Bed Bugs on NCL

[newmexicoNita]

Well the staff probably weren't surprised. I'm sure with people coming from all over and staying in all different lodging prior to a cruise, this is not the first they have ran across this. I'm sure they have an efficient way of dealing with this so to not have an outbreak on the ship. Obviously this does not happen a lot on NCL, since I have seen very little posts on this subject and you have resurrected a thread from 2010.

 

Sorry this left a bad impression on you since it can happen anywhere. These things don't swim onto the ship, they are carried in by other passengers. This thread has a lot of good info in it, I hope you were able to take precautions when you got home to not bring them home with you.

 

of course it can and does happen everywhere or certainly can. I would rather the staff stay calm and simply move us than go into panic mode...it is like the Noro virus, it doesn't mean the ship is dirty or the crew in not attentive, these things are brought on my other passengers and sometimes we are unlucky enough to be the receptiants of them.

[Alg63]

Being in the hotel business i woul be Very Mad if someone posted "bed bugs at ALG hotel" ? Because it names an establishment/company and does not clarify the issue

("I've never heard any issue of bed bugs on cruise ships - has anyone else?")

 

A couple of years ago a local paper in my small town ran a similar "catch" headline. It stated in the article that the establishment did not have them and had been inspected, but the headline was enough to catch people's eye and nearly shut own the business.

YOUR luggage could unknowingly be transporting the little buggers right into the cabin ....

[newmexicoNita]

Being in the hotel business i woul be Very Mad if someone posted "bed bugs at ALG hotel" ? Because it names an establishment/company and does not clarify the issue

("I've never heard any issue of bed bugs on cruise ships - has anyone else?")

 

A couple of years ago a local paper in my small town ran a similar "catch" headline. It stated in the article that the establishment did not have them and had been inspected, but the headline was enough to catch people's eye and nearly shut own the business.

YOUR luggage could unknowingly be transporting the little buggers right into the cabin ....

 

yes, it has been reported on occassion from most cruise lines, but it seems you will see someone mention it and that is the end. rarely does anyone else come on and say, they too had them..

[che5904]

Being in the hotel business i woul be Very Mad if someone posted "bed bugs at ALG hotel" ? Because it names an establishment/company and does not clarify the issue

("I've never heard any issue of bed bugs on cruise ships - has anyone else?")

 

A couple of years ago a local paper in my small town ran a similar "catch" headline. It stated in the article that the establishment did not have them and had been inspected, but the headline was enough to catch people's eye and nearly shut own the business.

YOUR luggage could unknowingly be transporting the little buggers right into the cabin ....

 

Well I really don't see any reason to doubt this poster, they are not a one hit wonder. Yes they may have brought them with them, but also since there is very little turn around time between one passenger leaving and another embarking, it very well could have been brought on by the passenger before them. Either way I trust they seen what they seen. But since we don't have people screaming from the roof top, I take this to mean NCL handled this with expertise and professionalism so the problem did not escalate.

[valleyvillage]

BED BUGS ON NCL is mighty eye catching, but another example of how the lack of critical thinking is epidemic these days.

You might just as easily say PASSENGERS DIE ON CARNIVAL CRUISE LINES SHIPS! Or any other cruise line, or car make, or hotel in the world. Because they do.

Life happens. You pays yer money and you takes yer chances. Don't be foolish, don't lose the joy of life being a fraidy cat. But that's just my philosophy. Your happiness may vary.

[hartsnvt]

I think the OP could have renamed her title to be a question as she went on to ask in the body of her post. When I read it I thought that she had seen BB's on NCL ships and that was not the case. Fast forward to now and someone did post about seeing them in her cabin. I do not travel much at all and now I will look for them, but I still do not like the title at all. :eek:

[rbrugler]

Cruise Bruise reports six cases on NCL in the past 8 years, each one involving a cabin or two. Carnival is the buggiest with 12 cases, and some of their reports involve "several" cabins. Royal, Princess, Hal, and others have cases too. The best eradication methods are to adopt them and give them signing priviledges on your account, or wear T shirts that urge readers to Hug a Bug, and leaving them drinks in your cabin called Bed Bug Bombers. :D

Edited December 13, 2012 by rbrugler

[Choochala]

"La la la la la la la" (fingers insterted in my ears - or coverning my eyes, whatever the case may be) "la la la la la la la la"

[Alg63]

There are "reports" and there are "confirmed cases" ..2 different things. 98% of people would not be able to tell the difference between a bedbug and a flea or another bug.

[newmexicoNita]

ALG, you are completely correct. This has always been my theory, believe about 1/2 of what you see and less of what you hear. How many times do we see something being reported, and it is never confirmed. We were staying at a hotel in Tunnica, MS a few years ago, it happened to be a little older and not at all clean (which of corurse doesn't mean much when it comes to bed bugs) I was having trouble sleeping one night. As I lay awake I suddenly felt some little creature crawling up my chest, on my skin (no it wasn't my husband) anyway we turned on the light and there it was. of course I killed it or hope I did..Was it a bed bug, flea, whatever? Who knows...I certainly didn't go around telling everyone a bedbug had crawled up my chest.

[candycaramel]

Did anyone take pictures of the bugs in the cruise cabin?

[St Louis Cardinals]

I travel a lot. A couple of years ago I was at a Hilton in a major metro area. A co-worker received more than bed bug 100 bites (as reported by his physician). The Hilton denied the claim. I actually saw other claims about this hotel at bedbugregistry.com.

 

Anyway, my post is simply to warn everybody of this emerging threat. Due to all my travel, I have become our corporate bed bug 'freak'...but I am actually terrified of bringing them home. As per already stated, a cruise ship can most certainly have an infestation. Bed bugs like darkness and fabric. You can often find them in the seems/folds of bedding, furniture, and drapes. However, they will hind anywhere. They make their homes in or near beds because their food source is blood...and they are drawn to body heat. When you retire for the night, they will find you. Adults can actually survive up to 1 year without feeding...so lack of food does not necessarily kill them.

 

Whenever I travel, where ever I travel....my clothes remain in my suitcase. I bring a plastic bag for dirty clothes. I never unpack and use hotel furniture UNLESS I completely the bed....the bed is the best place to find them or their remains...blood stains as you may crush them in the night. I always check the mattress. These things are on average the size of an apple seed..perhaps a bit flatter...and they can be up to the size of the pinky finger nail. They are brownish and become a deep chestnut color after feeding. Guys, you can't miss these things...they are not like flees or gnats.

 

It is worth being concerned and it is worth inspecting any room in which you stay. If they go home with you.....it will be a very bad situation.

[daveintoledo]

this has been an education......

[toledo]

Live bed bugs are hard to catch, but they "poop" a lot. You want to look mattresses cording and boxsprings for black fecal spots. Also check out nightstands and behind headboards, if possible. Here's a pictutre of what you don't want to see:

 

http://www.michigan.gov/documents/emergingdiseases/mattress_fact_sheet_275417_7.pdf

[mitsugirly]

I have a tendancy to disagree with Toledo about "they are hard to catch" (unless you are saying they are hard to catch because they hide in the day light and they usually only come out at night) because I sure never had a problem catching them. I work for a hospital and people come in there all the time with bed bugs and we always have to scoop one up and put it in a urine cup to shut down the room and call the exterminator. They don't move fast (like a cockroach does).

 

To me, I think they almost look more like a tic when you first see them. They are about the same color, roundness and size.

[toledo]

Yes, I meant meant that the bugs, themselves, can be hard to find.

 

I can't imagine having to watch for them all the time at work. That, coupled with the fact that I've had them in my home, would lead me to PTSD. It's hard to believe that there are people walking around with them on their person, too. And you have to catch one in order to call an exterminator?!! Are you in Cinci, by any chance?

Edited December 14, 2012 by toledo

[mitsugirly]

I'm in Columbus. Oh yes, we have tons of people that come in with them crawling all over them and their clothes. We had one yesterday that came in and her entire back of her hair was matted and covered with them. :(

[Alg63]

I have thousands of them, keep finding them along the floorboards. Oh wait. Those are lady bugs

[HokiePoq]

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.

 

 

I've seen those sprays advertised, too. Can't imagine anything like that would have any effect at all, given how difficult it is for professional exterminators to control them. I'm thinking you meant 2013, although I'm one of those who could stand to take a couple years off the age, lol.

Apparently DDT was what kept them in check for so long. I can remember my great aunts going around the house with tube sprayers full of DDT shooting the flies....times have changed.

[dm33]

I wonder if the reason they were visible was because of some chemical that NCL had used to kill them? One trying to bite you while your wife can see it sounds out of normal behavior for them (not saying I know anything, just having read about them). They are normally pretty stealthy, and the dead ones in the bed also seem strange as it was the first day and the bedding would all be new.

 

Maybe they regularly treat cabins for them and the treatment killed most of them off and made the others wonky?

 

At any rate, I'm really sorry it happened. I'm glad they found you somewhere to move to and quickly.

 

I had sort of wondered that as well, but don't know enough about bed bug behavior.

 

I found the cabins too crowded, even in 3 dimensional space. There literally wasn't room for a pillow. It was four of us in the tiny room, significantly smaller than cabins we've had on the Sun. Even the little table had to overhang the bed because there wasn't enough room.

 

In the first cabin, the sheets from the pull out sofa were thrown under/inside the sofa with a black foam pad with lots of lint on it. Didn't seem like a clean place to put sheets, especially if there are bed bugs.

 

We found the bed bugs on the bed itself. It had many layers of padding for some reason. The other room we went to did not. Maybe they don't wash the padding and thats where the bugs were hiding. Seemed like a hard to clean setup.

My wife also described the bed bug as crawling out from the pillow. Maybe it was inside the pillow, not in the pillow case they wash.

 

I always thought cruises seem to clean I couldn't imagine bed bugs. Still say, yuck.

[St Louis Cardinals]

The only thing this thread was missing was a video!

 

[grandmarnnurse]

I had sort of wondered that as well, but don't know enough about bed bug behavior.

 

I found the cabins too crowded, even in 3 dimensional space. There literally wasn't room for a pillow. It was four of us in the tiny room, significantly smaller than cabins we've had on the Sun. Even the little table had to overhang the bed because there wasn't enough room.

 

In the first cabin, the sheets from the pull out sofa were thrown under/inside the sofa with a black foam pad with lots of lint on it. Didn't seem like a clean place to put sheets, especially if there are bed bugs.

 

We found the bed bugs on the bed itself. It had many layers of padding for some reason. The other room we went to did not. Maybe they don't wash the padding and thats where the bugs were hiding. Seemed like a hard to clean setup.

My wife also described the bed bug as crawling out from the pillow. Maybe it was inside the pillow, not in the pillow case they wash.

 

I always thought cruises seem to clean I couldn't imagine bed bugs. Still say, yuck.

 

My daughter, who cruised the Carnival Elation out of New Orleans, brought bed bugs home in her suitcases! Wasn't aware until recently, as she stores her suitcases under her bed and their sons beds. Both rooms became infected, but not in her daughter's room ( no suitcases stored in there) she now has an exterminator in their home, they have to stay in a hotel until treatment complete, plus the expense of buying zip enclosures for mattresses. A true nightmare!

[ClarkBHM]

My daughter, who cruised the Carnival Elation out of New Orleans, brought bed bugs home in her suitcases! Wasn't aware until recently, as she stores her suitcases under her bed and their sons beds. Both rooms became infected, but not in her daughter's room ( no suitcases stored in there) she now has an exterminator in their home, they have to stay in a hotel until treatment complete, plus the expense of buying zip enclosures for mattresses. A true nightmare!

 

That was a Carnival ship. This is an NCL board. Sigh.

I wish they'd lock posts once they go inactive for a year.

[mitsugirly]

My daughter, who cruised the Carnival Elation out of New Orleans, brought bed bugs home in her suitcases! Wasn't aware until recently, as she stores her suitcases under her bed and their sons beds. Both rooms became infected, but not in her daughter's room ( no suitcases stored in there) she now has an exterminator in their home, they have to stay in a hotel until treatment complete, plus the expense of buying zip enclosures for mattresses. A true nightmare!

 

 

The problem is...there's no way to really know WHERE they came from unless she seen them in the room she was staying in. They can be picked up (they are hitch hikers) from the plane she flew in on (if she didn't fly and drove, could have been at restaurant or bathroom she stopped at), at the hotel pre (or post) that she stayed in, at the port, in any of the ports she visited, and vice versa on the way home. These critters are hiding everywhere and a lot of times hard to spot...and usually after it's too late. :(

 

I just seen a write up in the local news paper here about them being on the city buses and people don't know. They can't keep them off of there. They are in department stores, furniture stores, grocery stores, hospitals...everywhere. :o

[GoofyCrew]

There's one way to find out - look! :)

 

I have made it a habit to pull back the corner of the sheets in hotels room to look for bed bugs and/or evidence of bed bugs. I did the same thing on our cruise. I haven't found any so far and we travel quite a bit.

 

As a precaution, we never bring the suitcases into the room until we've checked. We also unpack our suitcases from the garage when we get home and the laundry goes straight into the wash machine load by load. I look for evidence of them in the suitcases and on the clothes then too.

 

A friend of mine got them in their house due to her husband's extensive work travel. It took them a lot of money, time and headache to get rid of them! I don't want to stop traveling, but I definitely have educated myself on what to keep my eyes open for!!!