Prepare for the Bed Bugs on Carnival Inspiration

[quickrate]

As someone who's allergic to permethrin, I really hope everyone doesn't start treating their own rooms. :( If the prior occupants sprayed this stuff all over I would spend my cruise with my eyes swollen shut and unable to breathe. I used to have to have a rider on my lease when I lived in an apartment years ago that they wouldn't spray my apartment because of it. QUOTE]

 

When I ordered my bedbug killer spray I had you and the next guest in mind. Once used, it will only last for one week, but great for our suitcases before we travel and for the trip home. Mind over matter is priceless!

 

It's amazing to me that we are more afraid of bugs than we are the toxic chemicals we use to get rid of them!:eek:

pat

[misstopgun]

How do you know it was a bed bug? You were on islands. You could have been bitten on the island. YOU could have carried the bug back with you. You found no other bugs? Over reacting a little?

On many cruises I have been plagued with bites but the problem doesn't happen until after my first beach excursion. My husband on the other hand never gets bitten. Guess I am sweeter than him. I never attributed these bites to something in the cabin as I have no issues after boarding and usually there is a day at sea before the issues arrive. The bites are usually on the legs which also suggest I am being bitten by something in the sand. Never saw a bed bug and I do look. I think the cabins have much better housekeeping than most Hotels.

[hoop4321]

my friend had an infestation after coming home from new york. Her arms had many bites, with a few on her chest. From what she was told, they love the arms and that is where she was bitten. Not on the head or face. Who knows....none the less, i am thankful for the insight on what to do with the luggage!

[pe4all]

While not freaking out about this bedbug epidemic all over, I do plan on taking giant plastic garbage bags to place my empty suitcases in before I place them under the cabin beds.

[truchattycathy]

OK I Just have to ask...who videos a bug on their robe? I would kill the little sucker and flush him down the toilet, not stand there waiting for him to jump on me while I retrieve my video camera to tape him. Sorry for the sarcasm, I just don't get it.

[DaisyGirl55]

Sailed on the Inspiration (great ship by the way!) on 11/1...no problems with our room or our friend's room (both on Empress deck)

[Hei1980]

While not freaking out about this bedbug epidemic all over, I do plan on taking giant plastic garbage bags to place my empty suitcases in before I place them under the cabin beds.

 

This is another great idea; will use it along with my minor spray.

 

Granddaughter had an apartment in NYC, where bed bugs rule the city, it made life miserable, even the baby had bites. The landlord did everything to control the bugs, yes, toxic chemicals………What would you have done? Don’t say, move, she did; back to Lake Placid, NY.

I hope now, not to bring the creepy-crawlies back from our of hotel stays and the cruise.

[blindrid]

While not freaking out about this bedbug epidemic all over, I do plan on taking giant plastic garbage bags to place my empty suitcases in before I place them under the cabin beds.

 

And how would you hermetically seal them, it's not like tying the bag shut will make any difference. To me another over reaction but it it makes you feel better, do it.

[morganboys]

I guess I wouldn't consider 1 bug and infestation. seems like alot of fuss over 1 bug. From many cases I have seen locally I would say it was transferred from somewhere else. In most cases there are lots and mean lots of them.

[pe4all]

And how would you hermetically seal them, it's not like tying the bag shut will make any difference. To me another over reaction but it it makes you feel better, do it.

 

Not over-reacting. Just trying to be a bit more cautious in my approach to traveling. I teach in a school, and we battle lice all the time - plus every other virus/outbreak - you name it. If I were over-reacting, I wouldn't work where I am working. If there is a lice/bedbug breakout, all the kid's schoolbags and coats go into plastic bags, so they don't contaminate each other in the closets. And if the little critters can crawl thru a knotted bag on a cruise, they earned the right to bite me! (just kidding - before I get flamed) :p

[blindrid]

Not over-reacting. Just trying to be a bit more cautious in my approach to traveling. I teach in a school, and we battle lice all the time - plus every other virus/outbreak - you name it. If I were over-reacting, I wouldn't work where I am working. If there is a lice/bedbug breakout, all the kid's schoolbags and coats go into plastic bags, so they don't contaminate each other in the closets. And if the little critters can crawl thru a knotted bag on a cruise, they earned the right to bite me! (just kidding - before I get flamed) :p

 

I apologize as you have a whole lot more experience than I have. I didn't know you "battle tested". Good luck.

[pe4all]

I apologize as you have a whole lot more experience than I have. I didn't know you "battle tested". Good luck.

No need to apologize. :) Its just that I have learned, thru 31 years of teaching elementary school aged kids, that you can only do so much. Same with avoiding norovirus on a ship - you do as much as you can - and even then it is then hit or miss whether you get it or not! I am not thrilled with the bedbug epidemic - I will be spending a night in a hotel in NYC in a week for dh's bd celebration. Don't think I won't be thinking about bedbugs that nite!:p

[pnjkeith]

Another GIMME GIMME GIMME poster. Is this the hope and change you wished for? Lawyers suing for bed bugs. Ridiculous

[Raven Days]

I have the hebie jebies now thank you! I will be paranoid next week when I stay in my hotel and will think every little itch is bed bugs. As I sit here, I can feel the darn little things roaming over my body doing their darndest to get to my blood. :eek:

[blindrid]

No need to apologize. :) Its just that I have learned, thru 31 years of teaching elementary school aged kids, that you can only do so much. Same with avoiding norovirus on a ship - you do as much as you can - and even then it is then hit or miss whether you get it or not! I am not thrilled with the bedbug epidemic - I will be spending a night in a hotel in NYC in a week for dh's bd celebration. Don't think I won't be thinking about bedbugs that nite!:p

 

Your philosophy and mine are the same. I kind of figure I would go through all the hassles of going through the gyratins that some do to save themselves then walk outside and get hit by a bus.

[Lard Greystoke]

I have pictures of a real fat bug that was in our room, a mark on my scalp that appears to be a bite from a bug, documentation that Carnivals porter removed the bug from our room shortly after we woke up on our 6th day on the boat.

 

 

There is no reason to connect any of this extremely thin "evidence" with bedbugs.

[lillian marie]

I have to travel for my job and also check for bedbugs when I stay in a hotel. Carry a small flashlight with you on your cruise. Before you take your luggage into the room close your drapes and darken the room as much as possible ( an inside cabin of course makes this easy.) Leave for an hour and then keep the room dark when you return and check under the mattress, under the headboard and around any photos on the wall using the flashlight. Look on the mattress at the seams for dark smears-bedbug poo too. Bedbugs are a quarter of an inch long and can be seen. An acquaintance of mine owns a pest control company and he said any over the counter product is not going to kill bedbugs. It'll make them scatter but only heat-126 degrees up or freezing and chemicals totally kills them. Most pest companies use a combo of heat-steam and chemicals. Bedbugs can stay dormant and not eat-bite for a yr. He did suggest using large plastic zipper bags to cover luggage and to keep your clothes in your suitcases in hotels. Bedbugs are also found in furniture and closets. I'm now living truly out of suitcases in hotels. It's horrible and costly to get rid of them if you carry them home too-it can cost up to several thousands of dollars depending on the size of your house and the area of the country that you live in. They usually bite in a line pattern called breakfast, lunch and dinner-3 bites and you often have many bites from many bugs. The bites often cause a generalized rash effect too.

[The4Cruisers]

So the OP has an encounter with one bug (of some sort), tries to playit up into a free cruise, gets his 15 minutes of fame dissing CCL on the local TV network, and then gets a plug in for his upcoming ROYAL cruise.

 

Yep, my eyes hurt from rolling so much at this story! :rolleyes:

[halos]

As someone who's allergic to permethrin, I really hope everyone doesn't start treating their own rooms. :( .

 

Seriously, bed bugs are a horrible nuisance and if you bring them home it could be costly. BUT chemicals are hazardous...I can't believe all the talk about all this spraying going on here as if it's air freshener....

[vacruizer]

Seriously, bed bugs are a horrible nuisance and if you bring them home it could be costly. BUT chemicals are hazardous...I can't believe all the talk about all this spraying going on here as if it's air freshener....

 

I'm glad someone else gets it. Leave the spraying to the professionals who are trained in what chemical, the proper application method, and what quantity to apply it in.

[eas2225]

I understand that...I do have a question...did you incur any bites? Were there bugs in your mattress or just the boxspring?

I just wondered how the OP could have had bed bugs in the cabin and not been bit??

 

My husband and I both had some bites on our legs while on the cruise, but dismissed them thinking they were some kind of mosquito or sand fly, since we were in the Caribbean.

 

When we got home, my husband was getting bitten, but I didn't seem to have any bites.

 

We did not find any evidence of bedbugs in our mattress, but our boxspring was completely infested. There were "tracks" of fecal matter, and there was every stage of bedbug under the piping around the boxspring. We bought a zippered encasement for each and brought them to a dumpster.

 

Our total cost for treatment and replacement of everything was probably around $2500.

 

Even though they are not know to carry any kind of disease, they are disgusting and gross, and I would not wish them on my worst enemy.

 

Eileen

[Captain Carnival]

Bed bugs? Never heard of any issues on the Inspiration and I just got off her 4-days ago.

[stargazertechie]

What I do when I get to a hotel or stateroom is I immediately peel back my sheets, and pull out 2 or 3 women's maxi-pads (sanitary napkins). I peel the backing off and press them sticky side down into the creases of the mattress. If there are bedbugs, there will be red (blood) and/or brown (fecal matter) spots on the sticky of the maxi pad.

 

Take those to the manager. If the loud exclamations of bed-bugs doesn't get their attention, waving the maxi pads around in the lobby sure will:D:D:D

[lillian marie]

Great idea. I'm going to use that to see if there is bb fecal matter in the seams of the bed when I travel.

[Seago2]

Two things I've been thinking:

 

1. If DDT is illegal in the US, but these ships are all foreign flagged, why don't they spray the mattresses, etc, with DDT when they stop in a foreign, DDT-allowing port? Take an empty ship, go to Belize, spray the hell out of it, zip back home: done.

 

2. Can we all just start owning beagles ;). can we bring our beagles on board with us?