Cruising

I spent a couple days in Vigo last week, which is the second most important fishing port in the world after Tokyo. I mostly went to get a sense of the city, take a look around and try to talk to someone in the port authority to get permission to photograph. I got there on a Friday, and had hoped I’d be able to get in to shoot the next morning, but no such luck – email someone, wait a week, maybe. Instead, I wandered around the part of the port that is accessible to the public, and somehow (I’m not sure how anything this big can sneak up you) in the course of a quick coffee a cruise ship pulled in. I think this might be the first time I’ve actually seen a cruise liner up close, and needless to say they’re bloody massive.

For fun I did a search on what a typical cruise ship provisions before setting sail…

• 24,236 pounds of beef
• 5,040 pounds of lamb
• 7,216 pounds of pork
• 4,600 pounds of veal
• 1,680 pounds of sausage
• 10,211 pounds of chicken
• 3,156 pounds of turkey
• 13,851 pounds of fish
• 350 pounds of crab
• 2,100 pounds of lobster
• 25,736 pounds of fresh vegetables
• 15,150 pounds of potatoes
• 20,003 pounds of fresh fruit
• 3,260 gallons of milk
• 1,976 quarts of cream
• 600 gallons of ice cream
• 9,235 dozen eggs
• 5,750 pounds of sugar
• 3,800 pounds of rice
• 1,750 pounds of cereal
• 450 pounds of jelly
• 2,458 pounds of coffee
• 1,936 pounds of cookies
• 2,450 tea bags
• 120 pounds of herbs and spices
• 3,400 bottles of assorted wines
• 200 bottles of champagne
• 200 bottles of gin
• 290 bottles of vodka
• 350 bottles of whiskey
• 150 bottles of rum
• 45 bottles of sherry
• 600 bottles of assorted liqueurs
• 10,100 bottles/cans of beer

I can imagine with 3000 people on board eating three meals a day, waste from buffets, and over-indulgent vacationers all that’s pretty much gobbled up by the end of the trip. I have to assume that some of that is kept in reserve in case of emergency, but seems like there could be the potential for trouble if things go bad while out on the ocean. I chuckled imagining tuxedoed and top-hatted Brits drifting off the Bay of Biscay knocking each other about with empty champagne bottles as they battle over the last of the prime rib.

Note: Sadly none of the English passengers exiting the ship were wearing top hats or tuxedos. Khaki shorts, sunburns and flip-flops all.

This entry was posted on Friday, May 14th, 2010. It is filed under Field Notes and tagged with Food, Tourism. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.