5 days ago
Residential cruise ship fails CDC health inspection during 3-year sailing
Residential cruise ship Villa Vie Odyssey failed a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) sanitation inspection.
The vessel received a score of 81 following its July 9 inspection, according to a report on the health agency's website. Cruise ships need at least an 86 to pass.
The report notes violations in a range of areas, from potable water to food safety and housekeeping. For example, the inspection found a waffle iron that was 'soiled with grease and black debris' had been stored with clean equipment in a galley on Deck 3, and water pooled beneath a refrigerator in a wine cellar.
'The source of the water could not be determined,' the report said.
There were three dead fruit flies in a light cover near a refrigerator in a pantry on Deck 5, as well. "Both swimming pools did not have safety signs, prominent depth markers in feet and meters, nor did the safety rings have an attached rope that was at least 2/3rds of the pool width," the report also noted, among other infractions.
'It's important to emphasize that the majority of the noted deficiencies were not related to food safety, but rather to structural and design elements reflective of the ship's age and original construction – long before current U.S. public health standards were in place,' Villa Vie Residences founder Mikael Petterson told USA TODAY in an emailed statement. 'Unlike modern vessels designed specifically for regular U.S. operations, the Odyssey was not originally built for this market, making direct comparisons somewhat unfair.'
The Odyssey previously sailed as Fred Olsen Cruise Lines' MS Braemar before Villa Vie purchased it in 2023. Petterson noted the ship had not been to the U.S. in more than 23 years, and said it has passed other health inspections since it departed from Belfast, Northern Ireland, in October.
'That said, we've taken the inspection feedback seriously, made the necessary adjustments, and are confident that a follow-up inspection would result in a passing score,' he added.
Odyssey was scheduled to begin a 3 ½ -year cruise in May 2024, but faced numerous setbacks before setting sail. Petterson told USA TODAY last summer that the company had been 'quite humbled by the scale of what it takes to reactivate a 30-year-old vessel from a four-year layup. After the lapse of all certifications of class we are now considered (a) new ship where all machinery and equipment must work as if new.'
