DUCKS

[george35]

Are the ducks still being hid on RCL ships??

 

george35

[reallyitsmema]

Yes

[lovinlife58]

We sure hope so! We found 3 on our Dec cruise on the Allure! We'll be looking for some on our Feb 21 cruise - Navigator!!! 

[BND]

It almost comes across like some people think Royal hides the ducks.  As long as there are cruisers who like doing so, there will be ducks.  We've found a few, but we don't take them.

[DaniDanielle]

Found one on anthem last week.

[soremekun]

They're easy to find.  Check out the main dining room menu:

savoury duck terrine layered with apricot chutney on toasted sourdough bread

[Marga.Anders]

Never heard of this. Is it like geocaching only with ducks? 

[Biker19]

17 minutes ago, Marga.Anders said:

Never heard of this. Is it like geocaching only with ducks? 

Sorta. Check out some of the newer YouTube videos from @viewsandqueues . 

[BND]

22 minutes ago, Marga.Anders said:

Never heard of this. Is it like geocaching only with ducks? 

Except they're hidden totally randomly.  No clues or coordinates/gps required lol.

[crazyank]

53 minutes ago, george35 said:

Are the ducks still being hid on RCL ships??

 

george35

any we find go in the nearest trash can.

[leaveitallbehind]

1 minute ago, crazyank said:

any we find go in the nearest trash can.

...saves the crew having to find them and dispose of them after each cruise!

[vacationlover_mn]

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… hmmm…

[ReneeFLL]

1 hour ago, crazyank said:

any we find go in the nearest trash can.

Why don’t you just leave them? If someone wants to play more power to them and I hear the kids love it. The crew can just leave them and they will eventually disappear.

[crazyank]

9 hours ago, ReneeFLL said:

Why don’t you just leave them? If someone wants to play more power to them and I hear the kids love it. The crew can just leave them and they will eventually disappear.

Nope,  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.

[reallyitsmema]

16 hours ago, vacationlover_mn said:

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… hmmm…

 

I was a member of a rollcall for an Anthem cruise a few years ago that was completely duck crazy!  People from that rollcall alone were hiding more than 1,500 ducks on our cruise!  I can only imagine how many more were hidden by people not on the rollcall.  We saw many ducks everyday throughout the ship.  It was a sailing close to Christmas, so the decorations were up.  There were ducks hidden on the Christmas tree on the Esplanade, in the garland on the railings and in the wreaths.  We left all of them but one that we took to Coastal Kitchen and "hid it" in the middle of the table beside us for the little girl that sat there every morning that hadn't been able to find a duck.

 

I am surprised the cruise lines are still allowing them now with covid.  First I have ever heard of the crew throwing them away when they see them though.

[ReneeFLL]

6 hours ago, crazyank said:

Nope,  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.

Maybe if you taught your children so they would’ve taught your grandchildren to leave things alone that don’t belong to them there wouldn’t be a problem. What do you do when you go into a toy store? Kids touch toys in there over and over when their parents don’t buy them. The ducks are touched a lot less. The person hiding them and them most likely just the person taking it. The ducks aren’t hurting you and they bring joy to other kids, but you want to put a stop to it. 🙄

[davekathy]

This thread quacks me up. 

[binro01]

I find the duck thing akin to shouting "I was here!" similar to graffiti. The person feels good about, leaving their mark for others to find, but they leave that mark in public places not belonging to them.

There are a million better ways to interact with your fellow cruise passengers that does not add a layer of contention. Some might consider the ducks  "cute or fun" just like the "graffiti artist" feels their mark is art and a way to make a statement that they were there and had something to say. But the general populace will have varying opinions on it. When this variance of opinion occurs it is best to let that practice not take root.

Me, I don't mind it, but I also know other are annoyed, so I will never contribute to it by bringing my own ducks, and when finding one, I too will remove the item, but not trash it. There is way too much plastic in our garbage as it is. I will try to find a child that might enjoy it.

That accomplishes many things. I make a personal connection with that child and family, I remove the item that might cause displeasure to someone who encounters it and sees it as trash, the concept/desire of the person who left the duck remains in tact, it's one less thing the crew has to clean up, and it's a little less plastic that can end up in the trash.

[RobInMN]

6 minutes ago, BND said:

While I agree that you should tell kids to leave them alone if you don't want them touching them, the ducks really don't belong to anyone once they are hidden so whoever finds them can do whatever they want with them.

In a sense, they sort of belong to anyone that wants to play. They certainly don't belong to @crazyank

It's no different than geocaching. Geocaches don't "belong" to any one individual (at least I don't believe so). I suppose @crazyank would take and throw away any geocache they might happen across. The point is, they are purposefully spoiling the fun that others are having for no legitimate purpose. 

I have not actively played, but I've seen one. I looked at it and smiled, but I left it there for someone that wanted to play along. 

[neverbeenhere]

My baby's got the most deplorable taste,
But her biggest mistake
Is hanging over the fireplace.
She's got ducks, ducks on the wall,
Ducks, ducks hanging on the wall.

...

Ducks, ducks, ducks on the wall.
Ducks, ducks, ducks on the wall.
Oh those ducks on the wall are beginning to move
They're talking to me
I've got to get away from those ducks.

 

--- The Kinks

[micruiser2002]

7 hours ago, crazyank said:

Nope,  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.

so they don't use the handrails, touch the doorknobs, touch chairs to sit in them?  Sorry but there are so many other things that have been handled by god knows how many people.  

[alexgtp]

We hid 10 on Anthem for NYE. And have not seen anyone posting them 😞 . Wife is bummed out.

[cruiseguy1016]

36 minutes ago, RobInMN said:

In a sense, they sort of belong to anyone that wants to play. They certainly don't belong to @crazyank

It's no different than geocaching. Geocaches don't "belong" to any one individual (at least I don't believe so). I suppose @crazyank would take and throw away any geocache they might happen across. The point is, they are purposefully spoiling the fun that others are having for no legitimate purpose. 

I have not actively played, but I've seen one. I looked at it and smiled, but I left it there for someone that wanted to play along. 

 

Yes, they do. The container belongs to the person that hid the Geocache. The items that sometimes get placed in the container do not belong to anyone, they are there for the taking/trading.

[RobInMN]

43 minutes ago, cruiseguy1016 said:

 

Yes, they do. The container belongs to the person that hid the Geocache. The items that sometimes get placed in the container do not belong to anyone, they are there for the taking/trading.

Thanks for that correction. I did not know that. Doesn't really change my point though. So instead of the geocache container, it would be the same as just emptying the contents and throwing them away.

 

[Amberle3]

2 hours ago, ReneeFLL said:

What do you do when you go into a toy store? Kids touch toys in there over and over when their parents don’t buy them. 

 Not expressing an opinion on the ducks either way, just commenting on the above...

I have a "side job" in a store. Although we aren't a toy store and are kind of a specialty store we do have a toy department, and a homegoods department, and an accessories department etc. I have seen product handled in ways that you would not believe.

 

First of all before it even gets out on the shelf it's handled by the people in the factories producing it - yes much of it is bagged/boxed by hand. So that's 1-3 people (guessing) handling it right off.  And then they send those out to main distribution centres. The store you're shopping at might be big enough to have their own, or it might go to a larger company that just acts as middle man. The company I work for has 2 main distribution centres but I don't know if we purchase things directly from the factories or source them from elsewhere. Either way the distribution centre gets in and then they unpack the huge crates and then repack them to be sent to each store, which involves multiple steps/stations and is probably another 3-4 people handling it. Then it gets to the store and has to go through receiving, which depending on the store can mean 1-4 people handling it to get it from the received box and onto the shelf.  So already, before any customer has ever touched it, it's been touched by 5-11 people.  And then come the customers.

 

In our toy department I saw one kid (about 7 or 8 years old) grab an armful of those toy-inside baseball sized surprise balls and carry them around for about 15 minutes, during which time the kid was licking 2 of them. When the mother saw what the kid had (and saw the kid was licking one) she said they were not spending money on those and helped the kid to put them back in the box they were from. And then once they were out of the area I took the box into the back and quarantined it. But what if I hadn't seen what had happened?  What if it was a large big-box store?

 

I've also seen adults pick up things like scarves and rub them over their faces to feel how soft they are, and then put them back.

 

So yeah, just assume that anything you're buying from a store has been touched and mishandled repeatedly, because you never know.