Have you ever toured the cruiseship's kitchens before?

[librarygal]

On a previous cruise a few years ago, the cruiseline had tours of the kitchen facilities on the first or second day. Large groups of people were allowed to walk through the kitchen and see how they prepared the food. It was an eye opening experience. They had 100s of immigrant workers doing "prep cook" assignments, such as putting a single item on each plate. Or scrap off the food from each plate. It must be incredibly boring for them to perform these routine tasks 12 hours a day 7 days a week! The assembly line nature of preparing over a thousand meals a day took away any illusion of fine dining.

 

No cruiseline since has offered a tour of their kitchen facilities. I would like to do it again; it was so interesting.

[sparky-elpaso]

We went on a tour of part of the galley on our HAL cruise a couple of years ago - very interesting. I think it's something they offer on most cruises. I was able to buy a copy of the HAL cookbook and the executive chef was there to autograph it.

[paul929207]

On Princess, they have a cooking demo by the Executive Chef and Maitre 'd followed by a tour of the galley. It is usually on the last sea day, mid morning.

[Essiesmom]

Every ship/line I have sailed has offered tours of the galley. Once was enough for me. EM

[Keith1010]

All the ships we sail on have tours of the galleys.

 

The opportunity to work on a cruise ship is great and over the years we have seen many people who rise into higher levels of responsibility.

 

We all had to start some place.

 

Keith

[Suitcasefull]

Check at the front desk when you first board to see if it's offered. Might be part of the Behind the Scenes tour. NCL Pearl offered one of those on our trip and it was interesting to see several different areas of the ship. I think it was about $55 per person,

[DanJ]

We've done the tour on several ships. When we sailed the Carnival Pride, I did the Behind The Fun tour, which included a more extensive galley visit than the regular galley "walk-through" my wife did.

[Underwatr]

immigrant workers??

 

We've toured the galley on Queen Mary 2 and Queen Victoria. It helps you understand that it's really banquet dining, not individually prepared fine cuisine.

[GORDONCHICK]

BTW, it's a galley on a ship instead of "kitchen". We did the galley tour on our RCCL cruise in March, and we've been in the galley on X and Princess as well. I think also on HAL but I'm not sure about this.

 

They aren't immigrants, they are international crew members just like 98% of the crew members are. Many of the crew take jobs on cruise ships because they usually can make more money on a ship than they can in their home country, they learn &/or perfect food service skills and have the opportunities to move up within the cruiseline &/or industry. Some end up developing skills and knowledge and go back to their home country and start their own buisnesses. So it's not exactly as you perceive it to be - it's all in perspective.

 

And the assembly line nature of the work does have a purpose - each dish hsas to leave the galley looking exactly as the dish photo (and there should be a wall of photos of each dish) unless the cruiser modified their order. The attention to detail is one fo the things that make the dishes look beautiful - and these skill sets transfer into the ability to go to work in a very fine dining restaurant in many countries.

[lady_cruiser]

Carnival offers the tour through the Chef's Table. In fact your table is setup right in the middle of all the action. It is a great way to see exactly what is going on back in the gallery during the dining times.

[sail7seas]

All ships we have sailed over Galley tours.

 

We have toured main galleys as well as specialty restaurant galley.

Always interesting and each time we see and learn something new.

 

 

[grand isle joe]

..."immigrant workers"?????....It is an international labor force and since most ships are registered out of the Bahamas than I guess if all the workers are not Bahamian residents than I guess you could say that. But the employees are paid for their work and can leave at any time they wish. But they are probably supporting an entire family with their wages....;)

[loubetti]

Toured the galley on the Costa Riviera, on my first cruise. Amazing. Did the steam turbine engine room too, and the bridge. No charge either.

 

The best was when Wolfgang Dusing, chief engineer on Regal Empress gave me a full behind the scenes tour of the engineering spaces. This is not something for novices, as I was sometimes climbing up and down ladders with my large camera case! I saw the steering gear, anchor locker, engine room, and so, so much more.

 

Well, I hosted Wolfgang at my house one time when he was returning to the ship from Germany the next day. We picked him up at the airport and the next day drove him to the ship.

 

You really have not cruised until you become friends with the crew! The more stripes on their shoulders the better!!!

[knotheadusc]

On our last cruise, my husband and I got to tour the galley on the SeaDream I. They gave us champagne and caviar. :o

[emmtee]

On Princess, they have a cooking demo by the Executive Chef and Maitre 'd followed by a tour of the galley. It is usually on the last sea day, mid morning.

 

I did this last year. Both the demonstration and the galley tour were very interesting to me, and it was an opportunity to sell cookbooks for Princess. ;)

[donaldsc]

They had 100s of immigrant workers doing "prep cook" assignments, such as putting a single item on each plate. .

 

What is an "immigrant cook" - someone who comes from a country other than the one that you were born in? Why do you feel that you have to use such a degrading term?

 

BTW - some of the best chefs in the world are "immigrant" cooks as they also work in a country that is not their home country.

 

DON

[Putterdude]

DW has done the galley tour on Princess ships several times.

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

About 12 times ...

[daveysprocket001]

We had a tour of the galley onboard Carnival Valor in May. You can see the video I took here

 

I found it very interesting. An officer explained how the ship operates its food and hotel sections prior to the tour.

[Travelcat2]

The galley tours are quite amazing. Once you see how immaculate the galleys are kept, you'll eat even more food:eek:

[Aquahound]

They had 100s of immigrant workers doing "prep cook" assignments, such as putting a single item on each plate. Or scrap off the food from each plate. It must be incredibly boring for them to perform these routine tasks 12 hours a day 7 days a week! The assembly line nature of preparing over a thousand meals a day took away any illusion of fine dining.

 

I have been on many galley tours, including on the World's largest cruise ship. I have yet to see "100s" of workers working in any sort of assembly line. The most I have ever seen was maybe a dozen or so doing their individual jobs, such as in this picture. This is on the Oasis of the Seas, which feeds over 6000 guests.

 

[enyliram]

took the tour on the navigator and liberty of the seas. both kitchens similar. one commonality was that each final prepared dish has a reference picture posted representing exactly what the dish should look like. be prepared not to wear open toed shoes while doing this tour. floors are slippery

[cruzeluver]

We have done a few galley tours as well and find them very interesting. Have yet to see hundreds working on an assembly line though. I won't address the "immigrant worker" comment as my fellow posters have done so quite well.