The
first 4 days of the cruise were spent at sea and took us well
away from the East Coast of the U.S. Frankly, traveling at
sea is somewhat boring and one has to seek out diversions from
the normal. Watching the ocean flow by is good for a half
an hour but past that walking around or going to the gym or pool
is where it is at.
The photos below are what we saw.
Our room
had a private terrace and the view was from deck 6 (of 12).
We
decided to do a tour of the kitchen and the tour started with a
briefing in the main dining room.
Food was
a popular topic with some of the passengers.
Preparing
food for thousands of folks is a daunting task. Both the
equipment and the staff have to be up to the challenge.
There
were legions of folks working in the kitchen.
All
bread is baked fresh daily on board the ship.
Each of
the cooking stations were manned by 4-6 folks working assembly
line fashion.
In
preparation for the large brunch on Tuesday, one of the chefs
was tasked with doing food sculptures. This face had
plenty of detail as well as exploiting the shades from the
layers of the watermelon.
These
sculptures were very creative.
Despite
the size of the ship, real estate for the kitchen is in short
supply. The kitchen is one deck below the main dining
area. To aid the staff in delivering the large quantity
(and mass) of food during meals, the ship has escalators for the
staff.
All the
pastries served during meals are prepared on the ship.
The dish
washing machines are huge and operate on conveyor belts to
process the huge volumes of china, silverware and kitchen
utensils created during each meal service.
Waste
and garbage control is a major deal. As you might expect,
producing large volumes of food also generates large volumes of
waste.
"Edible"
waste is ground up and discharged overboard for the fish.
An
example of place settings at one of the high-end restaurants.
The
kitchen tour concluded with examples of the actual dishes
prepared.
When the
kitchen tour was complete, we headed for the gym and later the
pool. The day was capped off with a nice sunset.
The
following day we encountered some small rain squalls.
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Photos and Text Copyright Bill Caid 2012, all rights
reserved.
For your enjoyment only, not for commercial use.