Mar 2 - At Sea (Tour of Galley Store Rooms)

DONNA KAY PHILLIPS : Again, the laughter from those who know me is deafening. Okay, call me a "systems nerd" but today's tour of the Galley Store Rooms with F&B Manager, Mr. Francis Mekkatukulam, was right up my alley. I am certain that I asked more questions than expected and Francis answered me with enlightening detail.

The storage areas are located below Deck 0 (aka I-95), the main corrider bow to stern that contains the Infirmary, Crew Training Center, Crew Dining Rooms and the Crew Bar. This is also the deck where passengers usually debark the vessel in port.

Galley storage is positioned mid-ship, just under the main Galley on Deck 3. This facilitates more efficient requistion and fulfillment of all food and bevarage items required each day by the "Customers".

The term "Customer" refers to each dining area on the ship. The Deli, Indian Food, Pizza Kitchen to both Dining Rooms are considered "Customers." Each Customer's manager places daily requisitions with the Store Room manager for their chef's requirements, this way inventory is controlled in an organized fashion.

Storage is separated into refrigeration rooms each set at specific temperatures for the item they house. Red Meat, Chicken, Fish, Cooked Meet, etc are all housed in separate units. The same with Fruit, Vegetables, Dairy, Breads and Condiments. Even the liquor is housed behind a Class 14 locking facility that is more condusive for fire containment.

I was curious as to how stock levels were maintained during this unusually long journey. I learned that all meats and dairy are shipped from Miami in time to restock at the end of each leg in Buenos Aires and again at Valparaiso. All fruits, vegetables and bottled water are purchased at specific ports along our route. Fruits and vegetables because of the freshness factor and water because of the lack of capacity to carry enough bottled water for a full 49 day trip.

However, technically, drinkable water is not an issue since the ship produces it's own potable and distilled water on board (read 2/22 Engineering Tour).

The issue of waste is even more impressive. All plastics, metals glass, cardboard and even broken flatwear are sorted into containment areas for offloading and recycling in port. To save space, the different colored glass is separated and crushed to small bits and the cans are crushed.

Certain food items such as bones and onion skins, etc are ground up and incinerated. There is a small staff of engineers that monitor all of the recycling and waste systems on the ship on a constant proactive basis.

We then toured the "Marching Area", the large area mid-ship that is used for onloading and offloading supplies and guest luggage. I learned that it takes the crew about 3 hours to get all guest luggage to and from their rooms at the beginning and end of each cruise, another efficient system at work

Finally we toured the Dining Rooms for Crew, Staff, Officers, Petty Officers and the Captain. All were a much more impressive sight then the sparce boring spaces of my past experience on older vessels. Things have vastly improved for crew with the addition of a Crew Training Center where computers, language DVDs, books and maps are available and mandatory crew training is held.

The crew bar is swanky and features video screens with an awesome sound track. The crew Internet Cafe is actually nicer, in my opinion, then the passenger Internet Cafe behind the Cigar Bar. I was pleasantly surprised by all of the improvements for the men and (finally) women who work the long arduous hours to keep Carnival Cruise Lines one of the top rated cruise companies in the World.

Thanks to Francis and all of the crew, staff and officers of the Carnival Splendor, who have taken the time to show us just about every working aspect of this magnificent vessel. I am honored to have been able to spend this much time with, what is essentially the A-Team, on this once in a lifetime journey around The Horn.

Being able to spend time with the staff and see things a bit more from their perspective has enriched our experience many times over. We are able to enjoy our time living on this ship for this long period because of their hard work and attention to detail.

Also, a big thanks to Hotel Manager, Duncan Puttock for looking after this crew so well during this especially long voyage and allowing us to hang with this unique bunch (hailing from 40+ nations) during the crew parties. It's made the nightimes so much more bearable and fun. -dkp