Bottled Water vs Tap on Norwegian Pearl

[GrandaStarr]

I cruised in 2000. Now I will be doing it again. At home and while travelling, I need to drink purified water. Not a spring water kind of person. I will drink tap water if I know it has been filtered. While cruising on Carnival in 2000 I watched a ships video of how they filtered the water. By day two I was no longer buying bottled water, but instead reusing the bottles I had. I just pre-paid for a case of water to be in my room. $55. Not sure it is even filtered water. Can anyone tell me anything about the tap water on the ship? I appreciate you help.

[chengkp75]

7 hours ago, GrandaStarr said:

I cruised in 2000. Now I will be doing it again. At home and while travelling, I need to drink purified water. Not a spring water kind of person. I will drink tap water if I know it has been filtered. While cruising on Carnival in 2000 I watched a ships video of how they filtered the water. By day two I was no longer buying bottled water, but instead reusing the bottles I had. I just pre-paid for a case of water to be in my room. $55. Not sure it is even filtered water. Can anyone tell me anything about the tap water on the ship? I appreciate you help.

All cruise ships across all lines use the same water sources, which are three.  Two sources are made onboard, one by a flash evaporator which boils sea water and produces distilled water.  Another source made onboard is via Reverse Osmosis (RO), which pushes sea water through a membrane where only water molecules can pass, leaving the salt and other minerals on the other side.  This water is not quite distilled water quality, but RO filters are what are used after water softeners for those on low sodium diets, and are the types of whole house filters that many folks use to "filter" their tap water.  The third source of water is loaded from shore.  This is straight municipal tap water from the port.  Since ships cannot make water from sea water when in port or within 12 miles of shore, if the itinerary does not provide enough time at sea to make all the water needed for the cruise, the ship will augment its production by loading water in port.  So, any ship's water will be a blend of distilled, RO filtered, and shore water.  Now, all ship's water will have a higher chlorine level than your local municipal tap water, and this can cause taste issues.  Not sure of your requirement for how "purified" the water needs to be, but my suggestion, for any cruise ship, is to refill water bottles at the water/drink dispensers or have the bartender refill them for you.  If you refill at drink dispensers, you must use a clean glass in the dispenser and fill your bottle from this.  The reason I recommend this over the sink tap is that all of the drink dispensers and bar guns will have carbon filters installed on them to remove the chlorine from the water, and these will also remove most of the additional minerals, etc, from any shore water.

[leaveitallbehind]

At $55 you may want to try to bring a case on board as luggage - some lines will allow that.  Or just use the ship's water.  If it was fine previously for you on Carnival it will be the same on NCL.  Just don't refill the bottles directly from the dispenser unless there is a dedicated bottle filling station on board.  Fill from a clean class to avoid contamination of the water dispenser.

Edited March 26, 2019 by leaveitallbehind

[zqvol]

11 hours ago, leaveitallbehind said:

At $55 you may want to try to bring a case on board as luggage - some lines will allow that.  Or just use the ship's water.  If it was fine previously for you on Carnival it will be the same on NCL.  Just don't refill the bottles directly from the dispenser unless there is a dedicated bottle filling station on board.  Fill from a clean class to avoid contamination of the water dispenser.

 

Can't bring water on board NCL.

[GrandaStarr]

Thank you all so much. I appreciate this information. The case I ordered is 24 1 liter bottles. I know I know. It will start us off til I get everything located. Thanks again. This helps me tremendously. 

[cb at sea]

The ships water is a "pure" as any in the bottles.  Reverse osmosis is how it's made....

Tap water is in the food, beverages and ice.  The tap water will NOT "run cold"..so fill a cup or bottle, use ice or stick it in your fridge for a while to chill. Chilled water tastes so much better than "tepid" water, no matter where it comes from!

You can go to ANY bar or eating venue and request ice water at any time.

[ALWAYS CRUZIN]

All the bars use super filtered reverse osmosis water. As good as any standard bottled water. No charge to give you ice and water.

[SRF]

No, they use ships water.  Which may be produced by RO or it may be produced by flash distillation, which uses waste heat from the engines.

 

Of it may be water from a port.

[andlep]

I bring a brita filter jug for my cabin. 

[SRF]

On 5/8/2019 at 5:15 AM, andlep said:

I bring a brita filter jug for my cabin. 

 

Why?

[andlep]

4 hours ago, SRF said:

 

Why?

Removes the chlorine taste of the water. 

[SRF]

Ok, I never noticed a chlorine taste.

 

And I am on a well without any chlorine at home.

[chengkp75]

1 hour ago, SRF said:

Ok, I never noticed a chlorine taste.

 

And I am on a well without any chlorine at home.

Water "taste" is a very subjective thing, and what one finds objectionable, another hardly notices.  It can also depend on where your cabin is.  Since the chlorine is dosed in the engine room, but controlled by the residual amount on the bridge (the accepted "furthest point"), the closer to the engine room and the main riser pipes your cabin is, you may have a higher chlorine concentration than a cabin further away.