The final cruise

Earlier this week I was speaking to a regular client of mine and he told me of a story from when he first started cruising a few years back, which prompted me to write this blog. Although a sad story, my client has a very good sense of humour and we was both crying with laughter at the end of the story.

My client and his wife was booked to cruise with his mother, unfortunately, his mother passed away before she could enjoy the cruise. As she never got the experience of actually being on the ship, the client arranged with the cruise line to have his mothers ashes scattered at sea whilst on board.

The cruise line advised the client of the requirements needed in order to bring the ashes on board, the correct paperwork, such as the death certificate, the ashes must be contained in a leak proof, sealed urn and if flowers are required, these must be bio degradable.  The urn as you would expect did go through the security checks, but this was actually done in a more discreet area. I presume this was to not notify other guests in case others felt uncomfortable with the situation.

The cruise was sailing from Southampton and passing through the Irish Sea, so the decision was made to spread the ashes off of the Cornish coast, past Lands End before they hit Celtic Sea. Due to the schedule, this meant that they would be spreading the ashes around 2am, as they do have to be approx 12 nautical miles from land. A requirement is that the Captain has to give approval and either himself or a senior officer will be part of the ceremony at sea. Unfortunately, there seemed to be some miscommunication regarding the time and the time slot was missed. Not to worry, the guest relations advised that the ship would be returning through the same waters so they would be able to do this on the return. My client worked out that the time would be approx. 6am.

Towards the end of the cruise my client was prepared to say a final goodbye and headed up to deck to find out where he would need to be to send his mum to the sea. Again, due to miscommunication between the guest services, the client and the captain, the opportunity to lay his mum to rest was missed!

My client, as I mentioned earlier has a very good sense of humour and although disappointed did not make a big deal of the fact that he was taking his mum home at the end of the cruise (her ashes was spread at a favourite holiday spot in the UK instead).

He told me that there was a bright side, his mum still got to come on the cruise, she didn’t over indulge on food, complain, embarrass him and the bar bill was lower than expected..

I love how he ended this story, but you may not realise this, but this is actually a very popular request. I know my own father, a former Royal Navy sailor, wishes for part of his ashes to be spread at sea. This prompted me to look into this with various cruise lines and they all have different ways of how this must be organised but essentially the same rules. I think my client must of been an exception to the rule on this occasion and it was just a case of miscommunication and others have more successful final farewells.

So to all those past cruisers who’s final resting place is at sea, I wish you peace in a place that made you happy.

Dawn

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