Woke this morning to another calm sea, great nights
sleep. Today we had an inspection/tour
of the galley. We paid $30 and at 10.30
we went down to the dining room for free champagne, did the tour, then had a 3
course lunch with more free champagne.
The galley tour was fascinating, they cook 10,000 buns/loafs of bread
every day, they buy one million dollars worth of groceries in Sydney and don’t
have to restock until they get to Perth (where the cruise continues around
Australia via Bali to Sydney…500 people are doing the complete 32 day
circumnavigation, the ship then sails to Vancouver for the northern summer, and
some people are doing the circumnavigation AND the trip to Vancouver). They store tons of meat, fish, vegetables and
fruit. Any cooked food not consumed by
the passengers is taken to the crew kitchen and subsidises their meals. Any waste is minced, dehydrated, compacted
and dropped in to the ocean (depending on location/distance from shore) They pride themselves in having very little
waste, probably because the more waste they throw away the more money it costs
them. The galleys are huge, they are
all stainless steel, they are very noisy and would get very hot late in the
afternoon when tea is getting cooked.
Feeding over 2000 passengers and 800 crew seems to be big business.
Due to the steady flow of free champagne we felt a little
worn out after lunch so we came back to the cabin for a little rest. Bit of a walk late in the afternoon then to
the bar, etc, etc.
 |
| Dishwasher |
 |
| Salmon for tea |
 |
| Bakery |
Gosh what a production. It just doesn't seem the same, when the food is up top. Has all of the chocolate been consumed as yet? Does it seem funny cruising around your own country? You would have to looooove cruising to spend that long on a ship!
ReplyDeleteHaven't managed to eat all the chocolate yet, we seem to eat quite enough without topping up on extra sugar!! Cruising is relaxing but in the end it is really a means to and end. A bit like working, can't say you looooove work but we do it because it allows us to achieve things we really want to do. Can't say we loooove flying 30 hours but we'd do it to get to Canada/Europe because we want to go. In this case the package we got meant the 16 day cruise worked out at the same price as flights/rail across Australia. So for twice the price of the flights from Brisbane to Perth and the train from Perth to Sydney and flights home from Sydney (4 days), we got the whole package and we got a glimpse of New Zealand....so...it's not that we looove cruising so much (although it is very enjoyable), it was a great chance to do the 4 day train trip and the 16 days cruise combined. Love coming into the ports of Australia, love watching this thunder storm at the moment, love the cold beer at the end of the day, love being on holidays!!! Love Pam and Vernon
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