Cruise secrets: This codeword means something BAD has happened – but you’re not to know

If someone on the cruise ship is injured crew may use the codeword “Sierra”, which means “call for a stretcher.”

By using this seemingly innocuous word crew can work with their colleagues without worrying passengers.

However, if the worst happens on board and someone dies on a cruise ship, the announcement “Operation Bright Star” is made, which alerts the crew to the death of a passenger.

The body is then zipped up in a body bag and put in the ship’s morgue. There is usually space for three or four bodies on board.

Tina Molson, 52, from Cleethorpes, who worked in an onboard duty-free shop from 2002 to 2010, has explained that deaths aren’t that rare. 

“Many of the older passengers go on cruise ships for months because it’s cheaper for them than living at home. Some even go to sea to die,” Tina told The Sun.

“There was often a death on board. On one ship we had a shop store room next to the freezer room where the bodies were stored. We called it the ‘coffin locker.’”