All food supplies only from FLL now?

[kruisey]

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.

 

Has taken over many kitchen supplies in the hospitality,cafe area of Vancouver .Residential care homes no longer have kitchen cooks they wait for the big Sysco Van to arrive with the pre prepared meals.....:(

Edited December 1, 2014 by kruisey

[Loonbeam]

No. But depending on whoever (probably Sysco as noted) handles it, it could go do a distribution center in Arizona, then back to CA as well as to FLL, MIA, Vancouver and Houston (in separate loads). In most cases, Princess doesn't care where its sourced from, as long as it meets standards and gets there on time.

 

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...

[kruisey]

I wonder now if some of the meals served in the dining rooms are pre prepared frozen ones from Sysco now like they distribute through out Vancouver to the chain cafes and care homes ?

Edited December 1, 2014 by kruisey

[hubofhockey]

I wonder now if some of the meals served in the dining rooms are pre prepared frozen ones from Sysco now like they distribute through out Vancouver to the chain cafes and care homes ?

 

Olive Garden prepares all meals off site and then heats them up.

 

When cruise line are in Europe, it probably makes sense for them buy supplies and canned foods from companies like Sysco and produce and perishables from local companies.

[hawkeyetlse]

I wonder now if some of the meals served in the dining rooms are pre prepared frozen ones from Sysco now like they distribute through out Vancouver to the chain cafes and care homes ?

Maybe for some of the less-ordered items (e.g. special menus for certain dietary restrictions, etc.). But I doubt they do a lot of reheating of fully-prepared meals, because they have enough volume so that it's more cost effective to bring in raw ingredients like meat in frozen form and transform them on board. But I would not be surprised if they rely on some ready-made sauces or industrially prepared pastry doughs/batters, that sort of thing.

 

Given the prices we pay, no one should be under any illusions that absolutely everything on board is freshly made from scratch. I don't know to what extent they use pre-prepared food, and it's not like you can ask them and expect to get a fully honest response. I'm sure they are very careful what people are allowed to see on behind-the-scenes visits and galley tours, etc. I for one have no problem with this, as long as the quality of the food onboard remains reasonably high, and it's still amazing to me that they manage to feed so many people so much food day after day…

[Loonbeam]

This came up in detail during the UST, they use very little prepared product, mostly condiments (dressings, ketchup, syrups, etc).

 

All bread products are made on board EXCEPT for some special diets (Kosher and and a few others)

 

They don't use any frozen vegetables/fruits other than a few specialty items for soups and ice creams that are used in small quantity and not worth loading each time. They did have some frozen herbs again used for specific dishes. Produce is ordered at different levels of ripeness to allow for use over the cruise (and ripening too fast can cause a shortage).

 

Meat arrives frozen and in many cases in whole or partial animals (some ships have an in-house butcher shop like the Royal) with supplements of popular cuts like filet. One note - the steakhouses always get butchered cuts, not pre-packed.

[Wehwalt]

All bread products are made on board EXCEPT for some special diets (Kosher and and a few others)

 

Well, some fairly trivial exceptions like crackers.

[Loonbeam]

They even make some of those...

 

Well, some fairly trivial exceptions like crackers.

[cruisequeen4ever]

On our Med cruise, the grapes and tomatoes were from Italy, and the French Fries were actual Pomme Frittes from France. Wayyyyy better than here in the U.S.!

[kruisey]

On our Med cruise, the grapes and tomatoes were from Italy, and the French Fries were actual Pomme Frittes from France. Wayyyyy better than here in the U.S.!

 

Which ship was that?

[Floridiana]

Certainly no trouble getting bananas in Papeete! )

 

Actually it is. To my knowledge there is no commercial banana grower on Tahiti and I didn't see any on Moorea either. Moorea is the island that grows flowers, pineapple and various tropical fruits in sufficient quantity for the production of the wonderful tropical juice sold in French Polynesian supermarkets. Much of the food sold there is imports from New Zealand and France.

 

I saw containers with US food being unloaded in Callao for our ship. At the same time, Callao (Lima's port) has a very large and wonderful produce market, clean too. Local restaurant owners shop there in the morning. The ship got new iceberg salad and boring fruit from the US.

[Pam in CA]

I wonder now if some of the meals served in the dining rooms are pre prepared frozen ones from Sysco now like they distribute through out Vancouver to the chain cafes and care homes ?

If you've done the UST, you see the storage rooms, cold storage and freezer. Everything is prepared onboard from ingredients stored on the ship. Soup is made in huge cauldrons, for instance. Meat, fish and shellfish are prepared at different sections to prevent cross-contamination, something those with shellfish allergies should be happy about.

 

When I was on the Diamond last year, I was very surprised that there was no cottage cheese on the ship. I happen to love cottage cheese and fruit for breakfast. My friends looked at me strangely when I whined about this. :) I was shown the cottage cheese packages and sure 'nuff, they said "cottage cheese" on them. However, they were in solid bricks and everything else on the package was in Chinese characters. So Princess obviously got some supplies in China.

[Wehwalt]

Actually it is. To my knowledge there is no commercial banana grower on Tahiti and I didn't see any on Moorea either. Moorea is the island that grows flowers, pineapple and various tropical fruits in sufficient quantity for the production of the wonderful tropical juice sold in French Polynesian supermarkets. Much of the food sold there is imports from New Zealand and France.

 

I just meant "in Papeete". They were for sale in the market and some on the roadside when I was there earlier in the year. I did know the farming was small scale as I drove the road around the island three times. Not much flat land.

 

I did appreciate the Carrefours and other supermarkets. But the prices! At least twice that in metropolitan France. My guide on Moorea was telling me there was a very high import duty on most things, plus the cost of transport. But I do have a sweet tooth for Dragibus (not the soft ones!)

[Loonbeam]

May have been what we in the US would refer to as soft cheese or even a variation on cream cheese. I've seen that in Asia.

 

If you've done the UST, you see the storage rooms, cold storage and freezer. Everything is prepared onboard from ingredients stored on the ship. Soup is made in huge cauldrons, for instance. Meat, fish and shellfish are prepared at different sections to prevent cross-contamination, something those with shellfish allergies should be happy about.

 

When I was on the Diamond last year, I was very surprised that there was no cottage cheese on the ship. I happen to love cottage cheese and fruit for breakfast. My friends looked at me strangely when I whined about this. :) I was shown the cottage cheese packages and sure 'nuff, they said "cottage cheese" on them. However, they were in solid bricks and everything else on the package was in Chinese characters. So Princess obviously got some supplies in China.

[BruceMuzz]

Many here made quite good guesses on how it all works.

 

Firstly, the US Public Health Service requires that all protein food items served on ships from all the major cruise lines - anywhere in the world - must be purchased from US Certified vendors.

The only US Certified Vendors are located in the USA.

 

Secondly, USPH requires that all fish must be frozen for a minimum 72 hours before it is served to cruise passengers.

 

Thirdly, whenever a cruise ship pulls into any port and asks about buying anything, the fact that it is a cruise ship pushes the price up several hundred percent.

 

Fourth, purchasing fruits and vegetables locally is a great idea (despite the high cost), but the ship has no reliable way to guarantee that they are not contaminated in some way. We only find out after half the ship is sick.

 

So the major cruise lines have all resorted to ordering and purchasing nearly all food items in the USA and shipping them to the vessels - wherever they might be.

 

Consolidator companies start empty containers at one end of the USA, loading them with items as they move across the country; produce and wine in California, beef in Colorado, beer in the midwest, citrus in Florida.

The full containers are either delivered to the vessel at a US Port, or they are loaded onto barges or cargo ships and sent overseas.

Occasionally they are air-freighted to exotic ports or whenever cargo ships cannot get them there fast enough.

 

Ships are allowed to purchase sealed beverages locally; sodas, bottled water, beer, etc.

Sometimes we even purchase imported items in the USA as they are cheaper than at the source. Australian wine for example, generally costs more in Australia than in the USA. It is cheaper to buy it in California and then transport it back to a ship in Australia.

Hawaiian pineapples are cheaper in California than in Hawaii. We purchase them in San Francisco and ship them back to our ships in Hawaii.

 

Unfortunately, when we are sailing in the Med in the summer and you see and smell those beautiful Italian tomatoes in the markets, we are serving green tomatoes from California onboard the ship.

 

And yes, sometimes it is less costly or easier to put lettuce in a container at one end of the country, ship it across the country and then back again - for pretty much the same reasons that all drive-up bank teller machines have braille on them.................

Edited December 2, 2014 by BruceMuzz

[cruisequeen4ever]

Which ship was that?

 

 

The Regal last summer

 

 

Sent using the Cruise Critic forums app

[caribill]

Fourth, purchasing fruits and vegetables locally is a great idea (despite the high cost), but the ship has no reliable way to guarantee that they are not contaminated in some way. We only find out after half the ship is sick.

 

I have been on Princess ships outside North America that ran out of bananas and when resupplied they were not the type normally available in the USA.

 

So the major cruise lines have all resorted to ordering and purchasing nearly all food items in the USA and shipping them to the vessels - wherever they might be.

 

When overseas on Princess ships I see milk and butter from European countries.

 

 

Unfortunately, when we are sailing in the Med in the summer and you see and smell those beautiful Italian tomatoes in the markets, we are serving green tomatoes from California onboard the ship.

 

The best tasting cherry tomatoes I have ever had were on a Princess ship in the Med in summer. They no way resembled the tasteless varieties available in the USA and found on Princess ships sailing from North America.

 

 

see my comments in red above

[Wehwalt]

Hawaiian pineapples are cheaper in California than in Hawaii. We purchase them in San Francisco and ship them back to our ships in Hawaii.

 

Are you sure they are Hawaiian? On my recent Vancouver-Papeete cruise, I took the Lanai tour from Lahaina and the guide said almost all commercial pineapple growing in Hawaii has ceased as uncompetitive, as the cost of labor is high in Hawaii and cheap in the Far East. He said that what is actually grown (none on that island, which used to be a giant pineapple plantation) is for local consumption, and there were certainly plenty in the market in Hilo when we were there.

 

And I did notice that the milk in the coffee bars on my Northern Europe cruise on the Ocean was in Norwegian packaging, for quite a while after we left Norway, which surprised me somewhat as everything in Norway is expensive, expensive.

Edited December 2, 2014 by Wehwalt

[hubofhockey]

Many here made quite good guesses on how it all works.

 

Firstly, the US Public Health Service requires that all protein food items served on ships from all the major cruise lines - anywhere in the world - must be purchased from US Certified vendors.

The only US Certified Vendors are located in the USA.

 

Secondly, USPH requires that all fish must be frozen for a minimum 72 hours before it is served to cruise passengers.

 

Thirdly, whenever a cruise ship pulls into any port and asks about buying anything, the fact that it is a cruise ship pushes the price up several hundred percent.

 

Fourth, purchasing fruits and vegetables locally is a great idea (despite the high cost), but the ship has no reliable way to guarantee that they are not contaminated in some way. We only find out after half the ship is sick.

 

So the major cruise lines have all resorted to ordering and purchasing nearly all food items in the USA and shipping them to the vessels - wherever they might be.

 

Consolidator companies start empty containers at one end of the USA, loading them with items as they move across the country; produce and wine in California, beef in Colorado, beer in the midwest, citrus in Florida.

The full containers are either delivered to the vessel at a US Port, or they are loaded onto barges or cargo ships and sent overseas.

Occasionally they are air-freighted to exotic ports or whenever cargo ships cannot get them there fast enough.

 

Ships are allowed to purchase sealed beverages locally; sodas, bottled water, beer, etc.

Sometimes we even purchase imported items in the USA as they are cheaper than at the source. Australian wine for example, generally costs more in Australia than in the USA. It is cheaper to buy it in California and then transport it back to a ship in Australia.

Hawaiian pineapples are cheaper in California than in Hawaii. We purchase them in San Francisco and ship them back to our ships in Hawaii.

 

Unfortunately, when we are sailing in the Med in the summer and you see and smell those beautiful Italian tomatoes in the markets, we are serving green tomatoes from California onboard the ship.

 

And yes, sometimes it is less costly or easier to put lettuce in a container at one end of the country, ship it across the country and then back again - for pretty much the same reasons that all drive-up bank teller machines have braille on them.................

 

Here is an article as recent as less than a month ago that refutes your post, particularly as it pertains to Princess.

http://www.foodandwine.com/fwx/secrets/bizarre-world-cruise-ship-kitchens

 

There are occasional glimpses of flexibility when it comes to picking up local ingredients. Since these ships circle the globe, they’re meeting a new food culture at every port and stocking up fresh, right from the source. “In New Zealand, we’re getting these great mussels,” says Marzi. “Then in Sydney, we’ll pick up oysters. And in Hawaii, we’re bringing tons of pineapple on board.”

Bruce, I guess you missed the pineapple boat.

 

Furthermore, premium lines are known for preparing meals with all local ingredients. That includes fish. I find many of your posts full of great information, but also some very misleading information. For example, your comment on fish being frozen a minimum of 72 hours before it is served to customers probably only pertains to any type of frozen fish, but not fresh fish.

[Wehwalt]

Here is an article as recent as less than a month ago that refutes your post, particularly as it pertains to Princess.

http://www.foodandwine.com/fwx/secrets/bizarre-world-cruise-ship-kitchens

 

All I told you is what I was told, and I said as much. I imagine supplying cruise ships calling in Hawaii is about the same as supplying hotels, which we were told was common. That still doesn't get the pineapples to San Francisco before they are loaded, which was my question.

Edited December 2, 2014 by Wehwalt

[SwissDave]

Many here made quite good guesses on how it all works.

 

Firstly, the US Public Health Service requires that all protein food items served on ships from all the major cruise lines - anywhere in the world - must be purchased from US Certified vendors.

The only US Certified Vendors are located in the USA.

 

.................

 

Are you seriously suggesting that the USPH has jurisdiction on non US flagged cruise ships regardless of where they are in the world?

 

How does the USPH override local laws and regulations in Europe that in some cases may be more stringent than the US ones?

 

Why is it that in Southampton i see many British and European food products being loaded, including fish and other sea food?

[hubofhockey]

All I told you is what I was told, and I said as much. I imagine supplying cruise ships calling in Hawaii is about the same as supplying hotels, which we were told was common. That still doesn't get the pineapples to San Francisco before they are loaded, which was my question.

 

I was not referring to your post nor answering your question. Sorry.

[Wehwalt]

Are you seriously suggesting that the USPH has jurisdiction on non US flagged cruise ships regardless of where they are in the world?

 

How does the USPH override local laws and regulations in Europe that in some cases may be more stringent than the US ones?

 

Why is it that in Southampton i see many British and European food products being loaded, including fish and other sea food?

 

Maybe the US certified venders have a warehouse in Southampton?

[Hawaiidan]

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.

 

I remember On Regent, in Tahiti that they shipped everything in from the US.

They told me because of food safety and reliability in many places is not to US standards. In the Carribe Mexic I can really understand. With all the food scandals in China and Asia....

[sunsetbeachgal]

On our Med. cruise on the Royal last summer the fruits were particularly good...much more flavorful plums, watermelon, etc. than we are used to. I asked the headwaiter Rui where they were from and he said the ship took on fruits and vegetables in Naples, Italy.