Stores

We are on a "smaller" cruise ship of about 2000 pax and I started to think of all the stuff that is needed to make a cruise work. In addition to the tons of food that 2000 folks consume, think about the ancillary stuff--knives (steak, fish, butter, bread, etc.), forks, spoons (there are about 20 varieties on the ship), plates (dinner, luncheon, bread, cups/saucers, mugs)...and the list goes on. Then there are all the different glasses. Each  food venue has to be stocked with everything as well as table cloths and napkins. Each bar has to have all sorts of glasses, corkscrews, bottle openers and the like. On a cruise many years ago, where we experienced a 21 degree tilt, the dining room lost 22,000 pieces of crockery and over 10,000 glasses. The next day there was not a shortage of anything...cruising as usual.

Let's move to the staterooms/cabins...they have all sorts of stuff too.  Sheets , pillowcases, pillows, mattresses, chairs, patio furniture, tables, televisions...the list goes on. Then come the towels. Our cabin has 2 bath sheets, 3 hand towels, 2 wash cloths, 1 floor mat,  2 bathrobes and 2 extra blankets. And, you can ask for more towels if you need them.

Public areas need stuff too. Tables and chairs come to mind as well as lounge chairs. If there's a pool nearby there are towels...dozens upon dozens of towels. Lastly there are napkins, napkins at the tables and piles of napkins in trays, in case you need one more, More towels are located in the spa. 

That's the easy stuff, but there is more. Countless pictures, sculptures, models, and vases decorate the hallways. Their only purpose is to be beautiful, and that's important too. 

Small things like hand wipes and jellied alcohol hide in plain sight. Every venue has standard stuff that sounds trivial on a small scale...but here we are talking a large scale. From ping-pong and pickleball balls and paddles to giant chess sets and shiny mahjong and domino tiles. The wealth of dry goods needed to outfit a ship is overwhelming. Think then about how much food is needed. We were on a very small Seven Seas cruise with less than 300 pax. On the final night of that cruise, the captain told us how much we had consumed. The only number I remember was 10,000 bottles of wine! I wonder what our wine consumption is on a much bigger ship? Our floating hotel at sea is a complex "machine" that has myriad parts that make it run.