I saw that the water he used was steaming when he put the silver ware in it. I of course am not an expert on sterilzing and can't guarantee the utensils were totally sterlized but they appeared to be a darn site better than just put on the table? Since he was part of the Entertainment crew and obviously cruised a lot I would assume he felt more secure knowing they had had one more shot to be clean. We will do it in the future.