Thanks to friends with Jeeps, I knew about Jeep ducking. Which sounded fun. I mean, how cool to be out and about and come back to find someone’s left a duck on your Jeep. But what I didn’t know until our cruise last year was that people do cruise ducks too!
In fact, cruise ducks may have inspired Jeep ducks. Ashley Kosciolek explained on The Points Guy how a 10-year-old girl named Abby started the cruising ducks phenomenon in 2018 with what was meant to be a cute gesture. According to Auto Outlets USA, Jeep ducks didn’t take off until the pandemic in 2020.
It’s all the same principle: you get a duck, whether it’s buying some or finding them, and leave them for others to find. You can put tags on them, either that you make yourself or buy online.
For cruisers, a lot of people leave their names (or social media handles), the cruise ship’s name, and date. Some pre-made tags come with the hashtag “#cruisingducks” already on it, while others have a blank space to add your own. Tags make it more fun but they’re optional. So is taking a selfie with your duck and posting it on social media.
Searching for Cruise Ducks
On our cruise last year, Court and Wayne sat with a couple at dinner who said they’d left some cruise ducks around the ship. They were a little bummed, though, because they kept checking social media, but so far nobody had found one. Or if they had, they hadn’t posted about it.
Well, that sparked Court’s interest. She knew I’d get a kick out of looking. So the hunt was on!
Court and I looked and looked but never found one. I found Dr. Seuss and some great towel animals, though!
The one place we never looked was offshore, however. Maybe cruise ducks were left there too? Since it was our first time trying to find them, we didn’t think to look there.
However, it turns out we weren’t looking in the right places. There are some rules we didn’t know about then that we do now. (We’ll get to that.)
It would’ve been exciting to find a cruise duck, but we never did. Near the end of the cruise, Court asked the coupler at dinner who had hidden some for hints on where to look. The next night at dinner, she brought one for Court, which she immediately gave to me. Appropriately for our writer in the family, it’s holding a book.
Cruise Ducks Rules
However, I didn’t just want to find them. I wanted to leave them too. After all, it is more rewarding to give than receive. So I asked Court to keep an eye out for any fun duck options for our next cruise. The other day at Target, she spotted the perfect one. Black and white skeleton ducks!
But I also wondered what the protocol was for leaving them. The Points Guy had some great pointers. Some of the pere-made cruise duck tags we’ve seen also include some of these rules.
- Don’t hide them in pools, hot tubs, or spas.
- Don’t hide them in any of the onboard shops.
- Don’t place them where they might fall overboard.
- Have fun!
Where to Find Cruise (and Jeep) Ducks
I’d venture to say cruise and Jeep ducks have reinvigorated the rubber ducky industry. There are so many options now. All different sorts of designs and sizes. As well as handy dandy tags to make leaving those easy too. (Something my boney hands appreciate!)
Etsy and Amazon are good places to find both ducks and tags. Facebook is the place to find cruise duck groups.
We added a Cruise Ducks shelf —and a Jeep Ducks one too— to the Skareporium since Amazon carries both a variety of ducks and tags. You can buy them in bulk as a theme, like Halloween, or just an assortment. Some of the cruise ducks tags come with #cruisingducks printed on them and a pre-punched hole, but no cord. But a lot include fasteners too. Here are some examples of both ducks and tags that you’ll find in our Skareporium now.
Check-In
Have you ever found a cruise or Jeep duck…or left one for someone to find?
Just a little skeleton with a lust for life. Stowaway master. Smallest (and most stylish) member of the Haunt Jaunts Skeleton Crew.
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How fun. Well, if I ever do go on a cruise, I’ll be sure to bring along a bunch of ducks! The skeleton ducks you found are PERFECT.
It’s funny timing that I’m just now reading this. A couple of days ago, I noticed a little rubber duck with a tag wedged next to the driver’s seat of my husband’s Jeep Wrangler. I go “where did you get that?” He said someone left it on his Jeep at Costco a while back and he forgot about it. I am not on most social media anymore either to know it’s a thing. Those skeleton ducks are cool!
Hey! This is so cool you discovered my post after finding a duck in your husband’s Jeep! He got ducked! It’s cool he kept the duck even though he didn’t know what it was all about. So glad I wrote about this now! Thanks for the comment!
It’s SO much fun to leave them and find them, Ms. Priscilla!!!!