SOMEWHERE IN THE CARIBBEAN — Question: How do you feed 3,000 people on board an 855-foot cruise ship?
Answer: Very well, thank you.
Never before have I seen such a wide range of food and so much of it as on my recent four-day Carnival cruise of the Caribbean.
If it was edible, you could find it aboard the Funship Fascination.
From such Americanized offerings as grilled hamburgers and pizza to exotic international entrees, exquisitely-carved vegetables and fruits, not to mention the desserts to die for, there was something for everyone.
Guests were assigned a table in one of two formal dining rooms for the length of the cruise or could opt at any time for a more casual atmosphere in the Coconut Grove Bar & Grill, Seaview Bistro or 24-hour pizzeria.
Complimentary stateroom service was also available for those who chose to dine privately.
The best part about the food on the ship was that it was covered in the cost of the cruise, with the exception of soft drinks, for which you could purchase a beverage card for unlimited sodas, and alcoholic beverages. Tea, lemonade, punch, coffees, hot chocolate and various fruit juices were free.
Thirty-three nationalities were represented among the 450 food and beverage crew members on the ship. Headed up by Chef Ashlie Dias of India, the employees are required to speak at least two languages, including English.
About 60 percent of the food and beverage employees have college degrees, according to Maitre d’ Fuat Guuen of the Imagination dining room, where my group from Unity Church of Winston-Salem was assigned tables. Among the professions represented on the staff are a dentist and pilot.
Guuen, who is from Turkey, has worked for Carnival for 21 years.
Employees work up to 16 hours a day, seven days a week anywhere from six to 10 months a year depending on their seniority.
For 25-year-old Beatrice Rinaldi of Estonia, the Carnival cruise line has offered opportunity for advancement. Since starting a year ago as assistant waitress, she has been promoted to a waitress position and most recently, hostess of the Imagination dining room.
Though she misses her family, Beatrice said the staff is like a family in itself.
Waiters and waitresses in the dining room, who get their salaries from tips, are assigned to the same tables on each cruise, and by the end of the trip, they seemed like old friends. Ralph Ellis of Jamaica and Maciha (pronounced Magic) Azuliat of Poland were our waiters, and not only did they provide excellent service, they entertained us nightly with singing and dancing.
“I’m a people person,” Ralph said, as if we hadn’t figured that out. “I love people.”
He has met all kinds of people on the cruise ship, he said, and our group was in the middle. “We’ll give you a 10 ... out of 100,” he said. “No, no, no,” he added quickly before roaring in laughter.
Guests always ask the same question, Guuen said one night while speaking at the formal dinner: “How many eggs do you use a week?”
“Every week, we use 48,000 eggs,” he said. “The funny thing is, we have only one chicken on board.”
While guiding a galley tour on the fourth day of the cruise, Guuen said guests oftentimes ask for recipes. This is difficult for the chefs, he said, because the popular West Indian pumpkin soup, for example, may begin with 600 gallons of water.
A scaled-down version of the recipe (it serves 100) is available in “The Buffets of Carnival: Entertaining Secrets from Carnival Chefs,” which can be purchased on board for $12. Also included in the book are directions for the intricate food carvings and ice sculptures which were on display the second night of the tour.
Hundreds of guests lined up to view the lavish array of food displayed in the Sensation dining room. Chefs worked for hours on the artistic display, which included a massive dragon ice sculpture, a flock of yellow squash birds, a mermaid with a tail adorned with sliced cucumbers and a fish head at the end and all kinds of other animal and flower designs carved out of fruits and vegetables.
The display included breads, cheeses and every kind of dessert imaginable. Guests were invited to return at 12:30 a.m. to partake of the culinary delights. Midnight buffets were offered each night of the cruise, with breakfast in the formal dining room beginning again at 6:45.
Food-carving demonstrations were a part of the popular galley tour, during which guests got a behind-the-scenes look at the detailed preparation that goes into serving the 2,000 guests and 920 staff members.
It takes a total of 10,000 meals to feed all the people on board, according to Guuen.
An ice-carving demonstration earlier that day drew a crowd of guests to the outdoor deck, where a sculptor created a swan out of a large block of ice in just 15 minutes.
Guuen said the Fascination ship keeps enough food on board to last for two weeks in case of inclement weather. The United States Department of Public Health inspects the ship’s kitchen every six months before it embarks from Miami.
The kitchen received a near perfect score the week before our cruise, according to Guuen, 95 out of 100.
Kathy Chaffin is a freelance writer living in Mocksville.
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