This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see our affiliate policy.
Inspired by Carnival Cruises, this Pirate Punch recipe is sweet, fruity, and tastes just like the tropics. Makes a pitcher for 8 or double the batch.
A good friend tells you about the last great cocktail he or she had.
A great friend bribes the wait staff to write down the exact recipe of said treasured punch recipe and scans the napkin over to you whilst still on a cruise ship.
Casey Markee, SEO guru at Mediawyse, is a great friend. He is responsible for plundering this recipe while on a Carnival Cruise, and I’m eternally grateful.
Table of Contents
Recipe ingredients
At a Glance: Here is a quick snapshot of what ingredients are in this recipe.
Please see the recipe card below for specific quantities.
Ingredient notes
- Amaretto: A sweet Italian liqueur that tastes like almonds (aka maraschino cherries). Some popular brands include Disaronno, Lazzaroni, Luxardo, DeKuyper, and Bols.
Step-by-step instructions
- In a large pitcher, combine cranberry juice, orange juice, pineapple juice, dark rum, white rum, and amaretto. Chill until serving time.
- To serve, have ice, glasses, and garnishes (pineapple wedges, orange slices, and maraschino cherries) on hand so guests can help themselves.
Recipe tips and variations
- Yield: This recipe makes a pitcher of 8 cocktails.
- Glassware: Pirates don’t care what glass you use! I like to use hurricane glasses for all tropical drinks, this one included.
- Origin story: This recipe is from Casey Markee, SEO guru, a great friend. He bribed the wait staff at Carnival Cruise to write down their Pirate Punch recipe and scanned the napkin over to me while still on the cruise ship.
- Walk the plank: The original recipe from Carnival Cruise had the quantities of liquor as shown below but just half the juice! I doubled the juice for my version, but if you want to get crazy, use just half the juice.
- Tropical Party: Craving your own tropical cruise? Create your own Tropical Party at home. I dreamed up a menu featuring Coconut Shrimp, Hawaiian Macaroni Salad, Pineapple Salsa, and Pineapple Upside-Down Cake. A Blue Hawaiian cocktail is classic, but Pirate Punch (or Mai Tais or Piña Coladas) works too!
Recipe FAQs
While at sea, pirates struggled to access fresh drinking water (they obviously couldn’t drink ocean water). So, they favored grog, beer, and rum.
Grog is a combination of drinking water tinged green from slime (probably algae) and alcohol. Pirates would add a little alcohol to old, bad drinking water to improve the taste, and this is Grog. Yum!
How to Stock a Bar Cart
Learn how to stock a bar cart that is perfectly tailored to your personal taste and the cocktails you love to make. Staying in just got a lot more fun! Whether in a cupboard, cabinet,…
View Recipe
More tropical cocktails
Cocktail Recipes
Tequila Sunrise
Cocktail Recipes
Hurricane Cocktail
Cocktail Recipes
Mai Tai
Cocktail Recipes
Piña Colada
Join Us
Pirate Punch
Ingredients
- 8 ounces cranberry juice cocktail chilled (1 cup)
- 8 ounces orange juice chilled (1 cup)
- 8 ounces pineapple juice chilled (1 cup)
- 4 ounces dark rum (½ cup)
- 4 ounces white rum (½ cup)
- 2 ounces amaretto liqueur (¼ cup, see note 1)
- pineapple slices orange slices, and maraschino cherries, for garnish, optional
Instructions
- In a large pitcher, combine cranberry juice, orange juice, pineapple juice, dark rum, white rum, and amaretto. Chill until serving time.
- To serve, have ice, glasses, and garnishes (pineapple wedges, orange slices, and maraschino cherries) on hand so guests can help themselves.
Recipe Video
Notes
- Amaretto: A sweet Italian liqueur that tastes like almonds (aka maraschino cherries). Some popular brands include Disaronno, Lazzaroni, Luxardo, DeKuyper, and Bols.
- Yield: This recipe makes a pitcher of 8 cocktails.
- Glassware: Pirates don’t care what glass you use! I like to use hurricane glasses for all tropical drinks, this one included.
Nutrition
Meggan Hill is a classically-trained chef and professional writer. Her meticulously-tested recipes and detailed tutorials bring confidence and success to home cooks everywhere. Meggan has been featured on NPR, HuffPost, FoxNews, LA Times, and more.
The perfect summer party punch! I first had this at a pirate-themed party and enjoyed it so much that I asked the host to send me the (this) recipe. Very easy to scale-up, which I did significantly for a party with 30 women. Thanks! This will be my go-to.
Thank you so much for your comment, Jen! I’m so glad you loved it! – Meggan
Hi!
Could I use pomegranate juice instead of cranberry? Thanks!
Just got done with a Carnival cruise and loved the Pirate Punch. The picture in this one is a lot more red/ pink than mine were on the ship maybe more orange juice is used now?
Anyway, thanks for the recipe!
Could you please scale it for one drink? I’m assuming they were 12oz.?
Hi Scott! Yes, it can definitely be scaled down for one! Just go down to the recipe card, and where it says “8 servings” in orange, you have the ability to change the 8 to one. Just hover over the orange 8 and a slider will appear, and you can slide all the way to the left for one serving. This feature is available on all of my recipes. Hope this recipe makes you feel like you’re always in Paradise! :) -Meggan
This sounds so yummy ! I was thinking of making this for my wedding reception of 125 guests . Obviously not all will be drinking ! What would be your recommended recipe ?Â
Hi Cindy, congratulations on your wedding! How many guests do you think might be drinking? I can do the culinary math for you and scale the recipe, but you’ll have to say how many you think might be drinking. Just let me know! Thanks. :D -Meggan
For 50 guests:
50 ounces cranberry juice chilled
50 ounces orange juice chilled
50 ounces pineapple juice chilled
25 ounces Bacardi 8 Dark Rum
25 ounces Bacardi White Rum
12.5 ounces Amaretto Disaronno
Fruit for garnish.
Thank you! :D -Meggan
What can I use in replacement of pineapple juiceÂ
Hi Dan! You could do grapefruit juice, that’s probably the closest. Apple juice would taste different but AWESOME. I have a mocktail recipe on my blog, something the nurses served me in the hospital after I had my kids, which is basically equal parts cranberry juice, OJ, and apple juice. So in this case you’d be making that but boozy. There’s no way it could possibly be bad. If you have any other questions just let me know! Thanks! -Meggan
Didn’t come out this color wondering if more cranberry or less if something else?
Hi Deb, if the color wasn’t pink enough, my best guess is that you used 100% cranberry juice instead of cranberry juice cocktail. The recipe isn’t written to prefer one or the other, but if color is a problem, then I think it should be changed to specify. I made this last year so I don’t actually remember which one I used but, off the top of my head that is what I’m thinking. Let me know if you used 100% cranberry juice, and if so, I’m sorry and I will definitely re-write the recipe to say cranberry juice cocktail. Thank you!
I want to make this for a friend’s birthday party, she specifically loves coconut rum though. Do you think if I swapped coconut rum for white rum it would be too sweet or mess too much with the flavor?
Hi Laura, I think it would taste FANTASTIC with coconut rum. I’m pretty sure that’s how my recipe should be made too, ha ha ha. I guess I’ll just have to do some “recipe testing” on that! Thanks for the question, and happy birthday to your friend!
What a great combo, Meggan! This is perfect for a little “vacation” at home! Can’t wait to give this a try soon. Thanks for the recipe! :-)
Don’t like cruise ships but this looks like one of those “perfect for the pool” drinks. You can’t go wrong with these ingredients!!! Two rums with amaretto!