Door decoration and Ducks

[nanatutu]

2 questions please.

1. I have a magnetic door sign. We put it on our door every cruise. Can I do that on a Virgin Voyages cruise?

2. Do people hide ducks on Virgin Voyages?

[CruisingWalter]

Virgin does not encourage either of those practices.  In particular attendants have been known to remove door decorations.  Ducks are more for family based cruise lines, not VV and they are not encouraged on the ladyships. 

[Cloud9 Bob]

There is a FB page totally devoted to hiding ducks on VV ships. 🦆 🦆 🦆

[kaysha2004]

I have put decorations on my door.  On the last cruise in February 2024, I bought the Virgin branded magnetic sign kit sold in the onboard Virgin gift shop.

 

What's with the ducks?  Is it a game?  On one of my Virgin cruises, there were ducks here and there.

[Cloud9 Bob]

1 hour ago, kaysha2004 said:

What's with the ducks?  Is it a game?  On one of my Virgin cruises, there were ducks here and there.

 

It started years ago on Disney ships. It's just a fun thing some people enjoy doing.They usually put a tag on it with the ships name and their name and a QR code to one of the websites that are dedicated to hiding them. It's to post a selfie with the duck if you'd like to. You can either keep it or re-hide it. It's just done to make someone smile. It's funny how it infuriates others.

[Lustate]

1 hour ago, Cloud9 Bob said:

It's funny how it infuriates others.

I'm not a fan of it (ie. won't ever be doing it myself), but as long as it does not get in the way, people should have their fun. That said, on the door magnets, do add some sticky felt on the back so it does not scratch the door surface. I think that's when VV have taken them down, as they can see it cutting, scratching or damaging the door surface. 

On the last voyage we had a couple a few doors along with a balloon on the door. Was a nice little bread crumb to follow on a late night back from the Manor lol

[CineGraphic]

The whole duck thing is such a waste of plastic, and I've heard that crew will get rid of them if they see them before passengers do. Someone on the cruise I disembarked from yesterday brought 700 tiny ducks for a 5 night sailing. 🤬

 

[1025cruise]

I saw a duck on my cruise last year. While I understand that people enjoy this activity, I personally believe that the cleaning crews should be removing them and properly disposing of them.

[jon81uk]

3 minutes ago, 1025cruise said:

I saw a duck on my cruise last year. While I understand that people enjoy this activity, I personally believe that the cleaning crews should be removing them and properly disposing of them.

I think removing them regularly is the worst of both worlds, it’s just making plastic waste. Allowing them to be collected for a short time makes sense as those who like the collection game and will keep them can get them. But taking 700 with you is just stupid. 

[CineGraphic]

38 minutes ago, jon81uk said:

I think removing them regularly is the worst of both worlds, it’s just making plastic waste.

 

I believe they have quite the recycling program on board, and Virgin has either already eliminated or is working on eliminating all single-use plastics.

[jon81uk]

22 minutes ago, CineGraphic said:

 

I believe they have quite the recycling program on board, and Virgin has either already eliminated or is working on eliminating all single-use plastics.

Having done the behind the scenes tour, I’m pretty certain that plastic ducks will just go into the incinerator as they are probably not a recyclable plastic. As you say though they’ve eliminated most single use plastics, I think food wrappers (for ingredients) are the main thing they still have.

 

Also most of the ducks aren’t single-use, if people do collect them and take them home then they have a purpose, hence throwing them away being the worst option if there are others who would rather have them as a keepsake. 

Edited May 16 by jon81uk

[lisabucsfan1]

So much hate for the ducks. Wow. I found a hand-knitted octopus on one VV and loved it. I brought it to the casino where a collector fawned over it so much and she literally begged me for it I just had to give it to her. I don’t mind it. If I find one I may take it and keep it or I may reposition it. I don’t post pics or tag it. But that’s me. It’s so harmless. So. Much. Hate. smdh

[CineGraphic]

9 minutes ago, lisabucsfan1 said:

So much hate for the ducks. Wow. I found a hand-knitted octopus on one VV and loved it. I brought it to the casino where a collector fawned over it so much and she literally begged me for it I just had to give it to her. I don’t mind it. If I find one I may take it and keep it or I may reposition it. I don’t post pics or tag it. But that’s me. It’s so harmless. So. Much. Hate. smdh

 

We found this guy while walking outside on deck 7 during last fall's transatlantic.

He definitely came home with us!

[cantgetin]

The duck thing exploded on our recent TA.  Bottom line, if you want to participate, do so. If you don't want to, there's no push to join.  We've recently seen octopi and sea horses added to the duck hiding.

[PACrew]

Ducks are for Disney and Carnival… not a sophisticated line like VV 😉 

[Tyler414]

VV tries to avoid using plastics, obviously plastic can never be completely avoided, but bringing plastic ducks onboard a VV ship seems extremely counter productive.

[cantgetin]

VV's thing is  to avoid "single use plastics."  THey use many plastics on board; the containers for all the "to go" boxes are plastic.  The difference is that they are not "single use" plastics.  THey are cleaned and re-used.

OK, I don't do ducks...I think they are rather silly and I don't need extra stuff in my luggage.  But if ducks make some people happy, I don't see the harm in it for those who enjoy it.  Not sure what all the fuss is about. One of the "themes" of Virgin seems to be "you be you."

On one cruise over a year ago, we learned that there was a sort of contest where the crew managers were hiding marked ducks in obscure places.  Crew members who found and turned in a duck got a small reward as this signified they were cleaning thoroughly.  They were initially puzzled when unmarked ducks started showing up as passengers were hiding them. They ended the crew game.  I can't claim this was true, but it was told to me by a crew member.

[Tralfaz1138]

On 5/16/2024 at 5:48 PM, CineGraphic said:

 

We found this guy while walking outside on deck 7 during last fall's transatlantic.

He definitely came home with us!

You see these things on the 3d printer forums all the time.  If it's got anything resembling an arm, someone will 3d print it flipping the bird.  If it's any consolation, though, the most common material used on 3d printers is basically made from renewable biomass, so that's likely not a single use plastic.