For the passengers, today started quietly, as the crew conducted their weekly crew emergency drills, but the afternoon and evening were busy with activities, which included the library book inventory, galley tour and red wine tasting.

Navigation

Throughout the day we maintained NNW’ly courses through the Red Sea at 14.5 kts.

Weather

Clear & hazy around the horizon, with fresh headwinds of about 25 kts.

Meals

For dinner this evening we had the Shore-ex Manager (Rob) and 2 of his staff join us. We started late and were engrossed in conversation, so unfortunately we missed this evening’s  red wine tasting.

Activities

Today’s schedule of activities included:

• 08:00 Spa opens
• 08:30 Yoga
• 09:30 Crew Emergency Drills, while passengers practice Baggo
• 10:00 Lectures – taped lectures running in Cinema 1
• 10:00 Ted Talks – taped Ted Talks running in Cinema 2
• 10:30 Baggo – The Vikings v’s Beverage Bulldogs
• 11:30 Baggo – Engineering Eels v’s Housekeeping Hurricanes
• 14:00 Afternoon Melodies – resident pianist performs in Atrium
• 15:00 Book inventory
• 16:00 Galley Tour
• 16:00 Temperature check
• 16:00 Afternoon melodies – resident pianist performs in the Atrium
• 17:45 Early evening serenade – Classical Duo in the Atrium
• 18:00 Insanity workout
• 20:00 Red Wine tasting
• 22:00 Viking band performs on pool deck

After breakfast this morning we got in some Baggo practice, while the crew completed drills. I was routinely scoring 3 or 4 bulls-eyes, before taking a break. Today, we were playing another undefeated team – Beverage Bulldogs.

At 10:30 the match commenced, but unfortunately we used all our good throws during practice. In the 1st round, I only scored 1 bulls-eye and most unusually, Judi didn’t score any. Although our team wasn’t at our best, we were still ahead by > 100 points after round 1. In round 2, Norbert (GM) started then was followed by the 4 passengers, sadly we were all terrible, with the 4 of us scoring a combined miserable 20 points. Fortunately, others were better, as by the end of round 2 we were about 300 ahead. We ended up winning by about 500, but it was our lowest score by far.

Library Book Inventory

At 15:00, we reported to the Atrium for duty, with all hands being assigned up to Explorers’. With all hands working, we completed both decks in 1 day.

Galley Tour

We left Explorers’ at 16:00, stopping off at the temperature check (still healthy) before heading to the Atrium for the galley tour. The galley management team includes the Executive Chef, then 3 Chef de Cuisines (CDC), who each have specific areas of responsibility:

• # 1 CDC – Main Restaurant Galley
• # 2 CDC – Chef’s Table, Kitchen Table and Mamsens
• # 3 CDC – Manfredis, Atrium and World Cafe

Each specific galley zone also has a lead Chef, who reports to the CDC.

In addition to checking out the equipment, I am always interested in the fire protections, so the first thing I noted was the shut-offs for both the electrical and ventilation, as seen above.

The galley is a collection of zones, where each zone serves a different restaurant or has a specific purpose. Zones include:

• Chef’s Table – port side fwd, immediately aft of restaurant
• Cabin service – port side between Chef’s Table & MDR
• Main Restaurant – port side aft, with escalator up to Deck 2
• Salads/Cold Food sections – stbd side aft
• Bakery – stbd side between salads & Manfredis
• Manfredis – stbd side fwd, immediately aft of restaurant.

As seen in the photos, the entire galley is stainless steel, except for the deck. Each zone has equipment specific to the restaurant they serve.

All pasta is made fresh and cooked in this galley. The Chef creates the pasta, which is kneaded in the pasta machine until it is the correct consistency. The correct nozzle is fitted to the front and the pasta is then extruded and provided to the chef for cooking.

Manfredis steaks are marinated then seared and cooked on the above very hot grill, with the steaks turned every 30 – 45 seconds to prevent them becoming bitter.

This station creates over 50 types of bread and about 130 gallons of ice cream daily. All bread and desserts for all restaurants are created at this station.

Enjoy some additional photos of the galley.