Stad Amsterdam: Sanitation Record & Health Report

Let's start with the good news: Stad Amsterdam's kitchen scored a 94 with a Clean Kitchen designation, which means someone back there actually knows how to keep raw chicken away from the salad bar. Respectable. But pull back the camera a little and the picture gets less flattering — an overall CDC score of 86 is technically a passing grade, the same way a 60% on a test is technically passing. You passed. Congrats. The fleet average sits around 95, so Stad Amsterdam is clearing the bar by exactly enough to avoid the hall of shame, and not one point more.

To be fair, context matters here. Stad Amsterdam is a tall ship — a working three-masted clipper replica, not a floating resort with seventeen restaurants and a lazy river. The logistics of maintaining sanitation standards on a sailing vessel are genuinely different from what you'd expect on a mass-market megaship. That said, "it's harder because it's a sailboat" is an explanation, not an excuse. The June 2025 inspection caught whatever it caught, and the score speaks for itself.

Who it's for: Romantics who want the full square-rigger experience and are willing to trade some institutional polish for the chance to pull on actual lines while underway. If your priority is sailing history over spotless sanitation reports, Stad Amsterdam delivers something most cruise ships literally cannot. Who should skip it: Anyone with immune system concerns, a deep attachment to five-star hygiene standards, or a personal policy of only boarding ships that score within shouting distance of the fleet average. You've been warned, and now you can't say you weren't.