memorial cruise ideas

[Bella29]

Our upcoming cruise was planned and paid for by my beloved father in law as a special treat for my son's senior year. He loved DCL so much and we were blessed to cruise with him several times. He passed away several months ago suddenly, unexpectedly, much too soon. Although we have considered canceling, my mother in law still wants to go, and we know he would want us to go.

Does anyone have any suggestions for something special to honor him on the cruise, like a memorial kind of thing? I am not planning to scatter ashes in the sea or anything like that, but would like to do something, especially for my husband and mother in law.

 

[jkburns]

One initial thought, is upon entering the ship, have them announce your father-in-law's name . For example, "Please welcome the John Smith Family".

 

[FigmentSpark]

What were his favourite things about cruising? What did he enjoy doing? That might be a starting point to build a memorial experience that might even become a tradition.

 

[DVC Doc]

What were his favourite things about cruising? What did he enjoy doing? That might be a starting point to build a memorial experience that might even become a tradition.

This. I’ll give you an example. We became very good friends with table mates (we’ll call them Nate and Bree) we met on one of our first cruises. We had planned another cruise together, but Nate tragically passed away a few months beforehand. He was a character and loved parading around the ship in his bathrobe. So, when we all did take the cruise, we had a brief memorial wearing bathrobes with a champagne toast!

 

[DCLCrazy64622]

If he was known for enjoying a particular drink on vacation or just to relax, have the same drink in his name as a group.

 

[jdb in AZ]

How about matching t-shirts with his favorite meme/slogan on them.

 

[SteveMP]

Buy the printable magnet sheets and print out some of your favorite pics of him with you all on past cruises to stick on the stateroom door. There are even some prors that have Disney framed pics.

 

[CamColt]

One initial thought, is upon entering the ship, have them announce your father-in-law's name . For example, "Please welcome the John Smith Family".

I love this idea! I am sure he will be there with you in spirit.

 

[Quellman]

See if you can bring a nice framed photo of him. On the formal night (if you have one) you could take the photo with you when you meet Captain Mickey. Have Mickey hold the photo with the rest of the family in the picture. I suspect it would be a great memory to have.

 

[scgustafson]

See if you can have a place setting at the table each night for him, similar to the POW/MIA place settings usually done on Memorial and Veterans Days, or at military dining-ins/outs.

 

[dcassetta]

Find an area of the beach at CC to write his name in the sand and take a family photo with it.

We did a cruise like this about 8 months after my beloved grandmother passed, and every day we talked about the things she would have enjoyed doing with us. It was such a special time as enough time had gone by that we were able to focus mostly on all the happy memories. I hope you have a wonderful trip and that your husband and mother-in-law find comfort.

 

[Disney1fan2002]

I saw this being done on our cruise last year. A family had a cut out picture of a young man. Late teens, early 20's? The pic was glue to a stick. They were taking pictures of him where ever you would have a picture spot. Even group pics. It was amusing to watch. I never talked to them, I just assumed it was a family member who couldn't make the cruise, so it was a fun way to include him. Now I wonder. I hope it wasn't a family member who had passed away. Yet..the family was having a BLAST "including" him on the cruise.

 

[rcchello]

I personally like quiet memorials, so pouring an extra glass of wine at the table for the person to be remembered. In that way you are inviting the deceased to be with you at the table.
Doing something that the deceased liked or would have liked, such as a group walk around the deck or on the beach

 

[jiminyC_fan]

I don't have an idea but just wanted to say that so many of you had wonderful ideas.

 

[mkh531]

Enjoy the hell out of it. That would be the best way of honoring him! Love the ideas of the magnets, writing his name in the sand etc. Did he have a favorite song? Maybe you can all sing it at Family Karoake.

 

[SteveMP]

I just thought of another idea. Bring some pictures of him printed out. On the last dinner, the menu says "Until we meet again...". As they don't say goodbye, and the servers usually explain this. Would male a great picture of his picture next to this menu.

 

[Bella29]

Thank you everyone for the ideas. I was crying by the second post. I'll try to get it together and will use at least one of these ideas, maybe bring a framed photo and I love the 'Until we meet again' photo idea.

 

[professorandmom]

My niece and daughter planned a cruise throughout my niece's bone marrow transplant to fight leukemia....long conversations distracted all of us from the horrors of the treatment...the trip was planned to take place one year post-transplant...she relapsed about 2 weeks before the cruise...passed away (age 21) about 6 months later...it was so difficult but my daughter and I went on a cruise about a year later...

we wanted to celebrate Sarah's life and incredible enthusiasm for Disney so we created many pixie dust bags...each held some candy, granola bars, etc with a label that showed Sarah's photo and a note that said something like "you've been pixie dusted to share the spirit of Sarah" and included an orange ribbon and the symbol for "be the match" (the group that manages the bone marrow registry)
I left the bags for servers, put them in fish extenders, and loved spreading Sarah's spirit!

 

[kiford]

If he was known for enjoying a particular drink on vacation or just to relax, have the same drink in his name as a group.

The mother of a friend of ours passed away a couple of years ago and he asked everyone who came to the wake to have a glass of her favourite cognac. I know she would have loved it; everyone knew it was her favourite so just by drinking it, it brought her to mind. In fact, every time I have a glass of it, it makes me remember her. So anything that he particularly liked to do, drink, experience, watch, see, etc. that brings up memories of him that everyone can participate in I think is a lovely way to honour someone. Something that makes everyone say "oh, I remember how he liked this" can be a nice way to hold onto a good and happy memory of someone.