24 hours in the Galley

Ship: Roald Amundsen
Date: 06.02.2026
Position: 1906,6’N 08205,1’W
Course: 300
Etmal: 106 sm
Average Speed: 4,4

This morning we discussed on the bridge what would be better: 24 hours of watch, school or galley duty.

In this report, I want to describe a full 24-hour day in the galley.

12:00 a.m.–4:00 a.m.: The active watch (0–4) has to form the bread rolls, usually around 60–80 pieces.

4:00 a.m.–6:00 a.m.: The 4–8 watch prepares the fruit salad and cuts various fruits, usually apples, pineapple, oranges, melons, mangoes and of course our beloved papayas. The best part is snacking on the fruit.

6:00 a.m.–7:30 a.m.: The “Vormittagsbackschaft” begins. The Backschaft (meaning galley watch) prepares breakfast, cooks coffee and puts the bread into the oven.

7:30 a.m.–11:30 a.m.: After breakfast, the most stressful period of the Backschaft begins. The galley crew has to do the breakfast dishes, clean the messroom and cook lunch. Cooking for 50 people in a moving room is very complicated and stressful, but it can also be a lot of fun.

The best feeling is when you somehow manage to finish lunch on time and even get compliments for your cooking.

11:30 a.m.–12:30 p.m.: The last hour of the Vormittagsbackschaft. We serve the food and start cleaning the dishes.

12:30 p.m.–3:00 p.m.: The “Nachmittagsbackschaft” takes over the galley. This time is used for doing the dishes and cleaning the kitchen.

Every day there are special cleaning tasks, such as cleaning the walls, the oven, or the refrigerator. If the Backschaft is fast enough, they can take a short break.

3:00 p.m.–3:30 p.m.: We prepare coffee and cake (today a very nice birthday cake for Maxim, who turned 19. Happy Birthday! 🥳).

3:30 p.m.–5:30 p.m.: The Backschaft serves the cake, does the dishes, cleans up and, if they want to, starts preparing something for dinner.

5:30 p.m.–6:00 p.m.: Dinner preparation begins: cutting bread, preparing plates with cheese and other cold cuts and warming up leftovers.

6:00 p.m.–8:00 p.m.: After dinner is served, the kitchen has to be cleaned so the next Backschaft can use it. If you are unlucky, this can take forever and you lose a lot of sleep.

8:00 p.m.–12:00 a.m.: The 8–12 watch prepares the dough for bread and bread rolls. This watch often also prepares a cake for the next day.

As you can see, galley duty is much more than just cooking a few meals. It can be very stressful and exhausting, but with good music and nice people, it can also be a lot of fun.

Would you do 24 hours of galley duty? Honestly, I wouldn’t.

Greetings:

Mila: Alles Gute zum Geburtstag Opa! Hab‘ Dich ganzzzz ganz doll lieb und vermiss‘ Dich sehr. Feiert alle schön ❤️

Sarah: Obwohl es uns das Wetter in den letzten Tagen echt schwer macht, hab‘ ich weiterhin viel Spaß. Trotzdem vermisse ich euch. Fühlt euch ganz doll umarmt❤️❤️❤️