Cruise Ship Ducks Are Traveling the World as Part of a Scavenger Hunt
Dressed in sailor uniforms or cowboy hats or painted in bright pinks, blues and reds, rubber duckies — the kind usually found floating in a toddler’s tub — are now bobbing to faraway places as part of a global scavenger hunt taking over cruise ships.
If you’re cruising this summer, you might find a duck in any number of places on your ship — behind potted plants, balancing on door knobs or poised on top of signs. They’re part of a whimsical trend among people who frequently vacation on the seas.
The cruising duck enthusiasts, who at times refer to themselves as “quackers,” have been packing rubber ducks onto ships by the dozens, sometimes hundreds, to hide and leave for other passengers to find. The fad is believed to have begun in 2018, when a 10-year-old girl hid toy ducks for fellow cruisers to find during a family vacation. Her parents created what is considered the original “Cruising Ducks” Facebook page, which has ballooned into a large online community.
The Facebook page has attracted nearly 275,000 quackers and has close to 100 posts a day about hiding, finding, decorating and just loving the ducks. Spinoff pages for specific cruise lines have tens of thousands of members as well.
There are only a couple of simple rules to the game: hide a duck and find a duck. Once a duck is found, a player can choose to hide it again or keep it as a souvenir. Many of the lucky quackers post their finds on Facebook pages for the original owners to see.
“It’s not just for kids to find,” said Kelly May, 60, of Huntington Beach, Calif., who jumped on the duck-finding trend in 2022. “When I found my first one, it was a yippee moment.”
Kelly May said she had hidden hundreds of rubber ducks on cruise ships.Credit…via Kelly May
The hidden ducks come in all shapes, sizes and materials. Some are bought pre-decorated, in teeny sailor hats or other snazzy costumes; others are bedazzled by hand by their parent quackers. A few people even crochet the ducks in different colors. Many people add tags with their names and a message, while others use the tags to promote their businesses on land, selling baked goods, books and more.
A “quacker” usually brings anywhere from 10 to 100 ducks to hide throughout a single trip.
Ms. May, for instance, said that she had hidden about 2,000 ducks on cruise ships over the past two years, but had only found about 40. The first duck she spotted was sitting in plain sight on a casino table, wearing a sailor uniform and a tag that looked like a passport for “The Republic of Fun.”
Ms. May, who goes on about eight cruises a year, became so fond of the trend that she made herself duck-themed T-shirts to wear on her trips. After fellow cruisers started asking her where to buy the shirts, she started a duck-themed business in 2023. She sells about 4,000 rubber ducks every month, as well as a few dozen T-shirts covered in ducks and duck-inspired sayings such as “Cruising Quackers Duck Detective Agency” and “Get Lucky, Find a Ducky!”
But not everyone is a fan. Disney Cruise Line discouraged customers from participating in duck hunts, and crew members were removing the ducks as they found them, according to a December post on Plan Disney, an official planning advice website. Some cruisers have complained on social media about finding the ducks near food buffets, and some shared worries that the hundreds of ducks could end up overboard and litter the ocean.
But other cruise lines lean into the craze. Several people on Facebook posted about a claw machine filled with sparkly ducks on a Norwegian Cruise Line ship. And Carnival’s brand ambassador, John Heald, recently posed with a rubber duck made to look like him, hairline and all, in a post on Instagram.
Ms. May said that in March she would join about 60 others on Carnival as part of a “Quacktastic Duckers Cruise” group: They will host events, and one prominent duck decorator will teach a class on how to beautify your duck.
What began with a handful of rubber ducks has evolved into more crafty little presents being hidden around ships. Some people make friendship bracelets with duck charms or purchase “duc-key” chains ahead of their cruise vacations.
Bill Brodie, 59, an avid cruise duck scavenger from Navarre, Fla., doesn’t hide your typical rubber duck, as he used to a year ago. Worried about the amount of plastic being passed around, he began crafting wooden ornaments by hand and engraving credit-card-size bottle openers. All of the items feature duck cutouts and are etched with the cruise’s location and dates.
“It’s become a full-blown keepsake,” Mr. Brodie said. He makes and hides about 60 items per trip.
Bill Brodie was on Carnival Glory in August when he found this duck.Credit…via Bill Brodie
Mr. Brodie said he had sold a few duck-themed items through Facebook pages for duck enthusiasts, but those sales only covered about half his costs. He mostly does what he does for fun, he said, and to see the priceless reactions when people find his items.
“It’s really nice to see someone pick it up, look at it for a second, realize what they have and do a happy dance,” Mr. Brodie said, adding that it’s like watching “a kid who found a treasure chest.”
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