Unsanitary Ships – Cruise Line That Serves Texas Has the Most

More and more Texas families are discovering cruise ship vacations. Our state offers sailings for several different cruise lines out of the Port of Galveston. This makes enjoying an ocean-going cruise easy for travelers who live in Houston, Beaumont, San Antonio, and Palestine. These cruises are not only your gateway to the Gulf of Mexico but many offer destinations in the Caribbean and beyond.

No matter which direction the captain steers your vessel from the Port of Galveston 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 Texas, a score of 90 or better is the target. The cruise lines that sail out of Texas include Carnival, Royal Caribbean, Disney, Princess, Norwegian, and MSC.

Of the six cruise lines that serve Texas through the Port of Galveston Carnival was the cruise line that had the most ships 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. The Breeze and The Miracle offer sailings from Galveston.

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.