When planning a cruising vacation, it’s become increasingly important to look into the cleanliness of both the cruise line and the ship before booking. With Covid-19 cases taking an upturn at the moment, and a record number of norovirus outbreaks on cruise ships this year, it’s imperative to take your health into your own hands as much as you are able.
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) released the results of its twice-yearly Vessel Sanitation Program inspections, which alert the public to what ships are the most (and least) sanitary. The inspections focus on eight distinct areas of each ship, including the dining rooms, pools and spas, child activity centers, and medical facilities. The ships are scored on a scale out of 100 and anything 85 or below is treated as a fail.
Luckily, only one ship failed the most recent inspection, but there were a few that just scraped by. MSC Seaside had a disturbingly low score of 67, while Carnival Liberty, Carnival Pride, and Margaritaville at Sea Paradise squeezed by with scores two scores of 86 and a score of 87, respectively.
The following ships, you can breathe easy (literally), all scored perfect marks on the latest inspection:
- Royal Caribbean Allure of the Seas
- Carnival Celebration
- Carnival Panorama
- Carnival Sunshine
- Celebrity Edge
- Celebrity Millenium
- Celebrity Summit
- Disney Fantasy
- Disney Wonder
- MSC Seascape
- Norwegian Joy
- Norwegian Pearl
- Oceania Riviera
- Holland America Line Rotterdam
- Silversea Silver Moon
Other ships that still passed muster include Noordam (score of 90), Star Pride (score of 90), Le Boreal (score of 90), and Norweigan Epic (score of 89).
While even the cleanest of ships can still harbor germs, passengers can now rest assured that these ships have been vetted and cleared for launch.