Refilling a water bottle in your cabin

Does the sink on most ships have enough room to fill a regular size water bottle? I don't want to have to hunt down one of the refilling stations. Some folks say it's not sanitary to refill a water bottle that way.

My plan is to drink club soda or Acqua Panna most of the time. I may buy some of the Aqua Fina to drink when I go off the ship.

BTW, I'll be on the Sun, if it makes any difference.

Just use one of the glasses provided in your bathroom to fill it.

Just use one of the glasses provided in your bathroom to fill it.

That's just too simple... :)

That's just too simple... :)

I was on the Sun last year and found the water undrinkable in my cabin most of the time (had a brown tint to it). I would refill only in the buffet area as the water stations are filtered there. Water fountains in public areas are also filtered. I believe the Sun is the oldest NCL ship and could use much plumbing work. That having been said, I had a great time on the Sun and am sure you will also. Enjoy!!!

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We've had no problems filling our water bottles at the bathroom sink no matter which ship we've been on. The water has always been clean, fresh and had a good flavor.

i've refilled my water bottle on gem,BA, and dawn.

no problems.

all the water is filtered on the ship according to the ship tour i went on.

All the water is not filtered. Some of the water may be taken on in port, and this is straight municipal water, with chlorine added. Some is made by distillation, so this could be considered "filtered" at a stretch. Some is made by reverse osmosis, and this would be "filtered" at an extreme.

The water at the buffet, drinking fountains, bar guns, the water stations the wait staff use in the dining venues, and all ice machines have a carbon filter to remove the chlorine from the water, for maintenance reasons, not for taste.

The brown tint to water in the cabins is caused when the piping system is shut off for repairs. The chlorine and calcium carbonate in the ship's water tends to form a scale on the inside of the pipes, which is completely harmless as long as the pipes stay full of water. When the pipes are drained for repairs, the scale dries out and flakes off the pipes (and this will happen to new ships or old, and regardless of the type of pipe material used). Since the water in the ship's pipes is under constant circulation (unlike on shore), this scale will typically be removed from most of the pipes in a couple of minutes. However, the "static" legs, like the branch lines going to each cabin's sink and shower, will tend to accumulate this scale. Running the water for a minute or so typically clears this up.

You can certainly fill your bottle from your sink...not an issue. The water will NEVER "run cold" tho...so put it in the fridge or use ice.....the sink water is the same stuff that's used in your food and beverages...and the ice!

Room service can bring pitchers of ice water to your room for no extra charge. I would just call and ask for one or two a day and refrigerate them also.

I sailed NCL last May. I called Guest Services to ask if the water in the sink was potable. She (no name ???) said "technically, yes, but call room service and have them bring you a pitcher of ice water". There was no service charge for this. Your room steward can fill your ice bucket daily or twice daily and leave a pitcher of 'good' water for you 1 or 2x a day. JHMO .... I would NOT drink that sink water.

Have had no issues filling my water bottles in our cabin.

The brown tint to water in the cabins is caused when the piping system is shut off for repairs. The chlorine and calcium carbonate in the ship's water tends to form a scale on the inside of the pipes, which is completely harmless as long as the pipes stay full of water. When the pipes are drained for repairs, the scale dries out and flakes off the pipes (and this will happen to new ships or old, and regardless of the type of pipe material used). Since the water in the ship's pipes is under constant circulation (unlike on shore), this scale will typically be removed from most of the pipes in a couple of minutes. However, the "static" legs, like the branch lines going to each cabin's sink and shower, will tend to accumulate this scale. Running the water for a minute or so typically clears this up.

Great explanation, thanks! I always wondered what caused that in a relatively small, closed loop system. I expect the occasional burst of silt in my domestic water due to broken main lines.

Does the sink on most ships have enough room to fill a regular size water bottle? I don't want to have to hunt down one of the refilling stations. Some folks say it's not sanitary to refill a water bottle that way.

 

My plan is to drink club soda or Acqua Panna most of the time. I may buy some of the Aqua Fina to drink when I go off the ship.

 

BTW, I'll be on the Sun, if it makes any difference.

we use the bathroom sink. We may have to tip the bottle a little and not be able to get it completely full, but it works ok.

I sailed NCL last May. I called Guest Services to ask if the water in the sink was potable. She (no name ???) said "technically, yes, but call room service and have them bring you a pitcher of ice water". There was no service charge for this. Your room steward can fill your ice bucket daily or twice daily and leave a pitcher of 'good' water for you 1 or 2x a day. JHMO .... I would NOT drink that sink water.

Well, she, like 99% of the hotel staff on every cruise ship, has no idea what they are talking about when it comes to how things work on the ship they live and work on. The water in the sink is exactly the same water that is served from room service, at the dining venues, in the buffet, from the water coolers, from the bars, and used to make the ice and food served onboard. Not sure what she was drinking onboard, since crew have no access to room service for water or anything else, and again the water in her sink is the same as what she would get from the crew mess. It is perfectly safe to drink, and is in a better sanitized condition when it comes out of the cabin sink than the water from your sink at home, due to the constant recirculation of the water and the requirement to have residual chlorine present at all times in the water. USPH VSP (for ships calling in the US), ShipSan (for ships calling in the EU), and the WHO ship sanitation regulations all require that all water be held within safe limits, and are inspected regularly. The ship is required to test every water tank, and 6 random sources of water (sinks, showers, galleys, etc) around the ship monthly for water quality.

I was on the Sun last year and found the water undrinkable in my cabin most of the time (had a brown tint to it). I would refill only in the buffet area as the water stations are filtered there. Water fountains in public areas are also filtered. I believe the Sun is the oldest NCL ship and could use much plumbing work. That having been said, I had a great time on the Sun and am sure you will also. Enjoy!!!

 

 

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Actually the Spirit is the oldest ship in the fleet. The Sun and the Star were both put into water in 2001, purchased from Costa while in the building process. The Dawn came out just a few months later. I believe the Sun has just be refurbished, but I am not sure exactly when. As for plumbing problems, we have cruised her 3 times, never had a problem, but have heard others say the same. I think,from that standpoint, OP will have to decide based on their experience whether the water is safe to drink or not.

Well, she, like 99% of the hotel staff on every cruise ship, has no idea what they are talking about when it comes to how things work on the ship they live and work on. The water in the sink is exactly the same water that is served from room service, at the dining venues, in the buffet, from the water coolers, from the bars, and used to make the ice and food served onboard. Not sure what she was drinking onboard, since crew have no access to room service for water or anything else, and again the water in her sink is the same as what she would get from the crew mess. It is perfectly safe to drink, and is in a better sanitized condition when it comes out of the cabin sink than the water from your sink at home, due to the constant recirculation of the water and the requirement to have residual chlorine present at all times in the water. USPH VSP (for ships calling in the US), ShipSan (for ships calling in the EU), and the WHO ship sanitation regulations all require that all water be held within safe limits, and are inspected regularly. The ship is required to test every water tank, and 6 random sources of water (sinks, showers, galleys, etc) around the ship monthly for water quality.

So if you are a DIYer, fill up your water bottle from your sink. If you are not a DIYer call room service or talk to your cabin steward but remember to tip them well.

i fill in the bathroom, no issues. but i bleach wipe down the entire cabin, including the sink spout.

i fill in the bathroom, no issues. but i bleach wipe down the entire cabin, including the sink spout.

Wiping the spout with a bleach wipe will have almost no effect on whether the water is sanitized or not, unless you take the aerator apart and clean all the interior parts and both sides of the aerating screen.

All the water is not filtered. Some of the water may be taken on in port, and this is straight municipal water, with chlorine added. Some is made by distillation, so this could be considered "filtered" at a stretch. Some is made by reverse osmosis, and this would be "filtered" at an extreme.

 

The water at the buffet, drinking fountains, bar guns, the water stations the wait staff use in the dining venues, and all ice machines have a carbon filter to remove the chlorine from the water, for maintenance reasons, not for taste.

 

The brown tint to water in the cabins is caused when the piping system is shut off for repairs. The chlorine and calcium carbonate in the ship's water tends to form a scale on the inside of the pipes, which is completely harmless as long as the pipes stay full of water. When the pipes are drained for repairs, the scale dries out and flakes off the pipes (and this will happen to new ships or old, and regardless of the type of pipe material used). Since the water in the ship's pipes is under constant circulation (unlike on shore), this scale will typically be removed from most of the pipes in a couple of minutes. However, the "static" legs, like the branch lines going to each cabin's sink and shower, will tend to accumulate this scale. Running the water for a minute or so typically clears this up.

ahh.. thought even the city water was filtered before reaching the passenger's lips.

interesting that the only difference between the water from the cabin bathroom sink and the water dispenser at the buffet is chlorine removal.

i did not notice a difference

On the Breakaway in Sept. I was in the casino and asked the bartender at the pop-up temporary bar by the casino food station for a glass of water. She said she had none. So I asked for a glass so I could fill it at the sink nearby since I was in a hurry. She said that the water from that sink is not drinkable, it's brown water. I know she is misinformed and just laughed it off, telling her I doubt that is true. Can you imagine them routing brown water to the hand washing sink...

Assuming that a cruise ship's potable water system works like those I worked with in the Navy, it's pretty simple. Any sink, shower, water fountain, or drink machine (including the flavored water and soda, which are mixed with water) use the same water. Any filtration that takes place happens as part of the reverse osmosis/distillation* process. I highly doubt there's a filter before water and drink stations on the buffet or anywhere else; that would be ridiculously difficult to install and maintain. There might be built in filters in the drink stations, but they're not there to remove chlorine or anything like that. Those filters are going to be much further down, probably before water goes into the tanks and then after it comes out of the tanks and into the loop of the drinking water system.

Pier/city water goes straight into the loop; unless the ship aligns to fill their tanks (which they might; you don't want to make water within 3 nautical miles of land, because then you have to filter out a lot of sludge) it doesn't go through any onboard filtration system. I'm not entirely positive that it would go through filtration even if they do fill the tanks, though. I'd have to see system drawings to know for sure, since ships are always built a little differently from one another.

As for "brown" (probably gray) water, you're never going to find a faucet of any type that spits it out. Gray water is drainage from sinks, dishwashers, showers, etc. Why align it so that it can come out of anything (except a pipe if it breaks)? There's no use for brown water, and once you're a certain distance from land, in accordance with international law, you can pump brown water right over the side. Black water is CHT (sewage), and that goes straight into a tank or over the side, again depending on how far from land you are. Any crew member who thinks you can get brown or black water from a sink has been misinformed or doesn't understand that the drain in that sink is going to brown water; the sink isn't providing it.

*I would actually be surprised if there are any cruise ships left with flash-type distillation systems such as evaporators. They're murderously difficult to maintain and even the US Navy has finally started replacing all of the evaps with RO machines (and the Navy is always behind the technology power curve). Reverse Osmosis is much lower maintenance, and ROs are smaller and much more reliable. Evaps break all the time, and the last thing any cruise ship wants is to tell their passengers that they're running out of water.

On the Breakaway in Sept. I was in the casino and asked the bartender at the pop-up temporary bar by the casino food station for a glass of water. She said she had none. So I asked for a glass so I could fill it at the sink nearby since I was in a hurry. She said that the water from that sink is not drinkable, it's brown water. I know she is misinformed and just laughed it off, telling her I doubt that is true. Can you imagine them routing brown water to the hand washing sink...

If she said "brown" water, then she is doubly wrong. What she meant was "gray" water. And gray water is drain water from sinks, showers, galleys, laundries, and decks, basically anything other than toilets, as "gray" water and "black" water (toilets) are completely separate systems on ships, unlike on land.

Some ships will use their treated waste water (the combined gray and black water that has been through the advanced waste water treatment plant and is essentially pure water) as "technical" water, and it could be used for engineering, or in the centralized garbage disposal system that flushes all the food waste from the dishwash stations to a central holding tank. Technical water is not drinking water, and its use onboard is strictly regulated.

Have your butler bring you pitchers of water that you can keep in the refrigerator.

We bring our Camelbak water bottles with filters and fill them with water from the bathroom sink in our cabin all the time. Water tastes fine and the filter seems to do its job well. My hubs brought his Camelbak with filter and I brought my regular Camelbak water on our first Escape cruise. I noticed a difference in water taste, mainly the chlorine taste. Took my filtered Camelbak on our second Escape cruise and noticed the water tasted much better.

These are the ones we take: https://www.amazon.com/Camelbak-Products-Groove-Bottle-0-6-Liter/dp/B00G46CK0M/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1510076125&sr=8-3&keywords=camelbak+filtered+water+bottle&dpID=41fwzf1kKbL&preST=_SY300_QL70_&dpSrc=srch

Have your butler bring you pitchers of water that you can keep in the refrigerator.

Butler??? Not all of us are fortunate enough to be in a suite. But those of us with no butler can easily ask our cabin steward -- or room service -- to bring a daily pitcher of ice water.