This being my 11th cruise I finally participated in taking in a galley tour. but first we all met in the theater were the head chef - see pic. #1 - it was too bright in there, unfortunately you can't really make out the chef and his helper preparing and cooking a complete meal from appitizer to dessert. after that we all gathered in line to be escorted to the galley. the following pictures show where they made our scrumptious desserts.
No visit to the galley would be complete without a brief description of the chain of events that culminates in great tasting food, freshly prepared and served to us each night by a friendly waitstaff. we were told that there are two main galleys, one for each specialty restaurant and one fully equipped lido galley which produces the variety of offerings we have enjoyed in what they call the horizon court. we were told it all starts with a shopping list just like at home. their list consists of food from all over the world, like fine cheeses from Italy, United States, England, Scandinavia and France, choice selected beef, as well as choice of selected fresh fruit and vegetables from California and Florida. imagine this (130 to 150 tons of food) is all delivered to the ship before departure. different menus are offered each day in the dining rooms out on deck and in the horizon court, which also features an 'a la carte' menu every night. storekeepers, butchers and fish and vegetable preparation specialists exercise their skills against time schedule to carefully ensure that the proper items and amounts are prepared and transported to the galley on time where the raw food is turned into our delicious meals which the Princess Cruises are renowed for. I hope I haven't bored you too much with all this information! just one more thing. there were 3200 passengers on board and they have a crew of 1227 members.
