A lawyer specializing in cruise ships has gone viral after shedding light on an “absolutely horrifying” spot inspection report on Royal Caribbean cruises. Spencer Aronfeld, known online as the @cruiseshiplawyer, amassed 320,700 views breaking down the findings of the Centre for Disease Control (CDC) report.
The first major issue, he explained, was the way certain food was stored. Raw eggs and raw hamburger meat were both found to be refrigerated at the wrong temperature. Secondly, he claims that there were Johnny Rockets crew members handling ice with open wounds.
But worst of all, he alleges, was the spread of gastrointestinal illnesses. According to Aronfeld, children across several daycare centers came down with “severe” GI problems.
“The daycare center failed to follow the protocols for referring them to the Medical Center and for reporting these things as acute gastrointestinal illnesses, projectile diarrhea, vomiting, abdominal cramps to the CDC,” Aronfeld added, “potentially allowing these poor kids to spread a potential norovirus to their parents and other passengers on the ship.”
In total, he claims that the CDC scored the ship an 86, which is “barely satisfactory.”
“One point less, which is an 85, would have been an unsatisfactory evaluation, which probably would have caused them to have to cancel the cruise,” Aronfeld said. “Quite frankly, I think they should have.”
He also notes that, generally, cruise ships have a short window of time to correct these issues, which, Aronfeld claims, will cost around $65,000. The Daily Dot was able to confirm the report listing these infractions.
In an email to the Daily Dot, Aronfeld shared the fact that Royal Caribbean hadn’t filed a corrective report “disturbing.”
“They could have should have corrected every one of these issues on the spot and before the ship left port,” he said. “This report is shocking to me coming from a cruise line like RCL.”
@cruiseshiplawyer We discuss a recent CDC inspection of the Royal Caribbean cruise ship Symphony of the Seas, where they found numerous food safety and hygiene issues, including improperly stored food, raw eggs not at the correct temperature, and crew members touching ice with open wounds. Several children also fell ill with severe gastrointestinal problems, but the daycare center failed to follow protocols in reporting these cases. The cruise line received a barely satisfactory score, and the speaker suggests they should have canceled the cruise. #CruiseShip #Safety #FoodSafetyViolations #Norovirus #Outbreak #CruiseLine #cruise #cruisetok #cruiselife #rcl #royalcaribbean #symphonyoftheseas #cruiselawyer ♬ original sound – Spencer Aronfeld
What happened next?
In a follow-up video, Aronfeld adds that to formally correct these issues, the cruise ship has to provide a corrective report. However, he revealed that as of Friday, Feb. 21, the company has not issued this report, which he says lends him to the belief that “these problems still exist.
“The ship is sailing, and it’s got passengers on board right now, but I sure hope that Royal Caribbean has done at least enough to correct these issues, but they should have at least reported it to the CDC,” he concluded.
Another report by the CDC demonstrated just how severe the outbreak was on the cruise. The organization claims that 160 of 2,164 passengers reported feeling unwell, which amounts to 7.4% of those on board. Moreover, 8 crew members out of 190 reported being unwell too, which amounts to 0.9.
In the comments, users had mixed responses. Some commenters compared the cruise to Disney Cruises, with one saying, “Disney Cruises would NEVER.”
“This is why I NEVER cruise!” another added, “Worst way of travel.”
However, some were more loyal to Royal Caribbean Cruises, writing, “You’ll never make me hate RC.”
The Daily Dot reached out to the CDC and Royal Caribbean Cruises via email.
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