Emerald Princess Posts First-Ever Failing CDC Score: 78 After October 16 Long Beach Inspection
If you are booked on Emerald Princess, you can look up the full October 16, 2026 inspection report on the CDC Vessel Sanitation Program site. Check whether the crew's corrective report has been posted, since none was available at the time of reporting. Remember that the score of 78 will stand until the ship is re-inspected on a future date that the article does not give. If you want to judge the ship's record, compare it with the 99 from May 12, 2026.
My read is that the number matters less than the swing. Emerald Princess scored 99 on May 12, 2026 and 78 on October 16, five months later, in Long Beach. For a ship with seven perfect scores since 2007, that is a steep fall. The ironic twist is that flies showed up in both inspections. The May report listed flies and ants, and October counted 33 flies across galleys, the officer mess and the World Fresh Market. Raw meat above cooked food and clogged drains worry me more than the broken faucet handle or the speck of debris on ice. Princess's crew can file a corrective report, but none is public yet, and the score stands until re-inspection. I would not cancel over this. I would watch for that report and the next score before drawing conclusions.