You Lucky Duck

Missy Ryan11.19.19Fish Extenders are well known and several of us Disney Cruise lovers know exactly what you are talking about when you mention FE. However, have you ever heard of Cruising Ducks? I had not either until I booked my first Royal Caribbean Cruise that I experienced this month. I am always on the hunt for something new, fun and creative. Knowing I was bringing my 8 and 5 year old, I wanted to be sure they were entertained as well. They are my mini mes when it comes to travel, and they love all things BIG when it comes to cruising.I stumbled upon a group on Facebook one day when a cute little rubber duck caught my eye. As I dug a little deeper, I noticed these adorable ducks (that I typically do not pay any mind to) have several Facebook pages and were pretty popular! This sparked my interest, and I began to read more and learn more.#Crusingducks are well known on Instagram too, and people are wild about this new craze taking over cruise lines. Royal Caribbean and Carnival have been the two that have embraced this new fad more than any other cruise lines.You are most likely curious and want to know what this all entails? Cruisers that want to participate do not need to sign up and they are not placed in a group of any sort. You can participate by hiding, hunting or both. It does not matter if you are not hiding, you are still welcome to hunt!If you plan to hide: Ducks can be bought at locations such as The Dollar Tree, Walmart, Target, and other store locations. Your best bet is to search Amazon. They will have ducks of all shapes and sizes. Their variety is fun and unique. Ducks ranging from unicorn ducks, cupcake ducks, pirate ducks, and more. Pay attention to size because they will be smaller than your typical bath rubber ducky.Once you have ducks in your possession you are ready for the important step of tagging them.There are different ways to tag your duck.Some prefer and will request that if you find a duck, that you post on a cruising ducks page with a hash tag and where you found it. Others may give you the option of keeping the duck or hiding it again. You can add the ship name, sail date, what state the duck was brought from and other information you may want to include.We wrote the basics and gave the option of keeping or hiding again.Some guests will instruct not to hide in locations such as dining or pool areas. Dining because there is food involved and there are no ducks permitted in the pool areas.We hid ducks on chairs, on railings, stairwell ledges and even tied some on cabin doors. We hid a total of 24 ducks and hopefully brought 24 smiles.On our journey my children also each found a few ducks. The first one spotted was from North Carolina. My son was beside himself and that duck was the highlight of his week.Be aware that not all cruises may be participating in hiding ducks. However, you are welcome to hide or even look on Facebook pages and ask groups if anyone that is cruising during your travel dates will be joining in on the fun.This was such an inexpensive and fun way to add something different to our trip.We truly enjoyed the excitement of hiding, noticing ducks that were found by guest,s and hiding more for others to discover.If you are planning on a cruise or would like to know more about #cruisingducks please feel free to contact me at missyr@wishesfamilytravel.com. I would love to chat more about all the fun you can have sailing the high seas!I can also be followed on FacebookLooking forward to hearing from you!