Cunard's Queen gets passing marks

Good news for anyone planning to book a cruise on Cunard's Queen Mary 2 - she's clean as a whistle again and has passed her sanitation test with flying colours after failing to make the grade earlier this year.

In a July 27 inspection done under the renowned Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Vessel Sanitation Program, the Queen got a score of 92 - 86 is considered a passing score.

Just six weeks ago, Cunard's flag ship vessel made world headlines when it was rated 84 by the Centers for Disease Control, which found  human hair in the ice machine, dirty water in the pools and chemicals stored near napkins.

"The company has corrected all issues highlighted by the original inspection, and has subsequently successfully addressed the small number of issues raised by the re-inspection," said Cunard in a statement. The full CDC report, which lists infractions, is not yet live on the government Web site.

Failing grades for ships, particular the larger mega-vessels trawling the seas, are exceedingly rare. In May, Norwegian Epic came close, scoring a lowly 89, while Carnival Glory squeaked by with an 87 after a January inspection.