There are valid points of view either way, but we have already agreed in our family that there will be no viewings.
For my part, I know too much of what they do, to make a body “look lifelike”, and what happens not that long afterwards, this knowledge gained through research. I think it is better to do nothing at all, other than basic hygiene, and to surrender the body to the elements and to naturally occurring processes, either in a plain wooden coffin or a shroud, as the Jews and Muslims do respectively. However, for the sake of economics and family sensibilities, I have consented to more conventional arrangements.
I have seen many bodies at funeral visitations and it does not bother me to see them. I have seen good embalmings and restorations, and I have seen not-so-good ones. I do not need this kind of thing for “closure”. Some people do.
I may be wrong, but I don’t think viewings were traditionally a Catholic “thing”.
I would only add that the body is not just a “shell”, and that it is “not needed anymore”. It is the body that will be reunited with the soul, and resurrected, on the Last Day. To be sure, it will return to the elements in the meantime, but in a way we cannot comprehend, Almighty God will allow it to be reconstituted in glory (or for eternal punishment, as the case may be, and we pray that we do not end up that way).