READER’S DIGEST
July• 2019 | 107short of anything during the cruise,”
explains Becce. “Because of health
restrictions, we cannot purchase food
from ports outside the United States.”
The ship maintains a several-day
reserve of food in case severe weath-
er or an emergency keeps the ship at
sea longer than scheduled. “We have
to think of everything,” says Becce.
“We even stockpile baby formula
and nappies in case we are delayed
at sea and passengers run short.”
For the next several hours, the fork-
lifts will keep feeding theMagic
with pallet after pallet of food for its
weeklong cruise.A
s soon as passengers start
to leave – all must be off
the ship by 10.30am – room
stewards begin the laborious process
of cleaning and sterilising staterooms.
Each steward is assigned to clean 30-
35 rooms. Thanks to years of practice
and advice from time-and-motion
study experts, stewards can thorough-
ly clean and prepare a room in less
than 15 minutes. To save time, duvets
are covered by two separate sheets
rather than with duvet covers.
Becce takes me to a deluxe typical
ocean-view cabin on Deck Two and
explains that while the steward does
the bed making, vacuums the carpet
and stocks amenities such as water
glasses, only the assistant steward
cleans the bathrooms and removes
the used sheets from the bed. “This is
to prevent any cross-contamination,”
he says. “We’re very particular about
cleanliness and sanitation.”
Details matter. After a room is
cleaned, a head steward will inspect it
to make sure everything is shipshape.
This includes checking that the pillows
are plumped just so, the sheets are
neatly fitted and squared and that one
or two room towels have been proper-
ly fashioned into a fun ‘towel animal’How Many Eggs?
For a weeklong cruise,
the ship will be stocked
with staggering amounts
of food, including:900 kilogramsof prime rib
6800 kilogramsof chicken
385 kilogramsof lobster tails
50,000 slicesof bacon
4200 steaks
1450 kilograms of prawns
7600 litres of milk
54,000eggs
1600 kilograms of butter
1100 kilograms of coffee
22,000tomatoes
45,000potatoes
5000 heads of lettuce
8300 bananas
25,000slices of bread
18,000 Danish pastries