Cruise ship cleanliness takes dive

Cruise lines have never had a cleanliness problem this big.

In 2017, cruise lines failed their sanitation inspections at the highest rate ever since the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Vessel Sanitation Program started holding cruise ships to its Operations Manual guidelines in 1990.

Fifteen ships earned failing scores last year, a figure that dwarfs the average failure rate of about two to four ships a year, a Miami Herald analysis of the CDC’s historical inspection data found. The only year that comes close to 2017’s all-time-high figure is 2013, with 10 failures. In 2016, just four ships flunked their inspections, and from 2009 to 2011, there was only one failure a year.

In 2017, the failures included five cruise ships from Doral, Fla.-based Carnival Cruise Line, one from Miami-based Norwegian Cruise Line, one from Miami-based Oceania Cruises and one from Deerfield Beach, Fla.-based Baha- mas Paradise Cruise Line. A Caribbean ferry, Ferries Del Caribe’s Kydon, failed its inspection twice.

Carnival has been quick to respond, adding staff training and changing procedures even though it faces no legal penalties.

The increase in incidents follows a significant increase in the size of the global fleet. In 2017, the number of cruise ships increased by about 6 percent from nearly 450 ships in 2016.