If you’re getting ready to go on a cruise, the last thing you want to be worrying about is bed bugs. But it’s a mistake to overlook the possibility of bed bugs on cruise ships. It’s difficult to think of an environment that’s more conducive to picking up bed bugs and bringing them back to your home. Cruise ship rooms are just like hotel rooms in the sense that they are occupied by many people traveling from many different places, increasing the chances of bed bugs being brought in from areas of the world where bed bugs are more prevalent than where you live.
And cruise ships actually sail to some of these areas! That adds yet another risk factor, making it even more likely bed bugs on cruise ships will try to get into your luggage and clothing and return home from your vacation with you.
How to Protect Yourself Against Bed Bugs on Cruise Ships
Realizing the high potential for bed bugs on cruise ships, you should take the same precautions you take in hotel rooms:
- Thoroughly inspect rooms for signs of bed bugs before ever settling in–checking the bed frame, headboard, mattress, and all the furniture. Be sure to look at the underside of the furniture and in all drawers. Bed bugs will nest almost anywhere that’s out of sight, so you’ll even need to check places such as crevices in picture frames and the luggage stand.
- Demand another room if you find any signs and inspect that room just as thoroughly before accepting it.
- Be safe rather than sorry and assume your inspection may have missed bed bugs. Therefore, if possible, keep your luggage on the luggage stand (which you’ve already checked.)
- Hang up clothes, and for those that you want to put in a drawer, keep them enclosed in sealable plastic bags.
- When you return home, wash all clothes in hot water and dry overheat. Put the clothes in plastic bags (or disposable laundry bags that dissolve in water), and immediately wash them once you bring them inside, putting them directly from the bag into the washer.
- Treat your luggage overheat. If it’s hot outside, you can leave it in your car during the heat of the day. An even better solution is a portable heating unit into which you can place your luggage and heat it before ever bringing it inside.
More on Bed Bug Infestation
- Tips For Bed Bugs in Nursing Homes And Assisted Living Facilities
- How Do I Get Bed Bugs?
- I Found Evidence of Bed Bugs, Now What?
- What’s Causing The Bed Bug Epidemic?
- How To Check For Bed Bugs in Hotel Rooms
- New York City Bed Bug Infestation History
- Infestation of Bed Bugs in Dorms
- How Do Bed Bugs Spread?
- Bed Bugs In Mattress and Box Spring
- What To Know About The NYC Bed Bug Registry
