Update - Water Pitchers (jugs) being withdrawn from rooms

[CaroleSP]

The first time we cruised on RCL, we thought that we arrived in our stateroom too early, as the pitcher wasn't there yet. Well, after several hours, the light dawned and we realized that there wasn't going to be one. I mentioned this on my comment card, but our 2nd cruise on RCL showed that they didn't care about my previous comments. ;)

 

I hope there's still some on board when we hope aboard the Mercury in NOvember.

 

In the meantime, I will have to manage with just an ice bucket next month on the Explorer. Never thought of asking for water in a jug. We usually purchase water and keep it in the fridge in the cabin. It doesn't get too cold, but it is thirst quenching. Maybe this time, I will remember to buy some before we sail. Probably not! :rolleyes:

[mgcarnut]

Am I the only one that has always worried about the cleanliness of the water and ice jugs?

 

I can't say we never used the water or ice in the room, but I used it as little as possible -- and always wondered if the containers were cleaned on a regular basis...

 

So I'm glad to see them gone.

 

 

Why worry about water or ice jugs onboard ship when the REAL problem is the Airborne Viral Crucible created by hordes of people sick with the Cold of the Month? Last month on the Connie we went to the first production show in the Theater and heard DOZENS of people in the audience with that croupy cough that was going around. Sure enough, my wife comes down with that 4-week long virus later in the cruise, and it pretty much ruined our post-cruise time in Florida. Several other Cruise Critic folks mentioned they caught the cold as well.

 

They are now telling us at work that we should STAY HOME rather than pass colds and flu on to co-workers, but who would choose to do that if they had already paid for a cruise?

 

You can sanitize surfaces, wash your hands, and get rid of all the water or ice jugs you want, but it isn't going to prevent airborne exposure.

 

Cheers,

mgcarnut

[jerseygirl3]

I'm curious as to why you'd dislike the bathroom tap so much and consider that as being your choice a reason to be "forced" to drink bottled water? My understanding is that the water coming out of the tap in the bathroom is the same as the tap water that they put into the pitchers and also use to make ice out of.

 

I guess for the same reason I always keep my toothbruth in a plastic container....they say the germs "float" around the bathroom and toothbrushes are prone to picking up the bacteria if left uncovered. I don't drink out of the tap in the bathroom at home either. I feel the same way about the water faucet. It just doesn't seem clean to me and it is never, and I say never, cold. It's usually lukewarm.

[USVI-4-me]

We've planned b2b Equinox Med cruises for spring. I'm anxious to board, have the port adventures, and get home again. For me, it's time to say bye to cruising (after 25).... In addition to the up charges and numerous costly extras, there's no clothesline in the bathroom, no thalassotherapy pool, no good customer service at celebrity.com by email or phone to correct their own on-line computer generated booking errors, Plus, they've determined tier credits we earned before Jan. 2004 are not valid.

I feel Celebrity just doesn't appreciate my business.

Am I alone in feeling the value is no longer there?

[Bridge Maven]

I guess for the same reason I always keep my toothbruth in a plastic container....they say the germs "float" around the bathroom and toothbrushes are prone to picking up the bacteria if left uncovered. I don't drink out of the tap in the bathroom at home either. I feel the same way about the water faucet. It just doesn't seem clean to me and it is never, and I say never, cold. It's usually lukewarm.

 

Jerseygirl, I am the same way. Even though our master bathroom is very close to our bed, if I am thirsty in the middle of the night I will go to the kitchen and get a glass of iced water from our refrigerator door.

[jackdiamond]

I guess for the same reason I always keep my toothbruth in a plastic container....they say the germs "float" around the bathroom and toothbrushes are prone to picking up the bacteria if left uncovered. I don't drink out of the tap in the bathroom at home either. I feel the same way about the water faucet. It just doesn't seem clean to me and it is never, and I say never, cold. It's usually lukewarm.

Keeping your toothbrush in its plastic container, prevents it from becoming dry, which is in-efficacious for good dental hygiene.

[jerseygirl3]

Keeping your toothbrush in its plastic container, prevents it from becoming dry, which is in-efficacious for good dental hygiene.

 

Okay, maybe I'm giving away too much of my hygiene habits (LOL), but I completely dry the bristles with a towel before putting it away in the plastic container. I know, I'm a little anal....(no pun intended!)

 

Jo-Ann

[jerseygirl3]

Jerseygirl, I am the same way. Even though our master bathroom is very close to our bed, if I am thirsty in the middle of the night I will go to the kitchen and get a glass of iced water from our refrigerator door.

 

I solved this problem by getting a beautiful (decorative) glass decanter that sits on a beautiful round glass plate. Each night, I fill it with cold water and keep it in my bedroom so I don't have to use the master bath tap water nor do I have to go downstairs to the kitchen.

 

Problem solved!!!

 

Jo-Ann

[karpela]

It must be different in the US to here in the UK, but we only have drinking water from our cold tap (faucet) in our kitchens. We don't drink water from our bathroom taps and never have from any bathroom in any hotel I have stayed in as the water is not suitable for drinking. Is the water actually drinking water from the ship's bathroom taps then???:confused:

[mgcarnut]

It must be different in the US to here in the UK, but we only have drinking water from our cold tap (faucet) in our kitchens. We don't drink water from our bathroom taps and never have from any bathroom in any hotel I have stayed in as the water is not suitable for drinking. Is the water actually drinking water from the ship's bathroom taps then???:confused:

 

Interesting - I have never heard this about the UK. We drank water from the bathroom taps in London and Bath and never had a problem.

It would seem to me that if you had potable H20 in only the cold tap in the kitchen, you couldn't have a mixing faucet, due to the chance of bacteria migrating from the hot to the cold side. You would have to engineer some form of check valves/backflow preventers to prevent cross contamination. Does this mean you have two water supplies into your house, one potable and one non-potable?

Cheers,

mgcarnut

[karpela]

I'm no plumber and my DH isn't here to ask - but as far as I know we do have a seperate water tank for our drinking water which goes through a different pipe into our kitchens.:rolleyes:

[DonkeyB]

I'm no plumber and my DH isn't here to ask - but as far as I know we do have a seperate water tank for our drinking water which goes through a different pipe into our kitchens.:rolleyes:

In our house the Kitchen cold water and the lavatory are on mains.

The other taps(faucets) are from water tank supply, we would not drink from them, but the mains we would.

:)

[sailor2010]

On ships the sink in the bathroom has the same water as the sink in their kitchens/serving stations - that is why the comment of the room attendant to one cruiser is so absurd.

[excitedofharpenden]

Interesting - I have never heard this about the UK. We drank water from the bathroom taps in London and Bath and never had a problem.

It would seem to me that if you had potable H20 in only the cold tap in the kitchen, you couldn't have a mixing faucet, due to the chance of bacteria migrating from the hot to the cold side. You would have to engineer some form of check valves/backflow preventers to prevent cross contamination. Does this mean you have two water supplies into your house, one potable and one non-potable?

Cheers,

mgcarnut

I'm no plumber either, but I think in most houses here you have the rising main that supplies cold water directly to the kitchen cold tap and the tanks for the rest of the system. If you drink the water from the bathroom you are in effect drinking the stuff that has been sitting in the tanks. I don't think it would kill you, but it doesn't taste very nice.

 

Count me as someone who missed the jug on the last cruise. They gave me a coffee jug when I asked no problem, but it did taste of coffee a bit. I think part of my mindset for the pitcher is that the water out of the bathroom taps has not always been very clear and on some occasions it has been quite brown in colour. It was better on the newer ship, but I still liked the jug.

 

Phil

[mncyclist]

Seems to me that many people are just looking for signs of cutbacks or removal of service, but we should remember the tremendous value that a typical cruise represents. Sometimes I wonder how they can actually make any money and I believe the Royal Caribbean group has been running lower profit margins than the Carnival group. Having been on Celebrity for the first time just recently, we were pleasantly surprised (and sometimes shocked) by the very high level of service in nearly all areas.

 

Anyway, on our recent Century cruise, one of the first things we did was ask our room steward to REMOVE the water pitcher and glass set-up because we didn't think we'd use it and it took up a lot of space. Then, during the cruise, I continually re-used a small water bottle that I had bought in a grocery store in Miami, sometimes re-filling it at the water cooler in the gym. My wife brought a thermos from home.

 

On our very first cruise a few years back, we got it into our heads that we needed a ton of bottled water, so we brought a case from Publix supermarket onboard. Then, we found that the tap water tasted excellent and we struggled to use all that water we lugged onboard. So now we just drink water from the tap in the bathroom.

 

Charles

St Paul, MN

[Johnthed0g]

We just fill bottles up from the tap in the bathroom......

[CHEZMARYLOU]

I could never get cold water from the tap in the bathroom. I filled a water bottle from the machine in the buffet area and kept it in the mini fridge in the room to keep it cold. As a rule I don't drink bottled water, unless on an excursion.

 

Mary Lou

[arcticmom]

Does anyone know if Celebrity has the same crew to passenger ratio that they did a few years ago? Between water pitcher service being discontinued and wait staff no longer helping passengers bring food from the buffet to a table I wonder if that is a factor.

 

We are just back from 2 weeks on the Infinity. There were water pitchers in the rooms, and the staff were all amazing and more than willing to carry your tray to your table in the oceanview. I don't know if the number of crew to passangers has changed, but on the Infinity the food, and service were great.

[Bridge Maven]

In December my husband and I took a cruise on a different cruise line. When we got back to our cabin one night and my husband had to use ice from the ice bucket and water from the bathroom to have ice water, he commented it would be nice if they had a water pitcher like Celebrity does. That is one of the reasons why I found this thread to be so interesting.

 

Since I don't like water from a bathroom tap, on other cruise lines I either have a cold drink before returning to our cabin or drink something from the honor bar in the cabin. The lack of a water pitcher hasn't prevented us from cruising on other cruise lines and won't make us stop cruising on Celebrity. However, the lack of this perk, on top of other perks that have been eliminated in recent years, will put Celebrity on equal footing with other mass market cruise lines when selecting future cruises, instead of giving them an edge.

[madelinerose]

Collapsible water bottle. ;)

 

 

http://vapur.us/

[CruisingChick]

MadelineRose - thanks for the link. I think I will buy a set of 4.

[madelinerose]

MadelineRose - thanks for the link. I think I will buy a set of 4.

 

You're welcome. They're shown in the February edition of Real Simple. Thought they were cool and appropriate for this thread. ;)

[ccruisequeen]

Yes champagne or mimosas (oj and champagne) on embarkation. Also cold washcloths, water or punch as you reboard from a port if it's warm.

 

If you ask your steward he/she will have a pitcher in your room.

Are these for Capt Club members only, or can first-timers also partake?

[GITC]

Are these for Capt Club members only, or can first-timers also partake?

Everybody.

[lysolqn]

I note your disappointment that you were not provided water in your suite throughout the cruise. Following guest feedback and in view of the current economic and global climate Celebrity Cruises have made a number of changes to the facilities and services onboard. These have included the removal of little used services and unecessary wastage, however these should certainly not have been at a cost to the levels of service we are proud to provide to our guests. Accordingly I genuinely regret your disappointment in this regard and would like to assure you that your specific comments have been passed to the appropriate management staff for their internal review.

 

The cynic in me tends to think the removal of water pitchers has less to do with "the current economic and global climate" and/or "the removal of little used services and unnecessary wastage" than it has to do with yet another opportunity to charge for something that used be offered free of charge - in this case, bottled water as opposed to a pitcher of water for in-cabin consumption. At least the pitcher is still available upon request.