(NEXSTAR) – Ready for your first cruise? Don’t be surprised if you spot a few rubber ducks between the breakfast buffet and bingo.
In recent years, it has become increasingly common for cruise passengers to hide rubber ducks on board for other passengers to find. These “cruising ducks,” as they are called, often come with tags with instructions for the person who discovers the duck to keep the duck for themselves or You can hide it for other passengers to find. (Many tags say “You decide whether to hide or not!”)
Guests are also encouraged to share photos of the ducks they spot on social media, particularly in the online Cruising Duck Facebook group, which boasts tens of thousands of members.
“Just came down from Carnival Vista,” one Facebook user wrote in a post shared to the Cruising Ducks group. “It was so much fun!! We found 7 ducks!”
According to Facebook’s largest Cruising Ducks group, the trend has its roots in Abby Davis, who was just 10 years old when she asked to take a rubber duck bag on her first cruise in 2018. dates back to The number of members exceeds 264,000.
“We packed 50 ducks for a seven-day trip,” Abby’s mother Ashley Davis explained on CruisingDucks.com. After hiding a few ducks each day, the pair quickly realized that “people of all ages were having fun finding them,” Ashley Davis said.
However, there are some rules for “cruise ducking.” First, guests are instructed to only hide their ducks in public areas of the ship and not near shops, pools, hot tubs, spas, or emergency equipment. Passengers are also discouraged from placing ducks in dangerous areas where they could fall overboard, according to Cruise Hive and The Points Guy.
But despite guidelines in place to ensure the practice doesn’t become a nuisance, some people would like to see these ducks go the way of the dodo.
“The unpopular opinion is that the ducks are nothing more than trash left around the ship, like drinking glasses and plates,” one traveler wrote on Reddit.
John Heald, senior cruise director and brand ambassador for Carnival Cruise Lines, also responded to disgruntled passengers who say they will boycott Carnival until ducks are banned.
“[It] It makes me feel very sad, I really do,” Held wrote, instructing other believers to “hide, find or ignore.”
However, participants generally feel that this is just a harmless game aimed at bringing pleasure to guests of all ages.
“Our grandchildren love participating in this fun activity,” said one Facebook user. “And we “old people” enjoy it too. ”
