Cruise ship inspection scores: 20 ships, 108 CDC inspections

What the scores show for these 20 ships

Across 108 inspections of these ships since 2019, none scored a fail. Perfect scores of 100 came up 27 times. 3 came in below 90, the lowest being Symphony of the Seas with 86 on Feb 9, 2025. 95 of the 108 were 95 or higher, and the lowest single score was 86.

The table shows the lowest score since 2019 next to the latest one, so you can see the range for each ship, not just the most recent result. The score is 100 minus the points deducted for violations; the inspection report behind it lists the specific violations, which tell you more than the number. You can read those reports in CDC's query tool.

What a CDC inspection covers

The Vessel Sanitation Program inspects cruise ships that carry 13 or more passengers on foreign itineraries that include US ports. Inspections are unannounced, normally twice a year for ships under the program, and usually take six to eight hours. CDC says a ship that spends a long time away from the US can have fewer inspections in a year, which may explain some of the longer gaps between dates in a ship's record.

Inspectors look at 8 areas: medical center, drinking water, galleys and dining rooms, swimming pools and whirlpools, housekeeping, pest and insect management, child activity centers, heating, ventilation and and air conditioning (HVAC). CDC scores on a 100-point scale and deducts points for significant individual violations or patterns of similar ones. A ship scoring 86 or higher is satisfactory; 85 or below is a fail.

A fail does not automatically stop a ship from sailing. CDC requires critical violations to be fixed immediately, and a failed ship is reinspected. In CDC's own older guidance for travelers, a low score "does not necessarily imply an imminent risk" of an outbreak. The score is a snapshot of sanitation practice on one day.

What a score does not tell you

An inspection score is not a safety rating. It covers the areas listed above, not the ship's structure, fire safety or crime, and it is not a prediction of whether your sailing will have an outbreak. Ships that never call at a US port are outside the program and have no score at all, and CDC archives the records of ships that stop sailing from the US.

Outbreak records and inspection scores measure different things, so we show them separately. A high score on one date does not rule out an outbreak on a later voyage.

Reported outbreaks, 2023 to 2026

CDC lists a gastrointestinal outbreak when 3% or more of passengers or crew report symptoms to the ship's medical staff during a voyage, and it can list smaller ones it considers significant. The counts are cases across the whole voyage, not the number ill at one time. By CDC's year of listing, there were 14 in 2023, 18 in 2024, 23 in 2025 and 9 in 2026 (2026 to Nov 7, 2026).

Norovirus was the cause in 51 of the 64. The cause was not given for 6, and the rest were E. coli, salmonella or both, and in one case presumed ciguatera. The largest by passenger count was on Queen Mary 2 (Cunard Line), with 346 passengers ill out of 2,565 on a voyage starting Dec 21, 2024.

Of the 20 ships in the score table, Scarlet Lady and Koningsdam appear in the outbreak list. The absence of a listing is not proof that nobody was ill: CDC notes that illness is underreported, that smaller outbreaks fall below the threshold and that voyages outside its jurisdiction are not covered.

Larger ships carry more people, so they reach the 3% threshold with more cases. The table below shows each outbreak's passenger and crew counts and the percentages CDC reported for that voyage. They describe one voyage each, not a ship's general risk, and voyages differ in length. See our ship size comparison for passenger numbers.

How to use this before you book

Look up your ship in the table, then find it in CDC's query tool and read the most recent inspection report, including what the ship corrected. Then check the outbreak list for recent voyages on the same ship, and read CDC's report for any that appear: it says what the ship did in response. Save the ship to your plan from the cost calculator to keep your research together.