Queen Victoria Queens Grill Questions

[Victoria2]

1 hour ago, exlondoner said:

I have certainly seen things like bottled water taken on in ports other than Soton.  Barcelona perhaps or Civitavecchia?  However, those are both ports where Carnival has a presence. Just before Covid, I was talking to the F and B manager’s wife, who said that, in years gone by,her husband often used to go ashore and more or less buy whatever was in the market, but now the suppliers very very strictly controlled, though she didn’t say they were confined to Southampton.

When having a guided tour of the Grills' galley years ago, we were told then, Cunard had  strict protocols when buying food and drink from vetted suppliers.

One would assume sealed drinks would be OK to source anywhere but if by chance protocols are involved and have to be followed, so be it

 

[exlondoner]

16 minutes ago, Victoria2 said:

When having a guided tour of the Grills' galley years ago, we were told then, Cunard had  strict protocols when buying food and drink from vetted suppliers.

One would assume sealed drinks would be OK to source anywhere but if by chance protocols are involved and have to be followed, so be it

 

As someone who once caught campylobacter (very nasty) from the stuff, I wouldn’t put too much faith in the perfection of bottled water. I understand about vetted suppliers, but surely it is possible to have some in the southern hemisphere.

[LittleFish1976]

2 minutes ago, exlondoner said:

As someone who once caught campylobacter (very nasty) from the stuff, I wouldn’t put too much faith in the perfection of bottled water. I understand about vetted suppliers, but surely it is possible to have some in the southern hemisphere.

 

The QE took bottled water on in Australia; they were using (inter alia) the Capi brand which is bottled here in Victoria.

 

(I've never heard of someone becoming ill from bottled water - how dreadful. And I've had the unfortunate experience myself of campylobacter so I feel for you. Shudder).

 

There would be no reason not to trust any product they could purchase here in Australia; our food and alcohol safety laws are probably as strict as any in the world. It would just mean a bit more effort for Cunard to take on additional suppliers. Drinks unique to more distant locations just need to be planned for. Big label liqueurs and liquors etc are all made in the one place - it wouldn't matter where in the world they were purchased or brought on board.

 

[exlondoner]

I think campylobacter is the only bacterial infection that you are likely to get from bottled water. As you suggest, not very nice at all. And as for bottled water, if you read about the making of the movie The African Queen, the only people who didn’t get ill were those who stuck to booze and eschewed the bottled water, though I think that was because the water source was polluted. Possibly Cunard ships are slightly more luxurious than that boat. 🙂

[LittleFish1976]

1 minute ago, exlondoner said:

I think campylobacter is the only bacterial infection that you are likely to get from bottled water. As you suggest, not very nice at all. And as for bottled water, if you read about the making of the movie The African Queen, the only people who didn’t get ill were those who stuck to booze and eschewed the bottled water, though I think that was because the water source was polluted. Possibly Cunard ships are slightly more luxurious than that boat. 🙂

I'm sure Bogart would have been safe - he had a bit of a boozy reputation if I'm remembering correctly.

[exlondoner]

8 minutes ago, LittleFish1976 said:

I'm sure Bogart would have been safe - he had a bit of a boozy reputation if I'm remembering correctly.

John Huston too.

[Victoria2]

37 minutes ago, exlondoner said:

As someone who once caught campylobacter (very nasty) from the stuff, I wouldn’t put too much faith in the perfection of bottled water. I understand about vetted suppliers, but surely it is possible to have some in the southern hemisphere.

Don't shoot the messenger, I agree with you but if Cunard have certain sources to buy from, then they have certain suppliers to buy from.

I too have had the misfortune to have had campylobacter but that  was from an undercooked chicken dish at a restaurant.

Contaminated bottled water is not something I'd considered and assuming you didn't catch it on a Cunard ship, hopefully,  their sources will be impeccable.

[exlondoner]

2 minutes ago, Victoria2 said:

Don't shoot the messenger, I agree with you but if Cunard have certain sources to buy from, then they have certain suppliers to buy from.

I too have had the misfortune to have had campylobacter but that  was from an undercooked chicken dish at a restaurant.

Contaminated bottled water is not something I'd considered and assuming you didn't catch it on a Cunard ship, hopefully,  their sources will be impeccable.

No, purchased at a very well known stately home. 

[ExArkie]

Cunard maintains programs in compliance with and certified under ISO-9001, the international consensus standard on quality systems management. Including in the items covered by the standard are myriad requirements for quality control of purchased goods and services, which themselves include a process for approving vendors in advance of purchasing from them. This is a time consuming process, which one assume Cunard would have followed to approve vendors in multiple locations around the world.
 

However, if their approved vendor in one location is not able to supply them with goods or services at the appropriate time and they either do not have a secondary supplier (unlikely there wouldn’t be one in Australia, maybe not in some other locations) or the secondary supplier is facing the same supply chain disruptions (very likely), obtaining supplies is inordinately more difficult.

 

They would not be able to drop by the local Costco - or similar retail outlet - and pick up what they need without sacrificing their standing under ISO-9001.