Infinity receives not satisfactory CDC score

[Luv4dacruise]

Don't know if anyone has posted anything about this yet, just thought it might be of some interest

 

Here is the link: http://wwwn.cdc.gov/vsp/InspectionQueryTool/Forms/InspectionSummaryView.aspx?Inspection=10717677

 

Actually some pretty gross things going on when they did the inspection. I can understand a few dirty things here and there, but crew members not washing there hands....ewwwwww......

 

Hope they got everything up to code by now.

[Goldryder]

What makes it alot worse is that her previous test showed a perfect 100 score...

 

http://wwwn.cdc.gov/vsp/InspectionQueryTool/Forms/InspectionSummaryView.aspx?Inspection=10717439

 

Makes you wonder how a ship with a perfect score can dip to borderline imperfect in a matter of 9 months. Cost cutting, staff training...who knows, but it isn't a good advertisement for the ship or her crew.

[Aussie Cruisers]

I am a big supporter of passive immunisation. Seriously. If a chef tastes food with his/her finger, and the food is still cooked, no biggy. Food prep is probably far superior to most fast food kitchens in the suburbs of Sydney, and I have seen some of my mates cook! They are scary! :D

 

Anyhow, while it may seem "serious" it won't worry me about my cruise in a few days. We are too sanitised in our modern age.

 

JMHO.

[the_dylaness]

While you might be a fan of passive immunization, I suspect that others sailing with you (especially those who have compromised immune systems for various reasons) might not be.

[dkjretired]

Don't know if anyone has posted anything about this yet, just thought it might be of some interest

 

Here is the link: http://wwwn.cdc.gov/vsp/InspectionQueryTool/Forms/InspectionSummaryView.aspx?Inspection=10717677

 

Actually some pretty gross things going on when they did the inspection. I can understand a few dirty things here and there, but crew members not washing there hands....ewwwwww......

 

Hope they got everything up to code by now.

 

If I read it correctly they caught one person tasting food with their finger. Although not the correct thing to do I can't go crazy over that...Sorry...

[Luv4dacruise]

If I read it correctly they caught one person tasting food with their finger. Although not the correct thing to do I can't go crazy over that...Sorry...

 

Been in the restaurant business myself a few years back, and let me tell you, when the board of health is there, you know they are there. That brings me to the stuff that goes on when they are not around.

 

If someone is going to do something that dumb in front of someone from the CDC, i myself would be scared of what im not seeing.

[dkjretired]

Been in the restaurant business myself a few years back, and let me tell you, when the board of health is there, you know they are there. That brings me to the stuff that goes on when they are not around.

 

If someone is going to do something that dumb in front of someone from the CDC, i myself would be scared of what im not seeing.

 

I absolutely agree with you but considering all their previous scores were in the high 90s and most of the problems are fixed on the spot, I am not going to be too concerned about 1 person perhaps instinctively doing something stupid.

[mafig]

You mean they failed because one person tasted the food?

 

I didn't read the report in detail (skimmed over it), but I think there was more to it than just one person tasting the food.....like moldy bread baskets for one thing.

[Ephraim]

We were recently on the Galaxy, which was doing a transatlantic cruise and was preparing for it's first US inspection since April 2008. The amount of work to prepare for the inspection was clearly evident.

 

While this didn't seem to bother many other guests, to me this indicated that they hadn't taken care to keep the high levels of sanitation that they should have. The ship should be in top shape at all times, not just when they know that there is going to be an inspection.

 

The first and most important of them (for me) was that the bain marie for parts of the buffet were clearly not keeping the food at the right temperature. In fact, I wish I had an instant read thermometer around so that I could have measured the temperature of the food. I touched it and it was cool. I brought this to the attention of the managers, who did superficial things to try and fix it, but never really did. But you could clearly see that it wasn't working properly... there was hardly any steam. And yet they continued to serve food from it. We simply avoided that part of the buffet or ate cold food.

[GeriatricNurse]

I absolutely agree with you but considering all their previous scores were in the high 90s and most of the problems are fixed on the spot, I am not going to be too concerned about 1 person perhaps instinctively doing something stupid.[/quote]

 

 

 

You would be concerned if you became ill as a result of someone doing something stupid!

[GeriatricNurse]

We were recently on the Galaxy, which was doing a transatlantic cruise and was preparing for it's first US inspection since April 2008. The amount of work to prepare for the inspection was clearly evident.

 

While this didn't seem to bother many other guests, to me this indicated that they hadn't taken care to keep the high levels of sanitation that they should have. The ship should be in top shape at all times, not just when they know that there is going to be an inspection.

 

The first and most important of them (for me) was that the bain marie for parts of the buffet were clearly not keeping the food at the right temperature. In fact, I wish I had an instant read thermometer around so that I could have measured the temperature of the food. I touched it and it was cool. I brought this to the attention of the managers, who did superficial things to try and fix it, but never really did. But you could clearly see that it wasn't working properly... there was hardly any steam. And yet they continued to serve food from it. We simply avoided that part of the buffet or ate cold food.

 

 

 

The cruise ship should NOT be made aware of the date of the next inspection! That sort of defeats the purpose of an inspection, doesn't it?

[Luv4dacruise]

I absolutely agree with you but considering all their previous scores were in the high 90s and most of the problems are fixed on the spot, I am not going to be too concerned about 1 person perhaps instinctively doing something stupid.

 

I understand where you are coming from, i guess i just don't look at the glass as being half full.

 

These CDC inspections are a BIG deal, i am just saying, that is what they caught. Imagine all they didn't catch.

 

The fact is the crew clearly was not trained in what you can and cannot do while certain people are around. If you want to have that false sense of security and believe that when you go out to eat anywhere that the kitchen staff is following all the proper procedures, thats your perogative, but, its not a reality.

 

So its either incompetent crew members or a complete lack of proper management that cause this to happen.

 

Its not spoken about, but there are 2 different ways of doing everything in a restaurant. There's the protocol way and there's the quick way both with the same outcome. You need to know when you can and cannot do these things though.

 

This is again why i say, this is what they were able to "catch" the crew doing.

[mafig]

The cruise ship should NOT be made aware of the date of the next inspection! That sort of defeats the purpose of an inspection, doesn't it?

 

 

Not 100% sure of this but I THINK all ships have a CDC inspection if they have been out of the US for some time (that's why they know one is coming). The CDC does do other "surprise" inspections, I believe.

[Luv4dacruise]

Not 100% sure of this but I THINK all ships have a CDC inspection if they have been out of the US for some time (that's why they know one is coming). The CDC does do other "surprise" inspections, I believe.

 

You are 100% correct. For the ships that sail different itineraries around the world, they know when there inspection is going to happen. The ships that sail the same itineraries year round or at least only sail from US ports, they are surprised.

[cabo de hornos]

Many good points have been made on this thread. Upon reading the entire report cited, note that along with a few single point deducts here and there for worn label edges, etc., a slightly larger deduction than for what I'll call the OP's "combined hand washing item", or in football parlance, "illegal use of the hands", was made for a can of insecticide being stored (in a closet) in a box with paper towels. Of course, these two, or any other one of the violations not having been committed would have raised the score above 85, and the "Not Satisfactory" designation would have disappeared.

 

That said, it does make sense to check these reports, and if you are troubled by what you see, go elsewhere or take appropriate precautions. Inspections (scheduled or not), along with pax feedback (either onboard or beforehand) help get the message across to the operators that some things need improvement.

 

Happy New Year. Purell anyone?

 

Cabo

[dkjretired]

I absolutely agree with you but considering all their previous scores were in the high 90s and most of the problems are fixed on the spot, I am not going to be too concerned about 1 person perhaps instinctively doing something stupid.[/quote]

 

 

 

You would be concerned if you became ill as a result of someone doing something stupid!

 

Not really, the previous scores were in the high 90 or 100s which indicates that management is doing their job. One person got caught doing something stupid, read the report. Also, I worked for several years in kitchens so I know about what goes on with health inspections and I found many of the things they do to be absolutely stupid and make work jobs for municipal employees. Please don't distort what I said but my guess is all the problems on this report were corrected five minutes after they were detected.

 

I would be concerned if the ship had two or three bad reports in a row.....

[mafig]

I have read the report and it's more than just one person doing something stupid.

 

Hopefully, they'll retrain this person and fix the other problems as well.

[Psoque]

I agree, more than one problem was identified in the spection report. Some of the infractions sounds like there's some ignorance on the part of the crew of the CDC regulations. I think it is also important to note that not too many ships got a score of 85 or lower recently (the list of recent ships that received the score of 85 or lower can be found using the "advanced search" feature of the CDC website).

 

The fact that the score went down rather suddenly is very worrisome to me as well. It's really hard to know why the ship "failed" the inspection, but I'm really hoping that this is an isolated incidence. We shall see how Infinity or any other Celebrity ships do in their next round of inspections.

[gregjm]

When we were on the Infinity in May they made such a big deal out of their CDC rating and how proud they were that it had consistently been in the 95-100 range. I hope X management is looking at upper level staff changes that have occurred since the 100 rating and are making appropriate adjustments (demotions, firings, etc.)

 

I was on the Solstice November 30th sailing and using the restroom near the theater. There was a staff person that came in and used the facilities and left without washing his hands. It really grossed me out.

[FinelyCruising]

Dipping a finger into a sauce to taste test is probably under the 10 second rule. And studies have shown the 10 second rule can really be extended to a 20 second rule before anyone has to start to worry about contamination.

 

So if the worker did not get caught doing his job making sure there was enough flavor, balance and liking in what he was creating...like all other chefs do, this score would be moot.

 

Enough with the shock. If the CDC came into many homes they would be condemned just taking inventory in someone's fridge and seeing what was there or what might be growing in their bathrooms or their kids rooms.:cool:

[Ephraim]

I'm sorry, but you can still score 100 and have done things wrong. 100 isn't a perfect score.

 

The ship was going to be inspected because it was returning to the US. It's not excusable... the ship should be in top shape 100% of the time... not just when it's going back to the US (or Canada).

 

I must say that the system of publishing the inspection reports is quite effective. Canada does inspections of the ships as well, but because they aren't published... it doesn't help the public at all.

[benbess]

I'm sorry, but you can still score 100 and have done things wrong. 100 isn't a perfect score.

 

The ship was going to be inspected because it was returning to the US. It's not excusable... the ship should be in top shape 100% of the time... not just when it's going back to the US (or Canada).

 

I must say that the system of publishing the inspection reports is quite effective. Canada does inspections of the ships as well, but because they aren't published... it doesn't help the public at all.

 

Ephraim: How was your TA on Galaxy? Would like to do one of those someday, but I fear the seas would probably be too rough for my wife who is prone to motion sickness...

[Ephraim]

Ephraim: How was your TA on Galaxy? Would like to do one of those someday, but I fear the seas would probably be too rough for my wife who is prone to motion sickness...

 

The transatlantic was fine, the ship was rocking a few nights, so maybe it isn't for your wife. We were far south and still felt it

 

As to the quality of Celebrity... that's a different question. Cold food was a problem on the ship (as mentioned above). And they did try to gas us one evening. The activity staff was quite nice.

[nothriver]

When I cook in my own home, I use a clean spoon to taste the food, then I was the spoon and get another clean spoon if I want to taste again. I have worked in food service but I often cook for large groups of friends and family, and it is simply common courtesy for the cook to not contaminate food with their own germs! Cooking food does not kill all bacteria, it doesn't bring food up to high enought temperatuers nor maintain temps for long enough time to kill all the germs.

 

I have preschoolers in my home and someone in my family is ALWAYS sick, and you know how it is, you are most likely contagious BEFORE you feel symptoms of an illness.

 

In any case, no professional cook should be sticking their fingers in food. I realize some do, and I think it is rude. Especially on a ship where illnesses spreads rapidly.

[shipshape sam]

Don't know if anyone has posted anything about this yet, just thought it might be of some interest

 

Here is the link: http://wwwn.cdc.gov/vsp/InspectionQueryTool/Forms/InspectionSummaryView.aspx?Inspection=10717677

 

Actually some pretty gross things going on when they did the inspection. I can understand a few dirty things here and there, but crew members not washing there hands....ewwwwww......

 

Hope they got everything up to code by now.

 

The date of the inspection per the "green sheet" is 12/3/08. I think that is when Infinity came out of drydock.

 

The highest deduction ( 5 points) came from pesticides being stored in a food service/storage area. Specifically they mention 'bait' which I had not though about that they have rat/mouse traps set out around the ship/food service areas.