A Holland America Line cruise ship received its 13th consecutive perfect 100 health score during a recent surprise inspection by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
This is the third perfect score for Eurodam in 2017 and continues the six-year run of perfect scores that is still setting records in both company history and the cruise industry.
Eurodam’s unannounced USPH inspection was held Dec. 3, 2017, during a turnaround at Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, at the start of a seven-day Caribbean cruise. This score of 100 follows sister ships Koningsdam and Oosterdam achieving perfect scores in March 2017.
Over the past four years, Holland America Line ships have achieved a perfect score of 100 more than 22 times. In addition to Eurodam, ms Koningsdam and ms Oosterdam received perfect scores in March of this year.
Orlando Ashford, president of Holland America Line, gave the following statement: “With each new perfect score Eurodam’s entire team clearly demonstrates their pride and commitment to excellence and to continuing their amazing streak of perfect scores that raises the bar in the industry.
Receiving a perfect USPH score on an unannounced inspection is not easy, yet the team on Eurodam certainly makes it look that way year after year. We all know what a tremendous effort it takes to get that 100. Congratulations to everyone on Eurodam.”
CDC inspections are part of the Vessel Sanitation Program, which was introduced in the early 1970s and is required for all passenger ships that call at a U.S. port. The inspections are unannounced and are carried out by officials from the United States Public Health Service twice a year for every cruise ship. Health Canada’s Cruise Ship Inspection Program harmonizes with the United States’ CDC Vessel Sanitation Program, and inspections are conducted once a year when cruise ships visit Canadian ports.
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.
