In a 17d transatlantic cruise from Rome, does NCL get everything from Rome or re-stock in the middle?

[Middleager]

We'll be on a 17-day Getaway cruise 2022.12.5 from Rome to Miami.  The first 8 days are port days (Livorno, Cannes, Barcelona, Valencia, Malaga-Granada, Cadiz-Seville, Lisbon), one sea day, then Ponta Delgada, then 7 sea days, then Miami.  Does NCL re-stock (food, shop items, etc.) at some of these ports, or does it stock everything once from Rome?  It's hard to keep produce or even meat fresh for such a long time, so just wondering.

 

Oh, anyone on this cruise, can come join us on the roll call.

 

[BirdTravels]

Meats, poultry, and seafoods are all frozen. 

 

 

Price this at your local store

 

[Middleager]

Some things can freeze, others don't freeze so well.   Just wondering if NCL re-stocks during longer cruises.

[hawkeyetlse]

As much as possible they try to get everything at the embarkation port, but depending on the itinerary they can arrange supplies at just about any port. In your case, because things are probably more expensive in the Azores (and that port is at a relatively high risk of getting skipped), I suspect they will be arranging some fresh produce in the last mainland ports like Lisbon, which should be no problem at all.

 

As mentioned already, anything that can be frozen is, and they can easily load enough of that in Rome.

 

Shop items, if you mean gift shop and jewelry shop stuff, are much less of an issue. Volume-wise, it's nothing like the food and beverages, and also unlike the food, it's not a huge problem if they just run out of something. Whoever's running each shop probably sends everything for the season in one shipment and that's it.

[sparkygirlfamily]

I have also seen boxes of food being transported between ships via tender boats when more than one ship is in port.  

[FreestyleNovice]

9 hours ago, Middleager said:

Some things can freeze, others don't freeze so well.   Just wondering if NCL re-stocks during longer cruises.

 

Some fruits like banana's are brought on board not ripe, or at least a part to have fresh banana's all the way. 

[hawkeyetlse]

I would love to know how they keep their herbs and salads fresh for so long. The stuff I buy starts going black and slimy within two days at home. Maybe there's a gigantic hydroponic farm on deck 3?

[shof515]

31 minutes ago, hawkeyetlse said:

I would love to know how they keep their herbs and salads fresh for so long. The stuff I buy starts going black and slimy within two days at home. Maybe there's a gigantic hydroponic farm on deck 3?

onboard the ship they have special freezers and refrigerators where they can control all of the right things to make food stay fresh longer like temperature, humidity, air moisture, etc. 

[Middleager]

3 hours ago, hawkeyetlse said:

I would love to know how they keep their herbs and salads fresh for so long. The stuff I buy starts going black and slimy within two days at home. Maybe there's a gigantic hydroponic farm on deck 3?

Me too.  Even on 7d cruises, we often see bananas with black skin and salads not so fresh. 

 

In addition to gigantic hydroponic farms onboard, they must have fishing crews catching fresh fish and lobsters every day.😝

[chengkp75]

As noted, much of the produce comes on in a less than fully ripe condition.  When storing, or during the first days of the cruise, the provision master will inspect every case and grade it as to "when to use", and re-arrange the stores to put the ripest at the front, etc.  Also, the produce boxes will have ozone generators that "disinfect" the coolers by killing the bacteria that causes the food to spoil.  They also have CO2 sensors, and also ethylene sensors.  Ethylene speeds up ripening, and CO2 can retard ripening.  Ethylene is given off when produce is ripening.  The provision staff also go through the boxes daily, removing anything that has started to go bad, to keep it from contaminating other produce, which really keeps things fresh.

 

Yes, they would store in Rome, and then not again until the end of the TA.

[chengkp75]

On 11/25/2021 at 1:36 AM, Middleager said:

Some things can freeze, others don't freeze so well.   Just wondering if NCL re-stocks during longer cruises.

All proteins must be frozen, even those intended to be served raw, like sushi.  The exception is shellfish, which can come onboard fresh, but must be strictly controlled as to condition and location where sourced.

Edited November 27, 2021 by chengkp75

[GeezerCouple]

24 minutes ago, chengkp75 said:

All proteins must be frozen, even those intended to be served raw, like sushi.  The exception is shellfish, which can come onboard fresh, but must be strictly controlled as to condition and location where sourced.

 

Interesting.

What is different about shellfish that it doesn't need to be (can't be?) be loaded frozen.

 

We took a behinds the scene tour some time ago, and it was fascinating, especially the kitchen and the supplies.

Also amazing... the Bridge.  I'm not sure those tours are allowed anymore, but that was the highlight of our tour.  I can't imagine trying to control a ship of this size (or even larger, some of those container ships).

 

GC

[kochleffel]

3 hours ago, chengkp75 said:

the provision master will inspect every case and grade it as to "when to use"

 

On a recent cruise on the Breakaway, I noticed that Caesar salads, which are almost always on the menu, were all made with spinach during the first few days, and later all with romaine; generally romaine keeps better than spinach. The menus stated when it would be spinach, which could have otherwise been a surprise.

[chengkp75]

9 hours ago, GeezerCouple said:

 

Interesting.

What is different about shellfish that it doesn't need to be (can't be?) be loaded frozen.

 

We took a behinds the scene tour some time ago, and it was fascinating, especially the kitchen and the supplies.

Also amazing... the Bridge.  I'm not sure those tours are allowed anymore, but that was the highlight of our tour.  I can't imagine trying to control a ship of this size (or even larger, some of those container ships).

 

GC

Most shellfish needs to be cooked live, like steamed clams and mussels.  If you're not serving in the shell, then they could get frozen stuff, but just like the lobster tails, the quality isn't there anymore.

[id10t]

Hello Middleager,

            My wife and I went on a 14-day transatlantic cruise on the NCL Star back in 2018.  Midway through the cruise, they started running out of supplies.  One of the most memorable was the bloody mary mix and some food items.  At all of our stops, I did not notice any resupplies.  When I asked, they said they would get resupplied in the states. 

[Middleager]

39 minutes ago, id10t said:

Hello Middleager,

            My wife and I went on a 14-day transatlantic cruise on the NCL Star back in 2018.  Midway through the cruise, they started running out of supplies.  One of the most memorable was the bloody mary mix and some food items.  At all of our stops, I did not notice any resupplies.  When I asked, they said they would get resupplied in the states. 

That's awful they did not restock the cocktail/alcohol supplies.

 

We'll have a 17day cruise, with 8 sea days in the last 9 days.  We'll demand they fly in some important (alcohol) supplies. 😝   Ok just kidding.  I only need Cabernet Sauvignon for dinner, not much else.

[kochleffel]

2 hours ago, id10t said:

When I asked, they said they would get resupplied in the states. 

 

This must have been a westbound transatlantic itinerary. During a galley tour on RCI a few years ago, having embarked from Stockholm, I asked whether food was sourced from Europe. The answer was that fresh produce and dairy products were all obtained in Europe (not necessarily from the country of embarkation; the butter was from the Netherlands), but all meat, fish, and staple ingredients were obtained from the United States.