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Chef José Andrés is taking a delicious and nutritious approach to helping the passengers who find themselves quarantined on the Grand Princess and Diamond Princess cruise ships. The Spanish ex-pat partnered up with his nonprofit World Central Kitchen to help provide food for those who cannot get off the cruise ships amid concerns of COVID-19 (aka the coronavirus) contamination. Chef José and the World Central Kitchen team took it upon themselves to provide meals to almost 2,500 passengers and 1,000 crew members boarded on the Grand Princess ship. It is reported that there are about 21 guests who have tested positive for the virus.
On Monday, March 9, the chef tweeted from his personal social media account a picture of the Grand Princess ship arriving at the Port of Oakland as he and the WCK team waited in the wings to spring into action. He shared, “The #GrandPrincess has finally arrived at Port of Oakland! @WCKitchen team is ready with lunch for guests leaving today & we will be loading meals for dinner onto the ship....Wishing the best for everyone on board! #ChefsForCalifornia.” The World Central Kitchen account also tweeted, “3,500 fresh salads have been prepared & packaged from our San Francisco kitchen for passengers and crew onboard the #GrandPrincess. The ship is set to dock this afternoon in Oakland. #ChefsForCalifornia.”
Both teams were able to provide lunch and dinner for the 3,500 people on the cruise ship with chef José revealing that the team worked through the night to help provide breakfast and lunch for the following day. Similar support was provided for the Diamond Princess as well on Saturday, March 7. The World Central Kitchen account tweeted, “Thank you to the incredible #MetroJapan team who were by our side from morning until night ensuring we had everything needed to provide fresh meals to passengers & crew onboard #DiamondPrincess!”