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March Carnival Victory Cruise: Raices

T.I. Cruiser — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 20:00:27 +0000

Now for those of you not familiar with Raices, let me warn you that you will get vastly different opinions on what people think of the place. I hear the phrases touristy and tourist trap thrown around. Although I can understand why people think Raices is a tourist trip the reality is Raices is authentic Puerto Rican.

While the decor of the restaurant definitely looks as if it was played up for tourists, this place is the real deal. In fact, this is actually the second location of the restaurant. The first location is in Caguas, Puerto Rico which isn’t the most touristy place on the island. Furthermore I would say there were no more than a half dozen non-locals in the restaurant on that night.

The reason I say I can understand someone thinking it was a tourist trap is because the staff wears what I guess would be historically traditional Puerto Rican clothing. Also the walls are painted with murals and the place does have a certain cheesy appeal.

Onto the food

I ordered a steak and seafood dish and my girlfriend ordered chicken and Mofongo. I am no expert on Puerto Rican food so I am unqualified to determine how well prepared the food was, but I will say that I was definitely satisfied with what I had. While my steak was clearly inferior quality (was expected) to what I am used to eating the seafood was spot on. When the two were married together it became a winning combination. I also had the pleasure of ingesting what may have been the best Pina Colada I have ever drank. All in all I would say Raices was a hit and would recommend it for anyone looking for a place to have a moderately priced sit down dinner in Old San Juan.

After dinner we walked around Old San Juan for a bit including our customary walk along the waters edge. I love the sight of cruise ships at night not to mention its a good way to burn off some of the one billion calories that Pina Colada undoubtedbly contained. Next we headed back to the hotel, walked around the grounds for a bit and then headed to bed.

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Superbowl Sunday Rum Punch

T.I. Cruiser — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 21:33:36 +0000

Unless you have been living in a cave (not that there is anything wrong with that) or you on a cruise around the world (in which case you probably don’t care) you probably realize that tomorrow is “Superbowl Sunday”. Many of you may already know that I am a huge football fan and although my team (The Pittsburgh Steelers) isn’t playing in the big game, Superbowl Sunday is still better than Christmas for me. Being that I like to pretend like I an amateur chef I take this as a great opportunity to get into the kitchen to cook a feast big enough to feed a parking lot full of hungry tail-gaters. Naturally, with all of the food that gets consumed comes a wee bit of alcohol. That alcohol is what brings me to the subject of this blog post, a new drink recipe.

Now, when watching the Superbowl I never plan on having people over. I don’t invite anyone or anything like that, to paraphrase Field of Dreams “if you make it they will come”. So, in addition to cooking a ton of food I also make sure to have a lot of drinks. Of course I pick the staples like beer and wine I always make a special drink. This year the drink I will be making is Caribbean Rum Punch.

1 Cup Bacardi 151 Proof Rum
1/2 Cup Dark Rum (Myers)
1/4 Cup Malibu Rum
2 1/2 Cups Pineapple Juice
2 1/2 Cups Orange Juice
1/4 Cup Lime Juice
3 Tblsp Grenadine
Ice Cubes

Of course you can either make this by the glass or scale it up to make a bowl of the punch. Also if the 151 is a little heavy (as it is for most people) just substitute a light colored rum in its place.

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Cruise Cocktails: Bananapalooza

T.I. Cruiser — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 10:00:22 +0000

This week’s cruise cocktail is actually two drinks. For some reason I have been craving bananas all week. This weekend I plan to thoroughly satisfy that craving. So, that brings me to this weeks cruise cocktails. Ironically I have never had either of these on a cruise ship. Normally while on a ship I go for the drinks with the highest alcohol content in order to get the most bang for my buck. Neither of these drinks are heavy on the booze but both really make up for it in taste. So, if you are in the mood for a banana drink this weekend give either “The Dirty Banana” or “The Bahamian Rapture” a try.

The Dirty Banana

1 oz. Creme de Banana

1oz. Cream de Cacao

1oz. Kahlua

2 scoops Vanilla Ice Cream

Blend six ice cubes with ice-cream in a blender until smooth

Add liqueurs and continue blending, again until smooth

Add more ice-cream if needed (for milk-shake consistency).

Pour into a glass, and enjoy.

Bahamian Rapture

1 oz. Dark Rum

1/4 oz. Coconut Run Liqueur

1/4 oz. Creme de Banana

1/2 oz. Cream

Mix the Dark Rum and Cream.

Pour into a glass.

Layer the rest in this order

Creme de Banana,

Coconut Rum Liquer.

Enjoy the tastey deliciousness of the Bahamian Rapture

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My Freedom Cruise Part 4

T.I. Cruiser — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 16:00:32 +0000

When we arrived at the dining room it was pretty standard for Conquest class ships. The typical, large upper and lower tiered dining room. We were seated at table 100 which was right behind the Maitre’d station (which meant great service). Three of our table mates were already sitting there when we arrived and four more arrived about 5 minutes after us. Now, one of the things I overlooked in my excitement of boarding the ship was finding our table immediately upon boarding. If I had visited the dining room prior to dinner I would have see we were seated at a large table, which is not what we requested. I had hoped to have a table for just the three of us, but apparently those instructions got screwed up along the way. Had I wanted, I’m sure the maitre’d Manuel would have changed our seating but since we had already met our table mates I didn’t want to be rude. In the end it turned out just fine since they were actually really interesting people.

Our waiter was named I. Ketut (aka King Tut). My memory isn’t the best but I could have sworn he was our waiter on a previous sailing. I did ask if he was on the Carnival Destiny before (which he was), since we had a waiter named I. Ketut on that ship. He then informed me that in Indonesia that name is about as common as John Smith is here (epic fail on my part), right ship wrong waiter. The service was phenomenal, the food was good and the chocolate melting cake was as gooey and delicious as I remember.

After dinner it was off to karaoke where I sang badly but still had fun. After that it was bingo, I lost badly but had fun and then the welcome aboard show.

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Am I the Only One Who Loves Mojitos?

T.I. Cruiser — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 11:00:44 +0000

Finally it looks as if the summer is here. This is scheduled to be our first “hot” weekend of the summer, which for me means barbeque and cocktails. This weekend my drink of choice is the Mojito. Those of you familiar with the drink probably either love or hate this unique combination of mint and lime. Those of you who love may have a good recipe and those of you who hate it have questionable tastes (just kidding). Well if you are someone who loves it but doesn’t have a recipe feel free to try this one, its what I’ll be using.

Mojito

2 oz Bacardi Superior Rum
3 mint leaves
4 lime wedges
1 oz Monin Mojito mint mix
1 oz club soda
Muddle mint leaves and lime in a tall glass. Cover with Monin Mojito mix and fill glass with ice. Add Rum and stir. Top off with club soda and garnish with fresh mint sprigs.

Have a good weekend everyone

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