A day in the life of a cruise ship chef

John Suley, Director of Culinary Operations for Celebrity Cruises, tells us about the challenges of running a team of 2,500 chefs on 10 ships, scattered all over the globe.

Can you imagine being responsible for a dining experience where 2,500 chefs from 80 different countries expertly craft up to 150,000 meals each day from scratch, each meeting high standards of taste, presentation and quality? Now picture this: the dining venue is spread across 10 moving locations around the world.

Thousands of carefully selected ingredients need to reach each of these locations on time. It’s an orchestrated symphony with countless critical instruments each playing their part, and conducting this symphony has been my life for the past year.

Land lubber gets his sea legs

For most of my career, I’ve been a land-based chef, with experience working in some of the world’s most dynamic dining cities – including New York, Miami and Las Vegas. When I was just out of culinary school, I went to London and Paris and knocked on the doors of the restaurants of some of the world’s most celebrated chefs, pleading for the opportunity to work just to learn everything I could. When they agreed to let me in and I stepped into their kitchens for the first time, the thrill of learning kicked in. Then, last year the chance to run culinary operations Celebrity Cruises and its fleet of 10 ships became available. I like a challenge, so I went for it.

Every day is different

One constant about my job is that no two days in my work life are the same; and I like it that way - keeps things interesting.

On a Monday, you might find me in the middle of the Caribbean, in one of our ships’ galleys for 10 hours straight to train the onboard chef team on the creation of new menu items. On days like that, we’ll cook each new recipe over and over again together, taking pictures of every step, documenting the nuances that make each dish a memorable taste experience for our guests.

Then, by Thursday, I could be in my office in our Miami headquarters, meeting with food vendors, developing recipes in our test kitchen, integrating with our beverage team to create a new food-and-wine pairing menu for one of our speciality restaurants, or scrutinizing guest comments to ensure we’re not just meeting their expectations, but exceeding them. And yes, occasionally, there is a need to attend management meetings, which has been an adjustment – I’m very much a hands-on, not-behind-a-desk person, or so I thought – but a welcome addition to my professional experience.

Stylish ships

The dining experience that Celebrity Cruises offers to holidaymakers is absolutely top-notch. People step onto our ships for the first time, and the first thing that they notice is the style. The second thing that blows people away is the food. It’s incredibly rewarding to play a part every day in giving thousands of people the opportunity to truly immerse themselves in what we call modern luxury, through the enjoyment of food, whether in our restaurants, at our cooking demonstrations, at our gelateria – you name it.

Memorable holiday food

The fact is, food brings people together. We all get caught up in our everyday routines and forget that within each of us is a passion for discovery, for the senses, for savouring life. There’s no better time to reignite that passion than a holiday, when people are at their most relaxed and open, when they are enjoying life to the fullest...together. I want our guests to leave the whole experience to us...to just sit back, listen to the music, and taste.  

More 'day in the life' stories

A day in the life of a home economist

A day in the life of a Suffolk bakery

A day in the life of a fish farmer