Here's a New One... "Celebrity Cruise Ship Kept Corpse in Drink Cooler"

[Ferry_Watcher]

Hoping the link works for everyone.  Basically, an elderly gentleman died on the Equinox, and the widow was given the option of getting off the ship at San Juan PR, but would be responsible for her and her husband's body transportation costs, or she could remain on the ship until they returned to Ft. Lauderdale, with the body in the morgue.  She opted to stay on board.  The refrigeration system in the morgue failed, and the body was relocated to a a beverage cooler where it stayed until a funeral home came to pick it up.  Significant decomposition occurred, and family lost the opportunity for an open casket.

Just a sad story.

Horrible for the family, and I can't imagine the poor crew that had to enter and work around a human body laying in a beverage cooler.

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/22/us/cruise-ship-body-lawsuit.html

[kjwinston2019]

sounds like no insurance????

[Ferry_Watcher]

I am not sure if the issue of insurance is even germane to the story.  The widow and I would suspect that all of us, would expect a fully operational morgue onboard a ship.  Not sure why no one realized that a beverage cooler would not preserve a human body over a few days.  Obviously, the ship made the correct decision to not use the food freezer storage unit.  But I am not sure if the ship might have prepared the widow as to what was happening, although that would have been a very uncomfortable conversation.  

No good outcomes in this situation. 

[mom says]

Couldn't read the linked article- behind a pay wall.

[dlh015]

14 minutes ago, mom says said:

Couldn't read the linked article- behind a pay wall.

This one (from the first thread posted last thursday) has the story:

https://www.miaminewtimes.com/news/celebrity-cruise-ship-kept-dead-body-in-beverage-cooler-lawsuit-alleges-16809838

 

eta: I should say  'a version of the story'  I suppose...

 

Edited April 22, 2023 by dlh015

[keesar]

2 hours ago, Ferry_Watcher said:

Hoping the link works for everyone.  Basically, an elderly gentleman died on the Equinox, and the widow was given the option of getting off the ship at San Juan PR, but would be responsible for her and her husband's body transportation costs, or she could remain on the ship until they returned to Ft. Lauderdale, with the body in the morgue.  She opted to stay on board.  The refrigeration system in the morgue failed, and the body was relocated to a a beverage cooler where it stayed until a funeral home came to pick it up.  Significant decomposition occurred, and family lost the opportunity for an open casket.

Just a sad story.

Horrible for the family, and I can't imagine the poor crew that had to enter and work around a human body laying in a beverage cooler.

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/22/us/cruise-ship-body-lawsuit.html

Celebrity should not have given her a choice.  The corpse should have been removed in San Juan and flown back to the States.  Sad story all around...

[NMTraveller]

Sad story.  

Edited April 22, 2023 by NMTraveller

[retird]

It is sad story, but personally, if my spouse died on a cruise, I would not put her in storage and continue with my cruise

 

[prmssk]

2 hours ago, Ferry_Watcher said:

I am not sure if the issue of insurance is even germane to the story.  The widow and I would suspect that all of us, would expect a fully operational morgue onboard a ship.  Not sure why no one realized that a beverage cooler would not preserve a human body over a few days.  Obviously, the ship made the correct decision to not use the food freezer storage unit.  But I am not sure if the ship might have prepared the widow as to what was happening, although that would have been a very uncomfortable conversation.  

No good outcomes in this situation. 

Insurance likely played a role in deciding whether or not to remove the body at San Juan and fly home vs. spending another six days on the ship.

 

Assuming it is true, it is a sad story though.  But I do want to point out that all the information we have comes from a complaint filed by the widow.  There hasn't been any discovery and Celebrity hasn't responded yet (at least that I have seen).

 

My gut says that if it truly was as horrible as the article I read makes it out to be, Celebrity would have settled before a complaint was ever filed.  I suspect there is more nuance than we are hearing.

[Ferry_Watcher]

The women widowed was 78 yr old when this happened, and probably just traveling with the deceased (so no other family/friends onboard).  She may not have felt emotionally strong enough to disembark in San Juan, PR on her own, and then be faced with the possibility of a travel delay if an autopsy was ordered.  She may have had only a short period of time to decide what to do.  She would have had the added stress of packing up his and hers' clothes (although the wonderful crew would help), then find local accommodations, transportation, and then deal with whatever paperwork the local funeral home, or Medical Examiner needed.  She may have just wanted all that to happen in more familiar surroundings (hometown), with her family and friends there to support her. I am guessing that she felt that while she would have liked to have gotten home ASAP, staying onboard, while believing that the remains were safe was her best option under the circumstances. 

 

 

 

[Boo's Mom]

A few things I have learned through the years: 

 

1.  Just because there is a lawsuit does not necessarily mean there was malfeasance. 

2.  Just because there is something in the news does not mean that it is factual. 

 

I reserve all judgment until I see facts presented in court by both sides. 

 

We are seeing one side of the story. 

And I don't think Celebrity should be tried in the media. 

 

Let's wait and see how this unfolds. 

 

Truly sorry for Mrs. Jones' loss.  

Edited April 22, 2023 by Boo's Mom

[Georgia_Peaches]

Agree.  Horrific.  I am saddened for the family.  I'm sure there is an absence of malice on Celebrity's part as they did the best they could in a very problematic situation (malfunctioning morgue cooler).  There needs to be an investigation into the decision making process of upper management.  Did they seek guidance from corporate?  if so, go even higher up the chain... 

Edited April 22, 2023 by Georgia_Peaches

[Georgia_Peaches]

5 minutes ago, Charles4515 said:

The good deed backfired.

No good deed goes unpunished...agree, they tried to make the best of a terrible circumstance.

[Charles4515]

1 minute ago, Boo's Mom said:

I reserve all judgment until I see facts presented in court by both sides. 

Likely the lawsuit will be settled out of court. Regardless of the facts it has already been tried in the media. I doubt Celebrity wants any more publicity. 

[Boo's Mom]

2 minutes ago, Charles4515 said:

Likely the lawsuit will be settled out of court. Regardless of the facts it has already been tried in the media. I doubt Celebrity wants any more publicity. 

I agree. 

And Mrs Jones' attorney is fully aware of this probability. 

 

[NutsAboutGolf]

1 minute ago, Charles4515 said:

Likely the lawsuit will be settled out of court. Regardless of the facts it has already been tried in the media. I doubt Celebrity wants any more publicity. 

 

I was going to say something simular...They claim X steered them towards FLL vs PR, you would imagine X simply would want to wash it's hands of this by getting rid of the body ASAP and possibly knew the morgue was broken...My WAG (Wild A$$ Guess) is there are some states laws or some reason favorable to X to offload the body in FL...Rare example of fact being stranger than fiction but due to most likely being settled out of court, we will most likely never know the details

[Loracpin2]

24 minutes ago, Charles4515 said:

She choose to leave his body onboard rather than have it repatriated from San Juan. The power failed in the morgue. So they moved it to a cooler. Seems like the ship was trying to do her a good deed and carry the body back home on the ship. The good deed backfired. In my opinion they should have removed the body in San Juan. 

The two options given to her on board by Celebrity staff were to remove the body in San Juan or store the body in the Ship's morgue......not the Ship's walk-in cooler!!!  Since the morgue was no longer an option, the Ship's good deed backfired when the staff made the decision to store the body in the cooler.  How is this the Widow's fault??

Edited April 22, 2023 by Loracpin2
spelling

[Charles4515]

1 minute ago, Loracpin2 said:

The two options given to her on board by Celebrity staff were to remove the body in San Juan or store the body in the Ship's morgue......not the Ship's walk-in cooler!!!  Since the morgue was no longer an option, the Ship's good deed backfired when the staff made the decision to store the body in the cooler.  How is this the Widow's the fault??

Who said it was the widow’s fault? 
 

I think it was a mistake giving the option of returning the body to FLL. In hindsight that is of course easy to say. 
 

Of course it is her decision to get a lawyer and sue. 

[NutsAboutGolf]

Another part that I find strange...If the body is decomposing, even if in an airtight body bag, you'd still smell the body so every crew member who went into that drink cooler probably knew that "it" would hit the fan once they arrived in FL

[mayleeman]

Who cares about malice? Not alleged or necessary for negligence to exist that would establish liability (assuming jurisdiction). If you have a morgue, it should be working properly and a contingency plan should exist as it does for every other ship function.

[Bill Miller]

Florida remains a leader in shark attacks. We also have a huge population of slip n' fall hungry land sharks cluttering the airwaves with promises of riches if you hire them to sue. This is a nuisance case which takes place on a foreign flagged vessel.  Admiralty Law? Go fish.

 

 

[mahasamatman]

On 4/20/2023 at 7:21 PM, jelayne said:

There are always 2 sides to a lawsuit.

 

Three sides. The plaintiff, the defendant, and the truth.

[hrhdhd]

Methinks the body was on a pallet, not a palette.

[Chardonnay Char]

On 4/21/2023 at 12:50 PM, mom says said:

But something that we don't know is whether the morgue was out of service at the time of death, or if it broke down later, and the body had to be transferred to the cooler. And was the widow actually "dissuaded" from the PR option by the X staff, or was she simply provided with 2 options and chose the other one?

 

Another thing of note is the woman said they were upset because they couldn't have an open casket due to the decomposition. Yet (according to Wiki) after a week a body is too far gone, even under ideal morgue conditions, for an open casket. 

 

I really don't care for the "reporting" style in this article. Very colorful and designed to skew in a particular direction. Or written by counsel for the plaintiff.

It was written by a reporter for the New York Times, based on the lawsuit that was filed. 

 

[Stateroom_Sailor]

https://nypost.com/2023/04/23/celebrity-cruise-accused-of-letting-robert-jones-body-to-decompose-after-heart-attack-lawsuit/

 

This sounds a bit unethical and unsanitary.