Bed Bugs from RC Liberty of the the Seas sailing 7/10-7/17

I am reaching out in an effort to help my kids! Two of them are COVERED with what was just officially diagnosed by dr. with bed bug bites. We had two cabins with adjoining door and my husband and I are fine. The Dr. said it would be helpful to reach out here and see if any others on our ship have these bites? Please message me if you were on our cruise (or recently on our ship) and have these symptoms! According to CDC.gov, bites can take up to 14 days to appear once bitten and my kids showed up Tuesday; two days after returning home. Timeline makes sense, but because they did not show up on ship, RC can't do anything about it! I did call and report in hopes they will inspect our cabin! We thought they had chicken pox!!! I kind of wish that's what it was.....

Probably best to also post in the dedicated RC forum here:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=83

Most importantly...did you inform Royal Caribbean????

I am reaching out in an effort to help my kids! Two of them are COVERED with what was just officially diagnosed by dr. with bed bug bites. We had two cabins with adjoining door and my husband and I are fine. The Dr. said it would be helpful to reach out here and see if any others on our ship have these bites? Please message me if you were on our cruise (or recently on our ship) and have these symptoms! .......

You'd have to provide an email address since CC doesn't have messaging.

As someone else suggested, post this on the Royal Caribbean forum.

But also include your email address.

Thank you for your help & tips! Per your advice I did post on the RC dedicated link as well. Yes, I did call RC customer service, but I did not get the feeling the info went far. There was no urgency & no follow up. I just want to make sure the info is communicated to the ship. Hopefully people reading this post on here that will be cruising Liberty of the Seas will inquire & word will get to ship.

Did you sleep in a hotel or a friend's house prior to or after the cruise? If yes, contact them also...

Bed bugs will happen anywhere, sorry you were hit with them. Take all the necessary measures at your home, too, since you may have brought them home with you.

Sorry to hear this. I too wondered if you followed up with RCI about this.

Keith

Sorry that this happened to your children.

Write a letter to the President of RCI.

You might also want to check the Roll Call for your cruise and maybe even the cruise before it (boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=35) to see if anyone else reported a similar problem.

Since your kids displayed symptoms 9 days after the cruise began and the CDC says there is up to a 14 day period for the appearance of symptoms, did you stay in a hotel or with friends before the cruise began? If so, there is the possibility that they picked them up there instead of on the cruise. That should be investigated too.

Cabin number??

Here is what I posted on the RC designated thread last night. Since I'm getting more questions here, I'll share it here as well since I have more info.

I'm new to this site, so thank you for all of your advice & thoughts! Kids are doing a little better, but these bites are no joke! Just terrible.

First, yes, I contacted RC customer service & reported this. Based on their response & lack of urgency, I am concerned this was not looked into. There has been no follow up from them either. I realize this can happen to any hotel, cruise line, etc, so my intention was not to shame the cruise line. However, I do not appreciate the lack of response or follow up from them. I also hoped to find out if others were effected because there is a voice in numbers on getting something done.

For those cruising soon on this ship, I'm really sorry to worry you, but I would definitely call & inquire about it! Because I would want to know too, our cabin numbers were 2302 adjoining with 2304. My kids stayed in 2304 side. I will also note here that the two kids who slept on the separated king/twin beds have bites. The child who slept in bunk that lowers from ceiling has not one bite on her. To answer the hotel question, yes, we stayed at a nice hotel in Galveston on Sat night. Per our pediatrician, his assessment was based on how bed bugs "feed" (gag!!!)and there was no way the kids could have that many bites in one night. It was clearly over several nights to get the amount they have. Again, this is their best assessment given the facts & treating the kids today. Thank you for sharing about the sand fleas & sea lice possibility too! Dr talked about that too, but ruled out because those bites show quickly after bitten & it had been too long since we were at the beach.

Thank you all again for well wishes! Thankfully we had a great trip before this happened. I wish you all the best on your cruise!

Sorry that this happened to your children.

Write a letter to the President of RCI.

Good idea. I will try & do this too

I would also get a second doctor opinion. First, you want to make sure they were diagnosed properly. Second, you want a back up reference if asked. Let's face it. Once the kids are better there is no proof.

Did you kids go to the beach? Did the other kids? They could be sand bug bites. No, I don't know what bed bug or sand bug bites look like and I hope I never do.

It's not important that OP stayed in a hotel. The previous guest in the kids cabin could have brought the bed bugs from their hotel. Bed bugs are easily transported and can pop into luggage.

I cannot understand why any hotel director on a cruise ship would not act with urgency. Cruise lines and hotels don't like to cause panic. I would bet that they had a company to do a full cleaning (even dispose mattresses) after OP left. I would think that any good hotel or cruise line would offer compensation to impacted guests. Unfortunately, this is a problem far too common today. You don't read about it too much because companies really do their best to compensate guests so that they feel somewhat whole.

It's not important that OP stayed in a hotel. The previous guest in the kids cabin could have brought the bed bugs from their hotel. Bed bugs are easily transported and can pop into luggage.

 

I cannot understand why any hotel director on a cruise ship would not act with urgency. Cruise lines and hotels don't like to cause panic. I would bet that they had a company to do a full cleaning (even dispose mattresses) after OP left. I would think that any good hotel or cruise line would offer compensation to impacted guests. Unfortunately, this is a problem far too common today. You don't read about it too much because companies really do their best to compensate guests so that they feel somewhat whole.

It is actually pretty important to know where the family was pre-cruise. Sure, the previous cabin guest may have left the bugs. But, the family could have transported the bugs from the last place they stayed. A hotel manager would certainly want to know if I stayed at their hotel and ended up with bedbugs - they will "quarantine" the room inspect the room, and if, necessary, do a special bedbug cleaning procedure. I've had that training at my hotel. It's one of those things where no one is to blame, but it has to be taken seriously. As traveler, I would surely appreciate a previous guest notifying the hotel that they have encountered bedbugs somewhere in the last X days and they gave the hotel a chance to investigate before they check me into that room and I also end up with bedbugs...