Silver Shadow just failed its CDC health inspection

As of April 16, 2015, the Shadow received a failing health inspection score of 82 which was the same score it received in 2013 with the "hide the meat fiasco." Recent inspection scores were in the 90s but this is the most recent.

To view the detailed CDC report, see:

http://wwwn.cdc.gov/InspectionQueryTool/InspectionResults.aspx

From TravelPulse:

Silversea Cruises’ Silver Shadow failed a health inspection conducted earlier this month by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The luxury ship scored an 82 out of 100. The CDC’s Vessel Sanitation Program (VSP) says scores of 85 or lower are “not satisfactory.”

The inspection found 40 infractions, including improper food storage temperatures and records, sneeze guards that failed to fully protect food items on a buffet, and food-service items improperly stored in a location where they could be exposed to dust or other contamination. According to the CDC report, inspectors also found that in-suite whirlpools were disinfected every seven days instead of between occupancies, even when the ship embarked new passengers.

The 382-passenger Silver Shadow entered service in 2000 and has consistently scored in the 90s on its CDC inspections, except for a failure in June 2013. Its last inspection was on Jan. 7, when it scored a 95. The ship scored a 92 last August, 96 last May, and a 97 in August 2013.

“Silversea is deeply disappointed by this unsatisfactory score and takes very seriously its responsibilities for the health and safety of its guests and crew,” the company said in a statement. “All Silversea ships have comprehensive policies and rigorous training programs in place to make certain its staff and crew implement best practices onboard. Silversea has taken measures to ensure that Silver Shadow immediately re-establishes the highest standards in all areas of its operations.”

Meanwhile, several ships earned perfect scores when inspected by the CDC in recent weeks. Scoring 100s were Celebrity Cruises’ Celebrity Infinity on March 29, SeaDream Yacht Club’s SeaDream I on March 21, and Princess Cruises’ Island Princess on March 6.

The only other ship to fail the inspection so far this year is the Caribbean Fantasy, operated by America Cruise Ferries out of Puerto Rico to the Dominican Republic and other nearby ports. The ship scored an 84 on Jan. 23. The CDC posts corrective reports when it receives them from the cruise lines, but one from America Cruise Ferries was not yet posted as of April 30.

The VSP inspections were introduced in the early 1970s and are required for all passenger ships that call at a U.S. port. The unannounced inspections are carried out by U.S. Public Health officials twice a year for every cruise ship.

The score, on a scale from one to 100, is assigned on the basis of a checklist involving dozens of areas of assessment, encompassing hygiene and sanitation of food (from storage to preparation), overall galley cleanliness, water, shipboard personnel and the ship as a whole.

http://www.travelpulse.com/news/impacting-travel/silversea-promises-changes-after-failed-ship-inspection.html

I was concerned when I ran across the first fail in 2013 and convinced myself it was an aberration. Was it? Now, I don't know. I am concerned. Very.

Is anyone really suprised?

You don't get far until you reach a clear implication by the inspector of not only serious food hygiene failings but an attempt to falsify and deceive the #13 inspector's comments might have been when the tone of the inspection changed.

Violation: Between 13 - 15 April, the cooling logs for six cooked potentially hazardous foods did not document these food items were cooled to 41°F or below. The logs were initialed by the supervisor. Staff explained they had other logs in the chef's office which were completed. A few minutes later, the inspector was shown the original cooling logs from 13 and 15 April, with the final temperatures of less than 41°F documented. The inspector noticed the handwriting and abbreviations for the food items were identical to the original cooling logs and asked to see those. After 5-10 minutes these logs could not be located, and the inspector was informed these were the original logs with the final temperatures written at that moment.

When you clearly try to hoodwink an inspector I guess you deserve what you get ...

Jeff

And then there is Item # 40 in the CDC report regarding pantry pool grill:

"Violation: The door to the pantry was propped open when the inspector team arrived in the area. A sign on the door informed crew to keep the door closed at all times. The inspector returned to the area a few hours later, and again the door was propped open. Recommendation: Protect entry points where pests may enter the food area."

You would think the crew might want to wait until the inspectors left the ship before they reversed the just taken corrective measure!

Second failed ship inspection in 2 years suggests Silversea may not be making the health and safety of its passengers on the Silver Shadow a priority.

Why stress over a failing sanitation inspection for the Shadow? The ship has brand new boutiques. Isn't that what really matters to passengers?

And, the new boutique may actually be the most sanititary location on the ship!

I am first time poster today - We board the Silver Shadow THIS Monday May 4 for 10 day cruise to Alaska. Nice to know we spent thousands of dollars to board a ship that just failed a health inspection. Usually, you would expect improved conditions following inspection, but that may not be the case when you have a crew willing to deceive inspectors.

And, the new boutique may actually be the most sanititary location on the ship!

 

I am first time poster today - We board the Silver Shadow THIS Monday May 4 for 10 day cruise to Alaska. Nice to know we spent thousands of dollars to board a ship that just failed a health inspection. Usually, you would expect improved conditions following inspection, but that may not be the case when you have a crew willing to deceive inspectors.

What? Me worry? No -- should be 100% by Monday - when I'm boarding too. See you there.

Dusababy aka Mary Ann - also California

What? Me worry? No -- should be 100% by Monday - when I'm boarding too. See you there.

Dusababy aka Mary Ann - also California

I am not so confident that corrective action will be taken promptly. The following is from the recent report/failure. Note in the final sentence that corrective action had not been taken since this issue was raised in the (passing) report in January:

Some bulkheads were made of a cage-like structure that had many openings. The deckhead and some bulkheads were soft, made of exposed insulation. The deckhead had exposed pipes. Many food equipment items, such as silverware, deep fryer pans, cocktail juice dispensers, skewers, etc. were out of their original packaging or had the packaging opened. This was written on the previous inspection report with no action taken.

If SS were ever going to learn and take corrective action ... then this would never (never, never ....) have occured a second time, particularly following the terrible one they had before on Shadow less than two years ago. They also hid stuff from inspectors on that one as well. This is a real problem. A serious problem. A management problem. We're talking here of non-refrigerated cooked food and not cleaning spas between different customer bookings and other things. We're talking of trying to falsify hygiene records and trying to deceive the inspectors - AGAIN.

You couldn't make it up.

Let us not forget the terrible stuff they did last time with food and hiding food under the beds in crew quarters - and the deceptions to the inspectors etc and also remember the absolute and clear promises they made then. "You can trust us ... it won't happen again". A second time of this nature on the same ship in less than two years just shows you what a poorly managed and untrustworthy outfit they are.

Confidence certainly isn't word that would jump to my mind.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1880469&highlight=sanitation

:(

I am wondering why this problem seems to be unique to the Shadow. If it's SS's fault shouldn't it be fleet wide? Or should some staff on the Shadow be fired immediately? I am booked on her next year and hope they have solved it by then.

What? Me worry? No -- should be 100% by Monday - when I'm boarding too. See you there.

Dusababy aka Mary Ann - also California

stick to the hot dogs Mary Ann

Why is anyone surprised. SS is only interested in the bottom line, and this will be treated as just another hiccup, and probably blamed on the current HD. There is some serious work needed on the Shadow that the owners seem to be ignoring (see previous CC reports from Nov/Dec last year).

The Whisper was inspected in San Juan 3 days ago and achieved a score of 98, which would have been good except it was 100 on the previous inspection and should have been this time.

The Whisper also needs a dry dock but I cannot see the owner making space for one when next years world cruise bookings are already well past 200.

A lot of the infractions are probably nit picky little things that have little or nothing to do with health and safety, but the ones I do find concerning is the lack of sanitizing the in suite whirlpools between passengers and the lack of a sneeze guard at a buffet. I find whirlpools in hotels and on ships pretty sketchy anyway as far as sanitation, but that is really gross. All kinds of bacteria can grow inside those jets.

On our first ever Silversea cruise aboard Spirit in 2011, our bath was never cleaned between voyages.

I alway use a fresh white face cloth with Shower gel to examine cleanliness of bath prior to bathing. The white cloth was filthy. I was disgusted.

I alerted our Butler who blamed the stewardess. It was our Butler's job to oversee her work so ultimately it came down to him. He was useless our entire cruise and we didn't take any further action because we didn't want to get our stewardess into trouble.

We never use the jets in a bath while travelling as you can never trust when or how well they have been disinfected, same goes for those Pedi chairs.

The Discoverer's health inspection report is even scarier, with a score of 75 in July, 2014.

I too am boarding Monday, hopefully, being the eternal optimist, they will have had their knuckles well and truly rapped, and we will see exceptional service and cleanliness - watch this space next week [emoji3]

The first time silversea failed an inspection I was upset especially after reading the report.

I spoke with Ellen b who gave me the party line.

we went forward with our cruise.

Then much later on the day we embarked the silver discoverer for an expensive expedition cruise, we watched the inspector as she carried out her duties aboard ship.

Obviously we didn't see it all, but what we did see showed concern on the part of the inspector and those who were with her.

We then blithely went forward with our cruise, even after the vessel had received a failing, and not to mince words, blatantly failing grade. We had no clue the ship had failed so badly. No one told us.

so now a third fail. And efforts to conceal that are similar to the first failure.

I look at the latest report and am bothered by the fact that medical did not follow up on crew gastroenteritis. Really?

That's a major issue in my book as I am an advanced registered nurse practitioner ( and also a lawyer).

the sneeze guards will always be an issue. There is really no way to protect from sneeze droplets other than to close off the food. On our last cruise way too many passengers coughed directly on buffet items. I thought they had no manners or concern for others. Honestly, the cruise line cannot teach hygiene to passengers.

Those passengers who sneeze and cough on others food or do not wash their hands are just gross. To protect others will mean to eliminate the buffet in terms of allowing pax to self serve.

how much can a cruise line do to teach passengers to use proper hygiene?

A more vexing question is why the CDC allows the cruise ships to sail with serious violations which potentially puts pax in jeopardy.

why bother with regulations if they have no teeth?

The cruise ships issue a plan to comply, but how does that help the pax onboard?

Laws and rules and regulations have to be enforced in some manner. A slap on the wrist apparently does nothing. If the CDC has jurisdiction over the vessels who transport passengers, then they need to enforce the rules in a manner that means something or has consequences.

The extent of detail the CDC pursues in our interest is mightily impressive. And while we can't expect perfection from every person, at every minute, these widespread findings are just too disturbing. Again. They point to negligence and lack of strong leadership, whether it originates at the home office or with a series of Hotel Directors. Someone didn't come through with the fix the company promised when this happened 2 years ago.

I've always been a little sympathetic to the cruise industry when the media blankets us with reports of gastrointestinal illness striking passengers on a ship. After all, it can happen anywhere, right? It's not necessarily the ship's fault. Ships just happen to house the same population within contained spaces for days on end. And, yes, poor passenger hygiene spreads all kinds of bacterial matter. But it's another situation entirely if a ship knowingly maintains and attempts to hide substandard practices. Some of the infractions might seem minor to us, but they can lead to real health issues for passengers and crew. And it appears from the 2015 and 2013 reports that Silversea has not embraced their own, corporate, responsibility to provide the utmost in cleanliness and safety, and to achieve their regulatory goals with honesty. This is a grievous fault, and a breach of trust with its clients and staff.

I sincerely hope that Silversea will not simply recycle the press release they issued 2 years ago, filled as it was with regret and promises.

Many of the seemingly over picky issues are very important. Anyone who has ever had serious food poisoning will always be much more twitchy than those that haven't. We will be told that we are fretting too much. You need to be hospitalised to understand how serious it can be. That is one of the reasons why I hate ostentatious presentation. Food hangs about too much, is prepped to early and too many people are ove and needlessly handling it - all for avoidable reasons.

But being seriously ill at sea is quite a rational fear for many. So the avoidance of both contamination by others bad hygiene habits and the extended storage of cooked meats at hazardous temperatures and foods not being covered from bugs are not issues about cosmetics - they are very serious issues and genuine hazards that put the passenger in an avoidable hazard lottery.

The reason why the attempt at deception and concealment is by far the most serious issue is not just because it shows a complete lack of integrity and leadership and utter disdain for both SS customers and legal authorities - but it begs the much more important question - particularly against the whole scale concealments a couple of years ago - is what did they successfully conceal? They will have staff running around and concealing probably even more serious breaches whilst the inspection was progressing .... but what were they? And why has concealment and deception now seemingly become a routine management strategy? It is not now "a one-off mistake that we have put in procedures to avoid in the future and we promise that it will never happen again." It has happened again. It is highly cycnical. How are they going to explain the repititious nature of this behaviour?

Customers must start expressing anger to SS about this. Not just because of this report, but because it is a pattern of cynical behaviour of disdain for the well being and safety of it's customers and those that seek to protect them from dishonest and/or incompetent management. They should also talk even more loudly with their cash. Being kept safe isn't a bit of a joke it is a matter of fundamental trust and a very serious issue.

.

Does anyone know who has served as HD and F&B manager on Shadow this winter -- esp. at the time of the inspection and, earlier, during the long Grand Cruise around South America?

Customers must start expressing anger to SS about this. Not just because of this report, but because it is a pattern of cynical behaviour of disdain for the well being and safety of it's customers and those that seek to protect them from dishonest and/or incompetent management. They should also talk even more loudly with their cash. Being kept safe isn't a bit of a joke it is a matter of fundamental trust and a very serious issue..

Or, how many times do you (customers) need to be kicked in the head?

Blog summary today, with some historical context and past video, and information regarding CDC insprections, at:

http://www.cruiselawnews.com/

Blog summary today, with some historical context and past video, and information regarding CDC insprections, at:

 

http://www.cruiselawnews.com/

Interesting, though this attorney is presumably no friend of cruise lines. I assume his practice is largely suing such lines.

In any case, what I found most surprising was the statement that "Incredibly, Silversea refused to submit a corrective action report."

When I looked at the CDC site yesterday, I noted the absence of such a report. And I was a bit surprised, because some time had passed since the failed inspection. However, I assumed it was coming.

The blog suggests that Silversea has actively refused to submit such a report.

Amazing, if true. (But I suppose I increasingly find it difficult to be amazed by anything going on this once-great line.)

I was also puzzled by the lack of a corrective report .... but only for a moment. It shows disinterest and failure at every level.

If you were managing this business and had heard of this inspection .... and the on-board staff would know the content on the day - and certainly had time to prepare a response before it was on the web-site ... you would ensure that the corrective actions were posted very quickly. The damage by it's absence is simply more of the same. Is this so complicated that some sort of delay was inevitable? No. It is utter incompetence, detatchment and disengagement. If you were "the boss" taking this seriously wouldn't you say "A draft corrective report on my email intray withn 24 hours and corrected and submitted in 48 hours". In practice .... it could have been up pretty much as soon as the original report was posted.

In a way I see this as being related to so many other things like the obligitory charity rather than staff fund contribution. It is the utter arrogance of it all. It is simply, "our way ... or the highway".

.

Thank you for the CruiseLaw summary, SkiWave. Interestingly, just below the Silversea story is a CBS report that a gastrointestinal virus hit 60 passengers and 11 crew members on a HAL Maasandam cruise that ended yesterday. In addition to their great physical discomfort, imagine their frustration at being quarantined in their cabins for at least 2 days. Methinks this would not sit very well with Silversea passengers, paying an average of $700pp a day!