Fishy business for Lisa

As good as the food can be on cruise ships – and it can be very, very good – a little local knowledge can sometimes find even better meals ashore, as a group of top brass from Royal Caribbean discovered this week.
Lisa Bauer (left), head of hotel operations, has been visiting the Mediterranean for a hectic tour of three of the line’s ships, together with Captain Bill Wright, the boss of Marine Operations, and HR man John McGirl.
Between dashing from Rome, Majorca, Barcelona, and Rome again, visiting Adventure, Navigator and Voyager of the Seas, they had just once chance for a run ashore, in Sardinia.
As Lisa tells in Royal Caribbean’s Nation of Why Not blog . . .
“We joined our Captain a for lunch shore side.  Our Hotel Director, Tony, is actually from there, so we went to an amazing local restaurant.  There weren’t any menus, and they just kept bringing course after course after course of fish.  
“The guys loved it.  I’ve never seen so much food, and was later told that was just meant to be the appetiser.”
Only one small problem. Lisa explains:  “Unfortunately I don’t eat fish, but I greatly enjoyed watching them enjoy the feast and had some very good local cheeses and great conversation.”
Tony kept his job, and has been demonstrating to Lisa some of the changes to operations that have been made on board Adventure of the Seas on the ship’s first visit to European waters, after sailing in the Caribbean for nine years.
“The biggest adjustments related to ensuring we had the appropriate language skills.  We also had to change the entertainment, so it was less about the language and more visual, so everyone on board could enjoy it.  Dining times also were adjusted to account for the demand for later dinner seatings,” says Lisa.
One more change Tony has to make before Lisa’s next visit – and she’s sure to be back as Royal Caribbean will have 12 ships in the Med next summer – find a good local restaurant serving more than fish.