First Christmas Cruise and Cruise Ducks

[JJK2008]

Greetings all. I truly hope everyone had a wonderful and blessed Christmas and good start to 2024. We recently returned from our first Christmas Cruise abord RCCL Adeventure of the Seas. My DW's stepson is in the military and deployed. So, my DW decided to take her daughter and grandson on a cruise for Christmas as something special. It was a GREAT idea. Yes, there were 1000+ kids on the ship as expected, but overall, they were well behaved except for the last night when the parents seemed to unleash them. The ship was decorated to the max and the Christmas theme was blazing. Many, many cabin doors were decorated with lights and such. Santa and his helpers also spent every night of the week dropping trinkets in all the stockings hung on the cabin doors. It really was a magical experience. I consider myself more of a Grinch, but I will admit it truly was a good experience even I enjoyed. So glad I went.  

 

Cruise Ducks!!!! I admit I am NOT a "trendy" person. I generally have no idea who the latest singers, actors, actresses are, etc, etc. But I learned something on this cruise I never heard about - Cruise Ducks!!! My DW learned about this trend from the site with the face and the book. We knew NOTHING about this. But we quickly tried to catch-up and YES, we participated. If you are already familiar with these items, PLEASE bear with me as I try to explain this with my very limited knowledge. There are websites that will explain it all in detail. We've probably all seen the little, rubber ducks that some folks have on the dash of their vehicles (I've learned this is where this all started). Well, this trend has spilled over to cruising. People (of ALL ages) hide these little ducks about the ship. Most (but not all) ducks have a tag attached to them with the name of the person who left it, where they are from and assorted other tidbit info. The finder of the duck can keep it, hide it again even on a different ship or give it as a gift. There is also a website where finders of ducks can post pictures of the ducks they found and when/where it was found. We met one gentleman who claimed he had 300 ducks with him to hide on the ship. Even the crew knew about this and was very involved. From what we learned this activity has been happening on cruises around the world for several years. Who knew????????? This was our first experience with Cruise Ducks, but it won't be the last. Between being on a Christmas Cruise and finding/hiding rubber ducks I almost felt like a kid again. That's a good thing.

 

Stay Safe & Healthy all.

John        

[MicCanberra]

Cheers,  thanks for the mini review and info on the ducks. Glad you all had a great time.

[Ozwoody]

Never seen a duck on any cruise I've taken, is this a new thing, where are they left?

[arxcards]

12 minutes ago, Ozwoody said:

Never seen a duck on any cruise I've taken, is this a new thing, where are they left?

We found a duck on Coral in 2022. They usually have a tag attached that alerts you to a FB page, the name of the duck and the person who left it. I am not sure of the origins in Oz, but it goes back to before covid. They can be hidden anywhere, or not really hidden at all. Not all crew are in on the game, and many will make it to the bin.

 

On most if not all of the Carnival ships, they have these. P&O has started to add them as well.

[ceeceeDee]

2 hours ago, Ozwoody said:

Never seen a duck on any cruise I've taken, is this a new thing, where are they left?

We've never seen one either, Geoff, though we were aware of the practice. Then again, we weren't exactly looking for them.

[Ozwoody]

Like are you supposed to hide them or leave in open?

Is there a link to somewhere that explains the concept.🤷‍♂️

[ceeceeDee]

You might find this informative, John. To be honest, we have better things to do and anyway, the cruise lines won't allow us to bring our Labrador to retrieve our 'catch'🤣

 

https://cruiseradio.net/everything-you-need-to-know-about-cruise-ducks/

Edited January 3 by ceeceeDee

[arxcards]

1 hour ago, Ozwoody said:

Like are you supposed to hide them or leave in open?

Is there a link to somewhere that explains the concept.🤷‍♂️

Once you know it is a thing, they become a bit more visible. We found ours in an atrium lift on Coral. The initial thought was that a kid has lost their toy, then it twigged. I would say they are semi hidden, and there is more chance to see them locally on P&O or Carnival. We have seen a few since, but left them for others to find.

 

Our duck is a bad duck that pinched my medallion and quacked-up a duty free "bill". Those that hid the duck had called him Bender, and he has been on a bender ever since.

[MicCanberra]

I have found a few but left them as I prefer to let sleeping ducks lie.

[journeymore]

1 hour ago, Ozwoody said:

Like are you supposed to hide them or leave in open?

Is there a link to somewhere that explains the concept.🤷‍♂️

They have a FB group that’s very active. 

[JJK2008]

Glad to see I was not the only one who was unaware of this whole duck thing. Apparently, this has been going on for some time. A quick Google search on Cruise Duck will yield a number of sites explaining the practice and where to buy ducks. I will admit my DW learned of this practice before our cruise, and we had ducks to hide or give away. Giving a duck to a crewmember was like giving them a $50 bill. I was taken back by the reaction. This duck thing is bigger than I imagined and seems to be growing. Get involved if you choose.🦆

[Chiliburn]

1 hour ago, arxcards said:

Once you know it is a thing, they become a bit more visible. We found ours in an atrium lift on Coral. The initial thought was that a kid has lost their toy, then it twigged. I would say they are semi hidden, and there is more chance to see them locally on P&O or Carnival. We have seen a few since, but left them for others to find.

 

Our duck is a bad duck that pinched my medallion and quacked-up a duty free "bill". Those that hid the duck had called him Bender, and he has been on a bender ever since.

Does the duck do the things a medallion can do Geoff ?

Shouldn't you’re be black though?

[arxcards]

7 minutes ago, Chiliburn said:

Does the duck do the things a medallion can do Geoff ?

Shouldn't you’re be black though?

When it comes to being a medallion, a little black duck is not all it is quacked up to be!

[Ozwoody]

34 minutes ago, JJK2008 said:

Glad to see I was not the only one who was unaware of this whole duck thing. Apparently, this has been going on for some time. A quick Google search on Cruise Duck will yield a number of sites explaining the practice and where to buy ducks. I will admit my DW learned of this practice before our cruise, and we had ducks to hide or give away. Giving a duck to a crewmember was like giving them a $50 bill. I was taken back by the reaction. This duck thing is bigger than I imagined and seems to be growing. Get involved if you choose.🦆

I like the idea of giving the crew something to show appreciation, but why would they get excited over a rubber ducky?

But if it makes their day brighter, I'm all for it.😁

 

[Ozwoody]

19 minutes ago, arxcards said:

When it comes to being a medallion, a little black duck is not all it is quacked up to be!

Especially if your worried about the size of its bill on your back pocket😱.😊

[arxcards]

As fun as it sounds, for every duck lover out there, there is also a Scrooge McDuck who is rather miffed that others are having fun and will dispose of any ducks they come across.

 

[ozdevil]

on our last trip back home to see my Parents in Tasmania, no not a cruise to Tassie my Partner seen the duck idea  on faceache reel and thought hmmmm  i going to buy 100 small duckies and plant them all around my mum and dads house knowing my mum is a clean freak and anything out of place would be seen .   by the time we left back  for Melbourne flight  she  planted all 100 of them, only a hand ful have been found  and some was in plain view of mum and dads eyes and these wasnt the ones they found.

My partner put one inside the kettle and my father nearly had a heart attack  when he went to make his early morning coffee and yelled out Nan(he calls my mum nan) there is yellow ducks in the kettle my mum said dont be sill Barry you senile fool .  he said i just pour the boiling water and out popped a yellow duck...   

The next morning dad gets up  puts in some toast out  it pops ready to be buttered and his daily intake of vegemite   and wondered why the butter and vegemite didnt spread so well  as he tried to spread  a yellow duck  as butter and black going yellow duck with vegemite covering the duck
by this time my dad is getting cranky and starting to blame me and thinking i was placing ducks in his food and drink .  i said dad i havent even opened the butter or vegemite jar since being here 

anyway  it was quite funny watching seniors  wonder around there house playing  find daffy duck all weekend   they never seemed bored 

I think this really stems from the days when  people would pinch garden Gnomes  and put them in funny places.    even garden gnomes have a little city   on the exit of calder hwy and keilor park drive   in Keilor .

an interesting practice  what amuses some minds  

[Aussieflyer]

I seem to remember there was a 'find the duck' competition on Carnival in July - though somehow have the idea it was printed ducks and you wrote the location on the answer sheet -with (not sure) a ducky as a prize.

[yes!yes!yes!]

I have come across many ducks, more so on royal Caribbean. when talking to staff, the cleaners hate them as their supervisors consider they haven't cleaned  properly if they are found.

since covid i have seen less and on coral last year I saw a cleaner throw a couple away saying they are not covid safe.

I just ignore them if I see them. didn't see any last week 

[mr walker]

Someone asked if the ducks are hidden or just left around. I think both.

Not my photo, but this was a duck hidden on Cruisin' Country cruise on Brillance in December.

It was described as having been hidden high up in the A hole of the sign 🙂 . It was posted that someone spotted it & that they needed to stand up on a chair to get it. 

[Mareblu]

1 hour ago, mr walker said:

Someone asked if the ducks are hidden or just left around. I think both.

Not my photo, but this was a duck hidden on Cruisin' Country cruise on Brillance in December.

It was described as having been hidden high up in the A hole of the sign 🙂 . It was posted that someone spotted it & that they needed to stand up on a chair to get it. 

Well, that's where it was alright, just as described😉

[MicCanberra]

Lol, Melania was asked if she bleached hers, she replied that he uses a spray tan instead.

[mr walker]

20 minutes ago, MicCanberra said:

Lol, Melania was asked if she bleached hers, she replied that he uses a spray tan instead.

not going there mate 🙂 

[Mareblu]

55 minutes ago, mr walker said:

not going there mate 🙂 

Nor I😳

[Womble99]

There are at least two on Grand at the moment that we know of. This one we found and another, who knows how many more ?