Alright folks, hold on to your hats because we’ve got quite a story for you. So, there’s this family who went on a Celebrity Cruise (oooh fancy) and unfortunately, the dad passed away during the trip (bummer). But wait, it gets worse! The cruise crew stored his body at an insufficient temperature causing it to “horrifically decompose.” Yup, you read that right. The family couldn’t even have an open casket at the funeral. Yikes, talk about a terrible trip.

Now, the widow, Ms. Jones, has had enough of this and is suing Celebrity Cruises. And honestly, we don’t blame her. After being married for 55 years, she deserves a proper goodbye for her husband. And so, the family is seeking a cool $1 million in damages. Cha-ching!

But wait, it gets even better (or worse, depending on how you look at it). Celebrity Cruises isn’t even commenting on the situation. They cited “the sensitivity of the alleged facts and out of respect for the family.” Um, excuse us, did you just say alleged facts? The body decomposed, that’s not an alleged fact, that’s a real-life horror story! Come on, Celebrity Cruises, own up to your mistakes.

And if you think that’s bad, just wait until you hear the next part. Apparently, the crew told Ms. Jones that there was a “50/50 shot” if she left the ship in San Juan that they would take her husband’s body for an autopsy before releasing it to a funeral home. Like, what kind of odds are those? Coin flip, really? It’s like they were playing a sick game of chance with these people’s lives.

But, in the end, Ms. Jones trusted the cruise line and was assured that they could bring her husband’s body back safely to Fort Lauderdale. So, she gave them permission to store his body in the ship’s morgue and continued the rest of the trip. And we have to say, props to Ms. Jones for being a trooper and finishing the cruise. We’re not sure we could handle it after all that.

So, there you have it folks. A real-life nightmare disguised as a luxury vacation. We’re still in shock over here.

Serious News: nytimes