Unsanitary Ships – Cruise Line That Serves Louisiana Has the Most

More and more Louisiana families are discovering cruise ship vacations. Our state offers sailings for several different cruise lines out of the Port of New Orleans. These cruises are not only your gateway to the Gulf of Mexico but you can board a Mississippi River Cruise in New Orleans as well. Some of the stops on those river cruises include Baton Rouge, St Francisville, and Natchez Mississippi.

No matter which direction the captain steers your vessel from New Orleans one of the first things you'll notice while on board the ship is the attention to cleanliness. Even before COVID cruise lines were adamant about keeping their vessels as clean as possible.

In fact, cruise ship cleanliness is such a big deal, that the Centers for Disease Control has a specific standard for cleanliness that is updated for each ship every two years. The 100-point system covers every aspect of life on board the ship. This includes dining areas, public areas, poolside areas, and basically any other place where more than a few guests can gather.

According to the CDC, a score of 85 or better is considered "satisfactory" but for most cruise lines, including those serving Louisiana, a score of 90 or better is the target. The cruise lines that sail out of Louisiana include Carnival which offers itineraries on the Liberty and Valor. Norwegian Cruise Lines offers a sailing from New Orleans aboard the Getaway. And you can book a trip on Royal Caribbean's Brilliance of the Seas out of the Big Easy as well.

Of the four cruise lines that serve Louisiana through the Port of New Orleans Carnival was the cruise line that had the most ships to score below 90 on the Centers for Disease Control's cleanliness exam. We should note that the vessels that fell below the 90-point mark were the Carnival Breeze, Carnival Miracle, and the Carnival Elation. None of those vessels sail out of New Orleans.

Royal Caribbean also had a ship listed on the "below 90" list. That vessel the Adventure of the Seas is homeported out of Port Canaveral Florida. It earned a cleanliness score of 89.

Although Carnival did have three ships score below 90 on the CDC's cleanliness survey their other 27 ships scored above the 90-point threshold. Two of those ships the Carnival Panorama and Carnival Spirit scored a perfect 100 on the inspection. And just to be clear, the entire Carnival fleet earned a passing grade when it comes to sanitary conditions on board.

If you'd like to see the CDC Vessel Inspection Report and see how your cruise ship ranked, you can find that right here. The inspection report covers all of the major cruise lines and many of the smaller lines as well.