If you have ever worked on a cruise ship especially sailing in the US, you know the true meaning of the USPH inspection. Regardless of the cruise line or the ship, we are expected to maintain high standards of cleanliness. If you work on a seven-day cruise with the two American ports, that means that you are required to do two special cleanings per cruise. Of course, that mainly depends again on your position and department; some departments are involved more, and some less when it comes to USPH inspection.
We are doing USPH cleaning the night before arriving in US port. For example, if the ship arrives in Miami, Florida, on Sunday- on a Saturday night, there is special cleaning required to be done in all areas around the ship. In the lowest-paid position - the galley stewards pay the highest price. The dining room, bar department, and housekeeping department are always working really hard before the ship arrives in the US port.
Yet, the person that has the hardest task is definitely the galley steward. The biggest responsibility is a deep cleaning of all galley areas with hazardous chemicals. Before the ship arrives in the US port, all grease, oil, floors, sealing dirt, and thousands of plates and cutlery must be cleaned spotless. Moreover, the lowest-paid position on the ship is galley steward has the biggest job responsibility. It's simply ridiculous; the galley stewards are paid only $500 a month for 300 hours of hard, ridiculously difficult, dangerous, and hazardous work. When USPH inspectors come on board, they always check the cleanliness levels without prior notice. That is the reason that crew members need to maintain high standards. For example, when I was working as a bartender, we were doing the three-bucket system cleaning, with the chemicals, bleach, and green pad for scrubbing the floors, and fridges, seeling, and polishing the glasses.
On some three-day voyages, the turnover was even crazier, and we were doing special cleanings every three days because those were the party cruises, and guests would come only for a quick party session with a lot of mess that we needed to deal with afterward.
What Happens if a cruise ship fails USPH Inspection?
I remember being on the ship when we failed the USPH inspection. Usually, the USPH inspectors would come onboard the ship twice a year, on average. But that is only sometimes like that, especially if the USPH inspectors are assuming that there were some cleaning inconsistencies with some ships during the previous inspections. If the ship scores below 85 or less points, that means that it did not satisfy the minimum requirements and failed the inspection.
The hotel director and the Staff captain would then hold an internal meeting with all department managers, and after all the ship departments would start a special cleaning process every single day, regardless of the port of call.
In some scenarios, the USPH inspectors would come to re-inspect the ship in 7 days, but sometimes it can take weeks or even months. During one of my contracts in Galveston, Texas, the ship failed the USPH inspection. Every day for the next four months, we did the daily deep cleaning of the bars, waiting for re-inspection. In practical language, that means staying extra 1 or 2 hours daily at work, with very demanding and difficult cleaning tasks with special chemicals used in the cleaning areas. The crew members were tired and exhausted. And how about the galley stewards on that ship? It was the most difficult job on the planet for those hard-working people. They stayed extra hours on their duties, deep cleaning the dining room galleys, drains, and oil from the metal ceilings; it was amazingly hard for them.
Every day, the three-bucket system was one of many problems. When you add on that arrogant, biased, untrained management which has got his job through some paisano business, things will get even harder.
I remember my manager calling me around 03:30 am in the nightclub while I was still doing the special cleaning. He said," You have to clock out now. Your working time is already in the red; it's 14 hours. Clock out and continue your cleaning."
Well, what am I supposed to say?
Of course, you clock out, and you keep cleaning. That night, I stayed in the nightclub until 05:30 am; we did a special cleaning with 3 bucket systems and polished all the glasses. On the weekly schedule, my working hours should end at 02 am that night, but you always stay 3 hours extra without being paid for it. And the day after was sea day my day started the same morning at the pool bar at 1130am. The ship which failed USPH inspections became one challenging experience. My job was probably not soo difficult compared to the galley stewards. Hopefully, one day, there will be some change in laws and regulations, especially with galley stewards. These working conditions on a daily basis are just far below acceptable normal human work, and how much more in the circumstances where the ship fails the USPH inspection. In that case, the heaviest load will fall on the shoulders of the galley steward, and most of the managers walk around the ship with the wrong perception of their work description. Instead of helping the crew members to cope with difficult tasks and not normal working hours, they even pour the salt on the wound because, in most companies, that is a proven way of getting promoted. Sustainable management should include helping the crew members do their jobs more efficiently but making it harder and more challenging. Unfortunately, the culture of the management of the cruise ships works completely opposite. If you fired 10 people, the office will say" Wow. This guy is good. He knows how to hold the whip in his hands, punish the crew, and keep them on their toes all the time."
The truth is, regardless of the business, if you own a small business or large cruise corporation, and if you don't manage it in an ethically sustainable way, it's just a matter of time before the business will go down. That is the unquestionable law of a healthy business mindset.
Stay focused and determined to achieve your goals. You are perfectly created; believe in yourself because sometimes nobody else will, especially on the cruise ship. Have a great contract, everyone!
