28 February 2024 , 12:49
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An ex-cruise ship worker has revealed an uncomfortable secret about 'ice cream parties' and why they are thrown on board a vessel.
Dara Tucker used to work as a singer on cruise ships, and in a recent video addressed speculation about why holiday makers might be offered free ice cream during their stay. In the video shared on TikTok, which has been viewed 2.2 million times and received more than 3,000 comments, Dara admits: "I don't know why when I talk about cruise ship stuff, stuff gets morbid so quickly."
She had filmed the clip in response to a comment, which said: "I heard a hint that if the amount of ice cream suddenly goes up, it means they need more space in the freezer for a body." "OK, this is unfortunately often true," Dara claimed.
"If the crew suddenly makes a bunch of ice cream available to the passengers 'free ice cream party!' it is often because more people have died on the ship than they have room for in the morgue." She continued: "The morgue, I believe held about seven people and if more than seven people died on that particular ship, they would have to start moving bodies to the freezer.
"Which meant they had to make room in the freezer, so they would have to take out a lot of the ice cream and other frozen goods in order to make room for the extra frozen bodies. So when that happened...ice cream party!"
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Dara was a singer on a cruise ship about 10 years ago and spent six months on the Mediterranean and the Caribbean. She estimated that there are 25,000 to 30,000 passengers on each cruise and about four to 10 people die every voyage. "Thankfully, we didn't have to deal with this kind of stuff, but we were friends with some crew members who did," she said.
People were quick to react to her post, with one person writing: "Cruise ship medic here. Can confirm the morgue and ice cream correlation..." A second person said in disbelief: "Wait, so if people die on ship they don't turn back out of respect for the loved ones? We all just keep partying while Nana is dead in the freezer?!"
And a third added: "It never crossed my mind that there would be a morgue on a cruise ship... I need to reflect a moment and come back." A fourth person confessed: "I'm supposed to go on a cruise in May now I'm gonna be that guy "you know if they serve use a bunch of ice cream then a bunch of people died."
According to the Martine Injury Guide website, there is a secret code used by staff on cruise ships in case of an emergency. Among these emergency codes are 'Charlie' for security threats, 'Delta' for bio-hazard in some cruise lines, and 'Bravo' for a fire emergency in most cruise lines. In some cases, the codes change depending on the cruise line. For example, while Royal Caribbean ships use 'Alpha' for medical emergencies, Carnival ships use it for fire emergencies.
But, for extremely sensitive matters, almost all cruise lines use the same critical codes. 'Operation Bright Star' is used for serious medical issues, while 'Operation Rising Star' is used in the event of a death on board.