A grieving family is trying to take Celebrity Cruises to court for allegedly letting a passenger’s body decompose.
Robert Jones, 78, died of a heart attack on 15 August on the 2,825-berth Celebrity Equinox (built 2009).
His widow, Marilyn Jones, and relatives claim the corpse was left in a walk-in drinks cooler, not a morgue as promised, AP reported.
Mrs Jones, who had been married for 55 years, said her husband’s body was stored inside the cooler for nearly a week, leaving it bloated and green.
According to a federal lawsuit filed in Florida, the family was unable to have an open-coffin funeral. It is seeking $1m in damages for emotional trauma.
Celebrity Cruises has not commented, citing the case’s sensitivity and respect for the family.
The lawsuit claims that following Jones’ death, his widow was given two choices by crew members.
They allegedly said the body could be taken off at the next stop, Puerto Rico, or stored in the morgue until the ship got back to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, in six days.
Most large cruise vessels have a morgue.
The crew explained that the Puerto Rico route would involve Mrs Jones accompanying the body and arranging for transport home.
She was also told that authorities there might require a post-mortem examination to be carried out.
Because Mrs Jones was alone, she asked for the body to remain on board.
When the ship arrived in Florida, a funeral home employee and a Broward County sheriff’s deputy allegedly found the morgue out of service. They found the body in a cooler in a bag on a palette, according to the suit.
The suit says Celebrity Cruises’ actions caused the family “extreme trauma by visualising Mr Jones’ body horrifically decomposed, and knowing their husband and father was callously and casually left in a beverage cooler, stripping him of his dignity”.
The family’s lawyers are seeking a jury trial.
