According to a recent article on CruiseCritic.com: When a Passenger Dies at Sea, What You Need to Know “some 91 people have died on cruise ships that arrived in Fort Lauderdale between 2014 and 2017.”
This information was gathered from the Broward County Medical Examiner’s Office, which is where any deaths on cruise ships that stop at Fort Lauderdale’s Port Everglades are reported. This 91 person count does not include cruise ship related deaths that docked in different ports across the United States, nor does it include cruise related deaths where the death occurred later, perhaps as a result of injuries or accidents that may have happened on the cruise ship.
This article outlines a few ‘need to know’ pieces of content including how do cruise lines help family and friends of the deceased, how do you get your loved one home and who pays for repatriation.
Per the article, the cruise lines offer little support for a deceased passenger. The article suggest purchasing cruise insurance which can at least help with some of the costs associated with returning the body of a deceased passenger.
For more information on cruise ship passenger deaths, CruiseShipDeaths.com offers an insight into cruise ship death cases and statistics.
Note: Waks and Barnett, P.A. can not substantiate all claims made on CruiseShipDeaths.com or CruiseCrititc.com