Are plastic water bottles about to be discontinued on celebrity ships?

[Chefaleslie]

I wonder why we don't see more canned water? It would be a great alternative to plastic bottles.

[CruisingChick]

All you people trying to use logic need to just STOP IT!!! It couldn't possibly be the two mains and three desserts at every meal, or the fact that their alcohol consumption went up exponentially that's causing the swelling. It's the damn tap water that has turned them into an human puffer fish.:eek::p:eek::p:eek:

 

I eat and drink plenty on land vacations and I don't have the swelling problem, so why is it only on cruise ships?

[akcruz]

Well count me in as one who swells with the ship water. I drink a lot of water every day and used to bring a refillable bottle with me on cruises. After hearing it could be the ship water I switched to bottled water and wow, no more swelling. Not sure what is in the ship water but for me it makes a difference. On land, out or at home, we rarely use bottled water and gasp even drink out if water fountains when available. If the ship water could be adjusted to not cause swelling I would happily drink it but until then I will stick with bottles.

 

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[C-Dragons]

While I will never dispute individual anecdotal experiences of swelling and water retention when drinking ship's water over bottled water, I do have some alternative thoughts on the matter. The first is that when you are carrying a bottle of water around with you, you are more cognizant of it, and therefore you may unconsciously drink more water, which actually helps with water retention.

 

For C-dragons, what filtration systems do you have at home, so I can compare it with what is used on the ship.

 

It seems you are pretty knowledgeable on this subject, and it's nice to hear you won't dispute my personal experience with water retention. 😉

I actually do not carry bottles of water around the ship (or even at home) drinking water only with meals or in the cabin. The meals I prepare at home are comprised of at least 90 percent fresh ingredients, and I never cook with salt. Because I stay acutely aware of my sodium intake, the changes to my body when I eat anywhere outside my own home are quite noticeable.

We used to drink the ship's water years ago. When it got to the point where I couldn’t fit into my shoes 48 hours after boarding, the answer was pretty obvious. Although it can still be challenging nowadays to fit into certain shoes towards the end of 28 days at sea, keeping my feet elevated helps. 😊

The filtration system we use at home does remove TDS but is primarily to improve the taste of the water. No water softeners are involved.

[C-Dragons]

For those who suffer from fluid retention onships, I always ask “do you regularly salt your food at home?” Most reply “oh no, I don’t add salt to food as a rule.” So then you come to a ship where for three meals a day you eat food that is salted, sometimes a little, but often quite a lot. That is most probably the culprit, not the water.

 

(And if you find that changing to bottled water for drinking gives relief, what do you do about the coffee, tea, soup, reconstituted juice, etc.? All are made with the ships’s water you think you need to avoid:confused:

 

I totally agree that the food on the ship is loaded with sodium. Think about all the canned goods used! I tend to make my food choices with that in mind. 😉

And I don't drink any beverages or soups made with the ship’s water. I make my own coffee/tea in the cabin using bottled water.

[Big Chief]

Am I just a cynic, or will it be just a short time before you'll be required to "swipe your card" at these refill stations!?

[oneputt18]

I've always wondered why they never put up recycling bins next to the garbage.

Recycling bins are plentiful on Celebrity ships.

 

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[oneputt18]

Modern cruise ships use reverse osmosis on the seawater. It virtually removes all sodium from the water.

 

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[C-Dragons]

Am I just a cynic, or will it be just a short time before you'll be required to "swipe your card" at these refill stations!?

 

No... it will be totally “free” with the reusable bottle they will sell you. 😎

[hcat]

This is slightly off topic - but references some of the comments. I hear so often on these boards people who think the ship's water makes them bloat. I wonder - has anyone ever tested the saline level of the water to prove or disprove this theory? It's not a level playing field for comparison. On cruises you eat differently (often more, and likely ingest more salt than normal) , drink more (usually), and often exercise less. You may be in areas (like the Caribbean) where the heat and humidity affect you and cause swelling. Could these not cause the infamous bloat? I honestly am curious to know once and for all if it is in fact the water rather than these other factors that cause the bloat mentioned so often.

 

I don' t drink very much, eat lo salt, use the gym and walk each day...I dont really need anyone to prove or disprove...but with bottled water I never bloat anymore! Those who like the ship water can enjoy it...I like mine bottled

[C-Dragons]

I don' t drink very much, eat lo salt, use the gym and walk each day...I dont really need anyone to prove or disprove...but with bottled water I never bloat anymore! Those who like the ship water can enjoy it...I like mine bottled

I'll drink to that ‼️

[chengkp75]

It seems you are pretty knowledgeable on this subject, and it's nice to hear you won't dispute my personal experience with water retention. 😉

I actually do not carry bottles of water around the ship (or even at home) drinking water only with meals or in the cabin. The meals I prepare at home are comprised of at least 90 percent fresh ingredients, and I never cook with salt. Because I stay acutely aware of my sodium intake, the changes to my body when I eat anywhere outside my own home are quite noticeable.

We used to drink the ship's water years ago. When it got to the point where I couldn’t fit into my shoes 48 hours after boarding, the answer was pretty obvious. Although it can still be challenging nowadays to fit into certain shoes towards the end of 28 days at sea, keeping my feet elevated helps. 😊

The filtration system we use at home does remove TDS but is primarily to improve the taste of the water. No water softeners are involved.

 

I would say that the systems used onboard the ships is at least as good as your home filtration system, if not better, since they are starting with a large percentage of the water being distilled. One thing that I learned a while ago, while researching water retention to answer questions on CC, is that chlorine can lead to water retention. The ship's water will have significantly higher levels of chlorine than even most municipal supplies, due to the fact that it is circulated, and continually dosed to maintain a residual chlorine level. Municipals dose chlorine to a level where they feel that the average consumer, at an average distance from the plant, and with average water usage, will have just exhausted the free chlorine in the water when it comes out of your tap (chlorine naturally degrades over time). A ship is required to always have 0.5ppm of chlorine measured in the water at the furthest point in the water distribution system. So, if your cabin is closer to where the water mains rise up from the engine room, the water from your sink could be higher than 0.5ppm. So, if you were drinking water from your cabin taps, you are getting chlorinated water. The water from the beverage dispensers at the buffet, the water dispensers the wait staff use in the MDR and other dining venues, the ice makers, and the bar guns will have passed through a carbon filter that is designed to remove the chlorine. Not for taste reasons, but because the chlorine can cause scale buildup in the machinery, requiring more frequent maintenance. People who experience water retention with ship's water, I tell to try drinking only water from these places, not from the cabin sink, and see if that makes a difference, which would be simply the chlorine.

[C-Dragons]

I would say that the systems used onboard the ships is at least as good as your home filtration system, if not better, since they are starting with a large percentage of the water being distilled. One thing that I learned a while ago, while researching water retention to answer questions on CC, is that chlorine can lead to water retention. The ship's water will have significantly higher levels of chlorine than even most municipal supplies, due to the fact that it is circulated, and continually dosed to maintain a residual chlorine level. Municipals dose chlorine to a level where they feel that the average consumer, at an average distance from the plant, and with average water usage, will have just exhausted the free chlorine in the water when it comes out of your tap (chlorine naturally degrades over time). A ship is required to always have 0.5ppm of chlorine measured in the water at the furthest point in the water distribution system. So, if your cabin is closer to where the water mains rise up from the engine room, the water from your sink could be higher than 0.5ppm. So, if you were drinking water from your cabin taps, you are getting chlorinated water. The water from the beverage dispensers at the buffet, the water dispensers the wait staff use in the MDR and other dining venues, the ice makers, and the bar guns will have passed through a carbon filter that is designed to remove the chlorine. Not for taste reasons, but because the chlorine can cause scale buildup in the machinery, requiring more frequent maintenance. People who experience water retention with ship's water, I tell to try drinking only water from these places, not from the cabin sink, and see if that makes a difference, which would be simply the chlorine.

 

I was aware that ships are required to use Chlorine in their water, that doesn’t make me feel any better (even if it's filtered) 😉 I'll stick with bottled water.

My problem has vastly improved since I made this choice years ago, no need to 'tempt the fates'...

[cruise kitty]

Although I'm for most pro environmental issues, I can see too many problems with this one

 

1. We're among the group who experienced severe swelling when we used to drink the ships water, since we switched to bottled only while on board, no more problems (we were not drinking from the cabin tap) Also gave up drinking any drinks with the ships ice)

 

2. If they go to refill stations, how will my bottle be sanitized on a longer voyage? Who's responsibility will that be? I can't imagine cruising for two weeks without my bottle being run through a dishwasher (the one I use at home gets put in the dishwasher after every use)

 

3. Some countries will not allow you to take your ship's water on shore (NZ & Australia for example, the ship actually brought locally bottled water on board, & that's what we were allowed to carry off.

 

There are certain things that work well on land that just aren't practical onboard.

[markeb]

This thread is fascinating. Do people understand what bottled water is? Do they know how it's processed and prepared?

 

There is an International Bottled Water Association, www.bottledwater.org. In the US, bottled water is regulated by the FDA; municipal water is regulated by the EPA. The standards are similar, but different. Unless bottled water is labeled as "spring water", or from natural springs, or similar language, it's processed municipal water, i.e., exactly the same as the water produced onboard the ship. It comes into the plant in domestic pipes, with a chlorine residual and whatever dissolved solids are normal in that location. The water is typically processed through a reverse osmosis system, a micropore filter, and a charcoal based filter, before being filled into bottles that have been sanitized with ozone and capped under UV light. There's some degree of mineral added/retained (there are web pages with analyses of bottled water; Kirklands, from COSTCO, for instance, lists "purified water, potassium bicarbonate, sodium bicarbonate, calcium citrate, sodium chloride, magnesium oxide," although it also shows 0 mg of sodium.

 

The standard bottle fillers used in airports and the like have inline filters that remove chlorine, other organics, and presumably other particulates. If that water originated from a ROPU or from distilled water (like on a cruise ship), it would be processed exactly like bottled water up to the bottle fill. It's not rocket science to make the mineral blend match Nestle, Kirkland, or other processors (alleviating the swelling concerns). The real weakness in the system is the sanitation of the drinking bottle, which would require significant thought and planning on a cruise ship. The water also has to be drunk in short order; you've removed your chlorine residual.

 

The DoD invested a significant amount of money in producing bottled water out of surface water in Iraq (of course, you could almost track troop movements by the abandoned plastic bottles). If you can do that, you can make purified drinking water on a cruise ship...

[hcat]

"Will we now have to get up at 4 am to fill our water bottles so we can get off the ship?"

Why not just fill them the night before and store them in the cabin's mini-fridge?

 

Because your cabin attendant will have locked up the mini fridge as soon as u leave for dinner the night before you get off the ship..

[cruisestitch]

I think they were referring to getting off for shore excursions.

[CruisingChick]

I think they were referring to getting off for shore excursions.

 

Yes, that is correct.

[jkgourmet]

Prediction: Celebrity will need to hire a bunch of extra porters to lug the hundreds cases of cases of bottled water brought on by passengers.

 

Then, bottled water will become like alcohol - BANNED.

 

And we will all be here discussing techniques for sneaking bottled water on the ship and admonishing those that want to.

[Beanb41]

Prediction: Celebrity will need to hire a bunch of extra porters to lug the hundreds cases of cases of bottled water brought on by passengers.

 

Then, bottled water will become like alcohol - BANNED.

 

And we will all be here discussing techniques for sneaking bottled water on the ship and admonishing those that want to.

 

One can bring unlimited bottles of water and soft drinks ( soda) on board now so what's the issue?

[CruisingChick]

One can bring unlimited bottles of water and soft drinks ( soda) on board now so what's the issue?

 

The post is PREDICTING what will happen if Celebrity stops selling bottled water on their ships, not what the current policy is.

 

BTW I agree with jkgourmet's prediction.

[markeb]

The post is PREDICTING what will happen if Celebrity stops selling bottled water on their ships, not what the current policy is.

 

BTW I agree with jkgourmet's prediction.

 

If the ultimate concern becomes disposal of the plastic bottles, then I agree as well.

[DYKWIA]

One can bring unlimited bottles of water and soft drinks ( soda) on board now so what's the issue?

 

there has been some recent discussion on CC that this policy might have changed, but not enforced. The UK FAQs mentions limits on alcohol being brought aboard but is silent on non-alcoholic beverages. We have previously had no issues.

[grandgeezer]

Unless I'm mistaken, all the food is cleaned and prepared using the ships water. All the ice used to cool the drinks, which melts, for all the people getting their moneys worth with the drink packages is made with the ships water, as well as the water served throughout the ship. I imagine if you drink a lot of bottled water it all balances out.

[steamboats]

This thread is fascinating. Do people understand what bottled water is? Do they know how it's processed and prepared?

 

:'):'):') No German will understand this... We don´t know purified water and all that treated stuff. All bottled water in Germany and almost everywhere in Europe is spring water. You find purifed water in your municipal system but not in any bottles. Actually here in Munich all tap water is spring water coming from the Alps. No chlorine or anything else added. Therefore I don´t drink anything else at home. No need to buy water bottles and schlepp them home. It´s even safe for baby food.

 

steamboats