Today, the Miami Herald covered the delayed story of the Carnival Triumph flunking a November 2017 USPH inspection when it received a score of only 78.

The reason why I called the story "delayed" is because Carnival crew members on the Carnival Triumph  talked about the failed USPH score about six weeks before the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) published its official report. The news first broke about the Triumph flunking the inspection when the crew members tipped off the popular Crew Center web site which first reported USPH Cruise Inspectionsthe story in mid-November of 2017. 

We have also received tips of failed USPH inspections, such as when the Carnival Breeze failed a USPH inspection (receiving a 77) and when the crew members aboard the Silver Shadow his food and galley equipment in crew quarters. 

The Herald characterizes the failed USPH score as "rare," but that seems entirely debatable. The article quotes cruise fanatic Stewart Chiron saying that “as far as a large ship, I couldn’t tell you the last time this happened. That’s how rare this is.”

But the cruise fans forgot about over ten USPH failed inspections in the last few years, starting with the Carnival Breeze just last month (which Carnival has not even acknowledged to date). Then there was also the Carnival Paradise scored just a 83 in June 2017, which the article briefly mentioned.

In addition, the following cruise ships failed USPH inspections in the last four-five years: RCCL’s Empress of the Seas– 80 (2016), P&O Oceana – 80 (2016), Carnival Fascination – 84 (2016), Balearia Bahamas Express Bahama Mama cruise ferry – 69 (2015), Silver Shadow – 82 (2015). Norwegian Star – 82 (2014) as well as Celebrity Century – 77 (2013), Celebrity Summit – 81 (2013), and the Silver Shadow – 84 (2013)(yes, it failed twice in two years), Carnival Fascination – 84 (2013, yes it failed twice in three years) and the Golden Princess – 81 (2013), Sea Dream Yacht Club’s Sea Dream II – 81 (2013), and the Caribbean Fantasy – 81 (2013). In addition, as the Miami Herald reported, Ponant’s Le Boreal – 84, Peace Boat’s Ocean Dream – 82, Victory Cruise Line’s Victory I – 78, and the Caribbean ferry, Kydon, – 58 all received failing scores in 2017.

20 cruise ships flunked surprise USPH sanitation inspections in five years. That does not seem particularly "rare" to me.

Also, remember that that Carnival crew members stated that the Triumph failed the USPH inspection about six weeks before the agency finally produced the official report. The same thing happened with the Carnival Breeze where crew members have talked about the failed inspection last month to the crew-center website but the CDC has not even published its report yet. 

It seems disconcerting, to me at least, that if the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is really concerned about controlling and preventing disease on cruise ships, that it would sit on reports of potential public health hazards on several cruise ships for over a month.

January 5, 2018 Update: A reader left a comment below that the Regent’s Seven Seas Navigator received a failing score of 79 (2013) raising the total number of cruise lines which flunked USPH inspection to 21 in the last five years.

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Photo credit: Jim Walker via Ship Life – The Pot Wash Blues