"Burial At Sea"

[crusin okie]

I am helping a family member coordinate her husband's "burial at sea" from the Vista later this fall.  I believe I have the information generally available from Carnival.  What I am looking for are any first hand observations, comments, or advice from anyone who has recently been through the process on any Carnival ship and specifically the Vista. Thanks ever so much for any insight you may be able to offer.

[bakersdozen12]

We’ve never actually done this, but we did look into doing this for my father-in-law’s ashes. The thing you have to take into consideration is not just the requirements of the cruise line, but also the requirements of the airline if you have to fly to port. For us, the type of container the ashes had to be in was different for the cruise line vs the airline we were flying (to Europe). So we would have had to buy two different ones and then transfer the ashes ourselves. Which for us, for personal reasons, was not something we wanted to do. In the end, we ended up getting living trees for both of my in-laws ashes when she ended up passing away too. 

 

Anyway, sorry for your loss, and good luck. 

[dalenva]

Did this on the Carnival Breeze last November for my late partner. Just go to Guest Services on the first day & tell them and they will arrange a date & time. On the Breeze we went to the lowest deck on the rear of the ship & scattered his ashes from there. Then you get a letter from the captain with the date, time, longitude, & latitude. Any other questions, just ask.

 

Here's what it looks like, Came in a nice folder. 

[Aplmac]

Just bear in mind

that ashes can and do blow all over, on any given day, windy or not.

 

We had an incident here on Barbados not long ago

where clueless "scattering of ashes" (literally)

wound up coating tourists a hundred yards way -in Dad's remains!!

 

Very unpleasant for those who got coated

and hugely embarrassing for Dad's family.

In fact They passed a law as a result of this incident!

 

Just saying!! Be careful.

Suggest you immerse the entire container without opening it up.

[ffmikey]

We too did this several years ago. My best friend wanted to have some of his ashes spread in the Atlantic Ocean. I only had a hand full with me. I made my request with Guest Services for a Sea Day burial. I was connected with the Environmental Officer who arranged the time and place. We met at Guest Services and was escorted  to a lower deck. We too received a folder with an official letter as above. It was a nice gesture from the staff.

[RWolver672]

https://help.carnival.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/1132/~/bringing-cremated-ashes-on-board-%2F-burial-at-sea

[bakersdozen12]

18 hours ago, Aplmac said:

Just bear in mind

that ashes can and do blow all over, on any given day, windy or not.

 

We had an incident here on Barbados not long ago

where clueless "scattering of ashes" (literally)

wound up coating tourists a hundred yards way -in Dad's remains!!

 

Very unpleasant for those who got coated

and hugely embarrassing for Dad's family.

In fact They passed a law as a result of this incident!

 

Just saying!! Be careful.

Suggest you immerse the entire container without opening it up.

 

They require that the ashes be in a biodegradable urn specifically for this reason. You toss the entire urn overboard, not just the ashes. 

[five.]

I once participated in an ice breaker for new employees. One of the games we played was: "two truths and a lie." And the object was to tell three things about yourself, with one of them being made up. I remember one woman's that everyone thought was a lie, was in fact true, involved "inhaling human ashes." And it had to do with her grandfather's ashes, a civil war re-enactment and a cannon. The wind blew his ashes over most everyone there that day and caused quite a stir. But it did make for a funny story later.

 

In regards to the OP. I was pretty sure I had read a fairly detailed post on this recently. But I am not finding it now. These might be useful:

Is it really "scattering" of ashes at sea?

Scattering ashes at sea

Post from JH facebook

[morningstarme]

On 3/19/2019 at 5:47 AM, bakersdozen12 said:

 

They require that the ashes be in a biodegradable urn specifically for this reason. You toss the entire urn overboard, not just the ashes. 

Not necessarily true. My mother passed away in April 2018.  We had a cruise planned on the Victory for October 2018.

I made all of the arrangements with the funeral home for some of her remains to be placed in a biodegradable pouch for burial at sea.  When I went to guest services to confirm the time and location, I was told that since I did not have any "document" that the pouch was biodegradable, we would have to open the pouch and empty the bag directly into the water.  This is certainly something we did not want to do, but did.  

 

[chengkp75]

20 minutes ago, morningstarme said:

Not necessarily true. My mother passed away in April 2018.  We had a cruise planned on the Victory for October 2018.

I made all of the arrangements with the funeral home for some of her remains to be placed in a biodegradable pouch for burial at sea.  When I went to guest services to confirm the time and location, I was told that since I did not have any "document" that the pouch was biodegradable, we would have to open the pouch and empty the bag directly into the water.  This is certainly something we did not want to do, but did.  

 

All cruise lines will require documentation of biodegradability before anything is thrown over the side.  Carnival is the only line that I've heard of that will allow ashes to be scattered not in a container of some sort.

[jjcruiselover]

Does anyone know if you can pick where the ashes are scattered?  I want to buried at sea but I do not want to be in the Atlantic Ocean near the coast of Florida.   I have actually joked that I will haunt my husband if he leaves me somewhere other than the Caribbean Sea.   

[All4fun&fun4all]

I did this with Carnival in 2014.  I spoke with guest services prior to sailing and once onboard to find out how this would work.  They set us up with a couple of officers on the first sea day and brought us down to the lowest deck above the water line and apparently they slowed the ship down.  They tested the air movement and then gave me the ok to scatter the ashes.  I had Andrew's ashes in a small ziplock baggie (I didn't scatter all of his ashes, just a few) and I dumped them over the side when the officers said the condition was right.

I was allowed to bring my son and 4 friends with me.

I received a letter from the captain regarding the loss of my loved one and the exact coordinates of the area that I scattered the ashes.  I had them tattooed on my wrists.

[All4fun&fun4all]

Additionally, just for reference, we were going on a 5 day cruise to Nassau and Little Stirrup Cay.  The coordinates where the ashes were scattered as noted by the captain were 28°15.2.°N   077°29.6.°W

 

If you type those coordinates in online you can see where that is located in relation to the trip we took from Charleston

[five.]

It was actually a post on reddit that I saw recently and ended up being from a CC user. But this is the post that I was thinking of.