Behind the Scenes on Dawn Princess

Cruising offers fine dining and a relaxing getaway as you sample the cities along the way.  We took a behind the scenes galley tour onboard Dawn Princess and learned how Princess select each ingredient and skilfully prepare the mouth-watering dishes they are famous for. Firstly, there are two main galleys, one to service the two main restaurants, Venetian and Florentine and the other to Dawn - Behind the scenes 005service the Horizon Court. The shopping list consists of food from all over the world.  Fish and fine cheeses from Italy, England, Denmark and France, selected meats from USA, Australia and New Zealand, fresh fruit and vegetables from California and Florida. Each cruise between 80-85 tons of food is delivered to the ship and loaded on-board and is carefully stowed in storage rooms specially designed with temperature controls for the various types of food. On longer cruises the amount of food increases. The requisition list is prepared by the Executive Chef, Provision Master and Food & Beverage Manager. Ashore, a team of buyers visit local markets and contact suppliers to coordinate domestic and international schedules for delivery to the ship.  After the food is loaded onboard Dawn Princess the cruise can begin.

Different menus are offered daily in the dining rooms and a team of storekeepers, butchers, fish and vegetable preparation staff exercise their skills against a time schedule to ensure delivery of the correct amounts are delivered to the galleys on time. Dawn - Behind the scenes 015In the galleys the chefs, cooks and pantry staff turn this raw food into the fine cuisine we enjoy. The Fish Preparation are employs two staff who prepare the 246kg of whole fish, cleaning and cutting into portion to send to the galley daily. The Meat Preparation area’s two butchers, two assistants and two helpers defrost, slice and portion before sending 510kg poultry, 230kg turkey, 720kg beef and 200kg lamb to the galley where a team of six complete the preparation. The Garde Manger (cold kitchen) is where all the cold dishes and salads are prepared. Here ten staff work with mixing and slicing machines and refrigeration of prepared dishes are stored. This is where a hardboiled egg and an olive becomes a penguin, a carrot becomes a bird in flight and a radish becomes a rose with white petals tipped in red all to please the eye as a garnish. This area prepares 390kg lettuce, 9,000 fresh eggs, 9,600 cups yoghurt and 400kg watermelons. Next the Soup, Pasta & Vegetable area where fourteen staff prepare frozen and fresh seasonal vegetables, delicious pastas and tasty soups using 400kg potatoes (daily) and producing 1,590lts soup made daily. The Bakery is a constant aroma of freshly baked bread contains dough mixers, ovens, refrigerators and proofing ovens were seven staff create from scratch daily sweet rolls, croissants, bread sticks, pizza dough, bread rolls, vol-au-vents and biscuits using 450kg of flour each day.  The Pastry shop has twelve staff performing their craft in two shifts, nine in the day and three at night. Sweets and pastries are prepared daily where high quality almond paste is kneaded and formed into fruit shapes and skilled hands give special touches to transform the cakes into works of art. The pastry shop produces 4,050 pastries and 275 large cakes and pies using 150kg sugar each day. Next is the Fruit, Cheese and Coffee Pantry were a team of eight staff arrange assortments of fine cheeses and selection of crackers. They wash, slice and prepare the fruits whilst another seven staff in this area operate and control the coffee and condiment service, butter distribution and fruit juice dispense. Here they use 172kg butter, 2,204kg fresh fruits, 1,210lts coffee, 175lts coffee cream and 165kg sugar each day. Finally the Dishwashing area where thirty staff work continuously throughout the ship’s galleys pre-washing, sorting and feeding a constant stream of china, glasses, silver, pots and pans into the dishwashing machines. In the sculleries eight staff scrubs and polish all the oversized pots and pans and the silverware is cleaned and polished. Daily there are 50,100 dishes and 16,500 glasses cleaned with 227lts detergent.

In total 306 crew members are dedicated to providing an unforgettable on-board dining experience from the Executive Chef and Maitre d’ Hotel to the sous and pastry chefs, butchers, bakers and even an Ice Carver. Day and night these world class chefs create freshly prepared cuisine from scratch for the elegant specialty dining rooms to the theme buffets on deck.

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Is this all? Well not quite. You see this is not just to feed the 1,872 passengers but also the 840 crew members. The food must cater for the cuisines of the staff on-board which is made of 17 American, 99 Indian, 14 Portuguese, 42 British, 355 Filipino, 120 Indonesian, 27 Italian, 10 Romanian, 24 Serbian, 15 South African, 28 Thai and 14 Ukraine. The balance of the 840 are Australian, Brazilian, Bulgarian, Chilean, Czech, Dominican, Estonian, Fresh, Irish, Latvian, Mauritian, Moldovan, New Zealander, Saint Lucian, Slovakian, Swedish, Ugandan, Zimbabwean, Argentinean, Belgian, Canadian, Croatian, Danish,  Dutch, Hungarian, Macedonian, Mexican, Montenegrin and Polish.

Princess passengers can get an exclusive glimpse at the behind the scenes action on-board with a Princess Cruises Ultimate Ship Tour. This 3 hour tour is conducted (for a fee) on a sea day and is restricted to approx 15 passengers and is accompanies by the ship’s photographer as no photography is permitted. After signing the disclaimer passengers explore the foc’sle (anchoring area), galley, food production and storage areas, engine control, medical centre, print shop (yes, they have their own print shop to produce the Princess Patter, menus, etc), laundry, photo lab, backstage on the Princess Theatre and other areas typically seen only by the ship’s crew. The final stop of the tour is the ship’s Bridge, the command centre and chart room where passengers meet the Captain and have a photo taken with him, enjoy special refreshments and take in the dramatic views from the bridge’s wraparound windows.

First it was to the bow and the Foc’sle (anchoring area) where we were shown the huge chains that hoist the anchor, huge line ropes and the anchors. Next the Galley and Food Production Area we met with the Executive Chef who explained the process of providing thousands of passengers’ meals and saw the inner working of the ship’s kitchen whilst being served a glass of French Champagne with caviar canapés. We got to peek into the food storage and production areas.

In the Princess Theatre we entered the Back Stage Area and got a glimpse behind the glitz and glamour of the sparkling stage productions scenery, costumes and lighting and sound.  We got a good insight into what goes into making sure the shoe goes on night after night and got meet the cast, production staff and enter the dressing area and got our picture taken on stage. We found the Engine Control Room fascinating, the centre of the ship’s mechanical and electrical system, where the technical team monitor everything from the operation of the ship’s propellers to the water supply in our stateroom. We met with the Chief Technical Officer who explained the numerous functions they oversee and an explanation of the process to generate the vast amount of power to operate the ship.

From here we went into the Print Shop where they not only produce the Princess Patter, but all the menus and tour information.  We saw the printing equipment and heard about the production of the ship’s stationary.  The group then meets with the Photo staff at the Photo Laboratory and get a run down on the photo lab with the latest digital printing equipment and operation of the thousands of pictures taken and printed each day.  Next onto the Main Laundry where tons of passenger and crew linen, towels and clothing are laundered 24 hours a day. This area is where we met with the Laundry Master who oversees this impressive and noisy operation.

Dawn - Behind the scenes 017Finally, the tour concluded at the ship’s command centre, the Bridge, where we met with the Captain and his team, learnt about the state of the art navigational equipment and all the safety systems on-board the ship. The view from the wrap around window was breathtaking, just spectacular and the Captain posed with us for a final photo.

Participants received a variety of themed mementos at many of the stops along the route and some interesting facts printed for us. As well as the photos taken along the way we received the picture of our group with the Captain in a frame, a chef’s jacket, personalised stationary and a luxurious plush bathrobe as worn by the passengers in the suites all in a take home Princess bag.

This was a tour I really wanted to do and was not disappointed with our glimpses of areas reserved for staff only.

Rene Klingohr from the Customer Service desk provided me a wealth of information on the Dawn Princess and I have shared some of it with you. Dawn Princess is a twin-screw diesel-electric vessel designed for worldwide cruising. In addition to two main fixed-pitch propellers, she has two rudders, two bow thrusters, two stern thrusters and two stabilising fins. The hull and superstructure are of welded steel construction.

She was built by Fincantieri Cantieri Navali Italiani Spa in Trieste, Italy and christened 7th May 1997 in Port Everglades by the original cast of the “Love Boat”.  Her maximum capacity is 3,194, 2,272 passengers and 922 crew. Her total displacement is 39,997 tons and she is 261.3 in length. I was given details of the Main Propulsion Motors, Generators, Engines, Stabilisers, Propellers, Evaporators, Boilers, Air Conditioning, Engine Control Room an Black & Grey Water (all of which you can learn about on a comprehensive ship’s tour) but I will reduce to some interest facts.

Each main engine piston weighs 310kg

Each crankshaft weighs almost 15 tons

The cubic capacity of each cylinder is 70,370 cm3

The cubic capacity of each engine is 1,125,920 cm3

At full speed Dawn Princess burns about 2,300 gallons an hour; this is one gallon every 55 feet

Each stabiliser fin is 5.4 meters long and generates a maximum lift of 88 metric tons

The main swimming pool on Riviera deck holds 88 metric tons of fresh water

The total generating capacity on-board is 44.5MW (59,675HP), enough to light three quarters of a million table lamps

We were provided with extracts of the Ship’s Official Log Book, with the entries recorded by the Officer of the Watch on the Navigational Bridge. The Bridge is manned 24 hours a day by two Officers working four hours on, eight hours off, in a three watch system. The Bridge Command and Control Team are made up of Captain, Staff Captain, Senior First Officer, First Officer, Senior Second Officer, Second Officer, three Third Officers and two Deck Cadets.

So as you can see a lot goes into making the cruising experience and Princess certainly live up their slogan “The Consummate Host”.

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Have you been on an ultimate ship’s tour? What was your favourite area of the ship to see? Or are there other areas you would like included on the tour?

*All opinions and photos are our own and we were not financially compensated for this post.

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16 Responses

  1. Eileen g says:

    One always wonders on a cruise what goes on behind the scenes so you can relax. Fun opportunity to see how the magic happens.

  2. Rhonda says:

    Thanks for that. Hubby was wondering about some of that after our Princess cruise through the Panama Canal. I showed it to him and he appeared quite pleased with the information.
    Rhonda recently posted…Pike Place Market: Where to Catch Fish in SeattleMy Profile

  3. What a great tour! I would love to do that. Even though I’m not really into cruising I love ships of all kinds. It’s just too bad you can’t take your camera with you.
    Jim ~ ReflectionsEnroute recently posted…Made to Order – A Tasty Lesson from AlbaniaMy Profile

  4. Interesting read on a cruise…I have never been to one.
    Bushra Muzaffar recently posted…Beat the Heat at Delhi Summer FestivalMy Profile

  5. Ahila says:

    Thank you for this interesting post on all the work that goes into a cruise, Lyn. #TheWeeklyPostcard
    Ahila recently posted…Special Six: London SurprisesMy Profile

  6. Sounds like a great experience. We have been very fortunate to get to go some places on the Queen Mary 2 that passengers don’t normally get to go and to be able to blow the noon whistle and sit at the Captain’s Table. Of course, it helps that we were getting married on the boat:) Always great to get a glimpse behind the scenes.
    Jessica @ Independent Travel Cats recently posted…12 Things to do in Marrakesh MoroccoMy Profile

  7. Lauren says:

    I’d love to see behind the scenes on a ship – I know there’s so much that we just don’t see that goes into making a memorable cruising experience for everyone! I’d love to see the print room, but perhaps just because I love paper & printing stuff 🙂 Big stationary nerd here! I also am obsessed with the Princess Patter when I cruise on Princess, I always can’t wait to see what the next day’s activities are!
    Lauren recently posted…Green Bar and Kitchen – Wholesome Vegan Dining in Fort LauderdaleMy Profile

    • Lyn says:

      Obviously space is at a premium, but I was really interested in the Print room too. We even got our own personalised stationary! My bedtime reading is always the Princess Patter ready to plan the day ahead. We are off on another short cruise in a couple of week so no doubt more Patters to add to our collection.

  8. Anda says:

    How interesting, I didn’t realize that California fruit and veggies are considered “great tasting”. In fact when I moved here from Europe this was my main disappointment: tomatoes and watermelons didn’t taste as good as in Romania. It’s impressive to see what a gigantic enterprise a cruise ship is. Every single detail seems to matter and the variety of foods you get seems to require a tremendous amount of work and preparation. It’s great that you wanted to see the “back room” of a cruise ship. I have to confess that it didn’t even cross my mind to do it when I took a cruise…
    Anda recently posted…The Weekly Postcard: Autumn in ConnecticutMy Profile

    • Lyn says:

      It was really good checking out behind the scenes Anda, I really recommend it. I love seeing the details and level of organisation involved so hope our readers do too. I would have thought with a Californian climate the fruit and veg would be really good quality/flavour. We are so spoilt here in Perth with excellent produce and the ships do load here while in port. Thanks again for your comments.

  9. Vlad says:

    Interesting post! I’ve never been on a cruise, even though it’s on my wishlist. I just need to find a really good deal, I find them way over my current budget.
    Vlad recently posted…Thursday Tidbits: My writing processMy Profile

    • Lyn says:

      Thanks for your comment Vlad, you can find cruises starting from about $60-$70 (AUD) per day and when you consider that is travel, accommodation and food I think that is pretty good considering it is luxury living. I hope you get to try and that you enjoy.

  10. Lisa Mallis says:

    What a fabulous experience!!! I can’t get over the fact that there are over 300 people preparing the meals for over 2700 passengers and crew. That’s like a 1 : 9 ratio! No wonder people gain around 5 lbs when they take a cruise! I’m also impressed by your detail . . . “where the harboilded egg and olive become a penguin” . . . I’d love to see this!! Thanks for sharing!!!!!!!!!!!
    Lisa Mallis recently posted…Start Today to Streamline Your ScheduleMy Profile

    • Lyn says:

      Thank you Lisa, as you can tell I enjoy cruising. Yes the staffing levels make a customer feel very special and with all the choices of food the stair should become our second best friend. If you enjoyed this read I hope you check my others from previous cruises, in particular the Royal Princess Review

  1. […] cost you can avoid is the Ultimate Ship’s Tour.  I must tell you, it is amazing and we did purchase a ship tour as a memento of our first […]

  2. […] time the muster drill takes place, the laundry and room service process, etc. If you wish to book a ship’s tour we suggest you book as soon as you board as these are limited and do fill quickly. Also keep your […]

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