According to Cruising Ducks, it started a few years ago when family duo Ashley and Abby Davis bought 50 rubber ducks for a spring break cruise. According to their website, they hid several each day, “found people of all ages finding the ducks" and had “the best trip ever.” BUT...the exact beginning of the cruise duck phenomenon is sort of a mystery, as some guests remember setting sail with rubber ducks for many years as far back as 2015 and earlier. Abby’s adventure, however, seems to have really kicked things into high gear and started a movement, the main purpose of which is simply to make other people smile. It’s also been suggested that cruising ducks are a distant relative of the painted-rocks phenomenon, which is essentially a landlocked version of the same game.
Why do people hide ducks on a cruise? Because it’s fun! Like a ship-wide game of hide-and-seek. No one really knows how many ducks are scattered across a given cruise ship, but judging from the Facebook page, some people are carting entire suitcases filled with ducks to hide. So there could be thousands aboard any given boat.
Some of the ducks are your standard yellow rubber ducks, but many people have gotten creative with teeny tiny ducks, extra large ducks, bedazzled ducks, and even some elaborate full scenes that they created with a lot of time and effort. Any rubber duck you want to hide is fair game.
What happens when you find a duck? CELEBRATE!!! It is so much fun to find a duck. Some people can care less and just leave them. But those that enjoy it get a rush. There are even some people that are on the hunt for a duck all day long! Take a picture and share it on one of the social media platforms that are shown on this page below. Then you decide weather you want to keep it, re-hide it, or tag it and hide it on the same cruise or a later cruise.
How do you get in on the action? You can purchase your own ducks on Amazon, Oriental Trading Company, etc. Some places have tags you can add your information to when you purchase them. With websites like Etsy, you can even have someone personalize them for you. Or you can create your own using a template on cruising ducks or making your own. Don't forget to write the rules about them. Keep scrolling on this page for the rules.
Now you're ready to go on your next cruise and hide your ducks!!
Lets keep this fun game going strong by following a few simple rules
Well First things first...."Keep or Hide, You Decide" This is not exactly a rule...its a decision. When you first find a duck you can either keep it, or re-hide it. Some people will add their own tag to some they find and hide them on the same cruise....or even bring that duck on a different cruise and hide it there. In hope that duck can make it around the world.
RULES FOR HIDING:
OTHER THINGS TO KNOW:
WHERE TO POST AND SHARE THE FUN
Here a cruising duck...there a cruising duck...everywhere a cruising duck
MANY OPTIONS!
There are several Facebook Groups you can post on. I personally like to post on the Original Cruising Ducks group as well as the cruise group I am going on. Here are a few of the biggest groups on Faceook
Or any other platform
There are plenty of Instagram Cruising Ducks pages but basically to post on Instagram just use the hashtag #cruisingducks
A lot of people also will add more hashtags like, the ship, the cruise line, the date, etc.