Bed Bugs on NCL

[cod]

Hear goes a really inane description of what I mean. It's like a rolled strip all around the mattress...all along top edge and also the bottom edge. I'm sure it has a better name but all I can think of is edging or binding. It's sewn real tight and so you have to pull it out/back just a little to see along the inside of it.

[sjbdtz]

Hear goes a really inane description of what I mean. It's like a rolled strip all around the mattress...all along top edge and also the bottom edge. I'm sure it has a better name but all I can think of is edging or binding. It's sewn real tight and so you have to pull it out/back just a little to see along the inside of it.

 

 

It's the seam, of the 'ticking'. :)

[Planer's Edge]

Hear goes a really inane description of what I mean. It's like a rolled strip all around the mattress...all along top edge and also the bottom edge. I'm sure it has a better name but all I can think of is edging or binding. It's sewn real tight and so you have to pull it out/back just a little to see along the inside of it.

 

If you are talking about the rolled seam where the top is connected to the sides of the mattress...it is called the mattress piping.

 

PE

[newmexicoNita]

I have read that bed bugs have become in hotels in the last few years. Has there been any reports on NCL ships?

 

yes, there have been reports on every cruise line in the past couple of years, but I don't think any have been confirmed. There are so many things that can resemble bed bug bites, it is hard to know for sure.

 

Nita

[cod]

Piping!?...sounds good to me.

[Old fella]

A good Canadian Alexander Keith's Lager SBD under the cover beer fart cures any bedbug problem. However don't plan on "any other" between the sheet activity if such SBD is released;)

 

SBD = Silent But Deadly.

 

:D

Edited July 31, 2010 by Old fella

[newmexicoNita]

We are on the Star in early 2011. I have read recently about bed bugs in hotels and I have seen just recently bed bug aerosol spray in the stores. I was just curious about how bad a problem it really is and if anybody has seen them on NCL. I would hope if the cabin steward finds them he would report it or have spray with him but who knows if he would do anything.

 

and my guess is, that spray you have seen in the store is nothing more than any spray you can get. It might not even work. We all know about scams or just a great sales gimmick.

 

By the way, normally they are not visable, so the cabin stewards are not going to see them nor are you.

Nita

[kn516]

What do they look like? Are the visible to the naked eye?

 

Pull the sheets/blankets back very quick (exposing bottom sheet), and if there are bed bugs you will see them, they look like little black dots. I think they jump too.

:cool:

[Lard Greystoke]

The occurrence of bedbugs has nothing to do with the banning of any magic pesticide. Bedbugs are currently being controlled by pesticides. The chemicals used have to be changed as the insects develop resistance. The primary difficulty with bedbugs is not "big government regulation", but the fact that they are tiny insects which live in places which are hard to get at (inside cracks in walls, floors, thick carpet, etc) so that it is difficult to put the pesticide in contact with them. This is why sometimes businesses have to be closed temporarily, apartments have to be vacated etc, as the room has to be virtually disassembled for the treatment to be applied everywhere they are hiding.

 

Cabins in cruise ships should contain fewer hiding places like rotten wood or crumbling plaster, so the cleanup should be easier.

[nderoche]

A good Canadian Alexander Keith's Lager SBD under the cover beer fart cures any bedbug problem. However don't plan on "any other" between the sheet activity if such SBD is released;)

 

SBD = Silent But Deadly.

 

:D

 

We always take our bed bug traps (can't be to careful you know).

All you have to do is save a bit of rare meat and they are toast.

The hardest part is the ceremonial dance! Put the rare meat in a clean paper bag, hold it over your head and yell like a chicken. It will drive every bed bug out of your cabin. If there are any left use the hair dryer on high heat for two minutes...a little hot sauce and you have bedtime snack. Kind of like popcorn but different.:cool:

[SeaBorne]

The secret is out... it's the bedbugs that keep New York up all night.:D BTW, BBs are not little tiny black dots (they look like bugs); their feces stains are what look like tiny black dots.

[Cruisebug in Canada]

Hi cruisers - I am a bedbug "expert" due to infestations that happened with large groups of employees at a former job. They are not to be dismissed or joked about - like some of the previous posters. If you are unfortunate enough to bring them home to your house after a vacation or cruise, you are looking at thousands of dollars to eradicate them. Due mainly to the banning of DDT (and far more international travel and immigration), North America is having a resurgence of these evil little creatures. They are the size of a flattened grape seed, brown to red to in color (depending on how lately they've had a feeding), and usually nocturnal. After having one of my staff battle with them in a Travelodge room, I started taking them seriously. It takes a couple of minutes - but here's what everyone should do:

 

When checking in to a hotel or cabin, pull the duvet, sheets and mattress pad off the bed (even if it messes up the good looking welcome decor) - and immediately look at the top corners of the mattress - in the piping, top and bottom, in any quilting patterns, along any headboard cracks, and under the mattress on any platform (covered with fabric or not). Then do the same at the mattresses bottom. If you are energetic, you can also examine the seams, etc. on any pillows or soft surfaces in the room (drapes, upholstered wall accents). If there are any bugs, you would likely see them scurry away with the light. But you should also check for the signs - red or brown stains/dots (i.e. the same type you would see on the cotton ball if you are giving blood) and/or brown "specks" which would be their droppings. We also take a look at drawers and shelves in the room for the same signs...

 

On our first 8 or 9 cruises, we used to take the common advice of storing our suitcases under the bed - but no more... Now, savvy travelers bring the large (lawn/leaf sized) garbage bags and, once clothes are hung up, the emply suitcases are put into the bags and sealed for the duration of the trip. When disembarking, a close look at the bags reassures that no bugs are attached (and, of course, they would not be able to lay eggs or hitchhike on your suitcase). BTW, the advertised sprays generally don't work - if they were strong enough to kill these pests, they would do some damage to you as well.

 

A few more things, the eggs and bugs can go without feeding for 6 months or more (that's partly why, in Britain, Royalty had summer and winter castles in olde times - the bugs became unbearable and the time away often was enough to starve them out). Extreme heat (+ 120 or -40 degrees) or extreme cold can kill the bugs, but not always the eggs. In the winter, one slight blessing of being a Canuck is that we usually have one or two weeks of -35 or so weather - the only good thing about returning from a cruise in the winter is that our suitcases spend a week in the unheated garage before they ever return to the house.

 

Paranoid - yeah, a bit. But if anyone ever brings these bugs home - you are in for a tough fight. At $1000 for a good mattress (and multiple chemical or heat treatments) - each at a similar cost, it doesn't take many brought out to the dumpster to cost a lot of money - plus the on your psyche toll for having bedbugs is often worth a lot more ... So take the 15 minutes at the start of your cruise to check out your room thoroughly - you'll sleep better all cruise-long. And if you do find signs and alert the crew, maybe you'll get an upgrade (DON'T allow them to spray or change mattresses and leave you in the suite - it needs full fumigation and to sit empty during those treatments).

 

For sure, identifying them helps the fellow cruisers coming after you. Remember, just because you are paranoid, doesn't mean that the bedbugs aren't out to get you...

[garycarla]

Great posting. So refreshing to see someone with experience just lay it out,without emotion or hearsay. We travel often - probably 80+ nights a year. Will take some notes - biggest one is storing luggage under the bed.

[fergusonvt]

The occurrence of bedbugs has nothing to do with the banning of any magic pesticide. Bedbugs are currently being controlled by pesticides. The chemicals used have to be changed as the insects develop resistance. The primary difficulty with bedbugs is not "big government regulation", but the fact that they are tiny insects which live in places which are hard to get at (inside cracks in walls, floors, thick carpet, etc) so that it is difficult to put the pesticide in contact with them. This is why sometimes businesses have to be closed temporarily, apartments have to be vacated etc, as the room has to be virtually disassembled for the treatment to be applied everywhere they are hiding.

 

Cabins in cruise ships should contain fewer hiding places like rotten wood or crumbling plaster, so the cleanup should be easier.

 

They can even travel via electrical outlets which is why when you find infestations in apartment building they are often not limited to just one apt.

[mafig]

That was a great post Cruisebug.

I have a question. After you put your luggage in the garbage bags, where do you put the luggage? Still under the bed? There's so few places for storage.:o:(

[SeaBorne]

Cruisebug in Canada... Thank you; great post. We've spotted a BB in the local college auditorium, one on the subway and our building's laundry room. We have yet to see anything on a cruise (and we check).

[Barb Nahoumi]

Just so you know, bedbugs have been around for ages. Hence the silly little rhyme stated in a post above. My grandparents used to say it to us kids when retiring for the evening "Sleep tight, don't let the bedbugs bite". Oh and my wife manages a large hotel and has seen it all before. Nothing new here. No need to panic folks, they'll probably be around after "man" becomes extinct.:eek:

 

 

Centuries ago, when ropes were used to hold mattresses on beds, they had to be tightened to lessen sag. Hence, the rhyme----"Sleep tight." When I was a kid at camp, the counselors would say that to us at bed time.

[flowerchild]

OK, I'll be the first one on here to admit that we found bedbugs in our house. We travel often and believe we picked them up in an extended stay hotel in Miami OR a movie theater here in NY.

 

Cruisebug has some great and correct information. In addition to her notes, I can add the following:

 

Do not ever put your suitcase on the bed before checking for bedbugs. Look for the signs, not just the bugs...blackish ashey looking stuff are thier droppings..look for blood spots and streaks, also. Pull up the ticking (piping) around the mattess AND box spring. Most of ours were on the box spring, not the mattress.

 

An unfed BB looks like a dark burgundy apple seed. One that has fed is longer and more oblong. They grow up to 65% is size after feeding.

 

Only 30% of the population will react to a BB bite. They inject you with an anticoagulant and an analgesic, most will never know they have been bitten. They feed for up to 10 minutes.Most who do react have a splotchy red rash, they are not like mosquito bites.

 

Not only do they travel through outlets, they can come through pipes, too. For people with attached homes, they can travel from one side of the building to another. They will travel up to 20 ft to find hosts. They sense CO2from our breathing! They can go without feeding for up to a year and survive! They do not jump, nor chew through fabric. They are slow moving, they will not scatter quickly. We found most under a tag on the head of our box spring.

 

The sprays on the market do work, btw. We caught our outbreak very soon after traveling and so far, have not had a recurrence. We check every nite. So far, not one bug has been spotted since we sprayed the ever living hell out of everything they would be attracted to. We had an exterminator come in, check the stuff we were using, and he gave it his approval. He told us that he personally charges $200 per room to exterminate bed bugs. He also recommended not using the drawers in hotel rooms to avoid bringing them home. He also said using the mattress and box spring covers and keeping them on for a YEAR will eliminate them if they have not traveled to other parts of your home (clothing, sofa, baseboards, etc.) There are also traps on the market that will help you moniter any possible infestations.

 

We were horrified and so ashamed when we found them in our house. When I started researching the problem, I realized it is nothing we should be ashamed of. It has nothing to do with how clean your house or you are, you can get them from visiting 4 star hotels, the mall, movie theaters, hell, even the subway or the bus.

 

There is a lot of very good info on the net. Try to keep to government sites, since they have the most up to date, correct info.

Edited September 18, 2010 by flowerchild

[luddite]

No.

[flowerchild]

The occurrence of bedbugs has nothing to do with the banning of any magic pesticide. Bedbugs are currently being controlled by pesticides. The chemicals used have to be changed as the insects develop resistance. The primary difficulty with bedbugs is not "big government regulation", but the fact that they are tiny insects which live in places which are hard to get at (inside cracks in walls, floors, thick carpet, etc) so that it is difficult to put the pesticide in contact with them. This is why sometimes businesses have to be closed temporarily, apartments have to be vacated etc, as the room has to be virtually disassembled for the treatment to be applied everywhere they are hiding.

 

Cabins in cruise ships should contain fewer hiding places like rotten wood or crumbling plaster, so the cleanup should be easier.

 

The reason for the come back of bb is because the field of extermination has changed so much in the past two decades. Pesticides are more specific to the insects being exterminated; if you have roaches, you treat for roaches, if you have fleas, you treat for fleas; broad spectrum pesticides are no longer used as before. Info straight from a NY gov site.

[flowerchild]

Pull the sheets/blankets back very quick (exposing bottom sheet), and if there are bed bugs you will see them, they look like little black dots. I think they jump too.

:cool:

 

No need to pull them back quickly, they are relatively slow moving. They do not jump, nor do they chew through fabric. The black dots are feces, not the bugs. The bugs look like apple seeds (unfed) or small blackish red roaches (fed).

[flowerchild]

and my guess is, that spray you have seen in the store is nothing more than any spray you can get. It might not even work. We all know about scams or just a great sales gimmick.

 

By the way, normally they are not visable, so the cabin stewards are not going to see them nor are you.

Nita

 

None of this info is correct! :eek:

 

The new products on the market DO work. I had a professional come in and look at the stuff I had bought. He said it was basically the same ingredients that he would have used himself. The products aren't cheap, either. There are several water, powder and oil based sprays that are currently being highly recommended by several government websites. There are also monitoring traps that are very effective in checking for the presence of BB.

 

The bugs are very visible to the eye, you will be able to see the bugs or the signs they are present, black ashey looking fecal matter and blood streaks and spots. The bugs are the size and shape of apple seeds (unfed) and about the size and shape of a small roach (fed). They are blackish burgundy brown in color.

Edited September 18, 2010 by flowerchild

[crusingici]

None of this info is correct! :eek:

 

The new products on the market DO work. I had a professional come in and look at the stuff I had bought. He said it was basically the same ingredients that he would have used himself. The products aren't cheap, either. There are several water, powder and oil based sprays that are currently being highly recommended by several government websites. There are also monitoring traps that are very effective in checking for the presence of BB.

 

The bugs are very visible to the eye, you will be able to see the bugs or the signs they are present, black ashey looking fecal matter and blood streaks and spots. The bugs are the size and shape of apple seeds (unfed) and about the size and shape of a small roach (fed). They are blackish burgundy brown in color.

 

Flower child - you are doing a great service educating everyone about BB -- Dr Oz did a great show this week on BB - and he agrees with what you've posted. What a nuisance these things are getting to be - guess I should check my headboards -- yuk..... :p

[salty dingo]

When I am sleeping, I do not care if the bed bugs bite me. In fact, I do not care of any of you reading this bite me!

[ukgal9]

Personally, I believe every hotel and every cruise ship has some bedbugs. And so does your mattress at home.

 

You decided what you will do about it.

 

(we are in hotel or cruise ship rooms about 50-80 night a year - have not died yet!)

I think you may be confusing Bedbugs and Dust mites. All houses beds etc have mites .... not all houses have bed bugs. Bedbugs are up to the size of an apple seed. Dust mites are too small to see. They show the bug under magnification.

Also Riddex have a device to keep BB at bay. If they are in your house you need to use freeze technology or high high heat to kill them.

 

Anyway.... I think that we just need to be aware that we could get them anywhere.

Edited October 17, 2010 by ukgal9