SS Dawn Princess Menus, 2014

Notes from the collector: A full set of menus from our recent trip to New Zealand and return to Melbourne. The easy way to travel. The voyage, to use maritime language, was for thirteen nights. The ship makes about six or seven exact same voyages each summer. So the menus are exactly the same each time. This system has numerous advantages as you can imagine. The main galley prepares some nine to ten thousand meals each day. In the information sheets I sent some time ago the ship told the number of staff involved in the preparation of meals. With computers the number of each item served can be recorded exactly making ordering much more precise than in the old days. Percentages of each item ordered can be used for further purchases using the entire summer voyages as a guideline. Nowadays a ship turns around in about ten hours so everything has to be delivered and stored to a strict schedule. Thus many of the staff have to work harder while in port than at sea. I recall the ships I served on had two or three days in San Francisco to take on goods for the next voyage. The new provisions for our latest voyage would have been loaded in Melbourne where everything would have been available and goods would be of a high standard determined by shore visits to the various providers. The only item I saw being taken aboard on the cruise was fuel in Auckland, New Zealand. The menus – The clue for each night is at the bottom of the page with Italian Night, English Night, etc. etc. It seemed to be the Head Waiter’s job to see the waiters used the correct ones for the particular night. The menus are well balanced with three appetizers, four soups and salads, and six or so main courses. No one went hungry. The mains included a pasta, a vegetarian, a fish or seafood, and one or two red meat and or a poultry dish. Some dishes used to be flambéed at the table as did desserts, but with current concerns this has been done away with. And if there is nothing to one’s liking for the night, then one can always choose one, or two or three of the items on the left hand side of the menu. After the three courses, one is presented with a dessert menu which again offers many choices and old regulars. We often just asked for ice cream, which of course, changed daily and was entirely made on the ship, I never noticed many passengers ordering any of drinks on the left hand side of the dessert menu. There was a comprehensive wine list in addition to the above mentioned.. In order to please light drinkers, one could have just one glass and the waiter would mark the bottle and one could have more the next night. Everyone on the staff tried their best to please and if one didn’t want, say Brussels sprouts, then one could ask for something else. I don’t think menus have changed much over the years except perhaps healthier, smaller portions, but not too small, and notices to warn of eating undercooked items and reference to allergies and diet requests. The dining room had separate breakfast and lunch menus of a much simpler style, but still with daily specials. In case one couldn’t wait for the dining room to open there was always the buffet which had everything anyone could want and was open about eighteen hours each day. In addition there was a restaurant which served only pizzas and also a steakhouse open for evening meals at a slight extra charge. If getting from one’s stateroom to the dining room proved too difficult there was always room service, twenty-four hours a day. The main dining rooms had two sittings for dinner – the first about 5:45 and the second about 7:45. Now there is a trend to have open seating from say 5 PM to 10 PM which allows to dine when the please more or less. We first came across this on a Norwegian Line Ship and it worked well. If one went to the dining room and your preference was not available, you were given a beeper and when a table was available they gave you a buzz. Usually only five or ten minutes. No problem since you weren’t going anywhere.