How We Accidentally Became “Cruise Duck People”

If you are new to cruising, cruise ducks are small rubber ducks that passengers hide around the ship for other people to find.

Some people hide standard rubber ducks, while others use custom ducks, themed ducks, crochet ducks, or even 3D printed ducks. In many cases, the ducks include a small tag with the name of the person or family hiding them, along with the sailing or a social media group.

The idea is simple: find one, enjoy the surprise, and then decide whether to keep it, post about it, or re-hide it for someone else.

It’s one of those cruise traditions that sounds a little random at first. But once you see it happening onboard, it makes a lot more sense. It adds a little fun, creates conversation, and gives people another way to connect during the trip.

Before one of our cruises, we bought a pack of rubber ducks to hide around the ship. Our hope was that kids would find them and get a kick out of it.

What we didn’t realize right away is that duck hunting isn’t just for kids.

Adults love it too.

We quickly found that adults — and even crew members — get involved in the fun. People post their finds in cruise Facebook groups, trade stories about where they discovered ducks, and sometimes even re-hide them for someone else to find later.

It’s a small thing, but it adds an unexpected sense of community on the ship.

Before our Western Caribbean cruise on the Norwegian Escape in January, we spent some time exploring New Orleans before the sailing.

While walking around the city, we accidentally came across something we didn’t expect — rubber duck necklaces.

Naturally, we had to buy one.

We thought it would be fun to give it away during the cruise to someone who had participated in the duck fun.

During that Escape cruise, a mom posted in our cruise-specific Facebook group that her daughter had found one of our ducks.

That seemed like the perfect opportunity.

We reached out, asked the mom if it would be okay, and then gave the duck necklace to her daughter onboard.

It turned into a really fun moment — and that’s when we realized this might become one of our new cruise traditions.

And just to be clear, whenever we do something like this we always ask the parents first.

Before our next cruise on the Norwegian Dawn, we decided to continue the idea.

We ordered two similar duck necklaces.

The plan was simple:

• Give one away on the Dawn
• Save the other for a future cruise

We gave one away during the Dawn sailing and are holding onto the second one for our upcoming cruise on the Norwegian Bliss.

Melanie also bought a pack of duck magnets to decorate our stateroom door on the Dawn. It turned out to be a fun way to lean even further into the whole duck theme, and it sparked a few fun interactions with other passengers.

At one point someone left a duck hanging on our door for us to find. Another passenger even stopped Jon outside our room to trade ducks.

Later in the cruise, that same person recognized Jon while we were boarding the tender and pointed him out to others as “the duck guy.”

Apparently the reputation travels quickly on a cruise ship.

By the last night of the cruise we noticed that a few of the duck magnets had disappeared from the door.

But honestly, we just embraced that as part of the fun. If someone liked them enough to take them, that was perfectly okay with us.

Somewhere along the way we leaned all the way into the theme.

We picked up:

• Duck bucket hats
• A duck T-shirt for Jon
• A duck-themed Hawaiian party shirt

Unfortunately the Hawaiian shirt didn’t arrive in time for the Dawn cruise because of a shipping delay.

But that just means it will make its debut on our next cruise on the Bliss.

One of the fun parts of this tradition is that our cousins, who cruise with us sometimes, have started getting into it as well.

For the Escape cruise, Lori created handmade crochet ducks to hide around the ship. Those were a big hit since they were a little different from the standard rubber ducks people usually find.

Kyle, who just retired last week, has already started experimenting with custom 3D printed ducks as well.

Since they’ll be joining us again on the Bliss cruise, we’re hoping to bring a mix of rubber ducks, crochet ducks, and maybe even some custom 3D printed ducks along with us.

It’s been fun watching the whole thing evolve from a simple idea into a small family tradition.

One of the fun parts of the tradition is that you never know where you might find one.

People often hide cruise ducks in places like:

• Elevator areas
• Stairwells
• Near artwork or decorations
• Around plants or railings
• Lounge areas
• Walking paths around the ship

Part of the fun is spotting them in unexpected places while you explore the ship.

At the end of the day, cruise ducks are a small and simple thing. But they add an extra layer of fun to a cruise.

You might hide one behind a plant, on a railing, or near an elevator and never see who finds it.

But somewhere on the ship, someone will discover it and smile.

And sometimes that’s enough to make the whole tradition worth it.

For us, what started as buying a simple pack of rubber ducks has turned into one of our favorite cruise traditions — and we’re excited to see how it continues to evolve on our future sailings.

If you’ve been on a cruise, you may have already seen this tradition in action.

Have you ever found a cruise duck?