Cruise ship duck hiding has been a recent phenomenon. It's a practice where people bring small rubber ducks with them to hide on cruise ships.
Some people just hide off-the-shelf ducks while others put a lot more effort into it. In many cases, people decorate and personalize their ducks before hiding them.
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Many of the people who put in the added effort pair a card with the duck in order to let whoever finds it know who hid it, In addition, they often share social media info in order for the duck finder to share an image of the duck's new home, or the child that finds it.
While duck hiding — which has become common on Royal Caribbean (RCL) , Carnival Cruise Line (CCL) , and MSC Cruises ships — is generally for kids, many adults get very involved. Usually, adults are helping with the preparation, including decorating the ducks and creating the cards.
Typically, children who find a duck (or many) will take them home while adults will perhaps post an image and then rehide them. There are no real rules for the unsanctioned but allowed game aside from not doing damage to the ship.
Many passengers consider it a harmless activity, but duck hiding has its detractors.
Image source: Pixabay
Royal Caribbean passengers explain the duck hunt
Duck hiding and hunting on Royal Caribbean ships has become so popular that a Facebook group has been created to support it. It has more than 55,000 members. The introduction for that group explains how its creators see duck hunting.
"Quack and welcome to the Royal Caribbean Cruising Ducks group specifically for Royal Caribbean Ships! We are just a fun-loving bunch of Quacky Cruisers that found a cute and entertaining way to have a blast on cruises and to brighten others' days. This group was created for passengers who want to join in the fun specifically on Royal Caribbean ships," the group shared.
It's hokey but harmless, which is how many people in a very active Reddit thread on the subject see the entire duck hiding and hunting game.
"On my most recent cruise onboard Oasis in October, I spotted a duck at the casino hidden between two slot machines. Never heard of 'cruising ducks' until that day. The only rule is 'no pools or stores.' Otherwise, you can hide them anywhere," shared DancingObst3R. "I ended up finding a few in Central Park, one up on a shelf in the library, a couple in plants on the pool deck, and a few by the elevators. Some people even glue magnets on the ducks and stick them up high in hallways and doorways across the ship."
That describes how it's supposed to work, but some passengers and overzealous kids take it too far, according to some passengers.
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Royal Caribbean passengers speak out on ducks
Not every passenger supports the duck-hiding craze. Some think their fellow passengers are going overboard.
"I initially thought the idea was cool. Then I joined the 'official' social media site and saw on some cruises, multiple people sometimes bring 100 ducks! That gave me a few thoughts, none of which were good. 10 ducks on a cruise…well, OK, that’s neat. Over 200…hmm," shared VacationLoverMN on a Cruise Critic message board page.
Some people are very negative on the idea of duck hiding.
"We will continue to immediately dispose of any we find. We have young grandchildren that travel with us and we certainly don't want them playing with something that has been handled by god knows how many people. We've talked to crew members on several different ships, and they all say the same thing, the ducks are disposed of as soon as they are found," wrote Crazyank.
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Royal Caribbean does not have an official policy on cruise-ship ducks. Crew members are likely dispose of ducks if found cleaning the ship between cruises. They're likely not to disturb a duck if they see one during a cruise.
Many people on Reddit and Cruise Critic shared concerns about the ducks ending up being thrown overboard or somehow flushed down the toilet. The first is an actual crime, and the second is something every cruise line warns against as flushing anything other than cruise-line-provided toilet paper can cause massive plumbing problems for multiple cabins.
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