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Bed Bugs on Holland America at all?

Webster1

By Webster1,
in Holland America Line

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IRL_Joanie

IRL_Joanie

Posted
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We have been reading a lot about Bed Bugs lately and wondered if this is anything we need to be concerned about with Holland America? Our trip this year will be on the Noordam.

 

Question has been asked 3 or 4 times over the past couple of weeks. Answer has been no every time:)

 

Also stated in past replies by latest cruisers is that you are more likely to see them (EWWW) in hotels you stary in pre or post cruise.

 

Joanie

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DizzyDallasDi

DizzyDallasDi

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I will say that this time in Bermuda I saw cockroaches on the streets and that grossed me out. They'd run right out in front of you while walking at night. I was doing dances around them for fear of the "crunch"

 

OMG...do you have a crunchy bug phobia like me??? I am deathly afraid of any bug that crunches when you step on it but if I found a snake in my tub I'd probably play with it. ;)

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bobalink

bobalink

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Eeeewwwww... I can tell you for sure there were no bugs on the Noordam last month.

 

We stayed at the Hotel Artemide in Rome for 4 days pre-cruise and there were no bed bugs there, either! Lovely hotel, delicious breakfast included.

 

I think bed bugs can be a problem at hotels, but I have not heard of any on a cruise ship yet.

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cruisecrasy

cruisecrasy

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Eeeewwwww... I can tell you for sure there were no bugs on the Noordam last month.

 

We stayed at the Hotel Artemide in Rome for 4 days pre-cruise and there were no bed bugs there, either! Lovely hotel, delicious breakfast included.

 

I think bed bugs can be a problem at hotels, but I have not heard of any on a cruise ship yet.

 

Celebrity Summit - August, 2010, Cabin 8021 & RCCL Vision of the Seas, Cabin 3049..

At least thats all that has been reported as far as I know anyway!

 

There have been 'bed bug' threads & sometimes more than one that I am aware of on Celebrity, Princess, Carnival, RCCL, Crystal & HAL (excluding this one)..! One goes back to 2005 :O

Edited by cruisecrasy
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kakalina

kakalina

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Most certainly. Some friends of ours had a terrible time with them on the Statendam last year. They took all the bedding, mattresses and such out of the room and they were still being bitten. They were eventually moved to another cabin after visits to the Doctor and lots of meds for the bites.

Edited by kakalina
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terigo

terigo

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OMG...do you have a crunchy bug phobia like me??? I am deathly afraid of any bug that crunches when you step on it but if I found a snake in my tub I'd probably play with it. ;)

 

I'm the same.... I can deal very nicely with anything that has 4 legs or fewer.

Once we get to 6 legs or more, no thanks!... and if they crunch, I shudder just thinking about it!

 

I always laugh that here in Florida they call em "Palmetto bugs", but they are just plain ol' roaches as far as I'm concerned... well, except they are a whole lot bigger and can fly....ick

We consider pest control one more expense, like mortgage and utilities... I want no creepy crawlies in my house!

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cruz chic

cruz chic

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Most certainly. Some friends of ours had a terrible time with them on the Statendam last year. They took all the bedding, mattresses and such out of the room and they were still being bitten. They were eventually moved to another cabin after visits to the Doctor and lots of meds for the bites.

Yuk! Luckily I never saw them in my 40 days on that ship:eek:.

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Maxine

Maxine

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OOOh I am so grossed out! Last night I had a nightmare about bedbugs in my suitcase and this morning I get on here and see this thread. I hope I don't read anymore about them before our cruise next month. Did anyone see that horrible special about them on Friday night? Said they are training dogs to sniff them out just like the drug sniffers. Guess where the trainer orders his bedbugs from to use in training. NEW YORK!

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Jacqueline

Jacqueline

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Just curious... I have not yet heard of meds for bed bug bites. They are gross but do not carry disease. And not evertone gets bit or has a reaction.

I been to a demo on how dogs sniff them out and heard the exterminators explanation of infestations. They were really tryng to scare the daylights out of everyone. On one hand, it is pretty hopeless. Anyone can carry them into a clean environment. They can climb into your handbag at a department store. They can be in seams of clothign that you bring home. They can be in movie theaters, on airplanes (they come out once the lights are off), dresser drawers, wall outlets, under wall paper, etc etc). they are real hitchhkers and very resilient.

The dog trainer has to feed his bed bugs for training the dog and he showed us his arm where he lets them do their thing.

There seem to be more bed bug threads than bed bugs...

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photomikey Great Review Rare

photomikey

Posted
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Question has been asked 3 or 4 times over the past couple of weeks. Answer has been no every time:)

 

Also stated in past replies by latest cruisers is that you are more likely to see them (EWWW) in hotels you stary in pre or post cruise.

There is nothing Holland America does differently than any hotel chain to prevent bedbugs - it is not fixed by an issue of "cleanliness", otherwise... everyone would be doing whatever it was that got rid of them.

 

Even more troubling is that there is nothing *you* can do to inspect or prevent bedbugs.

 

Ew!

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IRL_Joanie

IRL_Joanie

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There is nothing Holland America does differently than any hotel chain to prevent bedbugs - it is not fixed by an issue of "cleanliness", otherwise... everyone would be doing whatever it was that got rid of them.

 

Even more troubling is that there is nothing *you* can do to inspect or prevent bedbugs.

 

Ew!

 

Actually, photomikey, ALL Cruise Lines do something VASTLY different than MOST Hotels and other land based facilities do not.... They Wash all the linens and clean the rooms to include the bed spreads more often. They take care of any reported pest infestations much more quickly than MOST land based facilities.

 

But as posted by others, it is easy to pick them up anywhere. So none of us is guaranteed to have a bug free ship:eek: BUT, we can do everything in our power to make sure that we do our best NOT to bring them aboard, just as we do to prevent Noro Virus.

 

Joanie

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Jacqueline

Jacqueline

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Bed Bugs live in the mattresses (among other places such as outlets)...and they come out at night. Washing the linens would only take care of the blood that drips out of the victims bites. BB do not live in linens or bedspreads. They need human blood to live. They are not easily killed either.

All these facilities, hotels and cruise ships alike have the same challenges. Maybe it is easier on a ship as there are the same passengers for weeks at a time..

The advice the exterminator gave on travel (which was pretty much what I saw on TV) was unreasonable. Example-keep your clothes and suitcase in the bathtub as that is the only certain place to be pest free. Take a flashlight and look like everywhere in around and under the bedding! He would not have us put our clothes in drawers. He also does not believe in using the luggage stands as those are host sites. After a while it just got to be so impossible that I just gave up on the whole premise of trying to avoid them.

My daughter worked at a camp for disabled adults this summer many of whom live in group homes. All of their clothes were opened onto white sheets and inspected for BB. Every two weeks the beds were treated by an exterminator (between sessions). they did have BB but they also got rid of them, albeit not permanently.

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photomikey Great Review Rare

photomikey

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Joanie, I appreciate your thoughts. I have not seen any written confirmation that HAL washes their bedlinens any more often than any hotel chain, nor that washing kills bedbugs. Even if it did, I've never seen the couch cushions or the couch itself washed, nor the mattress that lies under the sheets. This is where bedbugs live and multiply.

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Islandbear

Islandbear

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From MSNBC

Bed bugs on cruise ships?

Question: I’m getting ready to go on a cruise, should I be concerned about bed bugs there? --Debbie

Answer: Because we know that bed bugs are an increasing problem (some would call it an epidemic), it is prudent to inspect any location away from home where you are planning to sleep. Inspect your cabin thoroughly, looking for signs of bed bugs prior to unpacking. Look behind the head board if possible, and inspect your mattress. There is no need to tear the room apart, but a close look at the mattress seams and inside the cabin drawers prior to putting away your clothes should become part of your traveling routine.

Editor's note: Dateline did receive some e-mails with anecdotes from cruise ship goers who say they were bitten.

USA TODAY:

Cruise Log reader jgibson60 has raised the issue in recent days in the Cruise Log's Forum, saying he just got back from a major, mass-market ship on which he discovered bed bugs in his cabin.

"I discovered my unauthorized bed mates on Friday, after returning from an excursion-filled day," jgibson60 writes in the forum thread. "I wanted to lie down and nap before changing for dinner, and as I put my head down on a pillow, I saw (one) tucked in a fold of another pillow. OMG!"

Executive Travel Magazine:

Sep 6 2010, 8:02 AM EDT | Post edited: Sep 6 2010, 8:02 AM EDT

Just returned from a cruise on the NCL "Spirit". I am loaded with bed bug bites. I haven't complained to anyone at NCL as yet but the wierd problem is that I have bites only on my forearms, and thighs and legs. I'm guessing that I got the bites while sitting in one of the cushy chairs in the theater or at one of the bars. I wore shorts and tee shirt and since my wife had no problems, I must assume I didn't get the bites in our bed, which by the way was in the upper deck with a balcony; definitly not the cheap seats.

 

A quick google search came up with hundreds of hits. There is no way that if hotels have them that cruise ships wouldn't.

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