All food supplies only from FLL now?

Is this the reason Princess runs out of certain food items now even for example lemons?

They ran out of lemons on the Regal maiden transatlantic. I thought that was very strange. They also ran out of red shrimp cocktail sauce

It's not the only reason. There is software that predicts how much will be used based on past consumption, etc. Occasionally it is wrong (for example, if the fish is a little blander than usual, more lemons might be requested).

And of course, with produce there is always the chance of getting a bad case or two. (I suspect this is the case with the lemons in reality). Or the product can be damaged by temperature if not rotated properly, etc..

What getting most food on embarkation does affect is the ability to resupply in those cases, as they do not have vetted distributors at other ports. That said, most ports would not be able to supply a lot of items anyway, except maybe in the med (you are not loading additional Filet at St. Thomas for example).

By several folks.

Food was only supplied form Fort Laurderdale now.

This was a budget saver......

Is this true?

Most food is supplied to Princess ships from the U.S. Suppliers are vetted and must be capable of supplying the amounts ordered. Princess doesn't go to local produce markets to buy foodstuff.

A few years ago I was told by my waiter on my Princess cruise that all foods for all Princess ships are from U.S. suppliers. He said that this was for food safety reasons.

A few years ago I was told by my waiter on my Princess cruise that all foods for all Princess ships are from U.S. suppliers. He said that this was for food safety reasons.

A few years ago on a Holland America ship we were given a tour by the Chief Culinary Officer and he told us that most food for HAL are source from one main location and it is shipped even worldwide to the ships to ensure consistency of supply and quality.

On my recent 28 day Hawaii/South Pacific cruise, we ended up waiting for a container from New Zealand that was 2 days delayed. That gave us an unexpected overnight plus a few hours in Papeete. The ship was already out of things. No Bananas, no strawberries as of day 2-3 (until after Papeete, around day 20) for example. Later they also ran out of Feta cheese and probably things I personally do not know about, and the last 2 days cleaning wipes Noro hit the last 5-6 days of the cruise. This is my first of 13 Princess cruises I recall things running out. I guess this is the new way Princess operates and will have to be accepted as with so many changes they have made.

Supplying all the food from FLL absolutely makes no sense at all. First of all, FLL does not have all the food Princess needs. Dp you really think all their beef comes from FLL? I think not.

I do believe that supply from US companies. But, I am sure they buy in many different markets at many different times during the year.

They're obviously not only resupplying in FLL, given that not all the ships even stop there :). I'd guess that for trips that RT out of FLL, most food is likely to be loaded there (although I know they did use to do a lot of resupply in St Thomas, don't know if they still do).

The supplies frequently come in via cargo container trucked to the port (or if in a port that's a cargo port, right there). Who really knows where the stuff originates (although as mentioned, likely US), but I know in the past they've certainly shipped cargo containers to other ports to resupply there. For shorter round trips out of the US, I'm guessing that it would make the most sense for them to resupply in the US for cost reasons (although obviously, if they're doing that, that's a *lot* more that's being done on turnaround, so its a major additional load on the crew). I would guess that when you start getting to longer trips, it's more likely they're going to need to resupply somewhere along the line, and that might not be a US port.

For the most part, that supply chain is probably exceedingly well organized. But I'm also sure that it doesn't take much to screw it up (after all, some of this stuff isn't stuff that can be sitting around in containers for a long time otherwise it would perish). Among other things, it wouldn't surprise me if some of the fruits and vegetables are sourced outside the US (they'd have to be depending on the time of the year). Given some of the slowdowns in the ports on the western side of the country (especially LA), I wouldn't be surprised if that could easily screw up timetables on this type of supply chain.

I used to see them loading up in Vancouver years ago.:confused:

Since the economic turn down things certainly have changed.

It's not just FLL. Any embarkation port is also used to resupply the ship (like Vancouver or Seattle for Alaska). The food does not travel to FLL unless it is being loaded there. Distributors around the world have contracts to assemble the items and ship to ports accordingly.

The difference now is that there is no mechanism for a ship to be resupplied en route on most routes if there is an issue with a product, so they have to make do. The exceptions are primarily some ports in the Med and Asia as well as California.

In the past, exec chef's were given some authority to buy products shoreside (the origin of the Chef's table), but that was 600 pax ships, not 3000. Some of the luxury lines still do this.

The main reasons for this are price and food safety. Obviously, contracting for food reduces costs (and more importantly provides cost certainty). Plus, large scale suppliers can be inspected and held accountable more easily. The downside is that you get mass produced/farmed foods frozen for shipment, which does affect quality a bit.

We did the Chef's Table a few year's ago on the 14 dat Hawaii cruise. During the galley tour portion we were told that all food for the entire cruise was loaded on the LA. They have large coolers with various set points to keep the produce fresh until needed. On several Alaskan cruises they have received fresh halibut in Ketchikan that was served for lunch the next day in the HC.

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It's not just FLL. Any embarkation port is also used to resupply the ship (like Vancouver or Seattle for Alaska). The food does not travel to FLL unless it is being loaded there. Distributors around the world have contracts to assemble the items and ship to ports accordingly.

 

The difference now is that there is no mechanism for a ship to be resupplied en route on most routes if there is an issue with a product, so they have to make do. The exceptions are primarily some ports in the Med and Asia as well as California.

 

In the past, exec chef's were given some authority to buy products shoreside (the origin of the Chef's table), but that was 600 pax ships, not 3000. Some of the luxury lines still do this.

 

The main reasons for this are price and food safety. Obviously, contracting for food reduces costs (and more importantly provides cost certainty). Plus, large scale suppliers can be inspected and held accountable more easily. The downside is that you get mass produced/farmed foods frozen for shipment, which does affect quality a bit.

I noticed a big difference in the quality of the dining room food at dinner time from past.

Although the pub 'Fish and Chips' were excellent.:)

On recent Ruby trip. I went to the cooking demo. At that time, they commented that all supplies were brought onboard in FLL. They cited standards as being the reason for the move.

They ran out of lemons on the Regal maiden transatlantic. I thought that was very strange. They also ran out of red shrimp cocktail sauce

Here in California a number of months back the supermarkets ran out of lemons. I was told that there was a lemon shortage. I'm sure this type of things affects everybody.

Yes, even stores put onboard in California ports have been trucked in from Florida. It seems odd, but true. The same is true for HAL and Carnival.

David

Of course ships that have a home port in FLL are supplied from there.

But ships that are traveling elsewhere in the world get some food from the USA and some sourced locally, especially fruit, fresh vegetables and dairy.

Believe me, those milk cartons marked of being European in origin did not get shipped to Fort Lauderdale first.

So lettuce grown in California is shipped on a truck to Florida where they transfer it to another truck and then ship it back to California? Okay...

Is this the reason Princess runs out of certain food items now even for example lemons?

Now?

At least six years ago we had lunch with the Food & Beverage

manager on (maybe Ruby?).

It was the last cruise of the carribbean season, and then

the ship was doing the baltic for summer.

He told us how he already had supplies in containers that were

en-route to europe to stock the ship upon arrival.

I don't think this is anything new.

So lettuce grown in California is shipped on a truck to Florida where they transfer it to another truck and then ship it back to California? Okay...

I don't believe everything I read on the internet either.

On my recent 28 day Hawaii/South Pacific cruise, we ended up waiting for a container from New Zealand that was 2 days delayed. That gave us an unexpected overnight plus a few hours in Papeete. The ship was already out of things. No Bananas, no strawberries as of day 2-3 (until after Papeete, around day 20) for example. Later they also ran out of Feta cheese and probably things I personally do not know about, and the last 2 days cleaning wipes Noro hit the last 5-6 days of the cruise. This is my first of 13 Princess cruises I recall things running out. I guess this is the new way Princess operates and will have to be accepted as with so many changes they have made.

Certainly no trouble getting bananas in Papeete! But obviously by this thread Princess deals only with certain suppliers. Was this the infamous Crown cruise?

Wasn't there something, though, on one of the threads for the last West Africa cruise, that the responsible officer on the Ocean rejected produce being brought to the ship as substandard? Did that come from the US or elsewhere?

I've had cucumber slices vanish from the salad bar on the Pacific Princess long-term, so I imagine there was a supply problem. This was on the transpacific last Jan-Feb (I disembarked in Papeete as I broke my arm, slip and fall outside the tourist office, NO not on a banana peel)

One did not see tomatoe very often and in the omelette always seemed to be small highly sliced bits.From FLL to Houston on the last morning no tomatoe in omelette due to the fact I was told by head waiter that the CDC were due on board for an inspection and the tomatoe supply was bad.

Unless things have changed recently, the majority of food is supplied to Princess ships in FLL by Sysco Food Service. Sysco is a 45 billion dollar company supplying food product to restaurants, hotels, ships, etc. They have just recently merged with US Foodservice which will make them the largest supplier of food to businesses and corporations in the U.S.

If Princess has run out of certain items there are any number of things that could have happened. Spoilage, didn't order enough, higher than average usage, proper quantities weren't delivered. A ship is no different than a restaurant. I'm sure at some point in your life you've been to a restaurant and they had an item 86'd because they were out of that product.