by Bradley Parsons
Staff Writer
The latest ship to join Jacksonville’s cruise ship fleet has a history of failed sanitation inspections, according to records kept by the Center for Disease Control.
Since 1996, the Carnival Jubilee has failed six CDC inspections. The CDC inspects registered cruise ships twice a year. The surprise inspections were put in place in 1975 to combat outbreaks of gastrointestinal illness like the Norwalk Virus, according to Dave Forney, chief of the CDC’s Vessel Sanitation Program.
Over the previous eight years, the Jubilee failed 35 percent (six out of 17) of its initial inspections. Forney said that rate was “not commonplace” among the 166 ships inspected last year. A statement from Carnival pointed out that the ship passed subsequent re–inspections.
The rate compares unfavorably to the other ships based in Jacksonville. Over the same time period the Carnival Holiday failed once, in August 2000, while the Celebrity Cruises’ Zenith has not failed an inspection. The CDC does not report inspection data on the Carnival Miracle, a new ship.
Forney said the Jubilee’s age likely contributed to its difficulties meeting standards.
“It’s one of the oldest ships that we inspect, and that may contribute to its failures,” said Forney. “Newer ships are much easier to maintain. They are built to different standards. It’s much more labor intensive on the older ships to maintain them.”
Carnival should be given credit, Forney said, for a recent run of passed inspections — the ship has passed eight of nine inspections since November 1999, including early this year. The ship last failed an inspection in April 2002.
“Our inspections are just a snapshot of what happens on board that boat while we’re there,” he said. “You have to look at inspections over time.”
Between failing scores of 78 in October 1999 and 84 in April 2002, (86 is passing) the Jubilee averaged 93 on the inspections.
The Jubilee will sail from the Jaxport Cruise Terminal from May through August.
As important as the inspections themselves, said Forney, was the cruise line’s corrective action. Carnival said it takes “immediate corrective action” when a discrepancy is found. The Jubilee has passed all six reinspections.
The Carnival statement said its ships have failed five out of 135 inspections over the past four years, including the Jubilee in 2002.
Cruise ships are held to “much higher” standards than land–based hotels and restaurants, said the statement.
“It is safe to assume that most land–based restaurants would would not pass U.S. Public Health cruise ship inspections,” it said.
Forney agreed that the inspection standards were high. The inspections were made necessary, he said, because “fairly significant outbreaks of gastrointestinal illness” became an issue on cruise ships.
Because they bring hundreds of people together to common areas, the cruise ship environment is highly conducive to transmission of diseases like norovirus, also known as Norwalk virus, according to Forney. The virus can be passed among passengers who touch the same railings, elevator buttons or poker chips, he said. The virus, which Forney said can result in several days of vomiting and other stomach ailments, is usually passed by poor hygiene. A carrier doesn’t wash properly after using the bathroom and runs an infected hand over a common surface where it can be picked up by others. The best defense against passing and contracting the virus, said Forney, is to wash hands thoroughly.
“If people don’t properly wash their hands, anything they touch the virus could survive on for weeks at a time. Somebody with the virus who runs their hand down the grand staircase could leave it there for the next 20 to 30 people to possibly pick up.”
The Jubilee reported a norovirus outbreak in June 1996. Three months later the ship received a failing 72 on a CDC inspection. The score was the ship’s lowest over a 20–year period.
The disease has become commonly associated with cruise ships, but Forney said norovirus is the most common gastrointestinal ailment on dry land as well. He said 23 million landlocked people pick up the virus every year. Cruise ships get the most attention, he said, because they are required to report to the CDC whenever 2 percent of their passengers are afflicted.
“It’s unfair to say this is a cruise ship illness. It’s very commonly observed because of the reporting system,” said Forney. “It’s easily transmitted in high–density populations like hospitals and nursing homes, but you hear about cruise ships because it gets reported more.”
When norovirus breaks out on a ship, Forney said the call from the ship’s medical officer is usually followed by several cell–phone calls from passengers. The next call they make is often to the newspapers, he said.