Behind The Scenes of The Royal Caribbean Cruise - Part 1/3 (The Loading Bay)

How's everyone doing this December? It was exciting for me because I had the wonderful privilege to check out the restricted access area and go on a food tour on Mariner of the Seas, Royal Caribbean Cruise! I'm a fan of cruises because I love the ocean VERY much — I've probably boarded more than five different types of cruises before. So when Royal Caribbean invited me to join them in their food tour, I decided that I really had to go even if I had to take leave! Anywhere close to the ocean, there I'll be!

The food tour started with a gathering of other media journalists who came from all parts of the world, I suppose. I was really surprised to hear that there are trade magazine publishers — I'd surely love to get my hands on those magazines that are meant for trade. How will their writing style differ? Don't they have to balance both corporate and leisurely writing? Anyway, thoughts aside — we were introduced to handsome Alberto Taypa, who is the inventory manager and ensures that all stocks are boarded in time.

1. Meet the inventory manager, Alberto Taypa

Alberto Taypa - inventory manager

2. The difference between the arc loading and the front part of the cruise

Different containers are sent to the cruise. Sometimes, the on boarding completes later at 3pm. The cruise gets several fulfillments from different suppliers and looks for alternative suppliers should there be any missing quantity. They also maintain high standards to ensure that the temperature of the food do not exceed the temperature stated within 10-20 minutes. I'm just so amazed how they load only once for a seven-day cruise— it's like, your stomach depends on this loading guys! 

3. The loading starts at 8.45am and ends approximately 2pm

  
To minimise the time taken, there is an efficient route for loading on the cruise. The arc part of ship loads food and beverages while the front part all the hotel items — toiletries, detergent, etc. The loading starts with a security check on the produce, before placing them into a specific storeroom. For example, the produce storeroom is specifically for fruits and vegetables. There are also international standards set in place to ensure that there isn't any cross-contamination between the meat and poultry as well as fruits and vegetables storage area. 

In rough figures, Alberto shared the below figures for the consumption of various items for a 7-day cruise:

• 14,000 tonnes of water 
• Striploin - 1,000kg
• Fish - 4,000 pounds 
• Rice - 1,000kg
• Shelled Egg - 1,000 dozens a day

If you're a scrambled-eggs fanatic like I am, it takes approximately 3,000 pounds of liquid eggs for a 7-day cruise!

Did you know?

Royal Caribbean International’s Mariner of the Seas, one of the largest and most innovative cruise ships in the region, is in Singapore for her longest‐ever and final season until next April 2018. She is offering 56 Southeast Asian sailings of 3 to 9 nights, the highest number for this ship ever in Singapore, up from 41 sailings last season.

The ship’s itineraries with popular regional destinations lined up for this season are:

•  3‐night cruise to Penang/Kuala Lumpur (Port Klang) 
•  4‐night cruise to Penang/Kuala Lumpur (Port Klang) and Phuket 
•  5‐night cruise to Kuala Lumpur (Port Klang), Penang and Phuket 
•  7‐night cruise to Kuala Lumpur (Port Klang), Penang, Langkawi and Phuket (with an overnight) 
•  7‐night cruise to Ho Chi Minh City (Phu My) and Bangkok (with an overnight)