Holland America Line’s ms Oosterdam joins sister-ship ms Eurodam this year by earning a perfect score of 100 on a routine United States Public Health (USPH) inspection conducted by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Oosterdam’s unannounced USPH inspection was held March 3, 2017, during a turnaround at Tampa, Florida, at the start of a 7-day Caribbean cruise. The perfect score follows on the heels of sister ship ms Eurodam achieving its 11th perfect score in January, making cruise industry history with the most consecutive 100s.
“As a company we strive for the highest standards in all areas of operation across the fleet, and our recent public health inspections are a testament to how hard everyone is working to achieve these perfect scores,” said Orlando Ashford, president of Holland America Line. “Congratulations to everyone onboard Oosterdam and all of our employees who worked endlessly to make it happen once again.”
Along with Eurodam in 2017, six Holland America Line ships previously earned perfect scores in 2016, including Koningsdam, ms Maasdam, ms Veendam, ms Noordam, and ms Westerdam. The year prior seven ships received 10 perfect scores: Eurodam, Noordam, Veendam, ms Zuiderdam, ms Nieuw Amsterdam, ms Ryndam, and ms Statendam.
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.
For more information about Holland America Line, visit HollandAmerica.com.
We just came off a weeklong cruise on the Eurodam, and while I have no serious complaints about their sanitation practices, a couple things struck me as peculiar. First, unlike other recent cruises on Carnival and Norwegian, there were only self-service sanitizer dispensers, never any crew with spray bottles of sanitizer to provide that extra level of encouragement and reminder to sanitize frequently, especially when entering the buffet. Second, this ship has a practice of setting the tables in the buffet with coffee cups and water glasses. After guests leave a table, any cups and glasses that appear clean are left on the table for the next guests. I found this a bit unsettling, never knowing if they'd been sneezed on or what, and avoided using those pre-set glasses.
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