WHEN Royal Caribbean Line's gargantuan new Symphony of the Seas slips out of the French yard where she is being built this April, and heads to Barcelona for her first season of sailing the Western Mediterranean, there'll be enough food and drinks aboard to slake the hunger and thirst of many a small town, DAVID ELLIS reports.
As the world's largest-ever passenger ship, Symphony of the Seas will scale in at more than 230,000 tonnes and carry up to 6870 passengers. And they will need to be fed three times daily, as well as with snacks around the clock, in some 20 dining venues ranging from one that seats just 16 for very special occasions, to others seating diners by the score.
Plus there'll be nearly 2200 crew who will need to be fed and watered around the clock.
So it is little wonder her shopping list for that first sailing, and all subsequent weekly sailings in the Mediterranean, and then from October in the Caribbean, is as gargantuan as the ship herself.
That list includes 8900kg of chicken, 8300kg of beef, 3200kg of fish, 5400 portions of lobster tails and 10,000 hot dog frankfurters, 6700kg of potatoes, 4000kg of tomatoes, 48,000 eggs, 20,000-plus kilos of fruit and vegetables, enough ice cream to fill 21,000 cones, and 860kg of coffee.
And for those with a thirst, there'll be 33,000 bottles and cans of beer, 17,000 of soft drinks, more than 2000 bottles of spirits, and 6100 bottles of wine - all for just one week of holidaymaking.
All these numbers, together with 10,300 rolls of toilet paper, will be kept topped up for every weekly sailing after that inaugural week - with ages and nationalities of guests monitored to ensure all cultures and dietary needs are catered for.
