Bed Bugs??

[cruisecat81]

Has anyone heard of any outbreaks of bed bugs on any of Carnival's ships? With all the recent press bed bugs have been getting, I'm really worried about my upcoming cruise on the Victory. Thanks.

[shof515]

if they were bedbugs on the ship, they will be toss overboard and dumped into the sea

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anyways, i didnt have any issues with bedbugs on the glory last week

[MIZZ_K]

Just off the Victory this past Sunday, no bed bugs, but I think sand fleas got me in St.Maarten.

[crp640]

About 5 years ago, back when my brother's brooklyn apartment building was invaded by bedbugs, i woke up one morning with about 6-10 suspicious bites on my back and feared the worse - that they had found their way across the east river and into my brand new apartment (which was fortunately only a third of the way furnished at the time) I went out and bought giant ziplock bags and washed everything that was washable and dried it on high and put it in bags. put everything i couldn't wash into bags. vacuumed everything that i could vacuum. ordered a mattress protector. and then waited for them to strike again (bedbugs typically feed every 7-10 days...so if there isn't a full blown infestation, you aren't going to get bit every night). and i started reading the forums over at http://www.bedbugger.com.

 

3 weeks later, no new bites, no evidence of bedbugs (blood stains on sheet, bedbug feces in corners of mattress)...though i did find a spider that was probably the source my bites, i realized that i was more scared of becoming a bedbug person than of bedbugs themselves. granted, i don't want to be feasted upon nightly and covered in itchy welts...but at least they aren't a vector for diseases (like mosquitos...or fleas...or roaches...). On the other hand, I'd just spent 3 weeks reading the postings of some very terrified and paranoid people. People who wouldn't were afraid to sit down on anything upholstered or wooden. People who don't have friends come over least they take home a hitchhiker and become similarly afflicted. People who lived out of plastic bags. People who were afraid to go on vacation.

 

I don't mean to trivialize it - Bedbugs are a real problem. They've been a real problem for years. While you might not be able to control whether you'll encounter them, especially if when traveling, you can minimize your chances of bringing them home by taking some pretty simple precautions.