Platinum Member with Bed Bugs on Epic 3/15/15

[punkincc]

It sounds like only you were bitten. How did this occur if you were on the desk all night? Where did your family spend that night?

 

The fact that only you got one bite and WDW says it was a centipede makes a lot of sense. Florida is tropical and has many types of centipedes. Their bites can be horrible!

 

Please put your mind at ease because it probably was a centipede. And you got upgraded to a better resort so THAT was your compensation.

 

You still could have visited the parks while your things were treated.

 

Let's stick to the OP's post and not get off track on the WDW experience, but in all fairness, as far as one person only being affected, this is entirely possible. My DH and I can sit side by side and I will be bitten multiple times by Mosquitos. Him, zero. And I think the bb literature also indicates some people do not react to bites and would be oblivious that there is an issue. Either the bbs are attracted more to one person or another, OR, the other person was bitten but had no reaction whatsoever to the bite. And I think she either left the hotel at her own accord on a package which included the rate for THAT hotel. The other was more expensive, and she had to put up the difference.

[NLH Arizona]

Here's my take. He says that the wife noticed a bite after a nap on embarkation day, before the ship had sailed. According to the CDC, bed bug bites inject a anesthetic into the bite, so you are not aware of the bite, and they are usually not noticed until the welt starts to appear, which is usually one to three days after the bite, and can take up to 14 days to appear. I think that if these were bed bugs (and shining a black light on their legs would only indicate that they had not washed after the bed bugs), then they were bitten somewhere prior to boarding the ship.

Do bed bugs come out in the day? I believe that they are only come out at night.

[punkincc]

Do bed bugs come out in the day? I believe that they are only come out at night.

 

This is generally correct. During the day, they hide in the mattress seams and other dark areas. But, most people are in bed at night, the bugs are attracted to the warmth or Co2, and come out and bite. But, that does not mean that if you lie down on the bed for a nap at 2PM, that a few may not crawl out of their hiding places and have a little snack.

 

The OP's bites could have occurred two days before, the night before,mthe afternoon before. Not way to know. If bbs were actually confirmed in their cabin, one would assume the bites came from there. Unless confirmed, there is no way to know when or where it happened.

Edited March 24, 2015 by punkincc

[chengkp75]

This is generally correct. During the day, they hide in the mattress seams and other dark areas. But, most people are in bed at night, the bugs are attracted to the warmth or Co2, and come out and bite. But, that does not mean that if you lie down on the bed for a nap at 2PM, that a few may not crawl out of their hiding places and have a little snack.

 

I would think you would need to be under the covers before any snacking would happen, but my main difficulty is with sensing the bites after only a few hours.

[detroitlions]

I tried to look up UV light to check skin for bedbug bites and couldn't find anything. :rolleyes: I wondered why bites would be examined by a UV light in the first place and why that would not have been done when they were examined in medical?

Only the urine and fecies show up in the light. Nasty

[chengkp75]

Only the urine and fecies show up in the light. Nasty

 

That's why I said that looking at their legs with a black light would only show if they had not showered since the bite. Nasty.

[punkincc]

I would think you would need to be under the covers before any snacking would happen, but my main difficulty is with sensing the bites after only a few hours.

 

I would think it much less likely when lying on the spread, but they like to hide in cracks and crevices of the head and footboard as well, so I think it's possible.

 

I think in someone who is very sensitive to the bites, a reaction could easily occur very quickly. But the most likely scenario would be a day or so later. I know I have discovered myself to have bites all over on a day I have not left the house, but I was outside all day the day before. Common sense says I was not bitten that day in the house, but the day before and the reaction and itch did not begin until a day later.

[LrgPizza]

It sounds unlikely that this was a bed bug bite. This is why it is good that NCL doesn't overreact by refunding cruise costs and such. Can you imagine how many people would be screaming "bed bugs!!" at the sight of a teenage pimple if they thought they'd get their cruise for free? I think the compensation was fair considering the circumstances, and the OP needs to move on.

[zqvol]

Well OP has managed to do just what they want whihc was to stir up the pot. This was OPs first and only post and most people bit - hook, line, and sinker.

 

OP hasn't been back and I doubt that they will, and it wasn't even April 1st.

 

Great but totally unbelievable story.

[NLH Arizona]

Since I don't ever remember hearing about bed bugs as a child or even when I grew up and started traveling, I thought I would do a little research and see why there has been such problems with them in the last 10 or so years.

 

It seems as though bed bugs were abundant in the United States prior to WWII, but vanished in the late 1940's and 1950's, because of improvements in hygiene and the use of pesticides. These little critters seemed to have waged a worldwide come back in 2000 and an outbreak after the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney was a harbinger of things to come.

 

Now I know why I didn't start hearing about them until lately.

[punkincc]

It sounds unlikely that this was a bed bug bite. This is why it is good that NCL doesn't overreact by refunding cruise costs and such. Can you imagine how many people would be screaming "bed bugs!!" at the sight of a teenage pimple if they thought they'd get their cruise for free? I think the compensation was fair considering the circumstances, and the OP needs to move on.

 

Well, we have no way to know what NCL actually found in the cabin. If we can believe the OP regarding the cleaning and or exterminating procedure in progress, it appears they may have found bedbugs. But NCL knows what the situation is. If nothing was found, the OP will get nothing further. If they did find them, it's up to NCL to decide whether to compensate further.

 

Based on the way the OP is handling the situation with this letter to NCL and posting here, I doubt NCL will bother.

[goldesq]

It sounds like only you were bitten. How did this occur if you were on the desk all night? Where did your family spend that night?

 

The fact that only you got one bite and WDW says it was a centipede makes a lot of sense. Florida is tropical and has many types of centipedes. Their bites can be horrible!

 

Please put your mind at ease because it probably was a centipede. And you got upgraded to a better resort so THAT was your compensation.

 

You still could have visited the parks while your things were treated.

 

I dont want to take away from the OPs posting but I will explain a bit more without going into major amounts of detail.

 

At 1130, I got into bed and within a few minutes, I saw a bug crawl across the top sheet. I got up and immediately showed my mother, who I was traveling with. She had not gotten into bed yet. I was shocked, in disbelief and then started getting very upset realizing what it was.

 

I called the front desk. Housekeeping then a housekeeping manager came. I took a picture of the one bug I could capture and then the manager took the bug with him in a cup.

 

We requested a room change and left the room immediately and waited for a new room in the hallway. During that time, I called another hotel and made reservations for the rest of the trip. In the new room at the same hotel, housekeeping changed all the sheets and checked for bugs before we entered the room. I sat on the desk that night completely freaked out by the entire experience.

 

Bites (multiple) on me were noticed the next morning on my neck and back. It was not a centipede. I have photos of the one bug I captured. It IS a bed bug. There is no doubt at all that what I saw and what I pictured was a bed bug. There is just no way is a hotel going to admit to having bed bugs.

 

The upgrade to the better resort was paid for by ME. It was NOT paid for by the bed bug hotel or the airline that had this Disney package that I had already paid for in full prior to arriving. Thus I paid for hotel nights in a hotel I did not use PLUS a new hotel that was triple the price that I did stay in (it was all that was available within the Park for that time).

 

No...we could not go to the Parks while this was going on. We arrived at the new hotel at 8 am. The new hotel knew why we were there (bed bug issue) and treated us well but rightly so, had protocol for situations like this. It took an hour for us to get new clothes and change out of the old clothing in the gift shop changing room. We then gave our old clothing and packed clothing to them which we then had to go through with them, separate as well as document for their cleaning service. That took another hour. We had a quick bite to eat and checked in. Took another 45 minutes. Since they had been completely booked the night before, we had to wait until about noon for the room but by that time, our clothing came back which they wanted us to check to ensure every item came back. That took another half hour.

 

Moreover, understand I had not slept AT ALL the night before. I was exhausted. By the time all this settling in and checking and changing was done, it was about 2 PM. Also, we still had not received the wheelchair from the old hotel which we were told by the old hotel was being sent over by a mini-van following the town car we ordered to take us to the new hotel. The chair never came even after I called a few times. We ended up having to rent a motorized chair the next day at the Park until the original wheelchair company picked up the wheelchair at the old hotel and personally brought it the next afternoon the new hotel.

Edited March 24, 2015 by goldesq

[Laszlo]

I'll never understand why people are "Shocked" or in "Disbelief". Insects have been around for a lot longer than we have been. And they will outlive the human race. Bugs are everywhere...............

[goldesq]

Let's stick to the OP's post and not get off track on the WDW experience, but in all fairness, as far as one person only being affected, this is entirely possible. My DH and I can sit side by side and I will be bitten multiple times by Mosquitos. Him, zero. And I think the bb literature also indicates some people do not react to bites and would be oblivious that there is an issue. Either the bbs are attracted more to one person or another, OR, the other person was bitten but had no reaction whatsoever to the bite. And I think she either left the hotel at her own accord on a package which included the rate for THAT hotel. The other was more expensive, and she had to put up the difference.

 

I only posted because I think people react to bugs differently. Some people are interested in them, some couldnt care less and some hate them while some have phobias of certain bugs (I mean real phobias and not just regular fear).

 

My mom was not bitten as she did not get in bed yet. And yes, the package included air and hotel. I had to pay out of my own pocket for the new hotel and it was the only one on property available at that time.

[NLH Arizona]

The new hotel knew why we were there (bed bug issue) and treated us well but rightly so, had protocol for situations like this. It took an hour for us to get new clothes and change out of the old clothing in the gift shop changing room.

I'm so totally surprised, under the circumstances and their protocol, that the new hotel let you change clothes in their gift shop changing room, since you could have passed the bugs from your old clothes to their clothing, carpet, etc. Maybe they might new protocols. Edited March 24, 2015 by NLH Arizona

[goldesq]

I'll never understand why people are "Shocked" or in "Disbelief". Insects have been around for a lot longer than we have been. And they will outlive the human race. Bugs are everywhere...............

 

Yup..bugs are everywhere but I dont get into bed at night, particularly on vacation, pulling up the covers, thinking, 'bugs are everywhere' or 'maybe I will see a bed bug tonight'.

 

So yes, when I saw the first bed bug crawl across the top sheet, I was shocked and could not believe it. I really dont think anyone would not be initially shocked or wonder, what the ###.

Edited March 24, 2015 by goldesq

[goldesq]

I'm so totally surprised, under the circumstances and their protocol, that the new hotel let you change clothes in their gift shop changing room, since you could have passed the bugs from your old clothes to their clothing, carpet, etc. Maybe they might new protocols.

 

They actually asked us to go buy the clothing and bring the new clothing back down but I decided to change in the changing room (it was actually stock room but I wont get into specifics as to this). I wanted that old clothing off so fast that I actually was freaking out a bit in the gift shop so they let me go to that room.

Edited March 24, 2015 by goldesq

[Laszlo]

Yup..bugs are everywhere but I dont get into bed at night, particularly on vacation, pulling up the covers, thinking, 'bugs are everywhere' or 'maybe I will see a bed bug tonight'.

 

So yes, when I saw the first bed bug crawl across the top sheet, I was shocked and could not believe it. I really dont think anyone would not be initially shocked or wonder, what the ###.

 

I guess you have never been camping or backpacking :eek::D

Edited March 24, 2015 by Laszlo

[newmexicoNita]

Do bed bugs come out in the day? I believe that they are only come out at night.

 

I have never heard of them in the day, but I guess anything could happen. Because they supposidly do not like day light, is one reason it is so hard to be sure what a bite might be. I think many of us just think, because we slept and had a bite the next day it was a bb.

[NLH Arizona]

I have never heard of them in the day, but I guess anything could happen. Because they supposidly do not like day light, is one reason it is so hard to be sure what a bite might be. I think many of us just think, because we slept and had a bite the next day it was a bb.

I didn't think so either, but after the one poster said they did, I did some research. They do come out in the light if they are hungry enough.

[newmexicoNita]

I'll never understand why people are "Shocked" or in "Disbelief". Insects have been around for a lot longer than we have been. And they will outlive the human race. Bugs are everywhere...............

 

My feelings exactly. It isn't the fault of the ship, hotel, whatever, most bugs will not kill us or even really hurt us and yes, they are everywhere!!!

[goldesq]

I guess you have never been camping or backpacking :eek::D

 

Expectations go along with your circumstances and environment. Although your comment has nothing to do with my post, and was rather 'smart alecky', yes I would expect bugs on a camping trip while in a sleeping bag.

 

However the OP was in a bed on a cruise ship and I was in a bed in a hotel. As a result, yes, I was shocked and in disbelief initially when I saw one crawl across the top sheet.

[newmexicoNita]

too funny and oh so true. If someone has a phobia to anything, it is sad, and yes, very real, but it is something only the person can deal with. They can't expect respond to their fears.

[sixesandeights]

I honestly wish bed bugs on some of you people....your responses are insane.

 

Bed bugs are a blood sucking parasite, not a simple bug to be ignored. In addition to leaving very painful ugly bites, they also have the possibility of spreading disease. They also infect all the clothing you bring putting your home at risk after your trip.

 

It is in no way acceptable for a hotel or a cruise ship to expect ANY PERSON to stay in a room with these bugs.

 

Things like comparing a stay on a cruise ship to camping is pure stupidity, and anyone that responded as such should be ashamed.

 

I will leave you with some reading on Bed bugs spreading disease:

 

http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/news_releases/2014/11/levy/

 

6&8

Edited March 24, 2015 by sixesandeights

[Laszlo]

Please, bed bugs are nothing compared to the tick which gave me Lyme 5 years ago.