Cozumel Cruise and Sangria

Cozumel Cruise and Sangria

I just got back from a cruise and it was wonderful! Most seasoned cruisers know that you can bring 1 bottle of wine or champagne per person on board with you. This is a great way to save money, considering how much they charge for drinks on a cruise.  My husband and I really made our wine stretch on our last cruise and we’ve got a few tips we’d like to share with you.

On our last cruise we brought a bottle of champagne and a bottle of white. The first night of the cruise we ate in the on board steakhouse and the promotion was a free bottle of wine with dinner. We enjoyed a few glasses of wine with dinner, but we didn’t finish the whole bottle, so they allowed us to bring it back to the room with us. The next day we made sangria with it! Yum! We used some fresh fruit and juice (POG) from the breakfast buffet, and let it sit in the ice bucket until the afternoon. With our bottle of champagne, we enjoyed mimosas in the morning and a similar sangria concoction in the afternoon. This cruise we decided to bring wines that came in screw top bottles so we could skip packing a corkscrew and make sure we could properly reseal our wines. We decided against champagne because it’s not as easy to reseal, and obviously will go flat before too long. I missed my mimosas, though, so next time I think we’ll bring champagne again, and pack a wine stopper.

We wanted to bring our favorite “picnic” wine, but we would have had to pack the bottle in our luggage, since we were flying to Tampa to catch our cruise, so we visited Total Wine and More in Tampa before we boarded the ship, and boy am I glad we did. That store has rows and rows of wine. I knew I wanted a Sauvignon Blanc, so I headed straight for that section. There was a lot to choose from. I noticed many tips and recommendations on tags on the shelves. “Doug’s” pick was the Kiwi Cuvee Sauvignon Blanc, saying that it drank like a $20 Sancerre. For $8, I was willing to give it a try.

Next, I was on the hunt for a red. I wandered into the Pinot Noir section,

A bottle of red a bottle of white

looking for one we had enjoyed in Maui. I understand it’s hard to find, but with a selection this big, I thought I’d check. No luck. The hubby went to look in the beaujolais area. That’s where one of the employees from the store found me and asked if I needed any help. I did! I didn’t see any screw top bottles in that area. He checked, as well, and confirmed that there did not appear to be any beaujolais with a screw top. Oh well. I went ahead and told him what we were looking for and asked if he had any recommendations. As I spoke to him I noticed the name on his name tag; it was Doug! He was extremely knowledgeable and helpful pointing out 2 or 3 wines that would fit the bill for us. Even bringing one over from another aisle after he had left us. That’s the one we ended up taking home with us. La Delizia Pinot Noir. A light-bodied red with fruity notes for $6.

2 bottles of wine on a 4 day cruise is quite a bit, especially considering we didn’t crack open either of the bottles on our first day. So, we had wine with dinner on our 2nd night and polished off the 2nd bottle the next day. The wine and sangrias were delicious!

Our Cruise Sangria Recipe:

• 1 Bottle of (white or red) wine that you brought with you, chilled in your in-room ice bucket
• Whatever fruits you can procure from the Lido Deck buffet–apples, oranges, even melons
• POG (Passion Orange Guava) juice from the Morning buffet
• *You’re allowed to bring sparkling water onboard still, so you may want a splash of that
• Ice from the Lido Deck

Directions:

Fill one cup (we bring our own) with fruits and 2/3 full of chilled wine. Add juice to taste.  Top off with ice. Go to the casino and win back the money you spent on your tickets.