Serving up Pesach meals onboard ship

There’s no shortage of matzah and other Pesach food on board Carnival ships cruising in Australia, New Zealand and Asia-Pacific waters this week, thanks to planning by Jeremy Goodman, Regional Director of Strategic Sourcing and Supply Chain at Carnival Corporation.

Goodman has led the supply chain team for almost 10 years and is responsible for organising food, beverages and supplies for Carnival Corporation ships including Carnival Cruise Line, Princess Cruises, Holland America Line, Seabourn and Cunard across the region.

“The Pesach list includes matzah, matzah meal, horseradish, gefilte fish, chicken liver and beef ribs, plus a host of other products that would already be onboard including various cuts of kosher meat,” said Goodman.
“And we have loaded many bottles of Kedem wine!”
In fact, everything apart from a seder service, which is available on some of the Carnival group’s American cruises.

“Many ships also offer an abridged seder which includes a seder plate, matzah and charoset. It is held in a room especially set aside for Jewish guests and hosted by the onboard team,” he said.

Goodman said the Carnival Corporation’s eight ships currently in the Australia-Pacific region have collectively loaded about 60kg of short ribs, 60 kg of chicken livers, 50 lots of matzah boxes and 24 logs of gefilte fish for this Pesach.

He noted that the total food, drinks and amenities spend for the Carnival Corporation fleet in the region sits at approximately $150 million a year and requires careful planning to be negotiated, ordered and delivered onboard in a timely manner.

Goodman, who attended Moriah College, studied aviation management and operations at The University of New South Wales (UNSW) graduating in 2006. He worked in the hotel, leisure and entertainment industries before joining Carnival in 2016.
Goodman ensures that Jewish guests seeking kosher food are well catered for.

“Most people book their cruise well in advance, and kosher options are usually available if requested ahead of time,” he said.
“Some guests on our luxury cruise ships have requested their kosher meals be cooked fresh rather than having airline-style pre-packaged meals, so for them we have sourced kosher meat that the chefs cook from scratch on board ship, even using new pans, plates and utensils if requested.
“It is about creating a wonderful experience by understanding the needs of our guests.”

Goodman said that cruise ships load everything they need at their home port, which is where the voyage usually starts and ends, taking on 400-600 pallets every 10-14 days depending in the size of the ship and the length of the voyage.

For more information: carnival.com.au, princess.com/en-au, hollandamerica.com/en/au, cunard.com/en-au and seabourn.com/en/au