Ex-Cruise Ship Employee Reveals the Surprising Reason Behind Free Ice Cream Parties

Could this be the ice-cold truth?

Dara Tucker, known online as @darastarrtucker on TikTok, unveiled a chilling reason why passengers on cruise lines are treated with free ice cream parties.

She shared this fascinating info through a video clip which accumulated more than 2.3 million views. As a former cruise singer who spent time on a ship traversing the Mediterranean and the Caribbean, Tucker asserted that ice cream parties signify more than just sheer indulgence and inevitable brain freezes.

In her viral clip, she ominously explained, “If the crew suddenly makes a vast amount of ice cream available to the passengers … it is often because more people have died on the ship than they have room for in the morgue.”

“If more than seven people died on that particular ship, they would have to start moving bodies to the freezer, which meant they needed to make room in the freezer,” she continued, “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 bodies.”

Tucker admitted she didn’t have to work in the morgue but knew colleagues who worked as nurses in the morbid space.

“They said, ‘Maybe four to ten people die every cruise,’ [and] there are a lot of older people on ships,” she added about the cruise ship she worked on that carried around 3,000 passengers.

The Post reached out to Tucker for additional information regarding her disturbing claims.

In a follow-up video, Tucker clarified that the statistics she shared were based on upscale cruises that catered to an older demographic of passengers who averaged around 75 years old.

“With this particular cruise line because it attracted so many older people they were dying,” Tucker said. “This was a floating retirement home.”

Regardless, cruise lines are legally required to have body bags and a morgue for passengers who die on the cruise.

Each morgue varies in size depending on the ship’s dimensions, but they can usually hold three to four bodies, reported The Telegraph. However, when a morgue has reached its storage capacity, it brings the question of where the other dead bodies go.

The cruise ships have morgues that are stainless steel refrigerated rooms with shelves where bodies are stored, either until the end of the voyage or until they can be disembarked in a port of call and return home, The Point Guys explained.

Morgues are typically located on the ships’ lower decks near storage spaces for food, alcohol and miscellaneous ship supplies.

Many TikTokers were in disbelief by Tucker’s freezer allegation, but a few experts in the overseas industry quickly backed her.

“Cruise ship medic here. Can confirm the morgue and ice cream correlation,” wrote Cory L. Bucker, who goes by @cbuckc21 on TikTok.

The Post reached out to Bucker for comment.

“Former Sailor here—yes. It is accurate,” added another. “We don’t wear our covers on mess decks, and sometimes space needs to be made in the freezer.”

“It can happen on military vessels too. We had no morgue on board so if anyone died or we had to transport a body it [meant] the crew ate good cause frozen space had to be found,” commented a veteran.

Previously reported by the Post, a Florida family discovered their loved one’s body was improperly stored in a cooler after he died from a heart attack while vacationing on Celebrity’s Equinox cruise ship that sailed through the Caribbean in August 2022.

Robert Lewis Jones’ family was reassured by the cruise staff that his body would be maintained in the ship’s morgue, as per the lawsuit.

However, once the cruise landed in Fort Lauderdale six days post his demise, his spouse discovered that her 78-year-old husband’s body was presumably stored in a walk-in chiller.

“When the employee from the funeral services in Ft. Lauderdale came aboard the ship to collect Mr. Jones’ body, he didn’t find it in the ship’s morgue,” the lawsuit, lodged last week in the Florida federal court stated.

“On the contrary, Mr. Jones’ body was, at an unknown time, shifted from the ship’s morgue to a chiller on a different floor. The chiller, where the funeral staff member found Mr. Jones’ body, had drinks positioned outside it and the temperature wasn’t sufficient or appropriate for storing a deceased body to prevent decomposition.”

The family filed a lawsuit against Celebrity Cruises, seeking $1 million in damages, citing negligent practices and poor storage of their loved ones’ remains, which led to severe decomposition.

---

Set sail on a voyage of discovery with CruiseShip.net – your ultimate destination for all things cruising! Explore the latest news, insightful reviews, and thrilling cruising adventures from around the globe. Whether you’re a seasoned cruiser or a first-time traveler, CruiseShip.net is your go-to source for expert advice, insider tips, and inspiring stories to fuel your wanderlust. Embark on a journey like no other with CruiseShip.net – where every wave brings new excitement and endless possibilities on the high seas.