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Did Monarch Fail Recent CDC Inspection?

EVALUATOR

By EVALUATOR,
in Royal Caribbean International

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EVALUATOR

EVALUATOR

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I was looking at the CDC site to see if any info was posted on the Mariner Norovirus stories.

 

While nothing new was posted about any outbreaks, I noticed the recent CDC inspection score for the Monarch on 11/18/2011.

 

The score was 85, which is considered not satisfactory by CDC standards.

 

This seems to be the lowest inspection score for any RCI ship in over a decade.:(

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orville99 "Live from...." Rare

orville99

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I was looking at the CDC site to see if any info was posted on the Mariner Norovirus stories.

 

While nothing new was posted about any outbreaks, I noticed the recent CDC inspection score for the Monarch on 11/18/2011.

 

The score was 85, which is considered not satisfactory by CDC standards.

 

This seems to be the lowest inspection score for any RCI ship in over a decade.:(

 

 

Wow!!!! The findings report that accompanied the score is truly a disturbing read - and the corrective report is not much better:eek:

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EVALUATOR

EVALUATOR

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Wow!!!! The findings report that accompanied the score is truly a disturbing read - and the corrective report is not much better:eek:

 

On the corrective action report, it showed where fruit flies were found in 9 different locations.

 

Apparently they did not mess around with the one live one they caught.:eek:

 

"A live fruit fly was observed on the aft starboard counter in the hot Tournant section. He was killed."

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EVALUATOR

EVALUATOR

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Yuck!! Not defending the ship and crew,but this happens all over....maybe not to this extent though...........now,lets hope they clean it up!

 

"confident that Monarch of the Seas would receive a passing score when the ship was re-inspected."

 

Maybe this is part of the problem. If they had scored 1 point higher they would have "passed" the inspection. But should they be satisfied with an 86?

 

They should be trying to get a 100 on the next inspection, not just pass it.

 

They missed in a big way on some very basic food safety issues.

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wieslaw

wieslaw

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Who?

 

Gina

 

 

Gina,

 

we sailed on another RCI's ship last week and the subject of that particular inspection did come up in a conversation with someone in charge of the 'food department' ( not going give you any details about that person's position or job discription ), I was informed that the person responsible for the failed inspection on Monarch was fired the next day. RCCL considers anything below 93 as a failure.

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SnowshoeCat

SnowshoeCat

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I guess Im the only one who is NOT "alarmed" with most everything on that report? :confused:

 

I would sail on her today if I could :cool:

 

No, you're no the only one. I actually kind of chuckled when I read the top post. I have an ironic sense of humor and having just returned from my cruise last week (after the inspection), and having really enjoyed myself (and the ship), I just shrug things off and think sometimes ignorance really is bliss.

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F27TW

F27TW

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That's unsettling!

 

 

Oh, please ... "unsettling" .. have you ever had a bowl of very ripe fruit on your counter at home? Then you have had lil fruitflies yourself. That is NOT a horrifying health risk to the 3000+ people onboard the ship.

The things the CDC go looking for are a little ridiculous. On the Queen Mary 2, they also failed ... for something like 1 single human hair in an ice machine. Come ON, now.

I work in a hospital - in an O.R. And inspections like this depend so much on the inspectors ... if they have a quota .. or are trying to impress someone "above", they -will- find ridiculous things that qualify as a "ding", but do not really create any real hazard at all.

OK ... rant over (and yes ... I love our Monarch!)!

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poncho1973

poncho1973

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When I reported that our 12/2 sailing was a bit inferior, I had a ton "you don't know what you're talking about, she's a super ship" replies.

 

Although, cleanliness didn't seem to be an issue in our case. These items seem to be more crew error type things. Letting things go, not caring quite as much as they should, etc.

 

THAT I definitely saw on Monarch.

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closecruiser

closecruiser

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Cruise Critic UK reports soiled plates in the clean buffet stack, missing safety signage and more than 30 fruit flies, dead and alive, were recently discovered on Monarch of the Seas by inspectors from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Those and dozens of other infractions earned the Royal Caribbean ship a failing score of 85 out of 100 on its November 18 vessel sanitation inspection. The CDC's stringent (and surprise) cruise ship cleanliness exam is conducted twice a year, with an 86 considered passing. In the detailed report, fruit flies were mentioned 11 times, having been found in bulkheads, by preparation counters, and in and around the buffet during live service. The ship also came under fire for not maintaining potentially hazardous foods at proper temperatures and/or not logging when said foods were refrigerated. Temperature checks at 8:45 a.m. in one of Monarch's walk-ins found shredded cheese, kidney beans, raw eggs and shredded deli ham all above the required level of 41 degrees F. The staff stated the ambient temperature log for the walk-in was checked at 5:45 a.m. -- but there were no food temperature checks recorded. All these foods were discarded. According to the 2011 version of the CDC's Vessel Sanitation Program's (VSP) Operations Manual, "Except during preparation, cooking, or cooling, potentially hazardous foods must be maintained at 135 degrees Fahrenheit or above (roasts may be held at a temperature of 130 degrees), or 41 degrees Fahrenheit or less." The report further revealed that Monarch had not adopted new standards from the VSP's updated manual, which include carrying a test kit for measuring alkalinity in the swimming pools and posting poolside safety signs warning passengers not to use the facilities if they are "experiencing diarrhea, vomiting, or fever" and encouraging them to shower before entering the facili

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Loonbeam

Loonbeam

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Having reviewed the report, there was only one set of really serious infractions and that was failure to monitor/high holding temperature of perishables, most notably raw eggs. Temperature checks were not logged and the temp of items was over 41 degrees (which is on the high end to start with). This needs to be corrected immediately by making sure their HAACP or equivalent program is thorough and being used.

 

Those are serious violations that have potential health implications. Other items such as fruit flies are less significant in terms of actual health concerns. Fruit flies can transmit bacteria but in those numbers are not problematic. Same with the signage issues and dirty plates (gross, but risk of mass contamination very small)

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sherilyn70

sherilyn70

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When I look at a CDC report I look for the items that are 1 point or higher. They had multiple 5 pointers and that is a concern. They were not monitoring for Noro properly according to the logs and they were letting temps get to high on foods (cheese was almost at room temp). One of the bars was also not disposing or tracking perishable items properly (such as an ice cream base).

 

While they concern me to some extent I can also recognize that none of them were life threatening but were potentials if left uncorrected would be.

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