American Meat

[steveyjc81]

Just wondering if anyone one else can confirm this of if I have dreamt this at some stage:

When on the TA last year, there was a Q&A session with the Captain (John in this case) and the top officers. I'm nearly sure one of them said that for the European cruises, the meat that they serve on board is all from the US.

That got me thinking just how the logistics of that would work?

 

[Tonka's Skipper]

In any number of ways. There are ship chandlers that specialize in having particular items for cruise Lines or the line themselves could send ocean container loads of frozen,nitrogenized or fresh meat/produce by ship to Europe, where it would be load on the vessel in whatever port. There is a lot of American meats sold in Europe.

My guess is DCL would rent space and have all kinds of items stored there, bases on the expected amounts needed for the summer season.

AKK

 

[DISNEY FANTASY]

In any number of ways. There are ship chandlers that specialize in having particular items for cruise Lines or the line themselves could send ocean container loads of frozen,nitrogenized or fresh meat/produce by ship to Europe, where it would be load on the vessel in whatever port. There is a lot of American meats sold in Europe.

My guess is DCL would rent space and have all kinds of items stored there, bases on the expected amounts needed for the summer season.

AKK

This is very true but they also do use European meat and food on European cruises. I recognise it. But the bulk is from the USA.

 

[Tonka's Skipper]

This is very true but they also do use European meat and food on European cruises. I recognise it. But the bulk is from the USA.

No argument from me, I was just commenting on the logistics.

AKK

 

[aggiedog]

I was in the Navy for 9 years, spent 2 on a ship with a 3,000 person capacity. The freezers/cooler rooms were larger than you can imagine. I have no doubt cruise ships are the same. You could start the cruise with a lot of frozen items, and as someone said, there is an entire resupply business out there as well.

 

[Bella29]

They do have huge freezers on the ships and apparently they are intricately packed. One cruise we were on there were no Krispy Kremes at the beginning of the week. These are my husband's favorite so he asked about it and was told that someone accidentally put the donuts too far back in the freezer so they couldn't get to them until the end of the week. Sure enough, at the end of the week out came the donuts!

 

[steveyjc81]

I wonder if this adds to the cost of the European DCL cruises, or if it is industry standard. You'd think most would love to eat grass fed beef from Europe :grin:

 

[Tonka's Skipper]

Not really much more, you can ship a full container of meat or reefer cargo at about at about 7.0 lbs for a $1.00. grass or grain feed found in the states and Europe. If its nitrated shipment is cheaper yet.

AKK

 

[MillauFr]

Much of the produce we buy in Winter comes from South America.

 

[Tonka's Skipper]

South America it is..............CHILE ,often fruit, Argentina, Columbia, Ecuador (both big on Bananas), Costa Rica and actual most South American countries export produce around A, Europe, etc.

AKK

 

[kiford]

I wonder if this adds to the cost of the European DCL cruises, or if it is industry standard. You'd think most would love to eat grass fed beef from Europe :grin:

We talked to one of the chefs after a cooking demo on our Med cruise and he said that it has to do with the fact that they have to buy their food from qualified and certified suppliers (we asked if they bought any local produce). Because they are only in the Med or Europe for a relatively short period of time, it's not really worth it for them to investigate and qualify new suppliers. The US suppliers that they use ship to other locations in the world. They have to be able to track and trace every piece of food that they use in case of any contamination so it's not just about the food but the processes and systems that are used to track every single box of food. So the food may well be from the US or just from a US-based supplier who may be supplying food from a foreign source (if frozen).

 

[DahliaRW]

We talked to one of the chefs after a cooking demo on our Med cruise and he said that it has to do with the fact that they have to buy their food from qualified and certified suppliers (we asked if they bought any local produce). Because they are only in the Med or Europe for a relatively short period of time, it's not really worth it for them to investigate and qualify new suppliers. The US suppliers that they use ship to other locations in the world. They have to be able to track and trace every piece of food that they use in case of any contamination so it's not just about the food but the processes and systems that are used to track every single box of food. So the food may well be from the US or just from a US-based supplier who may be supplying food from a foreign source (if frozen).

They definitely do get some things more locally (or in Europe at least). At the lava cake everyone can cook class the chef discussed how they have to change recipes based on where they are cruising. For example, the fat content in cream in Europe is different than the US. The little cream packets in cabanas were not from the US as well (and they were milk, not half and half).

 

[tvguy]

They do have huge freezers on the ships and apparently they are intricately packed. One cruise we were on there were no Krispy Kremes at the beginning of the week. These are my husband's favorite so he asked about it and was told that someone accidentally put the donuts too far back in the freezer so they couldn't get to them until the end of the week. Sure enough, at the end of the week out came the donuts!

LOL. Never understood why Disney cruisers are so fixated with Krispy Kreme Donuts. They are okay fresh out of the fryer but I cannot imagine they hold up to freezing. Other cruise lines I have been on make a big deal of their fresh made on board donuts. Of course, I live in an area where a lot of Krispy Kremes closed because they couldn't compete with the mom and pop donut shops they were located next to.

 

[Flossbolna]

They definitely do get some things more locally (or in Europe at least). At the lava cake everyone can cook class the chef discussed how they have to change recipes based on where they are cruising. For example, the fat content in cream in Europe is different than the US. The little cream packets in cabanas were not from the US as well (and they were milk, not half and half).

Yes, the butter packages were from Europe as well (Dutch), but jam was from the US.

I also noticed that after the first day the hash browns changed from the large rectangular shape to smaller rounder shapes. I thought that must have to do with them using a European supplier.