Each night my brother-in-law Steve and I would pay a visit to the 24-hour pizza station at the aft portion of the Carnival Liberty cruise ship we left last week. It was a nice bookend to a long day. We’d close the Karaoke bar, then the Piano bar and then head on over to the pizza station at around 1:30 am. We’d eat our pizza, talk at one of the tables about the days exploits and looked ahead to the next day.

At the pizza station, Ariana from Indonesia, was there to serve the slices. As he’d hand out the slices to passengers he’d say “Cheese Peezah? Cheese Peezah?” (Since the pepperoni went fast he always had cheese pizza left. I myself always got the pepperoni. Thus the above photo.) At night, this guy was always there. Making, slicing and serving. He was a well-oiled machine and always smiled. Each time I’d walk by I’d say “Cheeze Peezah!” and when he heard me he’d give me the nod. Ariana said he makes over 1000 4-slice thin crust pizzas in a 12-hour day. The quick math says that’s 83 every hour. More than one a minute. And he always served each person with a smile. Carnival has some really good employees working the ship. Ariana is one of them. I will miss these late night pizza stops.

My stomach however will not.