me.  This one was a nice blend of sweet and tart!

Three little Lemon Drops all in a row...
Day four was a port day in Nassua.  Kathleen and I had an excursion to Blue Lagoon Island to play with the dolphins.  We had some down time after that so we had Bahama Mamas on the beach while lounging.  This felt like the perfect drink for a hot beach day! It was a mix of rum, grenadine syrup, orange and pineapple juices... yummy and tropical for sure.  Later that day while lounging by the pool, I indulged in what amounted to an adult Kool-Aide... also known as the Pomegranate Spritz.  My photo of that one did not turn out at all but it was a lovely red/pink but a little too light on flavor for my taste.

Bahama Mama on the beach.  It doesn't get much better than this!
On Day five we didn't order any fruity drinks... can you believe it?  But don't worry, we did put a dent in a bottle of wine at dinner!  The next day we made up for our lapse.  In the afternoon we checked out the jazz themed bar on the 14th floor and I ordered my new favorite drink, the Elderphire.  Kathleen tried the Captain's Caipirinha which was made with Captain Morgan spiced rum, Leblon Cachaca (a spirit made from distilled sugar cane and the official spirit of Brazil), sugar and lime.  It was interesting but far too boozy for me.  My dad would have said that it would put hair on your chest!

Captain's Caipirinha
After dinner we joined several other ladies from our group at the Schooner Bar for music trivia.  I tried the Frozen Mojito while Kathleen tried a very pretty drink called the Goombay Smash.  The Frozen Mojito flavors were pretty true to the traditional version's and it was very tasty and refreshing.  The only downside is I felt like the aftertaste stayed with me for awhile!  The Goombay Smash was another rum based drink with two different types (one coconut), Cointreau, lime and pineapple juices.  I think that I'm just not as big a fan of rum overall... and especially not when it's coconut flavored.  so I was happy with my choice for this round.

Goombay Smash (and a little of my mojito on the left).  Poor lighting strikes again!
Day seven it was back to my standby Elderphire while we listened to the live band play and watched folks dance up in the 14th floor bar.  We did some dancing ourselves when they played the occasional faster song.  Kashmira also ordered a yummy Frozen Mudslide that I got to taste.  A great dessert drink if you want something with coffee and chocolate flavors.

I would have to drink far more than I normally do (and probably spend all my cruise time at the bar) to try all the drinks available on the ship.  Hopefully this gives you a little taste of what is on offer and maybe an idea of cocktails you might want to try in the future either on land or at sea!  

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