There is a bit of a roll on the ship today as we head north-west to get to the right end of New Guinea. It's not enough to make any-one that we know ill, but it does makes walking a bit difficult.
We were invited to see how the 'culinary and housekeeping' departments work today. It was a grand event for sure. We assembled on deck one and were broken into three groups of 15 each. We made our way down an iron gangway and were greeted by the captain, hotel manager and cruise director. About 10 of the most gorgeous Indonesian female serving staff crew members you have ever seen were there garbed in their lovely dresses that seem to be made for such slim beauties. To be impartial I must say that many of the young men are very handsome as well.
There are five men employed in sorting the garbage. Every single waste container comes down to this room. For example our room garbage can is dumped and sifted through, bottles, tins, paper, tissues, orange peels etc. Wooden crates are knocked apart and bundled, paper bundled separately etc., etc. The goods are then off loaded at some port and enter a legitimate recycling programme or destined for reuse somewhere.
We were escorted through the laundry, dry cleaning, coolers, storage and numerous other rooms that make the ship hum the way it does. The laundry was amazing. It runs 24 hours a day with humungous washing, drying, steam cleaners, pressers and folding machines in it. We get our sheets and six pillow cases changed every three days and there are about 500 cabins on board, plus bedding for about 500 crew. You do the math. The most amazing thing was 'The Sheet Ironer and Folder'. Two young men fed sheets in from the back end where they we sucked into this giant hissing monster about 12 feet wide and 20 feet long that roller, dried and then folded the sheets and spit them out the other end.
Their day is around 11 hours, but is usually split up into two or three segments. The ironers don't work more than three hours at a stretch, generally. The temperature in that room is stifling. There is one man whose job is to open up the laundry bags from an individual cabin, affix a small 1/4 x 1 inch label with room number on each piece of soiled clothing. Yuck, I wonder if he gets 'repulsion pay'? Another chap was hard at work taking out stains from soiled clothing and linen.
Many of the rooms were dedicated to food storage. There were cold storage rooms for fruits and vegetables, white wines and dairy products, and a thawing room for the frozen meats. The dry storage room was piled high with multi-varieties of rice, cereals, flours, condiments and (not to be forgotten) the micro-wave popcorn (an absolute necessity for those attending the films shown daily in the Wajang Theatre).
The logistics of storing and keeping track of, and rotating inventory must be a skill that they have long ago mastered. After the tour we were escorted to the 'Marshalling Area' which is the entire width of the ship, and it is a steel-plated deck where the crates of incoming goods are loaded at dock-side when bringing on provisions along our route. Large steel doors open onto the open sides of the ship to facilitate fork lifts. There was trailer-loads of fruits, vegetable and other merchandise taken on in Sydney for example.
They had set up tables for eight in that area of steel beams, pipes, valves etc.; a very functional and mechanical room. It had been decorated with festive draping, a giant carved Indonesian carving dominated the end of the room and soft native music was playing in the background. It was there that they had set up this Indonesian Buffet for us and we were served by those always-smiling beautiful girls. It was amazing to experience it. And, many of those members know us by name, not because we are special but they make a point of trying to greet everybody they run into during the day by name! It was a wonderful thing to see.
Pics: Fellette and the English Captain; Balinese beauties greet us; food, food, food; garbage sorters; the rest are self-explanatory.
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