For the fourth time in the past three months, a Carnival Cruise Line cruise ship has failed a surprise health inspection.
Twice a year, each cruise ship that sails to or from a U.S. cruise port goes through an unannounced public health inspection. This surprise inspection is done by the VSP (Vessel Sanitation Program) to determine how well the ships are operating and to the check the sanitation standards on board each ship.
Carnival Liberty failed an inspection that took place on January 4, 2018 with an inspection score of 80. A score of 85 or below is considered a failing score. This is the fourth Carnival cruise ship to score an 85 or below in the past three months.
The other three cruise ships that failed inspection were Carnival Triumph (scored a 78 on November 11, 2017), Carnival Vista (scored a 79 on December 2, 2017), and Carnival Breeze (scored a 77 on December 10, 2017). All cruise ships that fail an inspection are reinspected within the next two months to insure that corrective measure have been taken.
A few of the violations that caused Carnival Liberty to fail inspection were:
- Water from leaks under the dishwash machine pooled on the deck along with food debris.
- Galley-Dishwash: The deckhead light fixture above the in-use dishwash machine was not working.
- Galley-Dishwash: The final rinse pressure gauge of the in-use glasswash machine measured 30 psi, 5 psi above the required maximum limit of 25 psi.
- Galley-Dishwash: At least 10 out for self-service plates were soiled with food residues. These were sent to be rewashed.
- Buffet-Lido Coffee Bar: The deckhead was slotted with gaps that lead to the plenum. Heavy accumulations of dust were above both service counters.
- Galley-Pizza Pirate: There were no sneeze guards for the pizza counter. Consumers stood within a distance that allowed for sneeze to get to the exposed food on the pizza counter. Staff was not using the counter at the moment but stated that they slice the pizza and served from that counter.
- Dining Room-Silver Dining: More than 100 previously cleaned coffee carafes were stored upright and with water inside. In addition, hundreds of previously cleaned times were stored in areas clearly marked for soiled items. One example is a number of previously cleaned water jugs stored upside down in these areas along with many other items that were upright and unprotected. This created a confusion during the inspection, having managers explaining the situation in different ways. This practice of storing previously clean items in areas clearly marked for soiled items could create a clean utensil protection problem.
- Galley-Pastry Walk-in Freezer: The deck in front of the door had a missing tile exposing rough concrete.
- Galley-Guy’s Burger Joint: At the front galley, a container of bread was placed behind a gap approximately 300 mm wide between sneeze guards. This was immediately corrected.
- Galley-Guy’s Burger Joint: The wash temperature of the heavily in-use hood-type warewash machine did not reach a minimum of 150°F in several attempts. In addition, the final rinse temperature did not reach a minimum of 160°F for more than 1-2 seconds in several attempts. The final rinse cycle was 11 seconds per data plate.
- Bar-Blue Iguana: Previously cleaned fruit garnish trays were stored on the countertop of the storage cabinets behind the bar in front of the passenger seating area.
- Other-Engine Control Room: The counter under an easily movable espresso machine was soiled with greater than one days’ worth of accumulation.
- Recreational Water Facilities-Serenity Portside Whirlpool Spa: Crew members measured the pH at the whirlpool spa at 7.86 and 8.03. The inspector took two bromine measurements at the whirlpool spa. Both of these measurements had values of >10. A crew member measured the bromine level at 8.59. In the pump room, no alarms were sounding for this whirlpool spa because the analyzer read 6.4 for bromine and 7.10 for pH. At the sampling point in the pump room, the inspector recorded a pH value of 7.52. Crew members recorded values of 7.9 and 7.87. The inspector recorded bromine levels of >10 and 9.91. A crew member recorded a value of >10. Crew members immediately closed the whirlpool spa and recalibrated the analyzer.
- See the complete inspection report on Carnival Liberty
During the inspections, all major areas of the ship are inspected including medical facilities, portable water systems, swimming pools and hot tubs, galleys and dining rooms, child activity centers, hotel accommodations, ventilation systems, and common areas of the ship.
in 2017, 33 cruise ships scored a perfect 100 health score during the inspections including five Carnival ships.
