How clean are cruise ships?

I wouldn’t normally write about a press release announcing that a cruise line, or other travel company, had won some kind of award or distinction.

However, this is different. Holland America Line has announced that its ms Eurodam has registered a particular achievement for the 11th consecutive time. And that should interest everyone who has ever cruised, or has ever contemplated a cruise holiday.

That achievement is a perfect score of 100 on a routine United States Public Health inspection conducted by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). According to the media release, the run of perfect scores is a record in both the cruise industry and company history.

Why is this important? Because rarely a month goes by when we don’t read about an outbreak of norovirus or some other “tummy bug” (gastroenteritis) that disrupts the enjoyment of cruise passengers.

A simple Google News search for “norovirus ship” turns up many thousands of results, including cases aboard the Sun Princess, Oosterdam (a HAL ship), Explorer of the Seas, Golden Princess, Balmoral, Saga Sapphire, Silja Symphony, Oceania Riviera and many others. No company is immune.

Obviously passengers getting sick is not in the interests of the cruise companies, and they do their best to ensure strict standards of hygiene. But there is only so much they can do.

As everybody, cruise passenger or not, ought to know, the best way to prevent its spread is to wash your hands thoroughly many times a day, especially after using the toilet. Everybody has to do it.

As I have noted elsewhere, some public places — including many hotels and restaurants — don’t make this easy. In some, the staff disobey the rules (if they are even aware of them) and fail to understand how important its is to adhere to hygiene standards.

Most cruise ships have machines that dispense sanitiser, and often there are “washy-washy” staff at the entrance to on-board restaurants to ensure compliance.

The media release notes that CDC inspections were introduced in the early 1970s and are required for all passenger ships that call at a US port. The inspections are unannounced and are carried out twice a year for every cruise ship.

It says: “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.”

Of course it must be noted that there are many more cases on norovirus on land then at sea, but — and I am talking from personal experience here — can really put a damper on a vacation.