Galley Tour

Cruise ships have a reputation for harboring their steamy secrets, and the galley tour is one of them. Compact and efficient, the galley has little room for extra traffic, so galley tours are rarely advertised; you have to know about them and seek them out.  Vann and I did just that on a recent sea day.

The Viking Sky food service operation is responsible for feeding 930 passengers and a crew of 465 every day.  There are eight cafes and restaurants on board plus 24-hour room service and the crew dining room.  Here are some highlights from our tour:

Not surprisingly, the whole system is computerized.  The wait staff use handheld devices smaller than a cell phone into which they input every detail of each order.  Sauce on the side? A half portion? Hold the anchovies?  It all gets input and immediately appears on screens downstairs in the galley.

The galley is stainless steel and spotless. Traffic flows in one direction around a central core where there is an escalator that delivers servers with their trays to the dining areas above.

The room service operation is busiest at breakfast, with hundreds of meals delivered between 6:00 and 10:00am.  During that peak, room service monopolizes nearly every surface in the whole galley.

The bakery is a 24-hour operation, preparing  all the breads, pastries, sweets and desserts served onboard (with the exception of English muffins, which are purchased.)

There are eight flavors of gelato and sorbet made onboard every day…and not just your old chocolate, strawberry and vanilla!  Today’s flavors included pear sorbet, Sacher torte, hazelnut, salted caramel, and green tea.  (Coffee with fudge sauce is a favorite.)

We haven’t talked about afternoon tea, which we have only taken one time.  It’s a very civilized ritual in the Winter Garden, a charming and tranquil corner of the ship.  But, truth be told, it’s just too much food.  Gotta draw the line somewhere…and save room for gelato!