Cooking up a storm on the high seas
Not many people can say they have travelled the world- let alone circumnavigated it 11 times but for chef Michael Owens, who is originally from Kells, sailing the seas doing the job he loves is very much a way of life.
For the past 20 years, Michael has worked on prestigious vessels from the QE2 to the biggest cruise ship in the world, the Harmony of the Seas, where he now manages 12 speciality restaurants. Visiting a staggering 474 places all around the world - there are not many places he has not set foot in.
Michael recalls that he always wanted to be a chef and how his father, Michael Owens who lives at Rockfield Road, Kells, told him if he became a chef he could work anywhere in the world. “He never realised how much of the world,” laughed Michael.
When he first walked into a professional kitchen, Michael felt right at home and decided it was the career for him. He applied for Killybegs College of Catering but was not accepted.
Despite that disappointment, he picked himself up and headed to London to visit his sister, applying for college there. He got his pick of three courses and did his full apprenticeship there, something he says was the best thing that could have happened and made him the chef he is today.
Michael’s first job was with Bill Bentley’s in Bishopsgate, London, where he made sous chef before he was 21.
Weighing 22,500 tonnes, the Harmony of the Seas, where Michael works is the largest cruise ship in the world.
In 1994, he moved back to Ireland taking up a position at Trinity College Dublin, which he recalls was a “fantastic experience” that allowed him to cater for influential people such as Bill Gates, Prince Charles and Warren Buffett.
A good friend “kept on at” Michael to join him on the QE2 and he eventually gave in an applied through an agency in Dublin. He was accepted and did a year in a five star property in the UK before hitting the seas.
“When I arrived at the terminal on my first day to join the QE2, I was sick in the stomach and wondering what I was doing as it was far removed from where I thought I would be, but after the first day, I felt as if I had found my calling,
“I loved it - the pressure, the work hard-play hard, attitude of all of the chefs. I spent two years on the QE2 and did two world cruises where the ship circumnavigated the globe on a 90-100 day voyage and what an experience that was.”
One of the reasons Michael says he enjoys working on the cruise ships is the structure and routine, as well as the travel.
“Everybody works for the same goal-passenger satisfaction, great support and obviously I love to travel and although you work very hard, and the days are long when I have my time off as opposed to just going home to your house, we get off in whichever country we are in and have lunch or visit the area.”
Michael left the QE2 and joined P&O cruises in 1998 where his first assignment was setting up a new ship in the shipyards in Belfast. He spent eight years working for P&O UK where he did seven world cruises as well as cruising in Europe and the Caribbean. In that time, he went from a junior chef to executive sous chef, working on four different ships
It was during this time that Michael met his wife Ziggy who was as a salon manager on the ship and the couple spent nearly eight years working together at sea, mostly on the same ship.
“We got engaged in Copenhagen, bought our wedding rings in Turkey, had our stag and hen nights in Barbados and then married in Las Vegas in 2001,” recalled Michael. In 2005, the couple decided to leave P&O and emigrate to Australia. It was a hard decision, especially as Michael was leaving his dad and sister Michelle in Kells, but during their world cruise visit, Michael and Ziggy got to love Australia and the lifestyle it had to offer.
The boardwalk on the 'Harmony of the Seas'.
Their daughter Tara (8) was born in Cairns, Queensland, in 2008 and they came home to Ireland that year to have her christened. In 2011, the family moved back to Ireland, buying a house outside Kells, and their second daughter Erin was born here in 2012. However, the lure of Australia brought the family back to Australia in 2013 and they are now settled in Brisbane, where Ziggy works for Abercrombie & Kent managing the logistics for passengers joining and leaving the ship in Brisbane - so the couple really do live and breathe ships.
“My wife is my rock and allows me to do a job that I love and is the best mother in the world. Brisbane is a fantastic place to bring up children and lifestyle is second to none. I think we have finally found our home.
“Ireland will always be in our heart but when you spend so much time working in a certain climate you get used to it and we missed the outdoor lifestyle that Australia offers. I am always proud of my heritage and being a proud Meath man but the world is where I ply my trade.”
While Michael’s first job was on the QE2 as a demi chef de partie, one of the lowest ranks you can join on, now he is managing 12 speciality restaurants on the Harmony of the Seas, the world’s biggest cruise ship, which weighs 22,700 tonnes and has over 20 dining options.
“I know it looks like a lot to manage in a day but I have four sous chefs and 54 cooks to run the outlets. I ensure we meet all company standards whether it be food public health, food costs, teamwork, communication and providing my team necessary skills, tools and information is the key to ensuring everything runs smoothly.Paramount for me is the food, I want to ensure that the passengers have a great dining experience as I am answerable for these outlets”.
“In my 20 years at sea, this experience has been phenomenal. It is the biggest cruise ship in the world, I have a great team, I always say communication is the key with large cruise ships.
“On our next cruise for instance, we have 6,800 passengers and 2,235 crew - nothing on the planet has these numbers so yes it is hard work but very exciting as well. Within 10 minutes I can go from a high end Japanese restaurant to a rustic Mexican to French fine dining to a famous high street brand and finish off in a café and making fresh pizza before I finish off for the day”.
In total there are a staggering 210 chefs and cooks on board.
Michael says the best part of the job is the people you meet and the friends you make for life and from a chef’s perspective it is food they have available to work with, whether it is the normal menus or the speciality restaurants, to going ashore in Tahiti and buying a fishing trawler of all his catch and bringing it on board for dinner.
Working on the cruise ships has also given Michael the most incredible chance to travel the world. “I have been very fortunate. I have circumnavigated the world 11 times - From the Caribbean to the Mediterranean to Scandinavian fjords, I have visited 474 places in every corner of the world. I’ve travelled through the Suez and Panama Canals from Alaska to New Zealand. From the top of Norway to Cape town. Every continent and all the seven oceans. When I do the Southern Chilean fjords and Argentina, the whole world will be done.”
While it is an incredible career, it is not without its downside and for Michael the hard part of the job is being far away from his wife and daughters and not being part of their everyday lives but communications tools now makes it easier to stay in touch. “My contracts run four months on and two months off. Your days are split shifts so when you have your break you can just get off where ever you are and have a wander around and you can arrange with your boss to have an extended time off to maybe do a tour.
The Central Park area of the cruise ship.
“I have been very lucky with time off as I love seeing new places and as you move up the ranks you can arrange a little extra time off. For myself I pick what I want to do depending on where we are. I have visited the pyramids of Giza where I took my dad, scuba diving in Bonaire, the red rose city of Petra, the Mayan ruins of Tikal, volcanoes in Nicaragua, Grand Canyon, Alaskan fjords, If you pick a country in the world that is attached to the sea then chances are I have been there!”