A woman and her family sued Celebrity Cruises, alleging that when her husband passed away, the cruise service kept his body in the cooler rather than
A woman and her family sued Celebrity Cruises, alleging that when her husband passed away, the cruise service kept his body in the cooler rather than the morgue.
According to the lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida that CNN was able to receive, Robert L. Jones passed away in August 2022 when he was aboard the Celebrity Equinox cruise ship due to a heart attack. Jones was moving his wife to the Caribbean from Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
As per the lawsuit, Marilyn Jones was informed that she had two alternatives for what to do with her husband’s remains when Robert L. Jones passed away, according to CNN. His body might have been removed from the ship in San Juan, Puerto Rico, or it could have been kept on board for six days, until the ship arrived at the port in Fort Lauderdale.
The Associated Press said that the body was kept on the ship in a walk-in fridge for nearly six days. The usual use of that cooler was for drinks. The mortuary was where the body was meant to be kept.
The body was left “bloated and green” because it was kept in the cooler rather than the morgue, as the lawsuit alleges, and the family’s plan to do an open-coffin burial was altered.
According to the AP, Marilyn Jones, her two daughters, and her three grandchildren are suing for $1 million in damages. Last Wednesday, the lawsuit was submitted.
Celebrity Cruises reportedly denied the AP’s request for a comment on the case “out of respect for the family.”
