Reflections to 50 - Cruise trip, a logistical marvel

 So we went on a cruise

Yes!

Imagine that...all the way to Miami Florida and we sailed for 7 days!

what an experience...loved every moment

so much to write about!!

as someone who is in Operations, let me just start with the sheer logistics of running such a tight ship....literally!

I can imagine that they sat down, identified all the point which would have bottle necks and resolved them!

 - at the point of entry, the large suitcases have to be tagged with tags that had already been emailed to us, which we were required to print so that once you get to the entry point, you simply just drop off your bags and they will get delivered outside your cabin within 2hrs - for all 4000 passengers!

 - when you enter the ship you are given a card that is the one that will help you deal while inside the ship. The card will be used to access your cabin, when purchasing drinks/refreshments, when exiting the ship when it docks..with this one card, they can have real time intel on so much information regarding movement of people (they will for sure know immediately who has been left in one of the stop overs!) and stock of drinks etc

 - the food was available in huge quantities from 6am to midnight! to prepare such quantities of food and it remains interesting and fresh till the end of the cruise is really something! Cant imagine the number of chefs and kitchen staff they need to have - they seemed to be everywhere..replenishing the food, clearing tables, bringing in new cutlery etc - no long queues to the delicacy one desires...amazing!

 - the ship is clean - I mean the rooms are checked twice a day and towels replenished, the corridors and other common areas are clean - all this is made possible by the staff - the brief must be  - clean continously!

 - the entertainment was so varied and planned for each night - from jazz songs, to large concert performances, to karaoke, to silent discos, piano music..to put together various performances  fit for every night and happening in various corners of the ship is just wonderful!

 - not to mention the sheer size of the ship...19 decks (floors)...weuhh!!

So many logistical angles that as we were enjoying ourselves, I wondered whether any crisis occurred while we were at sea....

Wow!