The amount of food that is consumed on a mid-size cruise ship in a week is staggering! All figures here are based on approximately 2000 passengers on a 7 day cruise. Most ships carry only enough food for the current cruise and load their ships the day of embarkment. In order to refrigerate and store this huge amount of food stuff the ships must have numerous refrigerators, freezers and storing areas. Here is a list of estimated food consumed in one week:
meat 12,000 pounds
poultry 3,814 pounds
fish 1,800 pounds
seafood 2,600 pounds
butter & margarine 1,675 pounds
fresh vegetables 137,500 pounds
potatoes 7,750 pounds
watermelon 2,300 pounds
eggs 23,000
dairy 5,500 quarts
sugar 1,000 pounds
sugar packets 24,000
rice 3,500 pounds
caviar 20 pounds
flour 3,150 pounds
ice cream 300 gallons
We should also mention here the procedure and number of dishes used daily. It takes approximately 10 people to wash all the glassware and dishes each day. The whole dish-washing procedure takes about 10 hours from start to finish. They wash about 3,000 dinner plates, 7,000 desert plates and 2,000 side dishes, along with 5,000 glasses! This doesn't even count the thousands of coffee cups, cutlery, trays and other serving items.
Most ships now make all of their own drinking water through reverse osmosis from seawater. All cruise ships are subject to surprise inspections by the C.D.C., which looks at food management and preparation, as well as waste management. I have been told by one cruise line manager that there is very little waste on cruise ships, due to the fact they have gotten very good at ordering the exact amount of food needed for each cruise.
