Early 2020 AD. Danny and I embark on a 21st century Odyssey. On the Majestic Princess from Sydney to New Caledonia, Vanuatu and Fiji. Back to Sydney, then to Melbourne and flying back home.

We did this cruise before the coronavirus epidemic became a pandemic. We are very aware the travel industry and in particular the cruising industry is hit hard by the consequences of the pandemic. Travelling and cruising may never be the same again. But this is how we experienced cruising on the Majestic Princess in January and February 2020.

On the last day executive chef Dirk Daumichen from Berlin in Germany and maitre d’ Giorgio Pisano from Calabria in Italy gave a cooking class. This class was followed by a little tour of the galley.

They prepared for us a shrimp and crab cocktail, linguine a la vongole, shrimp fra diabole and a black forrest or Schwarzwälder Kirchetorte.

This may sound unimpressive, but Daumichen and Pisano made a real comedy act of, while at the same time giving us information. I will give you one statistic. For some 4,000 people on board the kitchen crew of 285 (including 240 chefs) prepare 25,000 meals. These are served by some 350 waiters and bartenders.

I will let the video speak for itself.

After the class we walked through the galley.