The Cleanest (and Dirtiest) Disney Cruise Ships, According to Federal Inspectors

Disney Cruise Line vacations are wonderful to many people, but there are also lots of people out there who say that they’re definitely NOT cruise people.

Disney Wonder

Some say it’s because they’re more go-go-go on vacation and don’t like the idea of sitting around and “doing nothing” while others may get seasick easily and a cruise therefore sounds like their worst nightmare. For others though, it’s because they think of cruises as walking petri dishes, and being stuck on a ship with all those germs and no route of escape sounds terrifying. While some cruise lines certainly score low on their federal inspection scores, Disney Cruise Line is one of the cleanest cruise lines, consistently getting some of the highest scores. But what EXACTLY does that look like?

Did you know that you can look up the most recent (and past) Sanitation Program scores for ALL cruise ships on the CDC website? Yes, that includes all the Disney Cruise Line ships, as well as other cruise lines you may be thinking of sailing. Any ship that gets below a score of 85 or lower are considered unsatisfactory and must be fixed as soon as humanly possible.

Disney Wish

So where does Disney score on that, you may ask? Well, taking a look at the most recent sanitation reports from each Disney Cruise Line ship (minus the ships that have not publicly sailed yet, such as the Disney Treasure), the Disney Wish has the LOWEST score of 95 with its last inspection done on May 27th, 2024 (which is intriguing since this is one of the newer ships, having set sail on July 14th, 2022). The highest score, however, is a perfect 100 made by the Disney Fantasy (which set sail on March 31st, 2012) on their last inspection date, January 24th, 2024. The remaining three ships land between 96 and 99.

©CDC

This means that all of Disney’s ships are well above the “unacceptable” 85 or lower score, but there is something to note here that we find interesting. We looked back at data from January 2022 to December 2023 to see what the most recent past scores are, and here, the lowest scores were the Disney Wonder and Disney Wish both with a 96 — all other scores were either 99 or 100!

©CDC

Does this mean Disney’s cleaning standards have gone down? It’s hard to say, but it’s clear that the ships are still kept extremely clean and don’t let their scores drop anywhere close to 85. However, this doesn’t mean you WON’T get sick on or after your Disney Cruise — be sure you wash your hands thoroughly before eating, don’t leave your room or visit the infirmary if you’re not feeling well as to not spread your germs, and be sure to bring some medication if you know that changes in climate often cause allergies or sinus issues for you.