Cruise Ducks!!
Okay, if you have been on a cruise then I am sure you know about the ducks. If you have not been on a cruise yet but are thinking about it then let me tell you about the ducks! It is such a fun little activity on board most if not all cruise lines. Knowing this ahead of time will help explain some of the excitement of the kids running around and grabbing ducks from the stairs, elevators and doors!
What are the Ducks
You may be thinking, what kind of ducks are you even talking about this does not make any sense. I mean your little average rubber duck- for the most part. Cruisers of all ages hide rubber ducks. Some ducks are really small resin ducks, some ducks are huge inflatables and there is everything in between. My kids have even been lucky enough to find duck bracelets.
We have ran into adults that are all decked out in “duck clothing” and hand out ducks to kids from their backpacks. They go on cruise after cruise hiding and finding ducks to share.
You can get the ducks on amazon in bulk and we like to pick up various seasonal ones at the dollar store throughout the year.
On our last cruise we jumped on the bracelet making bandwagon and got the little clay beads and wrote the name of our ship on the bracelets and added some duck beads.
But Why?!
When I have friends that are packing for their cruise and they ask for advice on what to pack ducks is usually the first item I tell them and they immediately say but why. It is such a great example of pure human kindness.
The duck hiding and finding is such an added level of excitement for both kids and adults. Everyone is doing it and you don’t want to feel left behind. On our first cruise before we knew about them my kids found tons of ducks. So when we were planning our next cruise all of the kids being involved in the duck making and decorating was a must. It was such a fun activity that we could do as a family leading up to the cruise.
My kids come home with so many ducks every cruise. You can keep the duck that you find or choose to re-hide it for someone else. One of my kids faithfully every day spends about 3 hours duck hiding and hunting. Each time we plan a trip our kids are thinking of what kind of ducks they want to leave for people and we just love encouraging this kind of genuine kindness towards others.
Decorating the Ducks
This was something that we decided to do on our last cruise after finding a very fancy duck. We picked up some rhinestones and decided to bedazzle some ducks. Now this was incredibly time consuming but for me it was something I could do in the evening while I relax.
This is absolutely not necessary but my kids thought it was great when they saw that someone had found their fancy duck. They would also spend extra time finding the perfect hiding spot for these extra shiny ducks.
One of our cruises was over Halloween so we had fun buying Halloween themed ducks and also decorating the ducks for Halloween- it added a lot of fun in the preparing for the cruise.
I tried the hot back rhinestones but found it too challenging with the plastic ducks so I preferred just using rhinestones and glue. We got a variety pack of different colours to keep it interesting. Each duck we made was different and had a new pattern of gems for hiding.
Tagging the Ducks
A lot of people add little tags to their duck with their family name, ship name and sail date and where they are from. Some even ask for you to take a photo and share on their social media page. We personally have never done the photo sharing but will sometime.
We have seen ducks with actual tags tied around their little necks that are hand written. I have seen some templates on Canva that you can print. There are also little stickers you can print or buy that go on the bottom of the duck that has the same information on it.
Our kids really loved seeing where their ducks were fun. We once found a duck from two years prior and even a completely different cruise line. These ducks sure do travel! Our kids thought it would be exciting to hopefully find one of ours on another sailing sometime.
Whether you choose to take ducks with you or not will not make or break your cruise. All I can say is that our family loves everything about cruise ducks and I hope that yours will too! For more tips and tricks on family travel check out Home – Together We Can Travel
