There were 4,500 guests on our cruise, in addition to a 1,440 international crew, totaling 6,000 people on the ship, Royal Caribbean’s Independence of the Seas. (Royal Caribbean’s other ships are even larger.) How does everything get done so quickly and efficiently? We signed up for a tour to find out. 

Except for three meals at the ship’s specialty restaurants – Giovanni’s Table, Chops Grille, and Izumi Hibachi – we ate most of our meals, including many breakfasts, in the ship’s main dining room. That was the first stop on our tour. 

There are actually three main dining rooms, on decks 3, 4, and 5. Roht, a head waiter who has been with the cruise line for eight years, said 320 crew members work in the ship’s restaurants. In total, the three levels can seat 1,800 people a seating. Besides serving each guest an appetizer, main course, and dessert, the waiters take drink orders, often between 500 and 600 for each seating. 

On our next stop, the kitchen, we had a glimpse of how all that food is acquired and prepared. In one area, there were hundreds of small aluminum bowls that would hold one of the appetizers, shrimp cocktail. We watched as two bakers prepared baking pans of the dining room’s pretzel bread, a favorite of many on our tour. 

When in port, the ship receives deliveries of meats, fresh fruits and vegetables. We were told that the ship is able to store enough food for two to three weeks. No one on the ship will ever go hungry.

Moving from one department to another, we walked down a hallway dubbed I-95, the longest thoroughfare on the ship, running the entire 1,112 feet. Along the corridor we could see smaller hallways where crew members have their staterooms. 

Like many cruise lines, Royal Caribbean strives to operate in an environmentally friendly way. All the trash on the ship is separated and later sold to vendors. The proceeds from those sales are deposited in an employee fund to be used for special celebrations. Our guide told us that with 63 different nationalities represented among the crew, there’s always a national holiday to celebrate.

Laundry is another big department on the ship. The ship’s guests produce an enormous amount of towels, sheets, and other linens that need to be washed, dried, and folded. Each day, the laundry handles 56,000 napkins from the dining rooms. We watched as workers fed towels and sheets into drying and pressing machines. In another area, there were machines for dry cleaning and pressing clothes. A supervisor explained that each garment sent to be cleaned is inspected for care requirements so that it can be properly cared for.

We were not allowed to take photos in the engine room, the desks and walls covered with many screens showing various areas of the ship. We were permitted to take photos in our final stop, the bridge where the captain and his crew work. It’s positioned in the front of the ship so the views were stunning.

Since so many of the crew members sign contracts for six to nine month stints on the ship, there were posters and other displays detailing all the activities available for when workers have some free time. We came away from the tour with a new appreciation of how much management, cooperation, and yes, camaraderie, is involved in keeping a cruise ship running smoothly.

Photos by Woman Around Town