Is there a microwave available for guest use aboard?

[mconthehighseas]

16 hours ago, Sailing12Away said:

Darn... I knew I forgot something on our most recent trip! Remind me again in February.... we can revive another long dead thread 🐀

Depends on the ship. On the Star we had one in our garden villa that was available to use. Worked great when we heated up our leftover pizza from LaCucina the next morning for breakfast.

 

Not everyone can book a garden villa,  and not every ship has the same set up, but if I thought there would be a microwave on one on our ship, I would definitely try to get one.

[MrsK]

But haven't you ever thought that for someone experiencing some health issues,  that having a microwave available somewhere to heat up a "bean bag" warming device would be a huge benefit on a ship? Even if the use of this microwave required a crew member to do the actual button pushing on the microwave?

 

It's really easy to get ice if it is cold that you want/need.

 

[graphicguy]

OP....from what I've seen in the Garden Cafe, I'd be shocked if there wasn't something there your kids would not like.  What is it you're trying to bring that would require a microwave?

[PATRLR]

On 9/28/2022 at 7:09 PM, hallux said:

'pre-made', on a cruise ship?

 

I just can't stop imaging a crew member seated by a microwave, putting something in, setting the time, waiting for time to be up, removing the item and putting in the next one - 3,000 times!  lol

"pre-made" isn't unusual.  My guess is a significant amount of the food served, especially in the MDRs and buffets, is pre-made. 

But I do agree,  putting individual servings into microwaves is ridiculous.

[chengkp75]

28 minutes ago, PATRLR said:

"pre-made" isn't unusual.  My guess is a significant amount of the food served, especially in the MDRs and buffets, is pre-made. 

But I do agree,  putting individual servings into microwaves is ridiculous.

What do you mean by "pre-made"?

[palpieha]

1 hour ago, mconthehighseas said:

Not everyone can book a garden villa,  and not every ship has the same set up, but if I thought there would be a microwave on one on our ship, I would definitely try to get one.

 

What microwavable food would you bring onboard that your child would eat? Someone here might be able to help you find that kind of food on the existing restaurants.

[pacruise804]

1 hour ago, MrsK said:

But haven't you ever thought that for someone experiencing some health issues,  that having a microwave available somewhere to heat up a "bean bag" warming device would be a huge benefit on a ship? Even if the use of this microwave required a crew member to do the actual button pushing on the microwave?

 

It's really easy to get ice if it is cold that you want/need.

 

While on the surface this sounds like a good idea (especially as one with chronic pain issues), I can see a lot of reasons why it would be an issue. 

 

OP - are there any ready-to-eat/shelf stable foods you could bring?  There are also likely other cruisers with food sensitivities that require assistance beyond just getting from the buffet, so the crew would consider it part of their job to help.

[PATRLR]

1 hour ago, chengkp75 said:

What do you mean by "pre-made"?

They aren't scratch cooking onboard.  

[chengkp75]

9 minutes ago, PATRLR said:

They aren't scratch cooking onboard.  

Uh, yes they are.  Breads are baked onboard, soups, sauces and stews are made onboard in steam kettles, vegetables are steamed from fresh in pressure cookers.  What items do you think are not cooked from scratch?  Sure, they'll use canned stewed tomatoes, and such, is that what you are talking about?

[PATRLR]

3 minutes ago, chengkp75 said:

Uh, yes they are.  Breads are baked onboard, soups, sauces and stews are made onboard in steam kettles, vegetables are steamed from fresh in pressure cookers.  What items do you think are not cooked from scratch?  Sure, they'll use canned stewed tomatoes, and such, is that what you are talking about?

Well, if you say the soups, sauces and stews are made from scratch, that surprises me.  I don't know for sure obviously so I need to take your word for it.  If so, they need some new recipes because they typically taste much like mass produced soups/sauces/stews that one would get in bags from Sysco or similar.  I'm not saying they are buying these things from a supplier like that, I actually thought I'd read about onshore kitchens that were prepping most of the food served on the mass market lines like NCL.  It's not that important so not going to bother looking for it, nor do I want to question your statements. 

As always, thanks for your sharing your expert knowledge.

 

[UKstages]

19 minutes ago, chengkp75 said:

What items do you think are not cooked from scratch?

 

my belief is that the smoked meats served in "Q" onboard many NCL ships are not smoked or cooked from scratch on the ship... they are likely smoked in some land-based central kitchen and reheated and "finished" just before serving. i don't think they're using microwaves, however.

 

as for the OP and what she might need a microwave for... i think it's more about when, not what. my sense is that many items from the kids menu and the buffet will indeed have appeal, but the hunger pangs might occur when the buffet or other venues are closed. that's my take.

[YVRteacher]

1 hour ago, chengkp75 said:

Uh, yes they are.  Breads are baked onboard, soups, sauces and stews are made onboard in steam kettles, vegetables are steamed from fresh in pressure cookers.  What items do you think are not cooked from scratch?  Sure, they'll use canned stewed tomatoes, and such, is that what you are talking about?

Just so you know, much of the food served at Onda is made in Miami and is then frozen and sent to the ships for a quick cook onboard.  You will likely dispute this however it is true.

[graphicguy]

4 hours ago, MrsK said:

But haven't you ever thought that for someone experiencing some health issues,  that having a microwave available somewhere to heat up a "bean bag" warming device would be a huge benefit on a ship? Even if the use of this microwave required a crew member to do the actual button pushing on the microwave?

 

It's really easy to get ice if it is cold that you want/need.

 

It's a cruise ship. There are so many things that could go wrong with having a microwave on board, that I totally understand them not allowing passengers access to one.   If you want some sort of heating element, my suggestion would be to get one of those self warming pads.

 

If your child wants a particular food you can't get on a cruise ship, tell them ahead of time they won't be able to have it while away.  Keep telling them in advance, that way it won't be a surprise when they get on. board.  And, upsell all the good foods s/he will be able to have on the ship, so they're looking forward to it.

 

 

[chengkp75]

24 minutes ago, YVRteacher said:

Just so you know, much of the food served at Onda is made in Miami and is then frozen and sent to the ships for a quick cook onboard.  You will likely dispute this however it is true.

 As the guy who was responsible for maintaining all the various galley equipment, I have a good idea of what and how the food is made.  I know I've maintained bread proofing cabinets, dough sheeters that make puff pastry, baguette rollers that take dough balls and roll them into the loaves, dinner roll machines that divide a ball of dough into 19 balls, and rolls them into spheres, bread slicing machines, tart presses that put the dough into the pans, machines that make butter pats, buffalo choppers for salads, a $65k machine that can take a 35 gallon trash can of potatoes or vegetables and slice and dice them in minutes, band saws for meat and fish, stand mixers for doughs and sauces that can hold 20 gallons, steam kettles for soups and sauces that hold 40-50 gallons, pressure cookers that will cook 50 lbs of vegetables in minutes, bread ovens that hold 6 racks, each rack holding 10 full baking sheets, and roasting ovens that you roll a cart into that holds 10 full baking sheets full of chickens, hams, etc.

 

As the guy who maintains the walk-in freezers and refrigerators, I get a pretty good idea of what is in them.