Ever see a rat onboard...not the passenger type...

[fishin' musician]

Dang those little stowaways! If rats weren't an issue there would not be guards on the mooring lines.

[TrumpyNor]

I doubt a rat would manage to stay on board a cruise ship for several days without being spotted by somebody....

 

But a few years ago, during an NCL cruise, I had a bird in the cabin. We were far out at sea, my DH was ready for dinner and I still had to do dry my hair and do my make-up. I told him to just go to the bar and wait for me there. So he left and I was sitting in front of the desk in the cabin putting on my earrings with the balcony door open, when I suddenly noticed some "movement" next to me. I almost died from the shock at first, but saw that it was a bird "flapping its wings" just a few feet from where I was sitting. It was the size of a large sparrow, and I was terrified (and so was the bird), and of course I did the logic thing :p - I screamed really loud and then ran in to the bathroom to "hide" from that "monster". After about 5 minutes I peered out of the door to see if the bird was still in the cabin, but didn't see it. My husband was waiting for me at the champagne bar, but of course I couldn't leave the cabin without being certain that the bird was gone.....! I must have been a funny sight, searching the cabin entirely (under the bed, behind furnitures, behind the curtains) with my heart pounding and my body all sweating from some kind of nervousness. Luckily the bird was gone - it probably got scared seeing that hysteric woman in front of it. I probably looked something like this: :eek: But what I found really annoying, was that nobody believed me when I explained why I came so late to the bar to meet up with my DH.....

Edited May 6, 2014 by TrumpyNor

[triptolemus]

I doubt a rat would manage to stay on board a cruise ship for several days without being spotted by somebody.....

 

What the rat guards on EVERY mooring rope I've ever seen suggest to me is that rats represent a significant issue aboard ship if left unchecked, spotted or not. Besides, I don't expect rat sightings are going to make tomorrow's Freestyle Daily...

[silvercrikhix]

In 4 cruises we have never seen one...thank you fate.

Hope I never see one.....ewwww.

 

But, I have no doubt they are there stowing away.

Yes the guards show proof.

Yes they hang out around docks.

I wonder how many get in with all the skids of supplies they load on?

Skids hang out in warehouses and rats love those.

 

Now that this was brought up, I'm hoping they aren't feeding them to us...LOL

[Medtech2]

I doubt lights in the cabin would stop them. Truthfully right now I can hear something in the wall near my fireplace and the lights are on. Me banging on the wall didn't faze it.

 

Is it a bird? A rat? Superman?

[Cruise4Sunshine]

If you live in a city or anywhere near the water, you probably have rats nearby. Whether these first time cruisers had real or imagined rats, it takes a while to eradicate them. I have been on more than 15 cruises and have never seen a rat, but on a Mekong cruise we had a cockroach the size of a mouse scurry by in our stateroom. The steward was in there in a flash and took care of it.

 

 

 

Sent from my Surface with Windows RT using Tapatalk

[chengkp75]

Rat guards are a bit of an anachronism. Some ports require them, some don't, so many ships will dispense with them and don't have rat problems.

 

Every cruise ship has a pest control officer, whose job is to deal with the possible rodent infestation by having bait stations around (have never seen a rat on a ship in 40 years), and the more common insect problems. This is mandated by USPH, and they get very upset if they see even one bug crawling anywhere.

 

My guess is that the LED lights that most ships use tend to do some "crackling" for a while when turned on or off. Some times we inadvertently leave a tool or part on the ceiling panels when working in a cabin, and these can roll around with ship's motion. Sometimes, loose electrical cables will slide back and forth, causing a "rustling" sound. Many, many reasons for nocturnal sounds in cabins, especially when the occupants are unfamiliar with the normal background noise of a ship.

 

Birds on ships are fairly common, and most are not in the best health. Generally, they've reached the ship weak and hungry, and there is not a lot of food available, and most do not survive more than a couple of days, unless they can find better food in a port. We had problems in Hawaii with the Pacific Shearwake, a protected species, and when overnighting in Kauai at certain times of the year (nesting season) we had to minimize deck lighting to keep the birds from being attracted to the ship instead of their nests.

[Pushka]

They have rat guards on the QM2 as we saw them during a behind the scenes your of the anchor and ropes deck. The shipping companies want them used.

[biker@sea]

I love cruising, I love NCL. I don't mean to put any false or inaccurate negativity out there unnecessarily, but.....

 

I sailed the Sky on deck 10 this past weekend. A couple weeks before sailing, 2 non-cruiser friends said they would like to join us....I have been trying to get them to cruise with us for years and was thrilled they were willing to give it a try. Their cabin was on deck 5. The first morning, I was horrified when they told me they swear there were rats running in their ceiling....i tried to pacify them saying i thought it was the ships movement....creaking parts of the ship.....people above them, maybe a dance area....etc. etc.....but by the third night being woke up, there was no more excuses to be had. They said when the lights went out and they stopped moving around, the scurrying started each and every night. They "tested" it by switching the lights on and off and making noise. When they started moving abut the cabin, all activity stopped. We certainly heard nothing like this in my cabin and I have sailed on the lowest deck on the Sky before and never noticed anything like this.

 

After I thought about it, I guess the lower decks would be more susceptible to such a problem......maybe they were over the trash area or kitchen? If it was that apparent, other folks must have had the same experience....what else could it be??? The thought of this creeps me out but won't stop me from cruising for sure but I do think it did my friends in...

 

None on our ship But the ship beside us in port HAD A 6 ft. One with BIG ear's !!!!

 

I think the ship was call Magic . :confused: LOL

Edited May 9, 2014 by biker@sea

[azappraiser]

Haven't seen any rats, but there were several whale sightings at the buffet :rolleyes: