Holland America Line’s ms Statendam and ms Westerdam achieved perfect scores of 100 on recent routine United States Public Health inspections conducted by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
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During a U.S.P.H. inspection last year aboard ms Westerdam, the ship also earned a near-perfect score of 99 and it received a perfect 100 from the Public Health Agency of Canada, that country’s equivalent to U.S.P.H. Last year ms Eurodam also achieved a 100 on its U.S.P.H inspection.
CDC inspections are part of the Vessel Sanitation Program, which was introduced in the early 1970s and is required for all passenger ships that call at a U.S. port. The inspections are unannounced and are carried out by officials from the United States Public Health Service twice a year for every cruise ship. The score, on a scale from one to 100, is assigned on the basis of a checklist involving dozens of areas of assessment, encompassing hygiene and sanitation of food (from storage to preparation), overall galley cleanliness, water, shipboard personnel and the ship as a whole. The ship received perfect scores in all of those areas.