On our first “at-sea” day, we went to one of the “events” which is a tour of the galleys on board the ship. The galley is a compartment of a ship, train or aircraft where the food is cooked and prepared – i.e., the mobile industrial kitchen.
The German executive chef started with a power point presentation giving all kinds of Guinness book of records type- statistics – 12300 pounds of potatoes and 75000 pounds of fresh fruits …
The tour is a smart move because it costs the cruise line nothing.
It afforded the ship’s senior catering staff time to interact with guests, and boasts customer confidence in food hygiene.
The tour is interesting for those curious people who always want to see behind the scenes. =)
Instead of having a centralized galley (like older ships), each of the restaurants on our ship has its own galley. It saves the waitstaff from carrying a tray of hot food and walking to one of the far-flung restaurants. This is sensible as the cruise ship gets bigger and bigger.
Apparently, the cruise ship uploaded all the food we needed for the entire 7-day trip in Miami. Somehow they have to keep all the food fresh.
The staff that took us on the tour have on average 15 years of experience on board a cruise ship. The catering staff wore different color scarfs to indicate their rank. The senior staff who hosted our tour all wore black scarf (like Karate black belt).
This is the menu for the main dining room for the entire trip – 7 columns for 7 days.
Bakery.
The tour was held just after breakfast so all the workspace was still relatively empty.
This is the dessert menu for the main dining room.
Dish-washing area.
It is really quite an operation !
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