Disbursing cremains

[Hawkeye1946]

My husband recently passed away and I would like to disburse his cremains near Puerto Vallarta. Any advice would be much appreciated. Thanks!

[Essiesmom]

Are you gong to do this onboard while under way? there have been a number of threads about this, you have to get permission to do it, and I have heard they take you aft to a crew deck and hold a ceremony, if you wish.

 

this very recent thread may help.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2150200&highlight=ashes+at+sea

EM

Edited February 2, 2015 by Essiesmom

[Boytjie]

HAL does a very good job in accommodating this. Unfortunately I recently deleted the contact information we used but I am sure if you call HAL they will give you the contact info.

 

The time and location is determined by the captain but a general request may be taken into consideration.

[Seacruise]

I was one of the first to do this with HAL many years ago.

 

Contact Ship Services and tell them when you will be on board.

 

Buy yourself a ocean bio-gradable urn. Place the ashes in this urn. Include the stainless steel tag. You can carry the urn on board the airline BUT check with homeland security and the airline. I put the urn in my checked luggage and Homeland opened it and checked the ashes and failed to close the bag or container properly. With the change of the pressure in the cargo hold the ashes got spread throughout my suitcase. NOT happy, and that is why I recommend you take them on-board the plane.

 

HAL in the past has done the spreading of the ashes at Sunset off the stern in international waters.

 

The Captain gave us a certificate on Rice Paper with the name of my Dad, date and time and the latitude - longitude and signed by him.

 

HAL provided flowers free of charge for this and closed the deck to others while we did this.

 

Hope this helps.

 

Phil

[take us away]

Phil - thank you so much for the information! Printed this off and have included this in with my papers for future use.

[Scrapnana]

I attended a "Service for Committal of Ashes to the Deep" two weeks ago on my last cruise. The ashes were put in in a biodegradable container and then attached to a floral arrangement. The Deputy Captain and the Chief Security Officer were in attendance and the Deputy Captain officiated. It was a beautiful service.

[sail7seas]

I'm sorry for your loss and hope you are able to easily accomplish your goal to disburse your DH's cremains.

 

[jdtrager]

We recently did this for my 18 year old neice who passed away in a car accident after we had already booked the cruise for the whole family. We had a small ceremony early morning on a sea day and it was very nice. We placed her cremains in a biodegradable urn, they played the music we wanted, although you could not hear because we where at the back of the ship, the chaplin said some words and each of our family members tossed a rose in afterward. They gave us a bottle of champagne and we all had a tost and cried and hugged and it was beautiful. You will need to make arrangements with ship services and let them know you want to do it, then you will have to set the rest up once you get on board. HAL did a great job with it and made sure everything was taken care of and beautiful.

[derbytwo]

I'm sorry for your loss.

 

I just made arrangements to have my late husband's cremains "scattered" at sea in two weeks on the Westerdam. To me it didn't matter so much the "where" as long as it was a cruise to the Caribbean (his favorite vacation). After all the wonderful advice I received from reading a previous thread about scattering cremains, I called Ships Services and got permission. I received an email telling me to contact Guest Relations when I board and they will make all the arrangements. I purchased a bio-degradable container and am leaving everything else to the HAL people.

 

If you tell HAL what you want, I'm sure they'll be able to accommodate you as best they can. Good luck.

[Hawkeye1946]

I thank all of you. I can't make any plans yet...when my husband was ill, I let my passport expire. As soon as the new one arrives, I will get down to serious planning!

Sue

[Boytjie]

I thank all of you. I can't make any plans yet...when my husband was ill, I let my passport expire. As soon as the new one arrives, I will get down to serious planning!

Sue

 

No need to rush it, do it when you are ready and everything aligns. Wishing you all the best.