7 Days on a 6,000-Passenger Cruise Ship: A Peek at the Astonishing Amount of Food Served Weekly
Hey! I’m Spencer, and I love cruises. I just got back from my eighth sailing, this time traveling through the Mediterranean on one of the world’s tallest cruise ships. I’m always fascinated by how much food it takes these massive ships to serve everyone on board, and I managed to get a private tour of the galley and their off-limit decks, so here are some of the wildest things I learned.
Spencer Althouse, Instagram: @spenceralthouse
To give you an idea of how much food they go through each week, you need to understand how big the 6,000-passenger ship actually is. I traveled on Sun Princess, which is over 1,100 feet in length, meaning it’s longer than three football fields put together. This 21-deck ship is by far the tallest I’ve ever been on, and it weighs nearly 178,000 tons, which is almost 400 ~million~ pounds. Okay, now onto the food!
1. In total, 180 tons of food supplies are loaded onto the ship for every weeklong voyage. That’s about 400,000 pounds of provisions, which, to put into perspective, is just shy of how much the Statue of Liberty weighs. Below is what some of that food looks like when stored on the lower decks. The left pic, for example, shows a crewmember loading potatoes, which is a tough job when you consider that the ship goes through over 13,000 pounds of potatoes each week.
Spencer Althouse
They also load about 50 tons of beverages onto the ship. This includes over 16,000 bottles of wine and champagne, along with upwards of 120,000 bottles of beer.
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The ship I just sailed on had 28 different bars on board, and they served over 200 unique cocktails, the most popular being Piña Coladas and strawberry daiquiris. Most cruise lines offer unlimited alcohol packages to their guests, which usually cost between $50 and $80 per day. I did the math, and depending on which line you travel with, you typically need to order at least five beverages each day to get your money’s worth.
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4. But if coffee is your preference, don’t fret. There are approximately 6,000 cups of regular coffee served daily. This number does not even include cappuccinos, espressos, iced coffees, and more.
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5. The culinary teams cater to a variety of dining options including seated dining, buffets, specialty restaurants, and room service, preparing between 8,000 and 10,000 meals each day. This means that during a typical seven-day cruise, up to 70,000 meals are served.
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6. The scale of equipment in the ship’s galleys (the cooking areas) is truly enormous. There’s a giant mixer used to prepare 440 pounds of pizza dough in one go. For a size comparison, I am 5’11” (the genuine height, not the one often claimed on Tinder).
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Over the course of a typical seven-day cruise, passengers go through approximately 1,500 pounds of flour. This is understandable considering the vast amount of pizzas and pastries produced.
7. I’ve had the experience of travelling on four distinct cruise lines, and one thing that often surprises those unfamiliar with cruising is that none of the onboard meals are prepared in advance. Each dining session requires the ship’s kitchens to prepare food for approximately 1,500 guests in one go. Once they finish with one meal service, the staff must promptly prepare for the subsequent one.
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The ship’s kitchens are meticulously organized into zones based on the type of dish, such as meats, fish, soups, salads, and desserts. The layout is designed in a U-shape, which helps servers efficiently collect and deliver specific dishes to guests.
8. Contrary to what some might think, all pastries and desserts on board are also freshly made. Below are descriptions of this process. For instance, there are various stages involved in preparing hundreds of cheesecake servings for a dinner service.
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Thousands and thousands of pastries and desserts are made each day — I personally had a donut and Danish every single morning with breakfast, and I have no regrets. This means the ship has to go through a lot of eggs and milk. To be exact, 3,900 dozens of eggs and 1,700 gallons of milk are stocked for each seven-day period.
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Cruises go through a lot of meat and fish too. About 30 tons of meat and 15 tons of seafood are loaded onto the ship every single week.
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11. But if you’re a vegetarian or a vegan then you shouldn’t worry. Exactly 28 tons of vegetables are brought on board each week. In fact, guests consume over 2,200 pounds of fresh salad alone in that same time period.
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12. Of the 6,000 passengers on board, about 4,300 are guests and 1,600 are crewmembers. The culinary team makes up 20% of the total crew and is comprised of chefs and stewards, i.e., those who clean all the food equipment and prepping stations. These people are responsible for making all the food that gets served from the 26 different galleys on board.
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Not to forget the approximately 400 crew members dedicated to dining services. These individuals are tasked with food preparation and service across various dining settings and buffets. On a cruise, the food service is operational around the clock, necessitating a workforce that includes overnight shifts to ensure all guests are content and well-fed.
The extensive amount of food prepared leads to considerable waste. Given the premium on space aboard a cruise ship, efficient waste management is crucial. Through the use of 15 biodigesters, the ship manages to significantly reduce food waste. These devices process soft food waste, functioning similarly to a stomach by breaking down the materials into a “slurry,” which despite being effective, emits an unpleasant odor.
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14.All of the food is then processed in a dehydrator to eliminate moisture, shrinking it to an eighth of its initial size. The final product resembles coffee grounds or soil.
Spencer Althouse
15.I was amazed to discover that all the water on board is sourced from seawater. The ship employs evaporators and a process known as “reverse osmosis” to purify the water, removing salt and other impurities. This treated water is then filtered to ensure it’s safe for use in everything from drinking to bathing.
Spencer Althouse
And, no, the water didn’t taste weird or anything like that. It just tasted like regular filtered water! Plastic water bottles were also available on board, but there were some self-serve fill-up stations for passengers like me who brought their own reusable bottles too.
I’m personally a huge fan of cruises and the food on board, but let me know your own thoughts in the comments!
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