Burial at Sea on the Discovey

[coloradocruisers101]

Good day fellow Cruisecritics family.

 

I have researched this topic, but just wondering if anybody had a recent experience.  Will be on the Discovery next month and currently setting up a burial at sea for my Mom.  I purchased a biodegradable turtle (her favorite) urn and am bringing her death certificate and cremation info.  I want to also throw tulips and roses with her (also her favorites).  I have the understanding that Princess is very respectable and this is a private time.  I know I will be a mess, but she always wanted to go on a cruise.  We booked one for us to go with her, but she got sick and passed before our sail date.  So with that said, she will be going on her first cruise.  Thank you in advance for you thoughts and sensitivity.

The Sawyers

[Rick&Jeannie]

I'm sure you probably know this, (having said you have researched the topic)...but you must make special arrangements well prior to the cruise with Princess.  I'm sorry, I don't know for certain the proper email address, but I found an old thread here on CC that listed ashesrequest@princesscruises.com.

 

Hopefully that address is still good.  Thread was from 2016.

[mina]

So sorry for your loss.  We have done the burial at sea for a family member.  You have everything covered for the ship.  They will want to review your documents.  Are you flying?  If yes, please check your airline requirements for transporting ashes.  Most make you bring them in your carry-on.  They do not want to misplace your loved one through lost checked luggage.  Also, TSA has requirements such as an Xrayable urn - which should not be a problem if it is biodegradable.  They also asked to see the cremation certificate, so plan to have your docs available at the TSA checkpoint.  Also check the state you are flying to as there can be special requirements depending on the state.  We flew into California and had no issues.  

[coloradocruisers101]

Thanks Rick and Jeannie,

Yes, that is the correct email. They responded in one day which I thought was great.  They will confirm with us once on the ship.  I hope this helps others as she wanted to be buried near San Diego and they advised it should work.  Looking for some current experiences.

Take Care!

 

 

 

[coloradocruisers101]

Thanks Mina, yes I checked with Southwest, flying into California and have the info for TSA.  Can you tell me about your experience?

Take Care!

[mina]

7 minutes ago, coloradocruisers101 said:

Thanks Mina, yes I checked with Southwest, flying into California and have the info for TSA.  Can you tell me about your experience?

Take Care!

We went to guest services when we boarded to make sure all was prepared.  They had someone call us the next day to provide the documentation and showed the urn to the environmental officer[?]  And they gave us a date and time (was the first sea day).  We were brought to the aft deck seven promenade area on the port side of the ship (this was the majestic - similar layout) they placed a small table with cloth and a flower bouquet on it and then gave quick directions on how to throw the urn off the side.  They then left us to ourselves and that was it.  We just went back in, thanked the officer, and were done.  

Edited February 9 by mina

[coloradocruisers101]

Thank you so much. This is a very special time to say goodbye. I think Princess has it figured it out.  I hope I can come to some kind of closure and be at peace with my Mom. She was a wonderful woman and I hope she is watching.

[nasa1974]

@coloradocruisers101  I have done a burial at sea twice with my wife's ashes. Once on Royal Caribbean, March of last year, the second time this past October on the Crown. 

@mina information is pretty much the same way it happened for me. Except on the Crown, it was at the very end of the ship on the Promenade Deck. Security had the area blocked off for privacy. It was so windy I had prepared myself to catch the biodegradable urn if it came back at me. It didn't. 🙂 You should also receive a certificate with the latitude and longitude of where the ashes entered the sea. For me it was the next day. As far as throwing tulips and roses that will be at the discretion of the Officers on board. That may be something you would like to mention when you get to Guest Services when you first get on board.

Something to think about. Depending on how many are in your party you might want someone to take pictures or a short video of the ceremony.  I had a friend take a short video on the Royal Caribbean cruise to share with my daughters, but I was solo on the Crown. I did get a picture of the table with flowers and my wife's urn sitting on it.

It was a very interesting and emotional experience. 

Sorry for your loss.

 

Marty

 

P.S. My sister lives in Aspen and I have a good friend that lives in Colorado Springs.

[suzyed]

8 hours ago, coloradocruisers101 said:

Good day fellow Cruisecritics family.

 

I have researched this topic, but just wondering if anybody had a recent experience.  Will be on the Discovery next month and currently setting up a burial at sea for my Mom.  I purchased a biodegradable turtle (her favorite) urn and am bringing her death certificate and cremation info.  I want to also throw tulips and roses with her (also her favorites).  I have the understanding that Princess is very respectable and this is a private time.  I know I will be a mess, but she always wanted to go on a cruise.  We booked one for us to go with her, but she got sick and passed before our sail date.  So with that said, she will be going on her first cruise.  Thank you in advance for you thoughts and sensitivity.

The Sawyers

My sympathies for the loss of your dear Mom.  What you have planned is exactly what I was thinking I want.  You Mom would be pleased.  

[suzyed]

Not to be insensitive but is there a charge for the burial, if you don't mind sharing.  ❤️

[Steelers36]

2 hours ago, nasa1974 said:

I have done a burial at sea twice with my wife's ashes

Was your idea to divide the ashes so that you would leave them in two different locations?  I had not thought of something like that before.

[Prost Seattle]

My mom died 9 days before we were going on our Hawaii cruise.   How wonderful it would be to finally take her on that cruise.

 

So sorry for your loss, but what a way to have a final memory of your mother.  

[Torfamm]

I am sorry for your loss but glad that you’ve gotten the information you need.
 

My only thought is that tulips may not be available on the ship. I’d feel pretty confident that they always have roses. I have no idea if you can make a specific request for a type of flowers, but if tulips a very important to you it might be worth trying to order flowers ahead of time.

[coopco]

What a wonderful tribute! You have obviously put a lot of thought and research into it and I’m sure it will be beautiful.

[nasa1974]

10 hours ago, suzyed said:

Not to be insensitive but is there a charge for the burial, if you don't mind sharing.  ❤️

There is no charge. Other than what it costs to purchase the biodegradable urn. When on the Crown I asked the Guest Services Officer, that help set everything up how often do they have a burial at sea. She told me they average 2-3 a cruise.

[Roberto256]

18 hours ago, coloradocruisers101 said:

Good day fellow Cruisecritics family.

 

I have researched this topic, but just wondering if anybody had a recent experience.  Will be on the Discovery next month and currently setting up a burial at sea for my Mom.  I purchased a biodegradable turtle (her favorite) urn and am bringing her death certificate and cremation info.

 

This went badly in two ways for us ... so I hope you can avoid.

During boarding, security insisted on opening the urn.   I am not kidding.

They finally found some supervisor who was able to read the email from princess approving me bringing it on board.

 

They had the environmental officer supervise the whole thing for us.

A surprise to us: the ashes were in a plastic bag, which was inside the biodegradeable urn.

No go.

We had to smash the urn, dump the ashes from the plastic bag, and then discard the bag in the trash.

Tossing the urn?   Dealers's choice.

 

Not the fault of princess.  Who would expect plastic in a bio-degradeable urn?

 

Edited February 10 by Roberto256

[nasa1974]

8 hours ago, Steelers36 said:

Was your idea to divide the ashes so that you would leave them in two different locations?  I had not thought of something like that before.

My thought process was to do more than one.

The first burial at sea coordinates is between Havana and Key West.

The second time I did it was during a cruise in October that my wife and I had booked out of San Francisco for March of 2020. The burial at sea was halfway between San Francisco and Santa Barbara.

I am hoping to do a few more over my next couple of cruises.

[Ellipooh]

20 hours ago, coloradocruisers101 said:

Thanks Mina, yes I checked with Southwest, flying into California and have the info for TSA.  Can you tell me about your experience?

Take Care!

I flew across country with ashes in a non-biodegradable urn. TSA was very respectful. As I had been told to expect, they immediately flagged the item from the conveyor belt and sought out the passenger to whom it belonged (me). They had me step aside while they performed a wipe down check and then carefully returned the box to me. It was very much like the process of being randomly selected for an additional security check. 

[coloradocruisers101]

Interesting, just not sure to keep her ashes in the glass vial on the flight, then transfer ashes into the biodegradable urn before boarding on the ship.  I did read the ashes need to be in the urn before boarding.  The plastic bag that was with my purchase of the biodegradable urn said it was dissolving plastic.  Really, just don’t want my mom to be confiscated.  
Thank you all for your feedback and ideas.  Much appreciated!

[nasa1974]

27 minutes ago, coloradocruisers101 said:

Interesting, just not sure to keep her ashes in the glass vial on the flight, then transfer ashes into the biodegradable urn before boarding on the ship.  I did read the ashes need to be in the urn before boarding.  The plastic bag that was with my purchase of the biodegradable urn said it was dissolving plastic.  Really, just don’t want my mom to be confiscated.  
Thank you all for your feedback and ideas.  Much appreciated!

I did everything at home and had the ashes in the dissolvable plastic bag (it tied closed with a string) and then I put that in the urn. The box it came in was small enough that I kept the urn in the box and put that in my carryon. I had all my paperwork but didn't get stopped by TSA. Make sure you have the paperwork that came with the urn to show it is biodegradable. 

This what I purchased from Amazon.

[coloradocruisers101]

Thank you NASA.  That will be my plan.  I hope when I get the urn next week, it will have something that says the plastic bag is dissolvable.

[Roberto256]

3 hours ago, coloradocruisers101 said:

The plastic bag that was with my purchase of the biodegradable urn said it was dissolving plastic.

The funeral home that did the cremation put the ashes in the bag within the urn for me.

When the environmental officer saw the pastic ... it looked like plastic to me, too.

Plus, not a time to argue.   My only thought was how can I get through this and not start crying,

 

Edited February 10 by Roberto256

[Pepes Pal]

3 hours ago, coloradocruisers101 said:

Thank you NASA.  That will be my plan.  I hope when I get the urn next week, it will have something that says the plastic bag is dissolvable.

I recently went through the Ashes disposal on the Discovery one year ago. I will be happy to write about my experience to you, but privately. If you would like to communicate, you can email me at:

judyh03 at iCloud dot com 

[SouKnoMe]

Just wanted to extend my condolences, and I pray that you have a beautiful day when you’re ready to release her ashes. Godspeed. 🕊️

[bellebaby]

Has anyone inquired about an ashes release in Canadian/Alaskan waters sailing from Vancouver?  

 

I wonder where it would be allowed.

 

B