Cruise ship worker reveals code word used for when someone dies on board

A cruise ship worker has lifted the lid on what different code words mean on board a cruise ship, and there's one you definitely don't want to hear.

While boarding a cruise ship to travel the world is supposed to be a relaxing and fun time, our health doesn’t put itself on hold to ensure things go well.

Sadly, people sometimes die during the journey, and when that happens, a certain process is put into place.

But that all starts with alerting staff to the incident.

Amber Olivia, who works on ships as an onboard presenter, posted a TikTok video explaining what happens and what code word employees use so that they don’t distress other passengers.

She explained that there are many code words you would hear during your stay, such as Code Victoria, Code X-Ray, and Assessment Team.

But if you hear Code Alpha, it could have a few varying meanings.

Speaking to the Daily Mail, Olivia shared all and explained that Alpha means a medical incident.

However, it could be anything from someone falling to a passenger passing away.

In the case of death, a few things will follow the code announcement, which could signify that it’s a serious case.

She said: “It's really sad that people do pass away on ships, because things happen.”

Olivia added: “You would usually hear a code alpha, maybe, like a family member's called, they found out.

“Then the medical team will, of course, be called there, and if it's needed, then the stretcher team will be called, which is usually people that aren't part of the medical team, but they help with the stretcher and the carrying of it.”

She said that the person will then be taken to the medical centre, and if they have died, there is a morgue on every ship which is ‘usually behind the medical centre'.

She explained: “What will happen is they'll go into the morgue and family will be spoken to, contacted, and then it all just depends from there what the family want to do.”

While you might think it’s a rare occurrence, the cruise ship worker said it’s actually quite common.

She revealed that people passing away on board 'unfortunately, does happen a lot', but there is a 'correct procedure' on board for that instance.

Expanding on the other codes she mentioned in her video, she explained that if you hear Victoria, it means there are floods, and while ‘people think that means the ship's taken on water,' it's usually due to a burst pipe.

On other cruises, there might be an eerie ice cream party that’s invoked when someone passes away.

According to Dara Starr Tucker, a doctor, it’s true that if the 'amount of ice cream available suddenly goes up it means they need more freezer space for a body'.

She said: "OK, this is unfortunately often true. If the crew suddenly makes a bunch of ice cream available to the passengers, free ice cream party, it's often because more people have died on the ship than they have room for in the morgue.

"And I don't know why when I talk about cruise ship stuff it gets morbid so quickly but this is true. I was a singer on a cruise ship about 10 years ago and I lived on a ship in the Mediterranean and the Caribbean for about six months.

"Thankfully we didn't have to deal with this kind of stuff but we were friends with some crew members who did. And they said maybe four to 10 people die every cruise. There are a lot of older people on ships and often people die on cruises."