Do Homework on Sanitation Record Before Boarding Ship

More than 7 million North American passengers are expected to take a cruise by year’s end, according to industry estimates. Besides concerns about safety in the post-Sept. 11 world, they want to be reasonably assured they won’t get sick while they’re away. And many also want a ship that’s smoke free, or as close to it as possible.

Cruise ship sanitation has improved in recent years, says Dave Forney, chief of the Vessel Sanitation Program, administered by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Under the program, established in 1975 as part of the National Center for Environmental Health, all passenger cruise ships arriving at U.S. ports are subject to unannounced inspections. The program is voluntary, but Forney prefers to call it cooperative.

“We have the legal authority ... to conduct the inspection,” he says, “and we have a long-standing relationship with the cruise lines.” Both U.S.- and foreign-flag ships are subject to inspection.

“The number of cruise ships scoring 100 [%] has gone up dramatically,” Forney says, crediting the improvement to increased efforts by the cruise industry and to new ships, which are designed for easier cleaning and maintenance.

Under the Vessel Sanitation Program, CDC inspectors rate a ship’s water supply, food preparation and storage, the potential for contamination of food and general cleanliness, storage and repair. According to a revised operations manual issued in late 2000, ships are expected to maintain more-detailed records than they formerly did of food temperature, refrigeration logs and other data. The current guidelines are more consistent with FDA standards. Details about a ship’s sanitation record are available from the Vessel Sanitation Program’s Web site, www.cdc.gov/nceh/vsp, and by fax at (888) 232-6789.

The scores of all inspected ships are posted on the Web site. In mid-February, the online report included four ships with perfect scores (100) and eight with failing scores (below 86); a score of 86 or higher “indicates that the ship is providing an accepted standard of sanitation.”

You also can find out why a ship failed by clicking to the inspection report. If the ship posted its corrective action, you’ll find that too. For instance, Holland America’s Noordam scored 82. Among the infractions: There was no sign posted at the spa warning those with health problems to avoid it, and raw chicken was stored in a refrigerator on top of raw beef flank steaks. In its corrective action report, the line noted that a spa sign had been ordered and that staff members had been retrained in food storage.

If significant illness strikes the ship’s passengers, the sanitation program is set up to alert the CDC. Twenty-four hours before a ship arrives at a U.S. port, it reports the number of passengers and crew who have sought medical attention for diarrhea, Forney says. If more people seek medical help after that first report but before the ship’s arrival, another report is filed four hours before docking. Infectious diseases such as measles or tuberculosis are also reported, and a special report can be sent any time if the situation warrants, he says.

If the illness rate exceeds 2% of the ship’s population, the CDC is alerted and the situation is considered a potential outbreak, Forney says. The CDC contacts ship officials, and a plan of action is formulated. (Sometimes clusters of passengers become ill because of food they ate in port, not on the ship.) When the illness rate hits 3%, “we would almost in all cases send in a team,” Forney says.

Consumers should maintain perspective when searching for a sanitary ship. “The reality of it is, when we do an inspection, it is a point in time,” Forney says. “We could be on a ship today, and it would pass. But tomorrow they set sail, and there is an outbreak. If you look at the scores over time, it will give you an indication of how the ship is maintained. If you go to the list and look up a ship, look at the previous three, four or five inspections. If they are all in the 96, 97, 98 range, that’s pretty good.”

Besides relying on the government program and checking ship scores, consumers can take other measures to minimize disease and sickness afloat. “At buffets, make sure the hot food is kept hot and the cold, cold,” Forney says. “If food is obviously at the wrong temperature, alert the staff.”

Food on a buffet table, including bread, must be shielded behind a sneeze guard or must be individually packaged.

Besides cleanliness, many cruise passengers want a smoke-free environment. When booking, ask which parts of the ship are smoke-free, suggests a spokeswoman for the Cruise Lines International Assn. Reservations agents usually can tell you at least basic information about the ship’s smoking policy. The trend is toward smoke-free dining rooms, but travelers looking for a totally smoke-free environment may have a hard time.

The Carnival Paradise may be the only large cruise vessel that is totally smoke-free. And the line is stringent about enforcing the policy: Passengers sign a no-smoking contract, and anyone caught with smoking materials is fined $250 and put off the ship. Since the Paradise was launched in 1998, about four people per month have been removed for this reason, says cruise line spokesman Vance Gulliksen.

Travelers hoping to cruise in Europe--say, on a river cruise or barge--have a tougher time avoiding cigarette smoke, travel industry experts say, because smoking is still more accepted overseas. Linda Prosk, an agent with Travel Syndicate in Woodland Hills, advises smoke-sensitive travelers to take a cabin with a balcony so they can get fresh air.

Once on board, if smoke from other passengers bothers you, speak with the cruise director or other appropriate staff members to resolve the problem.

*

Healthy Traveler appears twice a month. Kathleen Doheny can be reached at kathleendoheny@earthlink.net.