All Access Ship Tour Review at The Royal Caribbean Cruise

I love cruises. The number of times I've been on one can't be counted on the fingers of one hand. Previously, I went onboard the loading bay to see how the daily operations work in a cruise. This time I was able to deep-dive and head to my favourite section: desserts! I never knew that it takes so much effort for the crew to prepare a variety of desserts for thousands of passengers who come from different countries. Here's how the pastry chefs artfully decorate the cakes while we sail at sea.

Decorating the cakes by hand

We were first brought to a section that stored the flour, sugar, colouring, chocolates and other necessities that would make the cakes. I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw how intensive the whole process was — making fresh cakes from scratch on board the cruise itself! I'd have thought that the cakes were already pre-made and all the pastry chefs had to do was just to take it out from the refrigerator. Of course, I thought wrong.

Clean and sparkling kitchen

Master of the kitchen - Head Chef

Food recycling

Fruits Section — Cutting whole fruits into neat slices

These guys just focus on slicing fruits — yes, they immediately get down to work once onboard the ship. Lunch starts around noon so they have to work fast. Everyone has a clear job to do, so that when something goes wrong in the process, they know where the error lies. 

Beautiful cake slices

More machines, less manpower

Whether we're at land or at sea, I think everyone is facing the same manpower constraints. Large machines loom in almost every corner of the pastry kitchen, and it doesn't take a lot of manpower to operate it. 

Dangerously hot steam

Efficiently making doughs for baking with machines

Eberhardt machine

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)

Book your cruise here: http://www.royalcaribbean.com/sgp/en?wuc=SGP

All access ship tour — S$120.15

Get a behind-the-scenes look at what we do to create your best vacation ever. Join your friendly guide for an exclusive narrated tour onboard your ship. Start off in the dining room, where you’ll find out what our crew does to get ready for every meal, plus try to set up a table yourself. Do you know where to place the water glass or soup spoon? Walk through the main galley to see how our delicious dishes are prepared, plus take a look at the provision area to see all of the ingredients we need to have on hand — it’s a lot! Then step inside the engine control room, where we monitor the systems used throughout the ship. You’ll also visit the ship’s vast laundry facilities. See where anything from napkins, table cloths and sheets to beach towels and the laundry you request gets cleaned and folded. Plus, you’ll have a chance to stroll the “I-95,” the long corridor in the crew’s area, named after the longest highway on the U.S. east coast. Finish with a real treat – a visit to the Bridge for a tour of the ship’s command center.