CDC Releases List Of Worst Cruise Ships For 2026

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has released its list of the worst cruise ships for 2026. This ranking comes from unannounced inspections carried out by the CDC. These surprise checks happen in U.S. ports to see if vessels meet federal health rules. The agency runs this program under the Vessel Sanitation Program name.

Every ship gets scored out of 100 points during these audits.

Seven cruise vessels landed near the bottom of the CDC's sanitation rankings this year, according to federal data reviewed by reporters. The government sets a hard line: ships must score 86 or higher to pass inspection. Anything 85 or below is marked unsatisfactory. That threshold matters because conditions change from one check to the next.

Norwegian Dawn slipped under that line with an 84 during a March visit. Carnival Breeze, Kydon and National Geographic Sea Lion each posted exactly 86. Sun Princess, MSC Meraviglia and Amadea finished with scores of 89. These seven were among the lowest-scoring ships in the 2026 inspections reviewed so far.

A single number does not tell the whole story. Carnival Breeze earned a perfect 100 earlier this year before dropping to 86 later on. Scores reflect what inspectors saw at the moment of the check, and they can shift with every new visit. The numbers do not automatically mean a ship is unsafe; they show how well the vessel met public health standards that day.

Fox News Digital asked Norwegian Dawn and the CDC for comment. Meanwhile, Norwegian Cruise Line sent the CDC a detailed report just five days after a poor score. That submission outlined all the corrective steps the company took to fix problems on board. The "Cruise Fever" blog published details about those reports.

Gavin Macgregor-Skinner, an infection prevention expert and epidemiologist at Penn State College of Medicine, told Fox News Digital that the federal Vessel Sanitation Program plays a key role in keeping passengers and crew safe. He said the program has been working with the cruise industry since 1975 to protect travelers' health.

"Without strong cleaning and hygiene practices, germs can spread quickly," Macgregor-Skinner explained. "The federal government's Vessel Sanitation Program, established in 1975 to work with the cruise industry to protect travelers' health, is critical for the health and safety of passengers, staff and the locations that cruise ships visit."

Inspectors look at a wide range of areas on board. Medical facilities, potable water systems, swimming pools and whirlpool baths, galleys and dining rooms, child activity centers, cabins, ventilation systems and common areas all come under review. Macgregor-Skinner noted that participating ships can expect two unannounced inspections every year focused on these spaces.

Brian Sansoni, senior vice president of communications at the American Cleaning Institute in Washington, D.C., described cruise ships as shared environments where thousands of people touch the same surfaces daily. "Cruise ships are shared environments where thousands of people touch the same surfaces every day," he said previously. He added that without strong cleaning and hygiene practices, germs can spread quickly, increasing the risk of illness among passengers and crew.

A lower sanitation score does not necessarily mean an outbreak will happen. Cruise lines report illnesses to federal health officials more routinely than many other parts of the travel industry, Macgregor-Skinner said. "It is very important not to confuse the wider availability of cruise health data with a higher incidence rate on cruise ships compared to settings like restaurants, hotels and planes," he added.

On the high end of the scale, 42 cruise ships earned a perfect score of 100 based on the latest CDC inspection data. That puts them among the cleanest vessels reviewed in 2026. Royal Caribbean's Icon of the Seas, Carnival Celebration, Celebrity Apex, Disney Dream, Norwegian Viva and Cunard's Queen Elizabeth all scored perfectly this year.

The "Cruise Fever" blog noted that normally about 25 to 35 ships earn a perfect health score over the course of a year. This latest batch shows how performance can vary widely from one inspection to another.

Fox News Digital reached out to the Cruise Lines International Association for further comment. Jessica Mekles of Fox News Digital contributed reporting on these findings.