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Inspection Detail Report

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Cruise Ship: Norwegian Epic Cruise Line: Norwegian Cruise Lines Inspection Date: 04/19/2015 Inspection Score: 91
This cruise ship inspection report lists deficiencies found during the inspection. Additional information corresponding to each item number is available in the latest edition of the VSP Environmental Public Health Standards.

View/Print Summary Report  |  View/Print Corrective Action Statement
Item No.: 02
Site: Medical-
Violation: For the 22-29 March voyage, the acute gastroenteritis (AGE) surveillance log listed 23 passengers and 1 crew member as reportable AGE cases. The header for the log stated the total number of reportable passengers was 24 cases and the total number of reportable crew was zero cases.
Recommendation: Ensure the information on the AGE log matches the information in the header.
Item No.: 02
Site: Medical-
Violation: For the 15-22 March voyage, the 24-hour and 4-hour electronic medical reports submitted to VSP contained different numbers of passengers and crew members. The 24-hour report submitted at 02:00 on 21 March stated 4,798 passengers and 1,708 crew, whereas the 4-hour report submitted at 03:00 on 22 March stated 4,796 passengers and 1,701 crew. The 24-hour report was submitted the morning of a sea day, and the 4-hour report was submitted the morning of arrival in Miami. It was unclear why the number of passengers and crew members differed between the two reports.
Recommendation: Ensure the electronic medical reports submitted to VSP contain the total number of passengers and crew members onboard during the cruise.
Item No.: 02
Site: Medical-Immediate Contacts
Violation: Medical staff was asking reportable AGE case crew members if they had additional immediate contacts (i.e. boyfriend, girlfriend, spouse, etc.) besides cabin mates, but it was not routinely documented if they did not.
Recommendation: Document if there are no additional immediate contacts.
Item No.: 08
Site: Galley-Pastry
Violation: No backflow prevention devices were installed on the potable water lines for the two deck-mounted ovens.
Recommendation: Provide a comprehensive cross-connection control program. Protect the following connections to the potable water system against backflow with air gaps or mechanical backflow prevention devices: (10) food service equipment.
Item No.: 08
Site: Galley-Manhattan Beverage Station
Violation: On the left juice machine, a sticker was placed around the backflow prevention device, which blocked the atmospheric vents.
Recommendation: Maintain backflow prevention devices in good repair.
Item No.: 10
Site: Recreational Water Facilities-Shepherd?s Hooks
Violation: The shepherd's hooks for 4 out of the 5 pools were not long enough to reach the center of the deepest portion of the pools from the side plus 2 feet. Also, the round ends of the poles were open and not smooth.
Recommendation: Provide a rescue or shepherd?s hook and an approved flotation device at a prominent location (visible from the full perimeter of the pool) at each RWF that has a depth of 1 meter (3 feet) or greater. Mount these devices in a manner that allows for easy access during an emergency. Ensure the pole of the rescue or shepherd?s hook is long enough to reach the center of the deepest portion of the pool from the side plus 2 feet. Ensure it is a light, strong, nontelescoping material with rounded, nonsharp ends. Ensure the approved flotation device includes an attached rope that is at least 2/3 of the maximum pool width.
Item No.: 13
Site: Other-Store Rooms 1595 & 1172
Violation: Numerous galley utensils, single-service and single-use articles were stored in and out of their original packaging in these store rooms. Even though most of the boxes and equipment were on pallets, many were stored directly on the deck. The decks had no coving, had signs of corrosion and were heavily soiled. The bulkheads had exposed insulation and were heavily soiled. Some of the bulkheads had openings to the outside. The deckheads had many difficult to clean features such as cables and pipes that were soiled.
Recommendation: Because of the risks for foodborne illness inherent to the food operation, ensure the supervisor or person in charge of food operations on the vessel demonstrates to VSP - during inspections and on request - knowledge of foodborne disease prevention, application of the Hazard Analysis Critical Point principles, and the food-safety guidelines in this manual. Ensure that the areas of knowledge include: (9) Explaining the relation between food safety and providing equipment that is sufficient in number and capacity as well as properly designed, constructed, located, installed, operated, maintained, and cleaned.
Item No.: 16
Site: Other-Engine Control Room Technical Office
Violation: Inside the milk refrigerator of the espresso machine, the milk temperature was 50F.
Recommendation: Except during preparation, cooking, or cooling, or when time is used as the public health control, maintain potentially hazardous foods at 57C (135F) or above, except that roasts may be held at a temperature of 54C (130F); or 5C (41F) or less.
Item No.: 16
Site: Galley-Manhattan Hot Galley
Violation: Three hotel pans of hash browns and three hotel pans of cooked, but not crispy, bacon were on the over-counter shelf above the bain maries without a time control discard label.
Recommendation: If time only?rather than time in conjunction with temperature?is used as the public health control for a working supply of potentially hazardous food before cooking, or for ready-to-eat potentially hazardous food that is displayed or held for service for immediate consumption, ensure the food (3) Is marked or otherwise identified to indicate the time 4 hours past the point in time when the food is removed from temperature control (if the time between service set-up and closing is greater than 4 hours.
Item No.: 16
Site: Galley-Taste Cold Pantry
Violation: Reach-in refrigerator #3 was identified on the posted time control plan, but it was not labeled as being on time control.
Recommendation: Maintain a written time control plan(s) that ensures compliance with these guidelines on the vessel and make it available for review during inspections. Post a time control plan at each outlet where time control is used. Ensure plan(s): (2) List refrigeration and hot holding units (compartments and cabinets) on time control (the physical units must also be labeled as such).
Item No.: 16
Site: Provisions-Vegetable Cold Room 0267
Violation: Two boxes of cut, prepackaged baby spinach and approximately 10 boxes of cut, prepackaged arugula were stored to the left of the entry door with an internal temperature of 43F-45F. The door was left open during loading and while crew members were working in the walk-in refrigeration unit unpacking food that caused the temperature of the room to rise well above the set temperature of 41F. The boxes of spinach and arugula were taken to a walk-in refrigeration unit in the adjacent vegetable preparation room to cool to 41F.
Recommendation: Except during preparation, cooking, or cooling, or when time is used as the public health control, maintain potentially hazardous foods at 57C (135F) or above, except that roasts may be held at a temperature of 54C (130F); or 5C (41F) or less.
Item No.: 16
Site: Galley-Epic Club
Violation: A pan of waffle mix and a pan of pancake mix on service counters 1 and 2 were on time control, but did not have discard time labels affixed.
Recommendation: Label pans of potentially hazardous foods on preparation counters with discard labels, even if the outlet is open for less than four hours.
Item No.: 17
Site: Galley-Taste Cold Pantry
Violation: The 18 April cooling log entry for the corn chowder was incomplete. The initial temperature of 148F was recorded at 18:00, but no other times or temperatures were recorded. Several pans of corn chowder were still stored in the walk-in refrigerator and the internal temperatures were below 41F.
Recommendation: Ensure logs documenting cooked potentially hazardous food cooling temperatures and times from the starting points designated in 7.3.5.2.1 thru the control points at 2 and 6 hours are maintained onboard the vessel for a period of 30 days from the date the food was placed in the cooling process.
Item No.: 19
Site: Bar-Garden Cafe
Violation: A phone cord was wrapped around the top of a bottle of liquor in the back bar display area. This was corrected.
Recommendation: Protect food from contamination by storing the food: (3) Where it is not exposed to splash, dust, or other contamination.
Item No.: 19
Site: Galley-Taste Cold Pantry
Violation: Two movable trolleys of sandwiches were stored uncovered in Cold Room 1467.
Recommendation: Protect food from contamination by storing the food: (1) Covered or otherwise protected.
Item No.: 19
Site: Provisions-Fresh Fruit Cold Room 1482
Violation: A jacket was hanging from the top corner of a storage rack that had boxes of fresh fruit stored.
Recommendation: Protect food from contamination by storing the food: (3) Where it is not exposed to splash, dust, or other contamination.
Item No.: 19
Site: Galley-Bakery
Violation: A trolley filled with bread dough was stored under the deckhead access hatch just inside the entry door to walk-in refrigerator #421. Two small puddles of water were on the top pan on the top of this trolley. No water was actively leaking from the hatch during the inspection. No food was impacted.
Recommendation: Protect food from contamination by storing the food: (2) In a clean, dry location; (3) Where it is not exposed to splash, dust, or other contamination.
Item No.: 20
Site: Pantry-Waves Bar
Violation: On the ice machine closest to the bar, the gasket on the front cover panel in the bottom corner was loose.
Recommendation: Design and construct food contact surfaces of equipment and utensils to be durable and to retain their characteristic qualities under normal use conditions.
Item No.: 20
Site: Other-Engine Control Room Technical Office
Violation: The ambient temperature of the milk refrigerator of the espresso machine was 50F.
Recommendation: Food contact equipment must be maintained in good repair and proper adjustment: (1) Equipment must be maintained in a state of repair and condition that meets the materials, design, construction, and operating specifications of these guidelines.
Item No.: 21
Site: Galley-La Cucina
Violation: The gasket around the second door from the top of the pizza oven was frayed. Staff stated that new gaskets had been ordered and were expected to arrive the day of the inspection.
Recommendation: Ensure nonfood-contact surfaces of equipment that are exposed to splash, spillage, or other food soiling or that require frequent cleaning are constructed of a corrosion-resistant, nonabsorbent, and smooth material.
Item No.: 21
Site: Bar-Waves Bar
Violation: Sealant was missing along the counter/blue tile bulkhead juncture at the curved corner of the bar.
Recommendation:
Item No.: 21
Site: Galley-Cagney's Show Galley
Violation: The counter between the grill and the counter-mounted oven was loose on the right side where two of the tack welds had broken.
Recommendation: Ensure nonfood-contact surfaces are free of unnecessary ledges, projections, and crevices, and designed and constructed to allow easy cleaning and to facilitate maintenance.
Item No.: 22
Site: Galley-Le Bistro
Violation: The warning light for the low final rinse sanitizing temperature on each of the hood-type dishwash machines was missing. This was corrected.
Recommendation: For vessels built to VSP 2005 Construction Guidelines or warewash machines installed/replaced after the VSP 2005 Construction Guidelines, ensure that the warewash machines are equipped with an audible or visual alarm that indicates when the sanitizing temperature or chemical sanitizer level has dropped below the levels stated on the machine data plate.
Item No.: 25
Site: Buffet-Garden Cafe Omelet Station
Violation: The wiping cloth in the sanitizing bucket was soiled with grease and a small piece of bacon. The cloth was removed.
Recommendation: Restrict wiping cloths to the following: (4) Wet wiping cloths used with a freshly made sanitizing solution and dry wiping cloths are free of food debris and visible soil.
Item No.: 26
Site: Galley-Moderno
Violation: In the previously cleaned churrasco oven, the top interior panel and back interior panel behind the heating elements were soiled with grease.
Recommendation: Ensure food contact surfaces of equipment and utensils are clean to sight and touch.
Item No.: 26
Site: Other-Store Room 1172
Violation: A soiled waffle maker was stored in this room.
Recommendation: Ensure food contact surfaces of equipment and utensils are clean to sight and touch.
Item No.: 27
Site: Bar-Garden Cafe
Violation: The back of the rolling shutter was soiled with dust.
Recommendation: Ensure nonfood-contact surfaces of equipment are kept free of an accumulation of dust, dirt, food residue, and other debris.
Item No.: 28
Site: Other-Store Rooms 1595 & 1172
Violation: Numerous galley utensils, single-service and single-use articles were stored in and out of their original packaging in these store rooms. Even though most of the boxes and equipment were on pallets, many were stored directly on the deck. The decks had no coving, had signs of corrosion and were heavily soiled. The bulkheads had exposed insulation and were heavily soiled. Some of the bulkheads had openings to the outside. The deckheads had many difficult to clean features such as cables and pipes that were soiled.
Recommendation: Store cleaned equipment and utensils, laundered linens, and single-service and single-use articles: (2) in a location where they are not exposed to splash, dust, or other contamination; (3) at least 150 millimeters (6 inches) above the deck.
Item No.: 30
Site: Galley-Cagney's Show Galley
Violation: The paper towels in the dispenser at the handwashing station were wet. This was corrected.
Recommendation: Ensure paper towels at the handwashing station are clean and dry.
Item No.: 30
Site: Galley-La Cucina
Violation: No paper towels were in the dispenser in the food worker toilet room. The galley was in operation during the inspection. There were used paper towels in the waste bin, indicating that there had been paper towels but they ran out. The paper towels were replaced.
Recommendation: Ensure each handwashing facility has a supply of hand-cleansing soap or detergent and a supply of single-service paper towels available.
Item No.: 31
Site: Galley-Spice H2O
Violation: A spray bottle with a pink liquid was stored in the cleaning locker. The bottle had a hazard label but did not have a label indicating the common name of the contents. Staff stated that the liquid was a cleaning chemical used in the galley. The bottled was removed to be labeled. In addition, a refill container of hand sanitizer was stored in the cleaning locker. The container was removed.
Recommendation: Ensure working containers used for storing poisonous or toxic materials such as cleaners and sanitizers taken from bulk supplies are clearly and individually identified with the common name of the material. Ensure only poisonous or toxic materials that are required for the operation and maintenance of a food area of the vessel, such as for the cleaning and sanitizing of equipment and utensils and the control of insects and rodents, are allowed in the food areas of the vessel.
Item No.: 31
Site: Pantry-Shakers Bar / Ice Bar
Violation: One bottle of toilet bowl cleaner was found in the cleaning locker. Staff stated this cleaner was used in the drains of the food area. Following the inspection, the inspector contacted the cleaner's manufacturer, where a representative stated this product was only to be used in its appropriate locations, and not used in bar pantry drain lines.
Recommendation: Ensure only poisonous or toxic materials that are required for the operation and maintenance of a food area of the vessel, such as for the cleaning and sanitizing of equipment and utensils and the control of insects and rodents, are allowed in the food areas of the vessel.
Item No.: 31
Site: Pantry-Atrium Bar
Violation: Three bottles of toilet bowl cleaner were found in the cleaning locker. Staff stated this cleaner was used in the drains of the food area. Following the inspection, the inspector contacted the cleaner's manufacturer, where a representative stated this product was only to be used in its appropriate locations, and not used in bar pantry drain lines.
Recommendation: Ensure only poisonous or toxic materials that are required for the operation and maintenance of a food area of the vessel, such as for the cleaning and sanitizing of equipment and utensils and the control of insects and rodents, are allowed in the food areas of the vessel.
Item No.: 33
Site: Buffet-Garden Cafe
Violation: Some deck areas on the worker side of the buffet had missing and recessed grout. This was observed especially in front of the grills.
Recommendation: Ensure decks, bulkheads, and deckheads in food preparation, warewashing, pantries, and storage areas are maintained in good repair.
Item No.: 33
Site: Bar-Spice H2O
Violation: Soft material lined the rolling shutter tracks. This material was not hard, durable, or easily cleanable. Also, the material was soiled with a black dust.
Recommendation: Ensure decks, bulkheads, and deckheads in food preparation, warewashing, pantries, bars, and food and equipment storage areas are constructed and maintained for easy cleaning. Do not use carpet in these areas. Ensure decks, bulkheads, deckheads, and attached equipment in food preparation, warewashing, pantries, and storage areas are cleaned as often as necessary.
Item No.: 33
Site: Galley-Bakery
Violation: A trolley filled with bread dough was stored under the deckhead access hatch just inside the entry door to walk-in refrigerator #421. Two small puddles of water were on the top pan on the top of this trolley. No water was actively leaking from the hatch during the inspection. A similar violation was noted in the previous inspection. No food was impacted.
Recommendation: Ensure decks, bulkheads, and deckheads in food preparation, warewashing, pantries, and storage areas are maintained in good repair.
Item No.: 33
Site: Pantry-Housekeeping Pantries
Violation: In many housekeeping pantries, the water lines and electrical cords for the undercounter dishwash machines were laying on the deck.
Recommendation: Elevate the water lines and electrical cords above the deck.
Item No.: 33
Site: Bar-Waves Bar
Violation: Soft material lined the rolling shutter tracks. This material was not hard, durable, or easily cleanable. Also, the material was soiled with a black dust.
Recommendation: Ensure decks, bulkheads, and deckheads in food preparation, warewashing, pantries, bars, and food and equipment storage areas are constructed and maintained for easy cleaning. Do not use carpet in these areas. Ensure decks, bulkheads, deckheads, and attached equipment in food preparation, warewashing, pantries, and storage areas are cleaned as often as necessary.
Item No.: 33
Site: Galley-Le Cirque
Violation: The deckhead-mounted air diffusers adjacent to the grill exhaust hood were soiled slightly with grease. The area was closed and previously cleaned. This was corrected.
Recommendation: Ensure decks, bulkheads, deckheads, and attached equipment in food preparation, warewashing, pantries, and storage areas are cleaned as often as necessary.
Item No.: 33
Site: Other-Store Rooms 1595 & 1172
Violation: Numerous galley utensils, single-service and single-use articles were stored in and out of their original packaging in these store rooms. Even though most of the boxes and equipment were on pallets, many were stored directly on the deck. The decks had no coving, had signs of corrosion and were heavily soiled. The bulkheads had exposed insulation and were heavily soiled. Some of the bulkheads had openings to the outside. The deckheads had many difficult to clean features such as cables and pipes that were soiled.
Recommendation: Ensure decks, bulkheads, deckheads, and attached equipment in food preparation, warewashing, pantries, and storage areas are cleaned as often as necessary. Ensure decks, bulkheads, and deckheads in food preparation, warewashing, pantries, bars, and food and equipment storage areas are constructed and maintained for easy cleaning.
Item No.: 35
Site: Buffet-Spice H2O
Violation: Water was pooled on the deck by the handwashing station. This was corrected.
Recommendation: Ensure black and gray water is discharged to the vessel's wastewater disposal system and does not pool on the deck.
Item No.: 38
Site: Provisions-Fresh Fruit Cold Room 1482
Violation: A jacket was hanging from the top corner of a storage rack that had boxes of fresh fruit stored.
Recommendation: Ensure only articles necessary for the food service operation are stored in food preparation, food storage, and warewashing areas.
Item No.: 40
Site: Integrated Pest Management-Follow-Up Inspection Results
Violation: The follow-up inspection results were not routinely documented when pests were observed.
Recommendation: When pests are noted during an inspection, ensure the log includes action taken and follow-up inspection results.
Item No.: 42
Site: Children Area-Storage Benches
Violation: In the 3 - 5 year old area, the bottom panels of the storage benches were heavily soiled with dust, glitter, and other debris. These storage benches contained previously cleaned toys.
Recommendation: Ensure toys used in the child-activity center are maintained in a clean condition.
*Inspections scores of 85 or lower are NOT satisfactory
Vessel Sanitation Program