New documentary from April 15th on RTL+RTL reporter looks behind the scenes at AIDA Cosma – THESE jobs are available on the mega cruise ship!

“I was actually allowed to look everywhere that no one else was allowed to go”

How and where do people on cruise ships work in secret to make the vacation dreams of thousands of passengers come true? In an interview with RTL.de, Ralf Herrmann revealed in advance what impressed him most on the cruise ship.

Reading tip: RTL documentary highlight in April! Whether it's a candy manufacturer, a furniture store, a cruise ship or a hardware store! “Inside” looks behind the scenes of popular brands

“I’ve seen so much there, I don’t even know where to start,” says Ralf Herrmann at the beginning of the interview. “I was actually allowed to look everywhere that no one else was allowed to go.” And the reporter met crew members who do jobs that probably only very few passengers even know exist.

For proper waste disposal on AIDA: Employees “dig through” leftover food

Ralf came across one of these jobs while disposing of garbage. Have you ever wondered what happens to the leftover food that happens on a cruise ship? “I thought everything that was left would go into some big dumpster and that would be the end of it,” said the reporter. But you thought wrong. In reality, it is like this: the waste “is processed into biological granules, all the water is removed and it is then like fertilizer. So totally organic.”

But: “Of course there can’t be a napkin in there, there can’t be a toothpick in there, these stickers on oranges or something like that, everything has to be removed.” And that's exactly why there's a special job on board the mega ship. “Our leftover food on the plate would be rummaged through again because our eyes were bigger than our hunger.”

“I found it a tough job because I didn’t expect anything like that.”said the reporter.

Creative cruise ship cuisine – this is where food is created for over 8,000 people

What also impressed Ralf Herrmann was the kitchen and everything related to food on board. “So, this is a kitchen that cooks for over 8,000 people. (…) There is everything there, there is a bakery, a butcher's shop.” And what's also there in the kitchen of the huge cruise ship: an employee who carves pictures into watermelons. “Zack, zack at an incredible speed,” remembers Ralf.

And the reporter also has a fun fact with him: “What's the quickest way to make 5,000 meatballs that are eaten every day? You take the meat and then an employee uses an ice cream scoop to form 5,000 balls a day from the minced meat, brilliant.”

Reading tip: Secret files on a cruise ship – ship's doctor about his most blatant cases

By the way: Despite the immense size of the ship, AIDA relies on homemade goods instead of finished products. “They cook everything fresh. I couldn't quite believe it at first because I thought that a lot of ready-made products were used or made with powder.” But even bouillon is made fresh – “in a huge 500 liter pot”.

In order to maintain this standard, it is important that the cruise ships are regularly supplied with new and fresh food. The so-called first provisions master is responsible for this – another job that few, if any, passengers know anything about. “That was another thing that I found really exciting because there were such incredible quantities.” For example, within a week the AIDA ship would need 5,000 kilos of pineapples, 5,000 kilos of watermelons, 9,000 rolls of toilet paper and 50,000 eggs.

In the AIDA laundry, laundry is done “around the clock”.

Reporter Ralf Herrmann expected the last big surprise in the laundry, as he says. Of course, it is not surprising that there is a laundry and therefore laundry employees on board a cruise ship and every passenger can probably imagine that. But the dimensions of this department are gigantic. “These are all simply extreme dimensions,” says Ralf Herrmann, describing his impressions. “The huge washing machine, which consists of several connected in series, can handle 625 kilos of laundry per cycle, and this washing machine runs 24 hours a day.”

And then there's something else in the ship's laundry that caught the reporter's attention: “There is a bathrobe folding machine. The bathrobes are folded automatically because there are so many on board.” Only belts would have to be wrapped around it manually.

Reading tip: Dream cruise for little money – with these tips you can save a lot

“Inside AIDA – The secrets of the cruise giant” on April 15th on RTL and anytime on RTL+

These are all things “that as a passenger you don’t even think about.” All the more exciting are insights like those that Ralf Herrmann got during his time on the AIDA Cosma and which you can see on RTL on Wednesday, April 15th at 8:15 p.m. in “Inside AIDA – The Secrets of the Cruise Giant”. You can also do this from April 15th third episode of the “Inside” documentary series also stream on RTL+ at any time.

By the way: Ralf Herrmann not only visited the AIDA Cosma for the documentary, but also on a Hurtigruten ship. Here he experienced the complete opposite. Instead of over 8,000 people, there were less than 500 on board. Overall, everything was “much more intimate, smaller, quieter”. And the special thing: The Hurtigruten cruise ship, actually a mail and cargo ship, is still used as a cargo ship. You can also see how the employees manage the balancing act between work and a cruise ship and how passengers experience their time on a Hurtigruten ship in episode 3 of the “Inside” documentary series.

Source used: own RTL research