Think cruises are gross? CDC scored these ships 100 on sanitation
Ships across major cruise lines earned perfect inspection scores from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Nathan DillerJust like hotels or restaurants on land, cruise ships are subject to health inspections – though they might look a bit different.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Vessel Sanitation Program conducts regular inspections of ships while they’re in U.S. ports. Cruise ships in its jurisdiction are typically inspected twice a year.
“If a ship sails outside of the United States for an extended period, it may not be inspected twice a year, but it will be inspected again when it returns to the United States,” the CDC said on its website.
The inspections cover a range of onboard facilities and operations, from galleys to swimming pools and pest management. Vessels must receive scores of 86 or higher to be considered “satisfactory,” but some earn well beyond that.
Below, we rounded up all the cruise ships that nabbed perfect scores of 100 during their most recent inspections over the past year.
Which cruise ships have the highest sanitation inspection scores?
- Virgin Voyages’ Brilliant Lady
- Carnival Cruise Line’s Carnival Breeze and Carnival Luminosa
- Celebrity Cruises’ Celebrity Apex, Celebrity Eclipse, Celebrity Silhouette and Celebrity Solstice
- Disney Cruise Line’s Disney Fantasy
- Explora Journeys’ Explora I
- Royal Caribbean’s Enchantment of the Seas, Grandeur of the Seas, Icon of the Seas, Jewel of the Seas, Ovation of the Seas and Utopia of the Seas
- Holland America Line’s Koningsdam, Rotterdam and Westerdam
- Margaritaville at Sea's Islander and Paradise
- National Geographic-Lindblad Expeditions’ National Geographic Venture
- Norwegian Cruise Line’s Norwegian Encore and Norwegian Gem
- Oceania Cruises’ Oceania Allura, Oceania Insignia and Oceania Vista
- Seabourn Encore
- Regent Seven Seas Grandeur
- Silversea Cruises’ Silver Ray
- Viking Neptune, Viking Orion and Viking Polaris
(This story was updated to add new information.)
Nathan Diller is a consumer travel reporter for USA TODAY based in Nashville. You can reach him at [email protected].