CRUISE ship operators don’t like to talk about it, but of the 28.5 million passengers who came aboard worldwide in 2018, a few hundred didn’t disembark in the way they intended. The billion-dollar cruise industry, which runs on dreams of luxury, desire and fun, also has to deal with everyday problems like death. Most cruise lines don’t publicise the exact number of deaths on their ships, but Germany’s Tui Cruises reported that in the year ending April 2019, 11 people died on board, out of hundreds of thousands of passengers.
The company says it is aware of only one suicide since its founding in 2008. Most of the deaths on cruise ships occur because of health or old age and are unavoidable, though accidents are also sometimes to blame. “Many cruise passengers are older,” says a cruise ship employee who wished to remain anonymous.
“The number of passengers has been growing, so logically the number of deaths has also been growing. But we use discretion — we don’t send a hearse to the pier.” Cruise ship operators engage contractors at port to handle the arrival. “Out of respect for the relatives, we try to deal with the situation as discreetly as possible,” a Tui Cruise spokesman says. At Cunard, the ship crews are “prepared and trained for a wide variety of incidents of all kinds, including deaths,” a spokeswoman for the BritishAmerican operator says.
“The organisational procedure varies from case to case and is always adapted to the situation.” Aida Cruises, which claims to be the market leader for cruises in Germany, also remains tight-lipped about its policies: “In the event of deaths on board our cruise ships, we have a fixed procedure. We are well-prepared to react appropriately in such cases.” The German arm of industry association Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) offers more detail: “On board cruise ships, there are usually body bags as well as refrigerated compartments provided for these incidents.”
These compartments are, as the anonymous cruise employee adds, usually located in the hospital area of the ships. “The old myth that corpses are kept next to the cold stores for food is of course nonsense,” the employee adds. The Tui Cruise spokesman emphasised that hospital staff on cruise ships are trained and experienced in caring for the deceased and their relatives. CLIA says the transfer of the deceased’s body to the relatives or their representatives ashore, as well as the storage on board, are carried out in compliance with all rules of hygiene and reverence. “As a rule, deceased persons must be taken off board at the next port on schedule,” the employee says.
“If a ship sails from New York to Hamburg, it does not have to, say, make an extra stop in England.” Upon arrival at port, the ship’s command must fill in arrival papers, including a Maritime Declaration of Health, which asks whether there are people with infectious diseases on board and whether any people died during the voyage. “If there are casualties, the authorities immediately sound the alarm bells,” says the cruise employee. A spokeswoman for Cruise Gate Hamburg explains the responsibility for deaths that happened on board: “The organisational procedure is not handled by the operator of the cruise terminal, but by the port agent and the responsible authorities, water police or state police.”
“Regardless of death, the port medical service, customs and water police are the first to board any ship that has docked at the pier.” “They check the papers and then release the respective ship. Since much data is transmitted electronically before arrival, many cruise ships can be approved within 15 minutes and allow people to leave the ship,” she explained. – dpa
