Posted on 04/20/2023 5:23:53 PM PDT by billorites
Last summer, after an elderly passenger died of a heart condition during a Celebrity Cruises vacation to the Caribbean, the cruise line allegedly advised his wife of two options: allow her husband's remains to be removed from the ship in nearby Puerto Rico, where she would have to stay alone for days pending a possible autopsy, or leave his body with the ship's morgue until the vessel arrived back in the United States.
In hopes of returning to her family as soon as possible, the woman, 78, chose the latter option, trusting that the ship would safely transport her husband of 55 years back to their home state of Florida to be prepared for funeral services.
Six grueling days at sea passed as the Celebrity Equinox chugged back to its port in Fort Lauderdale. When the ship arrived on August 21, 2022, a local funeral home employee came aboard to retrieve the body.
But it was nowhere to be found in the morgue.
Instead, according to a recently filed lawsuit, the corpse was located on a pallet on the floor of a beverage cooler, left to turn green and deteriorate into an advanced state of decay after the onboard morgue went out of order.
The funeral employee saw drinks placed outside of the ice box turned mortuary, the complaint claims.
"Knowing their husband and father was callously and casually left in a beverage cooler, stripping him of his dignity in the sacred time just after his passing," the family's lawsuit states, "the ideas and mental images will surely never leave the memory of the plaintiffs."
Filed in Florida's Southern District federal court on behalf of the man's wife, two daughters, and three grandchildren, the lawsuit demands at least a million dollars in damages. The family members are Florida residents, with the exception of one granddaughter, who is from Texas. They're represented by Catherine Saylor and Jacob Munch at the law firm of Munch & Munch in Tampa.
Celebrity Cruises has not responded to a request for comment.
The lawsuit claims the indignity could have been avoided if the cruise ship staff had monitored the condition of the morgue before advising the wife on her options in handling her husband's remains. Had she known the morgue was not in working order, she would have ensured her husband's body was taken off the ship in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
According to the complaint, the staff dissuaded the grieving woman from removing the body in Puerto Rico by telling her there was no guarantee as to when it would be released to Florida and warning her that there was a "50/50 chance" the San Juan coroner's office would take possession of her husband's remains for an autopsy.
"Celebrity's actions and inactions with regard to [the] body were extremely indifferent to his passing, his dignity, and his family, friends, and community's loss, and showed an entire want of care for the safety of his remains," the family alleges.
Human bodies can typically be stored in a morgue for weeks to months without decomposing, as the lawsuit notes. They must be stored at near-freezing temperatures to halt the decomposition process.
It was clear that the man's body was stored at an improper temperature in the drink cooler aboard the Equinox, given its advanced state of decomposition, the lawsuit alleges.
"The funeral home staff in Ft. Lauderdale was unable to salvage his remains enough to be suitable for an open casket wake and funeral, which was a long-standing family custom and was what his family had desired," the lawsuit states.
Most contemporary cruise ships are legally required to have morgues on board, according to a 2018 Thrillist report on cruise-ship deaths. Though regulations vary, the report indicates that some large cruise vessels maintain a morgue with enough room for as many as ten bodies, along with a stock of body bags.
According to the complaint, Celebrity Cruises has had at least 37 deaths aboard its ships since 2001.
"Having had to store many dead bodies on their ships, and even being required to have a working morgue on board its ship... Celebrity certainly knew of the potential need for a working morgue on the ship, and the temperatures at which dead bodies need to be stored to stop the decomposition process from occurring," the lawsuit states.
“Knowing their husband and father was callously and casually left in a beverage cooler, stripping him of his dignity in the sacred time just after his passing,”
The cruise line shouldn’t have done that, but this reads like a hysterical widow acting her heart out to get a big settlement.
Where’s Bernie? That kidder.
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If I know these cruise lines, she will be offered a life long at sea ticket. Sail for free forever.
Now we know why the rates are skyrocketing. Morgan and Morgan getting rich off our fares.
Sounds like the cruise ship did the best they could in a bad situation. Only in america can someone win the lottery for getting their feelings hurt.
They couldn’t put him on ice with the seafood?
Sad story, but the above statement is meaningless since it lacks any comparative assessments of age of the passengers, morbidity rates in that population, deaths on other ships, etc.
What were they supposed to do? When did the morgue cooler break down? I guess burial at sea would have been an option.
the ideas and mental images will surely never leave the memory of the plaintiffs
Who described it to them? That wasn't very kind. I mean, it wasn't going to be an open casket, but perhaps they could have withheld some of the gruesome details.
the lawsuit demands at least a million dollars
Oh, now it makes sense.
We were on a Princess cruise a few years ago and saw a guy drop dead on the dance floor. Staff sauntered in slowly and unobtrusively, scooped up the guy, and they were gone in one minute. Nobody missed a beat — literally. Some on the dance floor didn’t even know it had happened.
He was offloaded at the next port, and wasn’t stockpiled among the snacks.
That would depend on the presence or absence of complementary drinks for the obligatory toast.
Because I reckon most cruise ships are not equipped with a Corpse Coller.
Fer eff sake people, find something better to complain about.
37 deaths in 21 years is less than 2 per year.
Celebrity Cruises apparently has a fleet of 16 vessels. Just running down the list and mentally adding up the midpoint of passenger capacities, they could have 36,000 passengers at sea at any point. Say they’re all week-long cruises . . . that’s 1.8 million passengers per year. Times 21 years.
37 deaths out of 37 million people. Literally one in a million. Maybe the safest places on Earth.
Tacky, but probably legal under the circumstances and due to obtaining the widow’s permission to transport him back by means available to the ship.
I’ve sailed on Equinox 4-5 times. Most recently in Jan. An older but classic ship. I’d go again; in a heartbeat!
Well its kind of insulting what they did to a dead persons body. Apply the Golden Rule and I am sure those people would not like it being done to them or their family members. It also made it impossible to do an effective autopsy or have an open casket funeral.
My dad always wanted to go on a long cruise but my mom didn’t care for being on ships. He would have loved the idea of being buried at sea (Navy, WWII).
Your mom didn’t care for being on ships, but she married a sailor. haha
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