If you’ve ever been on a cruise ship and noticed a small rubber duck hiding behind a potted plant, under a bar stool, or next to your salt shaker at dinner, you’re not imagining things. Hiding– and finding– rubber duckies has become a common cruise past time for many frequent travelers!
According to urban legend, the “Duck Hunting” cruise trend began in 2018, when a 10-year-old girl brought dozens of rubber ducks on a 7-day Carnival cruise. She and her dad hid the ducks around the ship as a kindness project– just to make other folks smile.
The idea caught on. Just a few years later, their Cruising Ducks Facebook Group now has close to 100,000 followers!
How to Play the Cruising Ducks Game
Cruisers write the Facebook group’s name or URL on the bottom of their ducks (or put some kind of tag on the duck), then hide the little quacker somewhere on the ship. They post a photo to the Facebook group with the name of the ship– and then wait for their duck to be discovered. When folks find the rubber duck on the ship, they can choose to either keep it or to continue the game by hiding it somewhere else or taking it on a future cruise. The fun of the game is to see how far one little duck can travel!
Cruise Lines with Rubber Duck Groups
Today, there are now a number of different Cruising Ducks Facebook groups and games. In fact, most of the major cruise lines have their own Cruising Ducks groups: Carnival, Royal Caribbean, Norwegian Cruise Line, Princess, Celebrity, Disney, Holland America, and even cruising newcomer Virgin Voyages.
The rubber duck cruise game has certainly evolved over the past few years– some folks use their ducks to honor the memory of a loved one, or to spread awareness for a cause like breast cancer. Rubber ducks can be standard yellow, or fun and colorful themed ducks (you’ll be amazed at what you can find online). Regardless of whether you play for fun or because you have a message to share with your shipmates, consider bringing a few ducks with you on the next cruise! Let’s get our ducks in a row and get quackin’!
