Did your ship pass it's health inspection?

[bucky7680]

I don't know if this has been posted before. This is the government site that has the health inspection reports for every cruise ship that visits US ports.

 

I found it interesting to see what types of violations that they find.

 

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

[smeyer418]

its been posted before but not recently. I think its been more than 3 years since a major cruise line ship failed an inspection and when that happened heads rolled as people were fired for it.

But it is an interesting read even when they pass and even sometimes when they score 100. I dare say that most land side restaurants would fail...

thanks for posting it....

[sail7seas]

We boarded Maasdam December 6, 2010 and that day USPH boarded in FLL, for its Inspection. Maasdam did a fabulous job scoring a 99 out of possible 100. That score would be wonderful for a brand new ship but for a 17 year old ship it's over the top outstanding.

 

Congratulations, Officers and crew of Maasdam. :)

 

I check those 'green sheet' scores often. I like to see what the ships score and they usually post the inspection scores about 3 or so weeks after the inspection date. If a ship scores below (I think) 86, it can be held in port until the deficiences can be corrected.

 

 

 

 

[pappagene]

I don't know if this has been posted before. This is the government site that has the health inspection reports for every cruise ship that visits US ports.

 

I found it interesting to see what types of violations that they find.

 

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

 

The Norwegian Spirit received a 100. I would say that was a pretty clean ship.

[salukigrl]

Health inspections can sometimes be misleading, especially for land-based restaurants. For example in my state, the health inspectors can only take a total of 3 points off for a sanitary violation. Therefore, if all equipment is in working order, water and food temps are correct, but the kitchen is full of filth, a restaurant may still score a 97. With that said, all violations are noted in writing on the actual inspection report, so pay more attention to the type/occurrence of violations than the score. Just some food for thought!

[njhorseman]

A ship can have a "perfect" score of 100 but still have numerous relatively minor deficiencies that need to be corrected. You can see that by pulling up the report of any ship with a 100 score. For example, the most recent ship to score 100, the Westerdam on its 12/3/10 inspection, has more than a dozen deficiencies listed in its report.

 

So...a ""perfect" score isn't really perfect.

[BruceMuzz]

When I am not managing ships I am inspecting them for a company that works for the CDC.

Inspection scores tell you how well a ship has complied with the technical requirements set by the CDC.

The Inspection Score is only distantly related to how clean the ship might be, or how safe it might keep you from contracting a virus on your next cruise.

 

If you go to the VSP (Vessel Sanitation Program) page of the CDC website and look at the inspection scores, it is then very interesting to go to the page that reports illness outbreaks on ships.

 

Quite often - but not always - the ships with the highest inspection scores also have the highest number of illness outbreaks.

This occurs because the newest ships tend to receive the highest inspection scores more often.

Coincidentally, the newest ships are quite often the largest ships. Larger ships have a higher probability of boarding people who are ill and do not report it. This increases the probability of infection onboard - especially with a higher number of passengers available to catch something.

[njhorseman]

When I am not managing ships I am inspecting them for a company that works for the CDC.

Inspection scores tell you how well a ship has complied with the technical requirements set by the CDC.

The Inspection Score is only distantly related to how clean the ship might be, or how safe it might keep you from contracting a virus on your next cruise.

 

If you go to the VSP (Vessel Sanitation Program) page of the CDC website and look at the inspection scores, it is then very interesting to go to the page that reports illness outbreaks on ships.

 

Quite often - but not always - the ships with the highest inspection scores also have the highest number of illness outbreaks.

This occurs because the newest ships tend to receive the highest inspection scores more often.

Coincidentally, the newest ships are quite often the largest ships. Larger ships have a higher probability of boarding people who are ill and do not report it. This increases the probability of infection onboard - especially with a higher number of passengers available to catch something.

 

I don't know how you define "quite often", but in 2010 there have been 13 reported outbreaks on a total of 10 different ships. Of the 13 outbreaks, only 3 were on new ships...the Queen Victoria (2 consecutive cruises) and the Nieuw Amsterdam. The Queen Victoria isn't even that new, having been launched in 2007, and neither ship is very large, each having a double occupancy passenger capacity of about 2,000. Also, the Nieuw Amsterdam did not score 100 on its inspection.

[BruceMuzz]

I don't know how you define "quite often", but in 2010 there have been 13 reported outbreaks on a total of 10 different ships. Of the 13 outbreaks, only 3 were on new ships...the Queen Victoria (2 consecutive cruises) and the Nieuw Amsterdam. The Queen Victoria isn't even that new, having been launched in 2007, and neither ship is very large, each having a double occupancy passenger capacity of about 2,000. Also, the Nieuw Amsterdam did not score 100 on its inspection.

 

By CDC standards, about half of the ships that reported outbreaks this year are "new" ships. The CDC Manual and standards underwent major revisions in 2005. Some ships built a few years before that were built to those new standards. All ships built after 2005 are also to those new standards.

 

Any ship making a score of 97 or greater has more or less "aced" the inspection. One and two point deductions are generally for very minor technical issues and do not pose any significant danger or concern.

 

We know that for just about any cruise from a North American port, between 40 and 60 passengers are joining the ship with NLV symptoms (that they know about but refuse to divulge), or they have contracted the illness in a hotel or o an airplane and do not yet know they have it.

 

Outbreaks are defined by CDC as anything over 3% of the total bodies onboard, per cruise.

 

If the ship they are sailing on carries 1200 passengers and 800 crew, they are already at the 3% threshold (60) on day one if everyone is truthful. Just a handful of new infections puts them into official outbreak status.

 

If the ship they are sailing on carries 2,000 passengers and 1200 crew, they are approaching the 3% threshold (96) on day one if everyone is truthful. A few sick families, or a section of cabins infected can put them in to official outbreak status.

 

If the ship they are sailing on carries 6,000 passengers and 2,500 crew, they have a long way to go before any reports need to be made. 3% is 255 passengers/crew. If the ship's staff is good, they can contain the infected passengers and avoid an official outbreak -although the actual number of sick pax and crew can be rather high

 

What does this mean to the passenger?

Official outbreaks occur more often on smaller ships (but with fewer pax actually ill.)

The chances of catching something on a cruise increase with the increased size of the ship.

Most new ships are larger than smaller ships

[njhorseman]

By CDC standards, about half of the ships that reported outbreaks this year are "new" ships. The CDC Manual and standards underwent major revisions in 2005. Some ships built a few years before that were built to those new standards. All ships built after 2005 are also to those new standards.

 

Any ship making a score of 97 or greater has more or less "aced" the inspection. One and two point deductions are generally for very minor technical issues and do not pose any significant danger or concern.

 

We know that for just about any cruise from a North American port, between 40 and 60 passengers are joining the ship with NLV symptoms (that they know about but refuse to divulge), or they have contracted the illness in a hotel or o an airplane and do not yet know they have it.

 

Outbreaks are defined by CDC as anything over 3% of the total bodies onboard, per cruise.

 

If the ship they are sailing on carries 1200 passengers and 800 crew, they are already at the 3% threshold (60) on day one if everyone is truthful. Just a handful of new infections puts them into official outbreak status.

 

If the ship they are sailing on carries 2,000 passengers and 1200 crew, they are approaching the 3% threshold (96) on day one if everyone is truthful. A few sick families, or a section of cabins infected can put them in to official outbreak status.

 

If the ship they are sailing on carries 6,000 passengers and 2,500 crew, they have a long way to go before any reports need to be made. 3% is 255 passengers/crew. If the ship's staff is good, they can contain the infected passengers and avoid an official outbreak -although the actual number of sick pax and crew can be rather high

 

What does this mean to the passenger?

Official outbreaks occur more often on smaller ships (but with fewer pax actually ill.)

The chances of catching something on a cruise increase with the increased size of the ship.

Most new ships are larger than smaller ships

 

So let's see...the published data do not support your position, so now you're going to fall back onto concocted arguments about the staff on the larger ships being able to contain the outbreak before it hits the reportable stage, with the conclusion of "you're more likely to get sick, but it won't be reported. :rolleyes:

 

Well, guess what...since, as you state, the threshold for reporting is the percentage of passengers and crew who are ill, the size of the ship is irrelevant. It's safe to assume the same percentage of passengers board any size ship while ill, whether they are aware of it or not. Let's say for simplicity that 2% of passengers will be ill or recently infected when they board. On a 2,000 passenger ship that's 40 passengers. On a 4,000 passenger ship it's 80 passengers, on a 6,000 passenger ship it's 120, but on all the ships it's still 2% and on all the ships an additional 1% ( for simplicity I'm ignoring the crew) must become ill to meet the reporting threhold. That 1% is still three times as many additional passengers on the 6,000 passenger ship than on the 2,000 passenger ship...60 versus 20.

 

Just based on a quick observation of reported outbreaks, if I were investigating these outbreaks, I'd want to look very closely at the age demographic of the passengers rather than the size of the ship.

[sail7seas]

Another small ship sailing for HAL just scored a great '98' at her USPH Inspection. The Officers and Crew of Prinsendam should be very proud and happy with their accomplishment......... again, a far from new ship. Actually she is HAL's oldest.

 

[njhorseman]

Another small ship sailing for HAL just scored a great '98' at her USPH Inspection. The Officers and Crew of Prinsendam should be very proud and happy with their accomplishment......... again, a far from new ship. Actually she is HAL's oldest.

 

 

Since 38 ships, including four of Holland America's, had scores of 100 this year, maybe a 98 isn't something to brag about. :cool:

[sail7seas]

Well, it sure beats NOT getting that 98 or 99.

 

I'm sure HAL Seattle is much happier to get a report their 17 year old Maasdam scored a 99 than if it got something considerably less. No? That would be very NOT :cool:

 

;)