Cleanest and most food sanitary lines/ship besides Disney?

[pris993]

Rather than depending on anecdotal reports of others, with an immunocompromised child, I'd educate myself about the CDC's ongoing Vessel Sanitation Program (for cruise ships) and would look at recent scores for any ship I was considering....

 

https://wwwn.cdc.gov/InspectionQueryTool/InspectionSearch.aspx

 

It looks to me like a number of Princess ships are singled out for receiving a perfect score of 100 on recent inspections. ;)

 

https://wwwn.cdc.gov/InspectionQueryTool/Inspectionwith100Score.aspx

 

second these recommendations.

[spleenstomper]

I have had a galley tour on carnival and it was so clean, you could lick the floor.

 

Stay out of the buffet. That is my suggestion for any cruise line.

[Heidi13]

A possible source of sewer smells might be when they are emptying the septic tanks? On my last cruise of 13 night Norway cruise there were 2 occasions when there was a strong sewer smell in aft parts of the ship. We were berthed and I noticed they were emptying something into large road tankers. There were 3 of them and the vents on the tops of the tanks looked open to my untrained eyes.

 

All newer ships have closed vacuum systems, so no odours escape into the accommodation. The effluent goes into a holding tank then into the treatment plant. All black water (sewage) is treated on board, with modern systems producing clear, clean water, which some manufacturers claim is almost drinking quality.

 

The sewage smell, prevalent on some ships is most likely from the grey water scuppers or tank vents.

 

The tankers on the dock were mostly likely collecting waste oil, or sludge, which is sent ashore for disposal/recycling and is recorded in the Oil Record Book. The tanker vents should have been open to dissipate the air while product was pumped in. Can't comment on road tankers, but ship's always use flash screens covering an open vent.

 

In my opinion, with respect to cleanliness and food sanitation, Disney is probably no different from any of the other newer ship cruise lines. Almost every galley on ships I have worked aboard or cruised on is spotless, even the ones that fail a health inspection. The OP should not have any higher risk factors by trying out other new/newer ships than they get with Disney.

[Magnum60]

Heidi 13 nailed it with the above post. I'll add that anything that deals with food, beverage, sanitation and cleanliness (grey and black water too) on a cruise ship is looked at with a very trained eye due to very high minimum standards set by the CDC and US Coast Guard. The last thing a cruise line needs or wants is to fly a yellow quarantine flag coming into port due to passengers made ill by unsanitary conditions aboard one of their ships.

What's impossible to control is a 'bug' that a passenger unknowingly has carried aboard and passed on to other guests - regardless of how much Purell they've slather all over them self. Who gets blamed? The cruise ship.

The difference between a passing health inspection score of 85 and a perfect inspection score of 100 is pretty small. Few homes (even after a full day of cleaning) would earn the minimum passing score of 85 after a CDC inspector stopped by for a little visit. Sometimes I think we worry too much.

[sloopsailor]

....What's impossible to control is a 'bug' that a passenger unknowingly has carried aboard and passed on to other guests - regardless of how much Purell they've slather all over them self. Who gets blamed? The cruise ship........

 

I suspect that almost all people checking in will answer "NO" when asked if they have been ill in the last several days, regardless of if they were or not. On every cruise there probably are several people who were knowingly sick and shouldn't be around other people. And like you said, the cruise line will get blamed if their hidden illness spreads to other people.

[Smiley525]

I agree Disney was nice-someone passing out wet wipes to everyone entering dining room, hand washing stations in kids areas etc. I’m very OCD and have been pleased with RCI, but I never eat in the buffets either...