The cruise market is still dominated by North American passengers wherever the ships are operating. Passengers from European countries are taking an increasing share. But as cruise passengers become more international, with cruise lines marketing their programmes and placing ships in China and other Asian countries, for example, they need to provide diverse menus and cater for a wider variety of tastes, preferences, and cultural and religious requirements.
In just one recent example, Costa Cruises has created a dedicated vegan and vegetarian menu on its cruise ships. The operator said this option has been introduced in response to the growing demand for menu options that cut out all dairy products and even eggs, instead using ingredients derived from plants.
Antonio Brizzi, Costa’s corporate executive chef, said: “Vegetarian dishes have always been part of Italian culinary tradition and we are delighted to introduce them as a full and separate menu on board our cruise ships. We aim to fulfil the needs of our customers and ensure they enjoy their time on our ships.”
This trend means that cruise operators have to provide for those needs both through the skills of their chefs and through the food and galley facilities on board. Added to that is the need for safer and more efficient equipment and galley spaces. This is reflected in the galley equipment that is being developed by the leading suppliers and installed on board the latest cruise ships.
Galley equipment specialist Almaco is supplying what it describes as complete food handling solutions for galleys, provisions stores and refrigeration machinery on board two new ships for Star Cruises, which are currently on order at Meyer Werft in Germany. One is due to be delivered during the second half of 2016 and the other in 2017.
Almaco’s work for the two new ships includes the design, supply and installation of all catering-related equipment in the galleys, bars, buffets, pantries, provision stores, and refrigeration machinery. It will also provide the latest energy-saving and monitoring technology in the form of its integrated catering management (ICM) system. This incorporates the galley energy management system Amalco GEM 2.0, and the refrigeration equipment monitoring system Amalco REM, as well as data retrieval from ovens and dishwashers, to enable the comprehensive management of the food handling areas.
Almaco GEM 2.0 is a system developed by the company that enables shipowners to significantly reduce the power consumption of the cooking equipment in the galley areas. Amalco points out that this is a major benefit as galleys are one of the largest consumers of electrical power on cruise ships.
Almaco REM, which was also developed by the company, controls and monitors the refrigeration plants, provision stores and the galley refrigerators with one single system, and enables a full overview of the hundreds of cold consumers of the vessel.
Björn Stenwall, president of Almaco’s marine division, said: “The strength of Almaco’s long-term relationship with Meyer Werft and Star Cruises is reinforced by the order to deliver high quality and energy-efficient food handling solutions for their newbuilds. Almaco’s knowledge and expertise in delivering catering solutions for newbuilds together with our close co-operation with Meyer Werft supports the continuous leadership of Almaco’s complete food handling solutions in the newbuilding cruise market.”
At SeaKing, sales vice president Jan Montonen told Passenger Ship Technology: “We have been developing a lot of new technology lately, such as the catering management system SeaKing CMS that offers shipowners both labour and energy saving opportunities. One feature of the system is automatic demand-based ventilation control that enables energy savings of more than 20 per cent compared with traditional galley ventilation systems. We have also continued the development and delivery of our self-wash UV grease hoods.”
SeaKing CMS is an integrated monitoring, control and advisory tool to reduce energy and maintenance costs and to improve labour efficiency and food safety management. It enables owners to save on fuel costs by monitoring and managing the energy consumption and status of the equipment, and by guiding operations with real-time status screens and key performance indicator dashboards. It also provides load calculations for the control of demand-based ventilation and can limit electrical loads to the available levels. Equipment usage and diagnostics data provides a tool for cost efficient maintenance.
SeaKing has also developed an innovative self-wash UV (ultra violet) grease hood and canopy control system that is demand-based. The actual usage data of the adjacent galley equipment is used to control the operation of the UV lights and the automatic hood wash cycles. This enables water and detergent savings and extends the usable lifetime of the UV lights.
The system can also control the exhaust flow from the individual hood and canopy sections to enable demand-based ventilation. The control system monitors energy usage in the whole galley area to ensure the overall ventilation levels are sufficient to remove that energy and maintain a comfortable work environment. The energy savings potential of demand-based ventilation control is considerable compared to traditional solutions.
Mr Montonen added: “We have commissioned several SeaKing galleys this year, for example, for the P&O Cruises’ new ship Britannia, Royal Caribbean International’s Anthem of the Seas and TUI Cruises’ Mein Schiff 4. The industry is in a very interesting phase with the yard’s orderbooks full for the next four to five years and many new concepts are being developed.”
Maschinenfabrik Kurt Neubauer (MKN) has developed its new compact steamer, SpaceCombi, which is designed to make best use of limited space - a crucial factor when equipping shipboard galleys.
MKN’s marketing manager Anja Halbauer said: “Many professional chefs appreciate the multifunctionality and user friendliness of a modern combi steamer. However, some of them do not have sufficient room in their galley or they need their combi steamers situated for front of house cooking and at serving stations, where every centimetre counts. With the space saving SpaceCombi models, MKN offers a professional solution which is specifically geared to these conditions.
“The SpaceCombi is only 55cm wide, but is comparable to larger models. Its user-oriented features include the state of the art MagicPilot touch and slide operating concept, the WaveClean automatic cleaning system and the GreenInside consumption display. These are just a few examples of the features which make the SpaceCombi a high performance professional appliance. In addition, despite its slim width, it offers substantial capacity.”
The SpaceCombi Compact provides 6 x GN 1/1and SpaceCombi Junior provides 6 x GN 2/3. Users can choose whether they want to operate the combi steamer similarly to a smartphone, using easy touch and swipe gestures or they prefer a classical control system.
“Anyone involved in food production has to pay special attention to cleanliness. Cleaning appliances in professional kitchens is an important aspect. It needs to be carried out very fast and easily during the busy daily galley routine. Automatic cleaning programmes for cleaning cooking chambers provide considerable support, for example, in combi steamers. But these also need to be cleaned from the outside in a fast and safe manner.
“The MKN FlexiCombi optimises the process further, as it can be certified to IPX6 standard and is therefore protected against strong jets of water. This means that the user benefits from thorough cleaning with additional protection. The IPX6 standard ensures more safety for the electrical components even when the FlexiCombi is sprayed with large quantities of water.
MKN has installed galley equipment on a number of international cruise ships, including those of Costa Cruises. “Our equipment is designed to produce culinary specialities that are typical for the most exotic locations,” Ms Halbauer said.
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