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The Street

Samanda Dorger

The Cleanest Cruise Ships -- So Far

Carnival Cruise Lines CDC Holland America Line Royal Caribbean International Cruises Celebrity Cruises Pandemic Royal Caribbean United States

You may recall the Diamond Princess, the first cruise ship to have a major covid outbreak, quarantined off the coast of Japan for about a month back in February 2020. The ship and its beleaguered passengers ultimately became the subject of an HBO documentary.

As the pandemic unfolded, many ships were denied permission to dock around the world. The CDC issued a no-sail order, and cruise lines suspended operations. By April 2020, nearly 100,000 cruise ship workers on at least 50 ships became floating castaways, stranded at sea, unable to come ashore and banned from air travel that would allow them to return to their homes.

The Diamond Princess, like many cruise ships during the pandemic, was out of commission for more than 2½ years.

Cruise stocks plummeted in 2020: Carnival's (CCL) stock price dropped from around $42 in February that year to $8.50 by the end of March. Though it recovered somewhat in 2021, it’s back down, hovering around $10. Norwegian (NCLH) suffered a similar fate, and Royal Caribbean Group (RCL) dropped from $117 in January 2020 to around $23 in mid-March 2020, and currently hovers around $64.

But cruising is back, if its stocks are not. A January 2023 consumer sentiment survey by the Cruise Lines International Association indicates the demand for cruise holidays is on the rise. Of 4,500 domestic and international travelers surveyed, 91% who had cruised previously said they intend to take a holiday at sea again--a 14% increase from 2019. Of those who have never cruised, 72% are open to cruising and 58% of both groups said they plan to book a cruise in the next two years.

Cruise lines are continuing to order and build new cruise ships to meet growing demand, according to Cruise Fever. Royal Caribbean, the largest cruise line, has four ships under construction or on order, all of which will be larger than any cruise ship that is currently in service.

And if cruising is back, sanitation inspections are back, and ships need to be scrupulously clean.

The CDC inspects the hundreds of cruise ships that enter U.S. ports as part of its Vessel Sanitation Program, checking the ventilation and potable water systems, looking for proper food preparation and storage, and inspecting the sanitation of common areas, dining rooms, swimming pools and medical facilities. Their focus is mainly preventing gastrointestinal illnesses, such as those caused by Salmonella, norovirus and E coli.

The inspectors poke around the kitchens, the hot tubs and kids' play areas. They check everything from coffee machines to HVAC systems. They review procedures with housekeeping staff. They look for flies. They even count flies. They even note the size of flies. They check the temperature of milk and report if they find a dirty coffee cup, a dented can, a hair on a grill, water spots on a vegetable chopper or a soiled napkin on the deck.

If a microwave is dusty, a rat guard is broken, a crew member is eating in the galley or a dishwasher’s spray nozzle is producing an ineffective pattern, they make a note of it.

The cruise ships are scored on a 100-point scale; points are deducted from the score when there is a pattern of similar violations or when there is a single, significant violation. A score of 85 or below is considered unsatisfactory.

During the pandemic, ship scores were not posted to the CDC’s vessel sanitation program website. One cruise site reported in March of 2022 that the program was being conducted as part of the agency’s covid response, and therefore not posting the scores publicly.

The CDC did begin posting the scores again last October, so here are the cleanest cruise ships reported so far.