Caribbean Cruise - Day 5 - At Sea

Today was our last day of our cruise and it was a day at sea.  David and I took a tour of the "galley," better known as the "kitchen" on the ship.  It was a very interesting tour filled with unbelievable facts.  Like we passengers went through over 10,000 gallons of ice cream - on a five day cruise! 

This is the espresso, cappuccino, latte machine.  Notice the freshly ground coffee beans!  This was the only "real" coffee we go on the ship.  The buffet lines only had the instant stuff.

Those large cauldrons make enough soup for 1 day.  That's a lot of soup.

Plates being prepped for dinner.  Another interesting tidbit we learned is that each waiter carries roughly 30 pounds worth of food on his right arm as he carries the food from the kitchen to the table.  And each waiter makes an average of 10 trips back to the kitchen per dining time. 

Apparently the entrees are pre-cooked because this was the nightly special.

Just look at how big these pots and pans are!

Here are a few members of the kitchen crew.  Peace out!  Here's some more food for thought.  After a waiter is hired, he has 6 months of training before even gets the opportunity to serve anyone.  Then he spends another 6 months serving other crew members.  Assuming he passes all the written tests, then he gets to fill the guests water glasses for another 6 months of training.  Otherwise, he gets deported home.

Can you imagine being on dish duty with these pots and pans?  Our maitre'd started out in the kitchens 15 years ago.  His first job was scrubbing pots and pans.  He did that for 2 years before being promoted to dishes.

This kitchen is massive.  There's a second kitchen for the buffet lines.

It's amazing what they can do with a piece of fruit.

How pretty and sweet.  It's not edible though.  I checked.

I'd love to have something like this in my pantry to help me organize all of Grace's little juice boxes and raisins and other small snack boxes.

Appetizers, salads, entrees from tonight's menu.

And desserts!  Although ours didn't look this pretty. 

After we completed the tour, we went to the art auction and actually bought a piece of art!  It's a limited edition serigraph signed by Douglas Hofmann.  The appraisal value was $850 and we got if for $50.  I am so excited about it!  It's beautiful.  I can't wait for it to get here!