August 10, 2003

Cruise Ship Grazing.

Filed under: Uncategorized — Jim @ 8:45 pm


One of the striking things about taking a cruise is the quantity and quality of the food that is available on board. It amounts to a week of grazing, and after each meal making a promise that you will make more sensible choices for the next meal – a promise that, in most cases (certainly in my case) was invariably broken.

You know you are in trouble when after eating three delicious meals and drinking all day and evening, you find yourself saying “yes, please” to the gourmet bites that are handed out all over the ship at midnight. Rock bottom came when, after eating three meals and the gourmet bites at midnight, we schlepped off to the ass-end (excuse me – the “aft”) of the ship for a “couple slices” (of pizza).

It’s a veritable food orgy that has most people aboard lamenting that their clothes seem to have shrunk and making solemn salad vows to take effect immediately post-cruise. I took the salad pledge after a week of demonstrating beyond doubt that all my digestive systems still can function in high gear. The refrigerator in the house by the Parkway is now chockfull of green leafy things and lots and lots of fruit. French fries, cheese and snacks are no longer our friends.

To give you an idea of just how much food is taken aboard the ship for a typical seven day cruise for the 1,589 passengers and 670 crew aboard the Zenith, here are the numbers made available by Celebrity Cruise Lines:

7,480 pounds of beef
1,350 pounds of lamb
3,561 pounds of pork
1,200 pounds of veal
1,175 pounds of sausage
4,080 pounds of chicken
2,050 pounds of turkey
1,060 pounds of duck
6,050 pounds of fish and seafood
660 pounds of lobster tails
23,400 pounds of fresh vegetables
5,700 pounds of potatoes
19,400 pounds of fresh fruit
900 gallons of milk
240 quarts of cream
450 gallons of ice cream
1.050 dozen eggs
2,800 pounds of sugar
2,050 pounds of rice
4,800 pounds of cereal
700 pounds of jelly
1,350 pounds of coffee
1,700 pounds of cookies
40,000 tea bags
28 pounds of herbs and spices
2,700 bottles of assorted wines
160 bottles of champagne
185 bottles of gin
245 bottles of vodka
270 bottles of whiskey
119 bottles of rum
25 bottles of brandy
11 bottles of sherry
450 bottles of assorted liqueurs
8,200 bottles/cans of beer

Tums anyone?

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