burial at sea

[evenstar1976]

Has anyone had experience with this on Royal Caribbean?  I have some of my grandmother's ashes that she wanted spread at sea.  My grandparents loved cruising so my family thought this would be a great way to remember her.  I've already contacted RC and have the permission and know to contact the front desk on the first day.  Do I really need to have the death certificate and cremation certificate.  My dad is not sure where he put them.  I have purchased a biodegradable urn.  Did anyone have to show a certificate showing it was biodegradable.  But I am traveling by myself this cruise and my siblings would like to see some video of this.  Can I have someone else besides me there if I can get someone from my roll call to come if they are not on my reservation?  Do you think someone on the crew would be willing to take some video?  I'm not planning on doing anything much besides tossing the urn.  Maybe reading some memories my parents and siblings are sending me since we did the main memorial this past summer.

 

Thanks in advance for your help.

[Ashland]

Have all the necessary paperwork you may be possibly asked for. Obviously the mortuary that was contracted for this would have records. You should also have the receipt from the urn you purchased (if this wasn't done thru the mortuary).

 

You will not be left to do this on your own...someone from the ship staff will accompany you and more than likely take the video for you.

 

Best wishes in doing this for your grandmother. May she rest in peace at sea where she enjoyed their cruise's together.

[Clarea]

We have done a burial at sea.  They asked for all the documents, such as death certificate, Florida permission to transport, urn certifcate.

 

More info here:  http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=40436457&postcount=23

[evenstar1976]

Thanks.  I will check out that thread

[barb in ga]

I did this for my brother on Freedom; we were told that an urn was not required if the ashes were to be directly scattered into the sea. If you use an urn, it must be biodegradable. We had no issue transporting them in the container provided by the funeral home.

 

I wrote in advance, and was assisted by the Concierge, who arranged for us to be escorted  by a ship security person and one other from the ship's personnel. The most memorable part was the printed certificate that was delivered to my cabin the next day with the name of the ship, the captain's signature,  the date and time and the latitude and longitude of the event, along with my brother's name and dates of birth and death. 

 

Barb

 

 

[evenstar1976]

9 minutes ago, barb in ga said:

I did this for my brother on Freedom; we were told that an urn was not required if the ashes were to be directly scattered into the sea. If you use an urn, it must be biodegradable. We had no issue transporting them in the container provided by the funeral home.

 

I wrote in advance, and was assisted by the Concierge, who arranged for us to be escorted  by a ship security person and one other from the ship's personnel. The most memorable part was the printed certificate that was delivered to my cabin the next day with the name of the ship, the captain's signature,  the date and time and the latitude and longitude of the event, along with my brother's name and dates of birth and death. 

 

Barb

 

 

Thanks for this.  That would be nice to have.  My father has one for my grandpa went he was buried at sea on board the USS Ronald Reagan.  He was a WWII vet.  They had a nice ceremony.  They sent my dad a nice DVD and we got photos of it from their ship's website.  It would be nice to have one for my grandma.

 

I have the original container from the funeral home.  It will fly with me when I go.  I have a small paper urn since it is only part of her ashes.  Did you have to present a death certificate, etc?

[Coralc]

You can order a death certificate from the county recorder in the county that she passed away in. The mortuary will have a copy of the cremation certificate if your grandfather can't find them. You should expect that all of the documents will be required. 

[evenstar1976]

5 minutes ago, Coralc said:

You can order a death certificate from the county recorder in the county that she passed away in. The mortuary will have a copy of the cremation certificate if your grandfather can't find them. You should expect that all of the documents will be required. 

My dad is the one who can't find them.  I will give him a few days to look for them since my cruise is in March.  I know which funeral home she was cremated at since I have that container with her ashes in it.  It's good to know that I can contact county recorder's office.  I was not sure that I could get a copy not being a spouse or child but a grandchild.

[SG65CB]

Here is a thread I saw while on the Celebrity board (a cruise line owned by Royal Caribbean). The thread has details about the process and paperwork requirements. 

 

 

[cgags47]

This sounds like an amazing thing to do.  I have a question though, out of pure curiousity.  How do they do the burial at sea?  Obviously the ship has to be in international waters, so it's probably moving.  Do they get you as close to water as possible, and just sort of drop the urn in?  I'm genuinely curious.

[cgags47]

Nevermind, I just read that link that was posted above mine.  Thanks!  Sounds like a very meaningful event that the cruise crew is happy to be a part of.

[brillohead]

My "pseudo-mom" (not really my mom, but she considers me a daughter and I call her Mom) would love to cruise with me, but she has horrendous motion sickness after a TBI and could never actually take the trip with me.  

She has set aside money for me to take part of her ashes on a cruise after she passes away... she may have to wait until death, but she is determined that she WILL cruise with me some day!!!

[evenstar1976]

Thanks for the responses.  I wish I could have family with me, but I'm the only one who likes cruises and can take the time to do this.  We were all together in last June to do the main sprinkling of her ashes in Colorado.  But since my grandpa's ashes were spread at sea, we wanted to have part of her there too.

 

Hopefully this can be done no the 1st part of the cruise.  I've had her ashes since summer high up on a shelf in my closet.  Been worried about my sneaky cats finding a way to get up there and knock her down!

[evenstar1976]

Those who have done a burial at sea- is a copy of the death certificate fine? My dad doesn't want to send me the original, which I understand.  

 

Do you need a cremation certificate and what is that?  Dad is not sure he got anything from the funeral home that did the cremation.

[Clarea]

3 minutes ago, evenstar1976 said:

Those who have done a burial at sea- is a copy of the death certificate fine? My dad doesn't want to send me the original, which I understand.  

 

Do you need a cremation certificate and what is that?  Dad is not sure he got anything from the funeral home that did the cremation.

 

Contact the cruise line for those answers:

 

https://www.royalcaribbean.com/faq/questions/what-is-royal-caribbeans-burial-at-sea-policy

[evenstar1976]

I have done that.  The form Royal sent me says death certificate and cremation certificate.  Wasn't sure if a copy of them was fine.  Looking into what a cremation certificate is.  I have the contact info for the funeral home.  I plan on giving them a call.

[Danitroline]

On ‎1‎/‎15‎/‎2019 at 10:40 PM, Host Clarea said:

We have done a burial at sea.  They asked for all the documents, such as death certificate, Florida permission to transport, urn certifcate.

 

More info here:  http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=40436457&postcount=23

Thank you so much- as we take Mom on her first cruise she asked to have some of Dad's ashes spread. he was a King's Point grad and his first love was the sea. THANK YOU!

[evenstar1976]

I called RC today.  Found out that a copy of the death certificate was fine.  Now to remind dad to make a copy and get it to me.  At least he wasn't crazy that he didn't have a cremation certificate.  The funeral home that took care of it and the funeral home who did the cremation were two different places.  The one that did the cremation sent them a copy and they kept it for their files.  The one that did the cremation is going to send me another copy.  So I think I am all set.

 

Just to make it through this process alone on my March cruise.

[Snit13]

On 1/15/2019 at 10:40 PM, Host Clarea said:

We have done a burial at sea.  They asked for all the documents, such as death certificate, Florida permission to transport, urn certifcate.

 

More info here:  http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=40436457&postcount=23

Bob,

What is "Florida permission to transport?"

I will be doing a burial at sea for DH and have all the information from RCCL and have purchased an Air Force biodegradeable  container for his ashes.  I read somewhere that you can request the day/date/time.  Is that true?

Grace

 

[Clarea]

11 minutes ago, Snit13 said:

Bob,

What is "Florida permission to transport?"

I will be doing a burial at sea for DH and have all the information from RCCL and have purchased an Air Force biodegradeable  container for his ashes.  I read somewhere that you can request the day/date/time.  Is that true?

Grace

 

 

I don't have the "permission to transport" document, but I believe it has something to do with transporting human remains out of the country.  I'd check with the cremation  people, they may have more insight.  Possibly it is called something else state to state.

 

You can request day/time, but it is up to the Captain.  They have guidelines regarding being in international waters and ensuring the biodegradable urn totally disintegrates before it can drift onto land.  When we did this, we were set for 9am and the Captain told us we had to wait until 11am because we were too close to land.

 

[Snit13]

Thanks Bob.  He will be cremated in Florida and we live in Florida so I am certain they will supply whatever information RCCL didn't supply when I contacted them.

 

Grace

[brillohead]

11 hours ago, evenstar1976 said:

Just to make it through this process alone on my March cruise.

I'll come with you, if you need a buddy for support.

[danp]

We just attended a burial at sea in December.The family contacted RCCL and they gave all of the info.They had the Captain of the ship{Adventure}contact the widow and told her what he would do.One of the things that is important was that the ashes must be in a biodegradable so thatit will open.As for  the ceremony we met with an officer at the pursurs desk and he took us to an area where all will take place.At the location we met with the vio officer to make sure that the ashes were in a bio container..after the ceremony the officer contacted the bridge and the widow was got long/lat of where it took place.She was then got a certificate of the location.

 

  hope that this helped.

[Snit13]

8 hours ago, danp said:

We just attended a burial at sea in December.The family contacted RCCL and they gave all of the info.They had the Captain of the ship{Adventure}contact the widow and told her what he would do.One of the things that is important was that the ashes must be in a biodegradable so thatit will open.As for  the ceremony we met with an officer at the pursurs desk and he took us to an area where all will take place.At the location we met with the vio officer to make sure that the ashes were in a bio container..after the ceremony the officer contacted the bridge and the widow was got long/lat of where it took place.She was then got a certificate of the location.

 

  hope that this helped.

Where on the ship were you taken for the actual burial?  Have seen the location on CC in past but do not remember.  Did the ship slow down at the location?  Read once on CC that ship actually came to a stop.

[Clarea]

12 minutes ago, Snit13 said:

Where on the ship were you taken for the actual burial?  Have seen the location on CC in past but do not remember.  Did the ship slow down at the location?  Read once on CC that ship actually came to a stop.

 

Aft mooring deck.