Cruise Ship Restrooms Not as Clean as They Could Be

[Host Mick]

Not really news but... ewwww.

"Only 37 percent of the restrooms were found to be cleaned daily over the course of the study, which was comprised of 1,564 hygiene samples. Overall cleanliness of the standardized surfaces throughout the study ranged from four to 100 percent."

The rest of the story here: http://travel.aol.com/travel-ideas/a...avdynlprim0665

The moral of the story? Wash, wash, wash and never touch anything inside of a restroom after you scrub your hands very well.

Note how the first paragraph draws a conclusion that the second from the last paragraph contradicts. Poor writing.

[truck1]

It was an interesting piece, (ok. Had to keep from spilling my tea on the key board in some parts) it did have a valid point about certain things not being disinfected as opposed to cleaning, as well as they could like the handles.Thats on the surface of what I got, however, I do have to question there investigation technique as what AOL is saying this group found, didnt correlate to what the CDC found.
The other thing that I question (among others) is how do you tell a restroom is cleaned daily? I know that in some places there is a set time that a rr is cleaned and usually has a sign in sheet as to who did it, and when.I dont remember if Ive ever seen one on a cruise ship before.(Not saying there not there)If a person goes in at say 3 pm to wash there hands,take samples etc, whats to say it wasnt cleand at 315 pm?Theres been several times during the course of several different lines that I have been on, that someone was cleaning the same restroom multiple times during the course of a day,while I either walked by or used it.

Next question would be, how do you take what amounts to biological samples, with out cross contaminating them, off of a cruise ship?And what would the line,customs and a half dozen other m-o-u-s-e (no pun intended)orgnizations think of that?

IMHO, in the end, you can reduce the risk of contracting certain things like Norovirus, but I seriously doubt you can eliminate them all together, short of putting everyone and everything through sometype of ultra virus bug killer like in the old movie Andromedia strain, where everyone went into a room with a blue light that basically burned a layer of skin off your body.

[Minybear]

Thanks Host Mick for posting this article. One of the things we were taught long ago is to try to avoid their public bathrooms if possible. This article proves it unfortunately! Even in your own bathroom it may not be as clean as it should. Wash, wash, wash.

Cindy

[truck1]

Originally Posted by Minybear

Thanks Host Mick for posting this article. One of the things we were taught long ago is to try to avoid their public bathrooms if possible. This article proves it unfortunately! Even in your own bathroom it may not be as clean as it should. Wash, wash, wash.

Cindy

Out of curisosity, since the article says that it does not meet what the Disease Control and Prevention people say,(which rates cruise ships at 97% clean) how does the article prove anything?

[Zippercat]

Did I miss the part where it said this was a sample including DCL ships? If it did not, why post this in a Disney forum? Might as well be an article about gas station bathrooms.....

I've never seen the bathrooms on the Wonder look anything but absolutely spotless!

[boulders]

Does anyone expect any bathroom that's been previously used to be sanitary?

[truck1]

Originally Posted by Zippercat

Did I miss the part where it said this was a sample including DCL ships? If it did not, why post this in a Disney forum? Might as well be an article about gas station bathrooms.....

I've never seen the bathrooms on the Wonder look anything but absolutely spotless!

Im going to go out on a limb,even though I didnt see it either, and say that since there was a large number of ships surveyed, that its possible DCL had at least 1 ship in the "test"

I didnt notice it before for some reason, though I did notice it this time when I went back to look at the number of ships sampled.Theres a second imbeded link, that goes directly to the press release. Theres a little more detail in it, but even still,they are talking disinfecting a bathroom as opposed to cleaning a bathroom.(They were looking for fecal contaminates) The whole article reminds me of a Mythbusters episode when they did the toothbrush in the bathroom myth.Everytooth brush the Mythbusters tested, came back contaminated with fecal contaminates, even the control brushes that were no where near the restroom. Just saw the episode again the same day I saw the article.

[Host Mick]

Originally Posted by Zippercat

Did I miss the part where it said this was a sample including DCL ships? If it did not, why post this in a Disney forum? Might as well be an article about gas station bathrooms.....

I've never seen the bathrooms on the Wonder look anything but absolutely spotless!

They don't mention any cruise lines by name. It's posted here because it's about cruising in general and this is Cruise Critic.

The CDC scoring doesn't seem to include basic housekeeping for some reason. The only thing that I could find in the Vessel Sanitation Program handbook is a reference to the ship having it's own written Outbreak Prevention and Response Plan (OPRP) which details the standard procedures and policies to specifically address gastrointestinal illness
onboard.
That's it other than specific requirements regarding the Childrens' area.

[Host Mick]

Originally Posted by truck1

It was an interesting piece, (ok. Had to keep from spilling my tea on the key board in some parts) it did have a valid point about certain things not being disinfected as opposed to cleaning, as well as they could like the handles.Thats on the surface of what I got, however, I do have to question there investigation technique as what AOL is saying this group found, didnt correlate to what the CDC found.
The other thing that I question (among others) is how do you tell a restroom is cleaned daily? I know that in some places there is a set time that a rr is cleaned and usually has a sign in sheet as to who did it, and when.I dont remember if Ive ever seen one on a cruise ship before.(Not saying there not there)If a person goes in at say 3 pm to wash there hands,take samples etc, whats to say it wasnt cleand at 315 pm?Theres been several times during the course of several different lines that I have been on, that someone was cleaning the same restroom multiple times during the course of a day,while I either walked by or used it.

Next question would be, how do you take what amounts to biological samples, with out cross contaminating them, off of a cruise ship?And what would the line,customs and a half dozen other m-o-u-s-e (no pun intended)orgnizations think of that?

IMHO, in the end, you can reduce the risk of contracting certain things like Norovirus, but I seriously doubt you can eliminate them all together, short of putting everyone and everything through sometype of ultra virus bug killer like in the old movie Andromedia strain, where everyone went into a room with a blue light that basically burned a layer of skin off your body.

I was wondering the same regarding the methodology. Did they station people in the restroom? If so that in itself would change the cleaning behavour. Did they mark surfaces with flourescent marks or chalk?
It seems a very hard thing to check on a large scale.

[phunchak]

I remember from my undergraduate Microbiology class that there far more bacteria on common things like desktops or keyboards compared to toilet seats. Hotel room comforters are one of the worst things.
While I appreciate a clean washroom, I wish they'd spend more time cleaning more common areas.

[truck1]

Originally Posted by Host Mick

I was wondering the same regarding the methodology. Did they station people in the restroom? If so that in itself would change the cleaning behavour. Did they mark surfaces with flourescent marks or chalk?
It seems a very hard thing to check on a large scale.

Another question I just thought of, would be, did the same people check/sample the restroom, on each cruise and line to line, and if so, did they sample the same or as close to the same spots in each restroom.
Also, which restrooms did they decide to test. I would think and this is my opinion, that a rr near a pool, would have a lesser chance of a virus surviving due to the amount of chlorine in the air and water, versus one closer to a restaurant or even one near an embarkation/debarkation point.

[PopFla]

Hmmmmm... Job posting:

Occupation: Cruise Ship Restroom Sanitation Inspector

Duties Include: Traveling aboard numerous cruise ships for extended periods of time, spending approximately two hours per day conducting sanitation tests.

Compensation: Generous salary. Deluxe accommodations and all expenses aboard each ship included.

Must be willing to travel to beautiful destinations aboard luxurious cruising ships. Dramamine not included.

~~~~~~

Dirty job, but somebody's gotta do it. Sign me up!

[truck1]

Originally Posted by PopFla

Hmmmmm... Job posting:

Occupation: Cruise Ship Restroom Sanitation Inspector

Duties Include: Traveling aboard numerous cruise ships for extended periods of time, spending approximately two hours per day conducting sanitation tests.

Compensation: Generous salary. Deluxe accommodations and all expenses aboard each ship included.

Must be willing to travel to beautiful destinations aboard luxurious cruising ships. Dramamine not included.

~~~~~~

Dirty job, but somebody's gotta do it. Sign me up!

Wonder if Mike Rowe would be interested?