Most cruise ships inspected by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention this year received passing scores, agency reports show.
Among 153 inspections conducted in 2026, only one resulted in a failing grade so far. Norwegian Cruise Line’s Norwegian Dawn received a score of 84 in March.
Cruise ships must receive a score of at least 86 to pass.
Violations onboard Norwegian Dawn included a coffee urn “soiled with a long strand of hair on the food-contact surface inside the urn,” a fly resting on bread during the crew’s lunch service, and an ice machine “excessively soiled with greater than a day’s accumulation of black and pink debris,” according to the inspection report.
The cruise line submitted a subsequent report detailing a range of corrective actions, from rewashing coffee urns to discarding the tray of bread where the fly was found. Norwegian did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
How Cruise Ships Are Inspected
Cruise ships within the CDC Vessel Sanitation Program’s jurisdiction are usually inspected twice a year while in U.S. ports, according to its website.
“If a ship sails outside of the United States for an extended period, it may not be inspected twice a year, but it will be inspected again when it returns to the United States,” the agency said. The inspections cover a variety of onboard operations and facilities, from the galleys to potable water systems to pest management procedures.
Nathan Diller is a consumer travel reporter for USA TODAY based in Nashville. You can reach him at [email protected].
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Most cruise ships passed CDC inspections in 2026, reports show
Reporting by Nathan Diller, USA TODAY / USA TODAY
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