How The World's Largest Cruise Ship Makes 30,000 Meals Every Day

Summary

The world's largest cruise ship, accommodating over 6,600 vacationers weekly, operates 24/7 kitchens manned by a 1,000-strong culinary team. They prepare over 30,000 meals daily, sourced from a $1 million weekly shopping budget. The ship's 'secret highway', I-95, facilitates the movement of over 600,000 pounds of food and drinks for a week's sailing. The diverse menus cater to international passengers, with 36 kitchens, including 12 specialty restaurants, ensuring a seamless dining experience despite the ship's constant motion.

Takeaways

• 🚢 Over 6,600 people vacation on the world's largest cruise ship weekly, requiring a massive food supply.
• 🍽 The ship's culinary team serves over 30,000 meals daily from compact kitchens on a moving vessel.
• 💼 Allan Gentile, a key team member, manages the complex task of feeding thousands with a 24/7 operation.
• 🛒 Jaret de Silva, in charge of food ordering, has a $1 million weekly budget for seven days of food supply.
• 📈 Orders are adjusted based on passenger demographics, such as the number of children on board.
• 🚚 On turnaround day, 30 trucks with 500 pallets of inventory must be loaded onto the ship by 4 p.m.
• 🍲 Over 600,000 pounds of food and drinks are provisioned for a single week of sailing.
• 🍏 The ship has 20 different storerooms, including freezers, fridges, walk-in fridges, and dry stores for organized storage.
• 👨‍🍳 German Eladio Rijo oversees the kitchen operations with a team of 280 chefs working 10- to 12-hour days.
• 🌐 The food is diverse, with nearly 100 different menus developed to cater to the international passengers' tastes.
• 🍽️ The main dining room, part of the 36 galleys on the ship, serves up to 6,000 people each night with a variety of dishes.

Q & A

How many people typically vacation on the world's largest cruise ship each week?

Over 6,600 people vacation on the world's largest cruise ship each week.

How many meals are prepared daily by the culinary team on the cruise ship?

The culinary team prepares over 30,000 meals every single day.

What is the size of the shopping budget for food for the ship's 23 different restaurants each week?

Jaret, who orders food for the ship, has a $1 million shopping budget each week for seven days of food.

How does the food inventory get loaded onto the ship?

On turnaround day, 30 trucks arrive at Miami Port carrying 500 pallets worth of inventory, which must be loaded onto the ship by 4 p.m.

What is the total weight of food and drinks provisioned for one week of sailing?

Over 600,000 pounds of food and drinks are provisioned for just one week of sailing.

How are the different types of food stored on the ship?

Seafood, meat, vegetables, and fruit are stored in separate fridges, while dry goods are stored on deck one, and there are six freezers for items like ice cream.

What is the role of German Eladio Rijo on the ship?

German Eladio Rijo is responsible for all the food on board the ship, including dishes like potato fries, rice, pâté, pastry, salad, shrimp, and more.

How many hours do chefs typically work each day, and what is the typical contract length?

Each chef works 10- to 12-hour days, and contracts typically last four months without a single day off.

How many different menus do the chefs cook up each week?

Chefs on board cook up nearly 100 different menus every week.

How many pounds of lobster tails does the ship go through each week?

The ship goes through about 2,100 pounds of lobster tails every week.

What is the total number of people involved in the food service operation on the ship?

It takes a team of 1,085 people, including chefs, inventory crew, waiters, and dishwashers, to keep the food service operation going.

Outlines

00:00

🚢 High-Volume Culinary Operations on the World's Largest Cruise Ship

This paragraph delves into the logistical challenges and operations of feeding over 6,600 passengers on the world's largest cruise ship. The ship's culinary team, consisting of more than 1,000 individuals, works around the clock to prepare over 30,000 meals daily. The narrator introduces Jaret de Silva, who is responsible for ordering food for the ship's 23 restaurants with a weekly budget of $1 million. The food inventory is meticulously managed, with adjustments made based on passenger demographics. On turnaround day, 30 trucks deliver 500 pallets of food, which must be loaded onto the ship by 4 p.m. to avoid delays. The ship's 'secret highway,' I-95, facilitates the movement of over 600,000 pounds of food and drinks, which are stored in various compartments including 20 different storerooms, six freezers, and dry stores. The paragraph also touches on the quality control measures and the process of utilizing produce before it spoils.

05:00

🍽 Behind the Scenes of a Cruise Ship's Galley and Dining Experience

The second paragraph focuses on the preparation and service of food in the ship's main galley, which is divided into categories such as desserts, bread, cold food, and hot food. It highlights the popularity of lobster as a dish, with the ship consuming about 2,100 pounds of lobster tails weekly. The narrative follows the food from the prep kitchens to the main galley, detailing the roles of various crew members, including chefs, inventory crew, waiters, and dishwashers. The paragraph emphasizes the importance of Rijo's role in approving and critiquing dishes before they are served. It also describes the use of a system that tracks dish orders and inventory usage. The hustle before the dinner rush in the main dining room, which serves 6,000 passengers, is depicted, along with the challenges of working on a moving ship. The paragraph concludes by noting that despite the complex operations, the goal is for passengers to enjoy their meals without being aware of the extensive efforts behind the scenes.

Keywords

💡Cruise Ship

A cruise ship is a large passenger ship used for pleasure voyages, where it operates along a regular, scheduled route, taking passengers and usually cruising around a certain area for a vacation experience. In the context of the video, it is the setting where over 6,600 people vacation every week, requiring a massive operation to feed them, highlighting the scale and complexity involved in managing food services on such a large scale.

💡Turnaround Day

Turnaround day refers to the day when a cruise ship is in port and the crew prepares for the next set of passengers. This involves cleaning, restocking, and preparing the ship for a new voyage. The video script mentions that on turnaround day, 30 trucks arrive at Miami Port with 500 pallets of inventory, emphasizing the logistical challenge of restocking the ship within a tight timeframe.

💡Culinary Team

The culinary team is the group of professionals responsible for the preparation and service of food on a cruise ship. They include chefs, cooks, bakers, and other kitchen staff. The video script highlights that the ship's kitchens are manned by a culinary team of more than 1,000 people, who dish out over 30,000 meals every day, showcasing the extensive workforce required to cater to the guests' dining needs.

💡Inventory

Inventory in this context refers to the stock of food and other supplies that are kept on the ship to support its operations. The video mentions that over 600,000 pounds of food and drinks are provisioned for just one week of sailing, illustrating the vast amount of resources needed to sustain the ship's dining services.

💡Storerooms

Storerooms on a cruise ship are specialized storage areas for different types of food and supplies. The script describes about 20 different storerooms, including freezers, fridges, walk-in fridges, and dry stores, which are used to separate and store seafood, meat, vegetables, fruit, and dry goods like spices and chocolate, highlighting the organized system required to manage such a large volume of diverse food items.

💡Quality Control

Quality control is the process of ensuring that the food and other products meet a certain standard of quality before they are used or served. In the video, Jaret's team checks all of the food for quality control every day, and if produce is ripening faster than expected, they adjust the menu to incorporate it, demonstrating the importance of maintaining high standards in food preparation and service.

💡Galley

A galley is the kitchen area on a ship, often used to prepare meals for the crew and passengers. The video mentions 36 kitchens or galleys on the ship, including specialty restaurants and the main dining room, indicating the extensive kitchen facilities required to cater to the diverse dining options and large number of guests on the cruise ship.

💡Menu Rotation

Menu rotation refers to the practice of changing the menu items regularly to keep the dining experience fresh and to manage inventory effectively. The video states that chefs stick to the same rotation of menus every week, cooking up a variety of dishes from racks of lamb to hand-rolled sushi, showing how the culinary team maintains variety while managing the large-scale food production.

💡Main Galley

The main galley is the central kitchen area on a cruise ship, typically where the bulk of the food preparation for the main dining areas takes place. The video describes the ship's biggest kitchen as being broken down by categories such as desserts, bread, cold food, and hot food, highlighting the organized and specialized nature of food production in a large-scale kitchen operation.

💡Dinner Rush

The dinner rush is the period of high demand for food service, usually during peak dining hours. The script mentions the hustle just before the dinner rush in the main dining room, which serves up to 6,000 people a night, illustrating the logistical and operational challenges of preparing and serving meals to a large number of guests simultaneously.

💡Operational Logistics

Operational logistics refers to the planning, implementation, and control of the efficient and effective flow and storage of goods, services, and people. The video script discusses the various logistical challenges, such as managing the food orders, storage, and preparation in a moving ship, emphasizing the complex coordination required to ensure smooth operations on a cruise ship.

Highlights

Over 6,600 people vacation aboard the world's largest cruise ship weekly, requiring extensive meal planning.

The ship’s kitchens run 24/7, with a culinary team of over 1,000 people serving more than 30,000 meals each day.

Turnaround day involves loading 600,000 pounds of food and drinks, which are delivered by 30 trucks and moved along the ship’s secret highway, I-95.

Jaret de Silva, responsible for provisioning the ship’s 23 restaurants, manages a $1 million food budget weekly.

The food is stored in various specialized areas, including six freezers, multiple fridges, and dry storage rooms across different decks.

Chefs work in shifts that cover 24-hour production cycles, each typically working 10- to 12-hour days for four months without a day off.

The ship’s 280 chefs prepare nearly 100 different menus weekly, catering to a diverse international clientele.

The largest dining room spans three decks and serves up to 6,000 passengers each evening.

Popular dishes include lobster tails, with 2,100 pounds consumed every week.

Prep kitchens handle specialized tasks, such as meat cuts, vegetable preparation, and fish thawing.

The bakery produces 40 different types of bread from scratch, while the dessert kitchen makes 100 types of pastries.

Food orders from the restaurants are prepared and tracked digitally to ensure inventory and order management.

The team of over 1,085 people, including chefs, waiters, and inventory crew, prepares nearly 11 million meals annually.

Even with the ship's movement, chefs must ensure smooth operations, as passengers are unaware of the behind-the-scenes challenges.

Safety protocols are essential, as the rocking ship can cause kitchen equipment to move unexpectedly if not secured properly.

Transcripts

Narrator: Every week, over 6,600 people vacation

aboard the world's largest cruise ship.

And all those people need to eat

three, four, eight times a day.

Allan Gentile: You have to calculate. There is breakfast,

lunch, and dinner, plus snacks, plus night,

plus all 24-hour food all around.

And that never stop.

Narrator: Ship kitchens run 24/7,

manned by a culinary team of more that 1,000 people.

They dish out over 30,000 meals every single day.

And they do it all from compact kitchens

on a rocking ship.

So how does all this food make it to the plate?

We'll start on the loading dock on a Saturday.

This is turnaround day, when all new food

is delivered to deck two.

Jaret de Silva: This is basically a place

that you would not like to be on

on turnaround day when we are loading.

It's busy, busy, super busy.

Narrator: That's Jaret. He orders food

for the ship's 23 different restaurants.

Every week, Jaret's got a $1 million shopping budget.

All of that is just for seven days of food.

Sometimes, Jaret will tweak his orders

based on who's coming aboard.

More kids means more chicken fingers.

De Silva: That's how the operation runs.

We monitor it on a daily basis,

what has been used, what has not been used.

And then we adjust our orders accordingly.

But by in large, being in Miami,

having the same number of people,

it's almost the same every cruise.

Narrator: On turnaround day, 30 trucks

arrive at Miami Port.

They're carrying 500 pallets worth of inventory,

and all that has to be loaded onto the ship by 4 p.m.

De Silva: Any delay in our operation can hamper

the sail away of the ship, which is, again,

a big logistic requirement.

Narrator: Over 600,000 pounds of food and drinks

are provisioned for just one week of sailing.

Once on board, everything is moved along

the ship's secret highway.

This is I-95, and it runs the entire

length of the ship on deck two.

De Silva: We separate all the stores

to the different locations

that they are supposed to go.

We have about 20 different storerooms,

divided into freezers, fridges,

walk-in fridges, and dry stores.

Narrator: Seafood, meat, vegetables, and fruit

are all divided and stored in separate fridges.

De Silva: If you come towards the end of the cruise,

this box will be almost empty

with a few fruits that are needed for two more days,

which we keep as backup stock.

Narrator: There are also six freezers.

That's where the 700 pounds of ice cream

that'll be eaten each week are stored.

Dry goods are stored down on deck one.

De Silva: Full of spices,

full of chocolate in this storeroom,

coffee. It's nice to be in this storeroom.

Narrator: An elevator gets the food downstairs.

Jaret's team checks all of the food

for quality control every day.

If produce is ripening faster than expected,

they try to work it into another meal.

For example, overripe broccoli could go into

broccoli cheddar soup instead of being tossed.

Once inventory is stored, restaurants on upper decks

put in food orders with Jaret.

Chefs will come downstairs, pick up their order,

and cart it away to be cooked.

That's where this guy comes in.

German Eladio Rijo Rijo: Any food on board this

beautiful ship, anything you're eating,

is my responsibility.

Whenever you have beautiful potato fry, it's mine.

Rice is mine, pâté is mine, pastry is mine.

Salad, shrimp, whatever you're eating is my responsibility.

Narrator: Rijo's team of 280 chefs run the kitchens 24/7.

Each chef works 10- to 12-hour days.

Contracts typically last four months,

without a single day off.

Rijo: Some of the people start to work

at 8 p.m. in the morning

all the way to 2 p.m., take a break,

come back again 5 p.m., feeding by 9:30 p.m..

Then other group starts to work at 10 p.m. in the night,

all the way to 10 a.m. in the morning.

So we cover day and night productions.

Narrator: Chefs on board cook up

nearly 100 different menus every week.

All the menus are developed

at Royal Caribbean's Miami headquarters.

And every week, chefs stick to the same rotation of menus,

cooking up everything from racks of lamb

to hand-rolled sushi.

The food has to be diverse to match

Symphony of the Seas' international passengers

vacationing at all kinds of price points.

Rijo: We try to please everybody

and to make sure that everybody

find what you're looking for.

Narrator: All the cooking happens in 36 kitchens,

or galleys, as they're called on a ship.

There are 12 specialty restaurants on board,

costing up to $50 a person,

and each of those restaurants has its own small galley.

In those tight quarters, chefs crank out

the same menu every day.

At Jamie's Italian, it's fresh pasta.

At Hooked, it's over 2,000 oysters shucked per cruise.

But the largest amount of food is reserved

for the main dining room, which spans three decks

and serves up to 6,000 people a night.

Eating here is included in your ticket.

Before food heads up to the main galleys,

it starts in one of the prep kitchens, off I-95.

There's a butcher shop.

De Silva: Butcher! Good morning!

These are the gentlemen looking after

all the meat cuts.

Narrator: The butcher goes through

about 15,000 pounds of beef

and 9,700 pounds of chicken each week.

There's also a veggie-cutting room

and a fish-thawing box.

Lobster is the most popular dish in main dining.

The ship goes through about 2,100 pounds

of lobster tails every week.

Finally, the food heads upstairs to the main galley.

The ship's biggest kitchen is broken down by categories.

Desserts, bread, cold food, and hot food.

In dessert, chefs whip up cakes, chocolates,

and 100 different types of pastries.

Over in the bread bakery, they make

40 different kinds of bread from all over the world,

all from scratch.

But the real hustle comes just before the dinner rush.

6,000 hungry passengers in the main dining room.

Remember Rijo?

Before dinner prep starts,

he has to approve all the dishes.

Narrator: Rijo tries each dish

and gives his critiques.

Narrator: Chefs take his notes and get cooking.

Chefs can see a tally of each dish ordered up on screens.

The system also keeps track of how much inventory is used.

In the cold room, salads and appetizers

like carpaccio come together.

In the hot room, chefs dish out soups,

sauces, sides, and mains.

Narrator: Finally, waiters deliver those dishes

to hungry passengers out in main dining.

Between the chefs, inventory crew,

waiters, and dishwashers, it takes a team of 1,085 people

to keep this massive operation going.

Together, they cook nearly 11 million meals each year.

And they're doing it all on a moving ship.

Gentile: The ship is rocking, then all the equipment

is built to the ship rocking.

And in whatever moment, maybe the ship moves,

somebody don't put one break in one trolley,

and you see that trolley flying away.

It happen.

That's why all the cooks always pay attention with that.

Narrator: But if crew members are doing their job right,

passengers won't even know any of it's happening.

They'll just get back to eating

their eighth meal of the day.