Cruising Eating my way from

Roger Spragg finds an unusual way to curb his enthusiasm for on-board cuisine

My first thought after we decided that we would take a 31-day cruise to Alaska was how I was going to avoid eating myself to death. A couple of years ago, on a five-day cruise round the Greek Islands, I gained 3kg. At the end of this one, they are going to have to offload me with a fork hoist, I complained.

My wife Hope suggested I could try a little restraint. Perhaps I could have the full cooked breakfast only on shore days, for example, when we’d need the energy to tour around. You might as well take your labrador into a Mad Butcher’s store and say to it: “We’ll be gone for a while, be a good dog and don’t eat too much.” My appetite is legendary. When friends invite us over they are prone to make hurtful remarks such as: “Don’t worry, we baked extra when we knew Roger was coming.”

My anxiety increased when the last email from the ship before we boarded in Auckland, under the title “Helpful information on embarkation day”, reassured us that shortly after boarding we were welcome to dine at the Horizon Court or in one of ship’s multiple dining rooms. In fact, the Emerald Princess has two cafeteria-style dining courts, three general dining rooms, an English-style gastro pub, two specialist restaurants, a wine bar serving sushi and tapas, a hamburger bar, a 24-hour international cafe and a pizzeria and ice cream bar — not to mention 24-hour room service.

Early in the voyage, during one of the captain’s noon announcements detailing current position, distance sailed and predicted weather and sea conditions, he added a little item about how much diesel fuel (the ship’s biggest single cost on a voyage) was required for our cruise. Fascinating though that snippet was, I began to wonder about the logistics involved in feeding more than 3000 passengers and 1100 crew on a cruise.

Quite apart from the passengers’ menus, the crew of up to 26 different nationalities eat in three separate dining messes which must cater to broad ethnic food requirements. The Emerald’s food and beverage manager, Joao Varandas, gave me some answers. A weekly average of 85 tons of food and 20 tons of beverages is consumed. Five tons of flour alone is used each week for the bread and fancy items which are baked three times a day. For a seven-day cruise, around 15 tons of fresh fruit and vegetables are loaded and, for longer voyages, similar quantities are taken on at designated ports. Fresh water tanks are supplemented by