Did you know right now you could book passage on cruise ships sailing out of and to Louisiana that could take you through the Panama Canal and on a trans-Atlantic voyage to Spain? No, it’s not the same ship but the one thing both cruise itineraries have in common is the Port of New Orleans.

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Nico Smit via Unsplash.com
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Norwegian Cruise Lines announced a few weeks ago they would be doing a “repositioning cruise” from the West Coast through the Panama Canal and disembarking in New Orleans. It’s very seldom that you can book passage on a ship that sails the canal and parks in the Big Easy so if the Panama Canal is on your bucket list, you might want to check this one out.

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Staff Photo
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Carnival Cruise Lines has also announced a “repositioning” cruise. This time the vessel will sail from New Orleans on a 16-day journey that will eventually disembark in Barcelona. You’ll have many days at sea aboard the Carnival Valor plus you’ll be treated to stops in Nassau, the Azores, Madeira Portugal, and a couple of other stops before you disembark in the land of La Rambla.

La Ramblas is a busy thoroughfare for tourists in the port city of Barcelona. Just be warned, the party won’t really get started until after midnight and they are just getting warmed up good by 4 am. Think of it as Bourbon Street in New Orleans without the “smell” and an even wider variety of things to do, places to go, and people to watch.

Yoav Aziz via Unsplash.com
Yoav Aziz via Unsplash.com
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What Could Be Morbid About Ice Cream on a Cruise Ship?

Indeed, one of the selling points of every cruise I have ever been on is the free soft-serve ice cream. Most cruise ships also have hand-dipped ice cream. It makes sense because eating ice cream on vacation is something that should be allowed. And every now and then the cruise ship will host a sudden unannounced ice cream party. Which should be cause for celebration, but here is the truth.

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Kristina Flour via Unsplash.com
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One thing we know about ice cream, at least the kind you must scoop out, is that it requires refrigeration. A freezer would be a good place to store ice cream. Cruise ships have ample space in their frozen stores for ice cream. Unless something else suddenly needs that space.

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Getty Images
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Why Would a Cruise Ship Need Extra Freezer Space?

Think of the clientele you are likely to find on most cruise ships. Unless you’re doing a quick across and back across the Gulf of Mexico to Cozumel on a party ship the age of most passengers is “older”.

And occasionally people will pass away while on a cruise. When that happens, there is a bit of a conundrum. The cruise line will always acquiesce to the wishes of the family if they are within reason but they’re not going to reroute an entire vessel. Many families that suffer a loss while onboard opt to wait to have the body offloaded during disembarkation. There is usually a lot less red tape and official paperwork that way.

Pablo Lancaster Jones via Unsplash.com
Pablo Lancaster Jones via Unsplash.com
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In the meantime, you can’t leave a dead body out by the pool in the Caribbean sunshine, now, can you? That’s where the extra room in the freezer comes in

As you might imagine, the social media influencer was questioned about her startling revelation regarding ice cream and death on the high seas. She wasn’t just making that up.

So now you know a little bit more about what happens behind the scenes on your favorite cruise lines. And no, the bodies won’t be stored next to the food you might be eating. But now when you hear “free ice cream on deck 12” maybe you’ll cast a good thought skyward, before you go and get your ice cream.

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Gallery Credit: Bruce Mikells