Drinking water

[Blucruise25]

Tell me about the drinking water on board ship.

 

I drink LOTS of water, and hope to be able to do that on board.

 

I don't plan to buy bottles of water on board.

 

I've heard I can bring my own bottled water, but between dh and myself, we would need about 112 bottles. Just can't see doing that.

 

Ship's tap water or water from complimentary beverages station? What's the deal with that? Purified sea water? Reverse osmosis filtered? High in sodium content that causes bloating? Taste?

[uktog]

Hi

 

You might want to consider a water/non alcoholic beverages package - see the link from the cruiselines website I have added below

 

http://www.celebritycruises.com/onboard/tabLanding.do?pagename=onboard_beverage_packages#onboard_beverage_packages_premium_water_tab/onboard/asrPanel.do%3Fpagename=onboard_beverage_packages_premium_water

 

You will get many people tell you they can drink the water from the complimentary beverages station no problem but others (and I am one of them) who find it is too high in sodium for my own metabolism which leads to really awful bloating. Since I switched to only drinking bottled water on board, I have had absolutely no problems with swollen fingers, ankles etc

[Lsimon]

The ships water is generally desalinated sea water. They use both reverse osmosis and distillation based systems on board. the reverse osmosis system is used for most of the water under normal conditions and because of that the water, while safe to drink, is higher in sodium content than what most would consider normal. Under normal conditions the ship is able to desalinate enough sea water for all of its needs but if one, or both, of the desalination systems are down for maintenance or repairs the ship will take on potable water at port.

 

Most people do fine with the level of sodium in the ship's tap water. However some, including us, do not. We too drink a lot of water and we find that if we drink the ship's tap water that our hands and feet get bloated from the sodium. No doubt the level of sodium in the ship's food is higher than we are used to as well and that this is a contributing factor too. But we've found that if we stick to bottled water that we do not have any issues with the swollen hands and feet.

 

We don't avoid the tap water 100% but do avoid it for the majority of our water consumption. You can't really avoid it 100% considering its use in ice, coffee, tea, etc.

 

Yes you can bring on as much bottled water as you wish. Some passengers bring on a case or two and just slap a luggage tag on them and check them with the porters at the port and they'll be delivered to your cabin. We occasionally do that but mostly just buy our water on board. It isn't cheap but it is a necessity for us. Bottled Evian is $4/liter and around $2 for a small single serving bottle. They also sometimes have a lesser brand for a little less - the brand on this will vary depending on the ship's supply.

 

We usually ask the cabin steward to bring us 4 large bottles of Evian and to replace them as we consume them throughout the cruise. We've never had a beverage package yet as our purchases haven't exceeded the cost of those, although they've come pretty close. The room service/delivery isn't included in the beverage packages so if you do opt for those you'll need to pick up the water at any bar or lounge to take back to your cabin and can only do so one at a time per package holder (i.e. you can do two at a time if you and your cabin mate both have packages and both are present or you have both cards)

 

Beyond the sodium issues: While we usually find the tap water taste and clarity to be fine some do not like the taste. Out of about 18 cruises on Celebrity over the years we've also had three cruises where the water had definite problems. All of these issues were several years ago and we haven't seen similar issues recently. Two of the three related to water coming from the taps at the beginning of the cruise very dark and discolored. The ship's staff indicated that this was due to sediment from "stirring the tanks" and was safe to drink. Maybe so but after seeing it we were very turned off. The third issue was on a cruise following a severe norovirus breakout and after the ship had gone through a major, and successful, disinfection process between sailings to stop the breakout. The water on that cruise had a taste that was like some sort of medicine or disinfectant and was very unappealing.

 

Here is a link to another thread on this subject including a post I made a couple years ago after returning from a cruise where a fleet engineer gave a lecture on the water systems: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?p=28708782

[boston_scientist]

The easiest solution is that if you go on board and do not like the taste of the water, buy a bottled water package.

[shoreham01]

We drink the ships water, tastes fine to us. I have never noticed any bad taste with it or discolouration, and it certainly has never tasted salty. Maybe we were lucky.

 

I used to buy bottled water but there has been news over here that some bottled water is just tap water anyway and some other bottled waters are not as pure as they make them out to be. Now we just drink tap water.

[Cruising Domer]

Lsimon provided a very good explanation of the systems used on board. There isn't anything I can add to his explanation, but also agree with him on two key points which is probably what you are looking for -- 1) I never noticed a bad taste, discoloration, etc. with the water but 2) it also caused my feet and ankles to swell. I now drink bottled water / Vitamin Water while on the ship to prevent this from happening and haven't had any issues since making that switch.

[CRUZBUDS]

I think most of the excess salt we get on a cruise in the food. They use a ton more than we're used to and if we don't drink a lot of water,DW does get swelling --- as long as we keep the water intake high, no problem.

 

We drink the treated water on board. For the health of the crew they add minerals to the water. It tastes good to us -- it home we drink R/O.

[cruisestitch]

As already noted, while you can reduce your exposure to any possible residual sodium in the water by switching to bottled water for your daily drinking water, you can't avoid it completely if you drink tea, coffee, juice drinks, iced tea or anything else made from the ship's water, use their ice, or eat soup, pasta and all the foods made with water.

 

Additionally you will probably find that the food on the ship is much saltier than the food you make at home. Most restaurant food is. We don't usually eat out for three meals a day at home, but on board the ship, you will be ingesting far more salt than you would if you were cooking for yourself. So that is a big contributor, in my opinion far bigger than the drinking water.

 

Swollen ankles can also be a result of warm temperatures/sunshine, and just being on the sea -- the air you breathe will even have small amounts of salt in it!

 

All that being said, by drinking bottled water you will reduce, but not eliminate, the problem of swollen hands and feet.

[Blucruise25]

Thanks, all, for the good information. I can't see paying so much for bottled water, even in a package. That's still at least $3 per bottle. Just can't do it.

 

We'll probably end up doing a half-and-half, if possible. Maybe we can take on board with us enough for 2-3 bottles a day, and the rest we'll just do ship's water.

 

Two further questions though:

 

(1) Would diuretics of any kind combat the water retention/bloating? (Would the caffeine of the coffee help at all, for that matter, in that way?)

 

(2) Would something like a Brita filter pitcher remove any of that sodium at all? I may need to research that one....google to the rescue! I'll let you know what I learn, if anything.

[debandbruce]

The drink package is a great idea, it gives you all the water etc you can drink. I usually just get regular water at dinner even though I always have the package and I have never had an issue. I agree a lot of the salt does come from the food but we find Celebrity not bad for that, Princess on the other hand is way too liberal with the salt for me. If you sail in Aqua Class there is bottled water provided in your cabin as part of your ammenities and is replenished as you drink it.

[Blucruise25]

 

(2) Would something like a Brita filter pitcher remove any of that sodium at all? I may need to research that one....google to the rescue! I'll let you know what I learn, if anything.

 

Well, if these people know what they are talking about, looks like nothing really filters out sodium other than distillation.

[MEcruzr]

I've never tasted salt in the drinking water or had any fluid retention from it. But if you have swelling issues, you should switch to a low sodium diet on the cruise. Spring water naturally has minerals in it (sodium is a mineral)... if you drink well water or spring water at home, your body is used to this. If you drink public water or bottled tap water (like those from Pepsi and Coca Cola) then the ship's water would have more minerals than you're used to and it may be an issue. Heat and humidity can also cause fluid retention. Being overweight increases your risk as well.

 

How to combat swelling?

 

Walk/exercise... get your circulation going, especially in your legs.

Gravity to the rescue... lie down with your legs elevated.

Drink more water... seems counter intuitive, but you need to dilute the sodium in your circulatory system.

Sweat... water loss is water loss.

Reduce sodium intake... the food will have more sodium than the ship's water.

Diuretics... if prescribed.

 

Anyone with a heart condition should certainly have a "what if this happens on my cruise" discussion with their cardiologist prior to your cruise!!!

[cruisestitch]

Diuretics will definitely help if you are affected. But see your doctor before you start that, as they may have an effect on other medications you take, or medical conditions you may have.

 

Water filters won't take out the sodium, although they may help with "off" tastes. I have never found the water to taste bad, but I know it's always a possibility.

[Lsimon]

A lot of people believe that the ship's water can't be the cause of swelling or bloating and come up with all sorts of reasons and alternative theories - many of which are true only in part. The fact remains that the sodium in the ship's water DOES cause swelling and bloating for me, my DW, and many other cruisers I know. At the same time I know even more cruisers who have no issues at all with the ship's tap water and drink it all the time. We are all different and I would encourage anyone to give the ship's tap water a try before spending money on bottled water.

 

We drink the ships water, tastes fine to us. I have never noticed any bad taste with it or discolouration, and it certainly has never tasted salty. Maybe we were lucky.

 

I used to buy bottled water but there has been news over here that some bottled water is just tap water anyway and some other bottled waters are not as pure as they make them out to be. Now we just drink tap water.

The ships water does have higher levels of sodium but not nearly enough to taste salty. Bottled water has very low levels of sodium - as noted on their labels. There could be some brands that do have more sodium but that's why we do check the labels for sodium content.

 

I think most of the excess salt we get on a cruise in the food...

This is very true and I pointed out that I beleive it is a major factor in our swelling/bloating issue. However, we've found that switching to bottled water eliminates the issue for us - apparently the difference in the watter tips the scales one way or the other for us.

 

...(2) Would something like a Brita filter pitcher remove any of that sodium at all?...

unfortunately there are no portable filter systems, Bria or otherwise, that filter out sodium. Keep in mind that the only reason there is any sodium in the water is that some of the sodium particles are so small they pass through the ship's complex reverse osmosis filtration system even though it removes enough salt to make the water safe to drink. That system is going to be a whole lot more effective than an inexpensive portable system.

 

...How to combat swelling?

 

Walk/exercise... get your circulation going, especially in your legs.

Gravity to the rescue... lie down with your legs elevated.

Drink more water... seems counter intuitive, but you need to dilute the sodium in your circulatory system.

Sweat... water loss is water loss.

Reduce sodium intake... the food will have more sodium than the ship's water.

Diuretics... if prescribed.

 

We drink ton's of water on a cruise and walk lots - often we're walking all day on shore excursions and on sea days we walk 3 to 4 miles on the ship's track. But none of these help us. What helps is switching from the ship's tap water to bottled water. While I agree that drinking lots of water helps the issue it is only the case if the extra water you're drinking doesn't bring even more sodium into your system.

[Lsimon]

Diuretics will definitely help if you are affected. But see your doctor before you start that, as they may have an effect on other medications you take, or medical conditions you may have....

 

In addition to the advice above: If anyone does decide that diuretics are something they want to try on a cruise then, like any medication, you should try it out for a period well before your cruise begins to make sure you're familiar with any side effects.

 

In the past I've taken diuretics (prescribed by doctor) and I have had reactions to them including increased sensitivity to sunlight which caused me to breakout in a bad rash - something that would definitely be a bad thing during a cruise!

[jackdiamond]

We drink the ships water, tastes fine to us. I have never noticed any bad taste with it or discolouration, and it certainly has never tasted salty. Maybe we were lucky.

 

I used to buy bottled water but there has been news over here that some bottled water is just tap water anyway and some other bottled waters are not as pure as they make them out to be. Now we just drink tap water.

I concur.

[Hawks11]

I searched for this discussion as there appeared to be a lot of people buying water packages and I wondered why. I have used six different cruise lines and only had problem with the water quality or more likely taste on one which was an old Costa ship. Possibly due to the air conditioning we seem to drink a lot of water on a cruise and enjoy the taste. In fact the taste when drinking tea and coffee is better than at home unless we filter it.

[Nole0202]

Just buy 4-24 bottle or 3-35bottle cases of water and don't worry about it any more.

We have been on several cruises over the past 5 years with no issues drinking the ship's water for either 7 or 10 days.

[tom_uk]

One thought - we've generally found that bottled water is very cheap ashore, from local stores. The local bottled water, that is - Evian will always cost more.

 

So we've often bought bottles ashore for the day, and maybe even on the way back to the ship to take back on board. Stick in the fridge for a few hours and it tastes fine.

[NSWP]

Always seems strange to me, pax on board the ship, buy bottled water on board and ashore because they don't want to risk the ship's home made water. But then..at meals they happily consume the water served at the table from the jugs, or from the watrer dispensers in the buffets, which is all 'home made.'

 

Same story with the ice in your drinks, home made.

[csunshine860]

I myself have experienced issues with the ship's water from swelling along with metal taste in mouth. I do not use salt and am very careful about it even when cruising. Have done the fun tour on two ships. Saw how the water filtration works. Now I have a drs letter with me when cruising to bring on distilled water using 3 liters a day. Since doing that no swelling, bad taste. I carry it to the dinning room and on excursions as well.

[Brerpossum]

We also request a low sodium diet at the time we book. This only applies to dinner - other meals you are on your on and need to choose carefully.

We usually just buy the liter bottles on-board and have noticed less swelling of the ankles.

 

 

 

[Hawks11]

Always seems strange to me, pax on board the ship, buy bottled water on board and ashore because they don't want to risk the ship's home made water. But then..at meals they happily consume the water served at the table from the jugs, or from the watrer dispensers in the buffets, which is all 'home made.'

 

Same story with the ice in your drinks, home made.

 

I have to agree Les. I don't need telling but Google, "Why Tap Water is Better Than Bottled Water." and the National Geographic spells it out.

[Ma Bell]

I have to agree Les. I don't need telling but Google, "Why Tap Water is Better Than Bottled Water." and the National Geographic spells it out.

 

The ship's water is not tap water, it is desalinated ocean water. It is safe to drink but the sodium content bothers many people. If it doesn't affect you....drink it.

[1980dory]

We drink the ships water, tastes fine to us. I have never noticed any bad taste with it or discolouration, and it certainly has never tasted salty. Maybe we were lucky.

 

I used to buy bottled water but there has been news over here that some bottled water is just tap water anyway and some other bottled waters are not as pure as they make them out to be. Now we just drink tap water.

 

There was a report, possibly Consumer Reports, that found that fully 50% of all bottled water was just simply tap water.