In today’s post we are going to do something a little different. Instead of writing about the new delicious dishes coming October 29th to Oasis of the Seas’ 150 Central Park by Chef Michael Schwartz, we are going to show you. So please sit back and relax as you enjoy a 5-course meal.
Posts Tagged ‘150 Central Park’
Last week marked our first Anchored in Excellence (AIE) visit to Oasis of the Seas. I still can’t believe she has been sailing almost a year! It was great to see so many of the officers and crew that were part of the start up team. There is something very special about being part of the first crew and the level of excitement and pride they exude everywhere.
It was great to see Brian and Natalie back onboard. We are in the process of installing the third cast of Hairspray, and Brian (Edna), and Natalie (Tracy), were part of the first cast and will be back after a well deserved break for the third cast of Hairspray. It was also fun watching Hairspray with them and they were so anxious to get to be back performing.
We had the opportunity to sample the new menu on 150 Central Park that chef Molly Brandt created. Molly will be the Chef of 150 on Allure of the Seas, but she got the opportunity to experience the operation on Oasis of the Seas and experience shipboard life and while she was there she created a new menu for Oasis.
Our guests have been enjoying the ship, and I heard a great story that happened last week. Two of our guests got engaged on the Carousel. The bride collects Carousels and absolutely loves them. Her fiancé booked the cruise on Oasis specifically so he could propose on the Carousel and it was a huge surprise for her. I’d love to hear from our guests on any other special proposals or celebrations on our very unique features on Oasis of the Seas!
A big topic of discussion onboard was the fact that over 400 of the crew from Oasis are leaving next week and heading to Turku for the Allure delivery. I will be joining them, and I look forward to sharing our crossing experiences and stories with everyone as we work our way from Turku to Port Everglades. Captain Zini has assured me it will be a smooth sailing - but I’ve heard that before. 
Allure of the Seas’ delivery is a month away. For many on our team, the preparations are getting more intense. For me, they’re getting more enjoyable. Here are two recent examples:
September 17th was a proud day for our Entertainment team. They summoned us to Nova Southeastern University for the run through of Blue Planet, the phenomenal show that will share the main theater on Allure of the Seas with Chicago the Musical. Even without the costumes or sets it was dazzling to take in the singing, dancing, flying, trampoline jumping, and everything else that is in the show. I’ve said in my comments to the audience that we used to wonder if we could ever be as good as Broadway. Now I think the question may be, can Broadway do the things we do? A Broadway musical doesn’t have to share the same stage with another show so that all the sets have to disappear and not get in the way of each other. Not to mention that the talent doesn’t have to perform at an extremely high level in multiple productions simultaneously. And the extra cost to the guest: zero.
As an aside, the Entertainment team had some of the DreamWorks characters at the run through. I think the head of the lion’s costume from Madagascar must be at least one gross registered ton.
Moving to the culinary world at the risk of the readers thinking all we do is sample our cruise fare every day (that is, when we’re not watching shows), we recently had lunch in the test kitchen to try the menu from 150 Central Park on Allure of the Seas. You may remember that Molly Brandt recently won a contest that we co-sponsored with the Culinary Institute of America to be the inaugural chef in our top of the line specialty restaurant that has been such a hit on Oasis of the Seas. Well, now we know why Molly won - she’s an amazing chef. I won’t spill the beans on the menu items but I will say that the concept, the presentation, and the taste will be a real treat for our guests. Plus, Molly is a pleasure to be around and we hope many of our readers get a chance to meet her and have the 150 Central Park experience.
KEYWORDS: 150 Central Park , Adam Goldstein , Allure of the Seas , Blue Planet , Chicago: The Musical , Cruise Lines , Cruise Ship Restaurants , Cruise Ship Specialty Restaurants , cruise ships , cruise vacations , DreamWorks Animation , Madagascar , Molly Brandt , Oasis of the Seas , Royal Caribbean International
Oasis of the Seas is home at beautiful Terminal 18 in Port Everglades. Our Sales Force is immersed in its National Sales Meeting onboard. Lots of work continues to take place on the ship’s appearance and facilities. The ship looks fabulous, especially Central Park, yet we had no trouble discussing unfinished items for over 90 minutes yesterday. That’s the nature of this business – there’s always more. We start entertaining in less than 60 hours.
Previously one of our waiters, Jacques de Kock, provided a guest entry about how he came to be a member of the team on Oasis. Apparently he likes doing my work for me as he has authored another entry which I include here. You can be sure we did not put words in Jacques’ mouth, as we could never write anything as ebulliently positive as what Jacques has written. Thanks Jacques.
This is a follow up on a report I wrote about my past 2 years in the Royal Caribbean company.
I explained my career so far and how I managed to get the opportunity of coming to the Oasis of the Seas, using the trainings which the company provided to me.
So I left from vacation on my way to Turku, Finland. I reached Turku, and a RCL representative welcomed me and brought me to the ship. One thing unfortunately the company couldn’t account for was the freezing cold. I reached the ship which luckily has air conditioning though. When I saw the ship I was left breathless. Honestly, this is a architectural masterpiece. Massive yet beautiful. I wish everyone could see it.
KEYWORDS: 150 Central Park , Central Park , Finland , FRETTE , Ft. Lauderdale , Jacques de Kock , Keriann von Raesfeld , Oasis of the Seas , Royal Caribbean , Turku
Lisa Bauer - Senior VP, Hotel Operations
We are almost home and in the final hours of preparation for our arrival. Overall, we are in a really good place. After twelve days onboard, I thought it would be appropriate to have a nice casual dinner for the first time with my entire hotel operations leadership team, so I asked Frank Weber, our VP of Food & Beverage, if he could set something up for our VPs and Directors of both shipboard and shore side operations. There were a total of 15 of us, so I figured he would come up with something, and perhaps put a few tables together somewhere so we could have a nice teambuilding evening. (Frank doesn’t do anything half way, so everything was way over the top…)
We of course had to tie our teambuilding event into either a launch or a stress test, so it became both. We started the evening by trying our new enomatic wine machines on decks 4 and 5 in the dining room. These are self-service wine machines where you can taste 1, 3 or 5 ounces of various wines with various price ranges. The very novel part of this is you simply insert your seapass, and can sample a medley of either white or red wines. It was also interesting to spend time with Marco, who is actually the son of the owner and creator of Enomatic, and he told us how his father started the company in Italy in 2001 and how the idea of wine tasting and the ability to sample wines has become so popular.
Lisa Bauer - Senior VP, Hotel Operations
We’ve had some requests to share some of our challenges, personally and professionally, as well as a sneak peak behind the scenes. I guess I could start with the personal challenges. I’m in the dog house at home, because right before leaving for Turku, we got a new chocolate lab puppy, Coco Chanel. My husband is at home with the puppy, who apparently is a hand full, and he has to take her to puppy class on Saturday afternoons instead of playing golf. So, personally I’m not too popular. The other personal challenge I am having is I was training to do the half marathon in Miami in January. Due to the rough weather, it hasn’t really been conducive to going to the gym or running, so a little behind there as well. Other than that, life is pretty good. I’m so lucky to work with such amazing people, most of my team is onboard and it doesn’t really feel like work when you are surrounded by such talented and great people. Most days I am just in awe, and very proud, of what they are capable of doing.
On the professional side, I’m not saying we don’t have challenges, because we certainly have some…… Due to the severe weather, we are behind with the installation of bolidt (outdoor floor covering) on our outer decks and pool decks. We are working around the clock to ensure this work is complete prior to our arrival in Port Everglades. We are behind putting the scenery into the theatre because we couldn’t have our crew up on ladders or in high places due to the wave heights and the ship motion. Our crew internet hasn’t worked yet due to server issues, and we had an air flow issue in Chops and the smoke was blowing into the restaurant instead of into the exhaust. We also have some cracks in the jewelry store and the locks don’t work. These are pretty good examples of some of the challenges, all of which we will address.
Lisa Bauer - Senior VP, Hotel Operations
It was a very busy day on Oasis. On my way to the gym, the spa manager asked me if I would participate in a stress test for a spa treatment. Stress testing in a spa is a bit of an oxy moron, but I agreed. The idea is to give all the therapists a chance to try out all the new treatments, and I got a Bamboo massage, which is a new treatment. Alina was awesome. With this massage, it is a partial regular massage, and then similar to a hot stone massage, but instead of stones, they use various sizes of bamboo. The bamboo is heated and then they use various sizes of bamboo and apply pressure. No stress in this test – all 100% relaxation. I think it was one of the best massages I’ve ever had. The spa actually officially opened for the crew today. There are 25 different treatment rooms, in addition to a full beauty salon. The salon has 5 manicure and 5 pedicure stations, an eyebrow bar, and full hair salon offerings. We also moved the Clean Shave services to the spa area as well. We are also getting ready to announce the ability to pre-book spa appointment pre-cruise (stay tuned for the actual press release, and I am sure I will get in trouble for even writing about it!).
Lots more unpacking is taking place. As I was doing my daily walk through of various areas, I saw that we actually put out the outdoor dining tables and chairs in Central Park. All the venues here, except 150 Central Park, will offer outdoor dining. I couldn’t believe that we had some crew members who were actually dining al fresco at Park Café today for lunch. It is still quite cold outside, but they said they found it refreshing. I think I will wait until we get into warmer weather to try a meal al fresco. The overall unpacking is on-going and so far we can’t find the table and chairs for Cupcake Cupboard. We have an APB on them right now.
The facilities team was very excited today because their “remote AVO” went live. What that really means is now all our facilities team has hand-held wireless devices, and when there is a maintenance issue, we can send it directly to whoever is closest to the area, rather than have to dispatch from one central location. They love it and the testing is going very well. (I guess it would be another oxymoron if they had to report a maintenance issue on the handhelds if they weren’t working???)
KEYWORDS: 150 Central Park , Adventure Ocean , Cupcake Cupboard , massage , Oasis of the Seas , Park Café , remote AVO , Rockin Rhythm Nation , Royal Caribbean , spa
Lisa Bauer - Senior VP, Hotel Operations
I’m rarely at a loss for words, but there is so much going on, I’m not sure where to even start. Going under the Great Belt Bridge was certainly an experience. I was on Deck 18 and it was pretty close! It was actually a little surreal being up there with the crew dressed in Halloween costumes and a full moon. Everyone was cheering so loudly as we approached the bridge, and then when everyone saw how close we were, it got completely silent for bit. As soon as we were on the other side, the cheering returned. Check out the video on Oasisoftheseas.com.
It was a big day on Central Park. We officially opened Park Café. I think this venue is going to be extremely popular and it is a great alternative to Windjammer, especially for the guests staying near Central Park. The F & B team created a signature sandwich that you can only get there. Frank Weber, our VP of F& B, said the sandwich is called “Fritz Kuemmelweck” (I call it a fresh carved roast beef sandwich). The bread is amazing and the meat is hand carved and then you can add horseradish or different kinds of mustard and the au jus is a great touch. Park Café also offers the ability to create your own salad that is then tossed for you, or you can also get pre-made salads such as Potato or Waldorf. In addition to the sliced roast beef (sorry Frank), you can get grilled Panini’s. I especially like the placemats – they look like grass. The team really paid attention to even the smallest of details in each of the restaurants.
Oasis of the Seas crossing under the Great Belt Bridge, Denmark
KEYWORDS: 150 Central Park , Captain Bill , Central Park , Coach , Denmark , Frank Weber , Great Belt Bridge , Keriann von Raesfeld , Lisa Bauer , Oasis of the Seas , Park Café , Royal Caribbean , Windjammer Cafe
Ok, so I’ve been on Oasis of the Seas for 30 hours. In no order of importance or anything else, here are some observations:
• A small group of management had dinner tonight at Giovanni’s Table. I ate too much to be blogging right now. It was fantastic. Spending this kind of quality time with our colleagues is one of the most enjoyable aspects of the business. Royal Caribbean people are truly special.
• We practiced the flag-changing ceremony tonight. The flag-changing will occur after the delivery papers are signed tomorrow. The practice consisted of listening to the national anthems of Finland, Norway the Bahamas and the United States multiple times, followed by the lead singer of Hairspray. I guess we’re ready.
• The fitness center is already open for workouts even though the ship isn’t ours yet. 35 minutes into my workout someone shut the power off in the gym. That doesn’t happen at home. Maybe we won’t accept the ship.
• Even though we can see our breath, which should not happen in the Caribbean, it is majestic in Central Park at night. And Central Park is still a partial construction site missing 12,000 plants and trees.
• Usually an onboard announcement is introduced by the familiar ding-ding-ding that we now have in our television announcements. For unknown reasons the shipyard personnel testing the public address system have replaced the ding-ding-ding with something that sounds like a cross between a sick sheep and a drunk cow. Maybe this is one of the techniques for getting through a long dark winter.
KEYWORDS: 150 Central Park , Bahamas , Central Park , Finland , Giovanni’s Table , Hairspray , Keriann von Raesfeld , Norway , Oasis of the Seas , Phillies , Richard Fain , Royal Caribbean , Studio B , United States , World Series , Yankees
Recently a reader posted a desire to know more about the culinary effort that will deliver the Wow to Oasis of the Seas’ guests. I asked Josef Jungwirth, our Director, Culinary Operations to give some flavor (sorry) to our readers’ understanding. Josef is a key lieutenant for the overall Food & Beverage team under the direction of Frank Weber, Vice President, Food & Beverage. Josef has presided over the culinary aspect of our new ship launches for many years.
Josef Jungwirth, Director, Culinary Operations
I am privileged to manage, together with my culinary team, all the projects and tasks related to the food offerings onboard the greatest and most innovative ship built to date, Oasis of the Seas.
My task was to develop the menu programs for all the different types of restaurants which span from a first rate exclusive restaurant (150 Central Park) to a casual Italian trattoria, a tapas style at Vintages, all the various Café’s, the ever popular Windjammer buffet, a spectacular dining room, room service, and more. Calculating these menus and concepts includes tantalizing the taste buds of 6,200 guests, and our 2,300 internal guests (crew), a grand total of 8,500 for breakfast, lunch & dinner, seven days a week, 365 days a year.
Cooking aficionados who prepare meals for themselves, for their families and occasionally plan a BBQ or party will truly appreciate what it takes to create the vast and varied number of dishes available onboard the ship on a daily basis, continually throughout the whole cruise.
KEYWORDS: 150 Central Park , Boardwalk Donut Shop , Café Mondo , Café Promenade , Chef’s Table , Chops Grille , Director Culinary Operations , Executive Chef , Food & Beverage , Frank Weber , Giovanni’s , Helga Finnsdottir , Ivo Jahn , Johnny Rockets , Josef Jungwirth , Oasis of the Seas , Park Café , Royal Caribbean , Seafood Shack , Sorrento’s , Vintage , Windjammer Cafe
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