Tour of the Ship
Trip Start
Apr 08, 2011
1
10
16
Trip End
Apr 23, 2011
Where I stayed
Cruise ship, Celebrity Constellation
At Sea, International
Sunday, April 17, 2011
A friendly deck officer explained some of the gadgets and gizmos on one of the instrument panels, told us how they steer the ship, explained the importance of the rudders and stabilizers, and described a bunch of other stuff. It was all Greek to me. I really should have been more interested, but honestly I just wanted to know that the folks up there on that bridge knew what they’re doing, that they were wide awake when doing it, and that they’d get me safely where I needed to be. Guess who walked up beside us ... yep, Captain Peppas. He walked right over to Michael, shook his hand, then reached for mine. What was this all about? I mean, those two were acting like old sailing buddies. I swear, it was freaky ... and Michael wasn’t giving up any information about how or why the captain was being so nice.
Anyway, after the bridge tour we went down to the dining room for the galley tour. That was what I was really interested in. I mean, how do they prepare all of that food for all of those people and do it on time and keep it looking so pretty and tasting so delicious? I had to find out. It was a very interesting operation: one area for soup preparation, one section for bread baking, one spot for meat chopping, another area for pastry prep, and on and on. It was very clean and very organized. The chef who was our guide explained that all the chefs are identified by the kerchiefs they wear around their necks. The order goes like this: yellow is the prep person, then red and green are the cooks, blue is the supervisor, and then black means master chef. Pretty cool. Here are a few other interesting shipboard food facts.
In an average week, the Constellation goes through:
24,236 pounds of beef
15,150 pounds of potatoes
25,736 pounds of fresh vegetables
20,003 pounds of fresh fruit
2,100 pounds of lobster
9,235 dozen eggs
5,750 pounds of sugar
3,800 pounds of rice
2,458 pounds of coffee
3,400 bottles of assorted wines
10,100 bottles/cans of beer
2,450 tea bags
1,936 pounds of cookies
Okay, my stomach aches just thinking about all of that food. Michael and I are convinced that the chefs have some very creative ways of repurposing the food to help ensure there is little to no waste. What do I mean by that? For example, yesterday’s chicken becomes today’s chicken soup. Yesterday’s French bread winds up in the French onion soup. Yesterdays honeydew melon is wrapped with prosciutto to become an appetizer. You get the idea. I don’t have a problem with it, as long as it’s only YESTERDAY’S food and not the stuff from three days ago!
After the galley tour, we decided to hang out at poolside. All of that food viewing made us a bit hungry, so we piled our plates with chicken wings, barbecued ribs and fries. Not exactly a ligth lunch, but it sure was tasty. A short stint in the Jacuzzi; flip over a few times to even out the tan; then up to refresh, dress for the Captain’s Club celebration.
When we cruised to the Mexican Riviera on the Celebrity Mercury in 2003, we signed up for the Captain’s Club without even knowing what the benefits were. Well, one of the perks, as we’ve discovered on this voyage, is a private reception with the Captain and the other Captain’s Club members. It was held in Reflections, one of the clubs. The Captain and crew came out to welcome us. There was delicious sushi, pastries, and other goodies, as well as wine, champagne, and martinis. We invited our new friend Miriam to sit with us and were joined by another couple we had met the other day at brunch.
Afterwards, Michael relaxed in the room while I went up to the Celebrity Theatre to enjoy a delightful one-woman show by a Mette Bitler-esque performer. She was pretty good--a little signing, some jokes, a bit of storytelling. It was a nice pre-dinner show. I went down to the room to meet my dinner date (Michael, of course), then we were off to enjoy a nice meal before ending the day.
