Carnival Legend Fails Inspection

[98Charlie]

For those who would like to see the actual inspection of the Legend and comments by the inspector (not just the news story) Click Here

 

This is a link to the Centers for Disease Control Ship Inspections. Click on the item number on the left of the page to see the comments for that particular inspection category.

 

Charlie

[LizaMM]

Interesting......the Legend has always scored very highly in the past.

[baseballdad]

I am betting they were caught with their pants down because they were boarded in San Juan. These ships get the mess all cleaned up before they come back to home port, and let it slide while underway.

 

The messy things I can live with; the parts about incorrect food temperatures and out of date foods can get a lot of people sick in a hurry. I'm a former food service officer on a ship, and I know whereof I speak. Norovirus, my rear end...

 

I hope heads roll, and publicly so. If I see another press release about how it passed the re-inspection, I may get sick myself.

[rolloman]

You guys can sugar coat it all you want. The fact is the ship scored a 71, which is the 2cnd lowest score recorded since 2004. This includes all cruise ships, not just the mega liners. That is alot of inspections and to be 2cnd worst is pathetic. The kicker is they are having a big marketing presentation onboard this ship with the CEO as a guest speaker. One would think this ship would be operating at its best leading up to the event. I am sure a few management changes on board will correct this.

[BigDoug]

You guys can sugar coat it all you want. The fact is the ship scored a 71, which is the 2cnd lowest score recorded since 2004. This includes all cruise ships, not just the mega liners. That is alot of inspections and to be 2cnd worst is pathetic. The kicker is they are having a big marketing presentation onboard this ship with the CEO as a guest speaker. One would think this ship would be operating at its best leading up to the event. I am sure a few management changes on board will correct this.

 

Let's see, 4 point deduction, Employee did not wash hands while changing gloves:

Site: Galley-Hot galley center galley Violation: A crew member was observed going to the handwash station, rinsing his hands under water for a few seconds (with gloves on), taking off the gloves, putting new gloves on and returning to the hot line. This employee did not use soap or wash his bare hands for 20 seconds. Recommendation: Ensure that food employees clean their hands and exposed portions of their arms with a cleaning compound in a handwashing sink by vigorously rubbing together the surfaces of their lathered hands and arms for at least 20 seconds and thoroughly rinsing with clean water and pay particular attention to the areas underneath the fingernails and between the fingers.

 

5 point deduction:Too long to post, however the bulk of the violations were about the lack of date codes on the trays. Most of the items were prepared that day and were to be consumed that night. There were some temps that were slightly too high. All food was discarded.

 

2 point deduction, logs for the past 30 days were not present: Site: Galley-Pastry walk-in refrigerator 11-19 Violation: The cooling of the potentially hazardous food items was not monitored or documented. Recommendation: Ensure that logs documenting cooked, potentially hazardous food cooling temperatures and times from the starting points designated in 7.3.5.2.1 thru the control points at 2 and 6 hours are maintained onboard the vessel for a period of 30 days form the date the food was placed in the cooling process. Ensure that logs documenting cooling of potentially hazardous foods prepared from ingredients at ambient temperatures, with the start time to the time when 5°C (41 °F) is reached are also maintained for a period of 30 days, beginning with the day of preparation.

 

3 point deduction, sanitizing solution was too weak at one bar and too strong at several others: Site: Galley-Pot wash Violation: The sanitizing solution in the three bucket system was measured at less than 50 PPM. This was corrected during the inspection. Recommendation: Ensure that a chlorine solution used as a sanitizing solution has a concentration between 50 mg/L (ppm) and 200 mg/L (ppm). Site: Bar-Lobby bar Violation: The sanitizing solution for the three bucket system was measured at greater than 200 PPM. This was corrected during the inspection. Recommendation: Ensure that a chlorine solution used as a sanitizing solution has a concentration between 50 mg/L (ppm) and 200 mg/L (ppm). Site: Bar-Atlantis bar Violation: The sanitizing solution for the three bucket system measured more than 200 PPM. This was corrected during the inspection. Recommendation: Ensure that a chlorine solution used as a sanitizing solution has a concentration between 50 mg/L (ppm) and 200 mg/L (ppm). Site: Bar-Casino bar Violation: The sanitizing solution for the three bucket system was measured at greater than 200 PPM. Recommendation: Ensure that a chlorine solution used as a sanitizing solution has a concentration between 50 mg/L (ppm) and 200 mg/L (ppm).

[truecruiser]

I am betting they were caught with their pants down because they were boarded in San Juan. These ships get the mess all cleaned up before they come back to home port, and let it slide while underway.

Ahhh. Interesting. thank you for that inside info.

[truecruiser]

For those who would like to see the actual inspection of the Legend and comments by the inspector (not just the news story) Click Here

 

This is a link to the Centers for Disease Control Ship Inspections. Click on the item number on the left of the page to see the comments for that particular inspection category.

 

Charlie

thanks for that link. i've saved it in my travel folder favs.

[TCF]

I certainly wouldn't condone the galley crew on Legend for failing its inspection, but I also have to point out that the CDC inspection criteria is among, if not the, most stringent I have ever seen. That is a good thing for sure, but also, I am not sure that any large kitchen facility on land or sea could hit the magic 86 mark in the middle of a prep day and it seems to me from reading the inspectors report that is what happened!:eek:

The newspaper story was a little misleading. I am sure that most who have read this thread have interpreted the 'best before' date being removed, or not being present, as being the same as what they experience at the supermarket. From what I can determine...and I could be wrong...this inspection report is referring to trays of food prepared and stored for service on the same day! Much different than the 'best before date' on a package of baloney! Should the tags be on the trays...absolutely...is it a terrible omission...I don't think so.

 

The CDC standards are harsh...perhaps the harshest in the world for ships calling on American ports. That is good...because it means that even if a ship fails...the standards are so high...that failure is not catastrophic for the pasengers and crew.:)

 

I think the Legend galley crew probably got caught short at the end of a prep day. It could happen on any ship....and probably does!:D

 

Just my thoughts

 

Tom:)

[Sashalanda]

As a curiosity, I read the health report of the ship we were just on. I worked as a nurse for 27 yrs and we were NEVER inspected that tough lol. It is a very tough inspection process and I am very glad i took the time to read it rather than fret about their safety. I am sure that ship that flunked..heads rolleddddd all downhill. I am also sure all ships got a warning regarding not passing inspections and got orders to have managers inspect every crevice. Those are some very very tough inspections that actually...I now feel safer health wise sailing. I'm glad I read all the bits and pieces :D

[yvettedem1969]

ok for those of you with upcoming cruises, I just got off the Legend! We were on there from Oct 23-31st....although a lot of the food was very greasy lol...the non greasy foods werel pretty good....and fyi, they were scrubbing the hell out of everything lmbo! Every "station" that was closed for the day/night, they were in there cleaning every crack and crevice and now I know why! UGH!!

[dansu]

ok for those of you with upcoming cruises, I just got off the Legend! We were on there from Oct 23-31st....although a lot of the food was very greasy lol...the non greasy foods werel pretty good....and fyi, they were scrubbing the hell out of everything lmbo! Every "station" that was closed for the day/night, they were in there cleaning every crack and crevice and now I know why! UGH!!

 

I'm confused...I thought CCL said they were re-evaluated with a much higher score...but if they were still scrubbing the hell out of the ship as of the 31st, when were they re-evaluated, and by whom:confused:

[TCF]

That's the point being made by some here.

The CDC inspections standards are so high that the ship's galley crew has to 'scrub the hell out of everything' all the time every day in order to make the inspection no matter when it occurs!:eek:

Everyone would be well advised to take advantage of the address post for the Legend CDC report and read it. ;)

One crew member was cited for washing his hands while wearing the latex rubber gloves, and then not washing his hands immediately after, and before, putting on a fresh pair of latex gloves! You wash your hands with your gloves on with soap and water before you take them off....that way none of the little bugs that may be on the gloves you have been cooking with are transferred to your hands when you remove the gloves. So the cook's hands were clean...but just in case... the CDC rules say ...wash your hands again before you put on the second pair of clean gloves!!! By any measure that could be considered overkill...but they enforce it anyway and I think that is good thing! But trust me...you would very rarely, if ever, see that proceedure followed even in the high class restaurants on shore!:D

Just my thoughts.

Tom:)

[ronrythm]

In this mornings Florida Sun Sentinal a big headline stated the ship not only failed but failed big time with a score of 71 which was the second lowest score ever recorded, it takes an 86 out of 100 to pass.

The article said the second lowest since 2004, not ever recorded. There are some way lower scores (in the 30's in one case, wouldn't you love to have been on that ship:D ) prior to 2004. It's not as bad as you make it sound. Let's not distort things. We have network TV news for that. If you do a search on the CDC site for all the ships that have failed, you'll find a lot of familiar names, including several Carnival ships, RCI ships and the grand dame of cruising the QE2. I think I'd trust all of these major line ships more than I'd trust my local school cafeteria.

Enjoy

Ron

[BeJeweled]

:)Whew, at least it should be looking good when DH and I

Board on Wed. We will be celebrating our 25th wedding anny

and are very excited to go.

 

We missed last year, as we were recovering from the

2004 hurricane damage's. Everything is back together

and we are back on our yearly cruising schedule.

[ZUMA]

Just a quick point, I posted something yesterday but for some reason it didn't make this thread. I just want to say, a clean ship is not necessarily a safe ship in respect to food handling. All those seemingly minor infractions add up to one thing, they were doing a bad job protecting you from food borne illnesses. There is a small margin of error between safe and sorry when it comes to handling, preparing and consuming food. They failed the process and circumvented procedures during an inspection, how do they conduct themselves when no one is looking should be the real question. Hopefully they have had a change in the guard, because when you fail any inspection the responsibility rest with the management team. Remember a cruise ship feeds thousands of people quickly and often, in a semi-closed environment, the chance for hundreds to become ill, is why their food standards are set higher. If they pass all the previous inspections, then why have they failed now, I'll bet they had a significant change in management and staff. If you look at the report you will notice they lost big points on safety issues not cleanliness issues, those processes and procedures that directly effect how safe you food will be vice how clean the galley is and that is truly the goal of a CDC inspection. Don't confuse clean with safe, they are linked to some degree but they are different.

 

 

AL

[yvettedem1969]

I'm confused...I thought CCL said they were re-evaluated with a much higher score...but if they were still scrubbing the hell out of the ship as of the 31st, when were they re-evaluated, and by whom:confused:

 

In the article somewhere, it said that they were re-evaluated "this" past Tuesday...that's the same day we came back. I am telling you everytime I turned around, they were cleaning something! I am not sure about behind the scenes but even where the "food lines" were on the lido deck, inside and outside, they were constantly changing out the food. The cold items were in refrigerators right behind where they were standing to serve you. (some underneath the stations but refrigerators non the less) The food they were replacing went into the garbage!

 

In the report, the thing with the dates was not old food, it was food prepared that same day! They do not keep the old stuff and re-use it. Oh and by the way, they do a galley tour if you wanted to check it out for yourself....I didn't go (would have if I knew about that report) If you are concerned about any of the items listed in the report, go on the galley tour!

 

I am just telling you from my own prospective...nothing was cold that shouldn't have been and nothing was hot that shouldn't have been.

 

Oh yeah not sure if they did fix this problem or not cuz I didn't go in again after the 2nd day of sailing but the sauna in the gym smelled very badly of chloreine....I mean heavy heavy smell....I do remember that some of the stations (food and bar) had too much of it in there so maybe they fixed that too? who knows....all i know is that I did NOT get sick and NO ONE else did either :)

[DqALEX]

Carnival like any other company doesn't want bad press. Im sure heads rolled for this and the problem is fixed. Now if the news paper could only report on the Distiny's problems the air would get fixed LOL

[cascole]

woops... posted then found what I was looking for. sorry