Water,water everywhere , / nor any drop to drink

[scubacruiserx2]

We just got off of the phone with HAL trying to buy bottled water for our next cruise . We were told that we could buy a gallon of distilled water or a drink package that would include water . But no bottled water for sale !

 

 

Edited November 4, 2019 by scubacruiserx2

[msmayor]

Actually, there is an Evian water package available, 12 liter bottles of Evian delivered to your stateroom for $42 or 6 bottles for $24.

 

Individual bottles of Evian are also available to purchase on board.

[ski ww]

You can bring cases of water on when you board, it must be in your carry on. Tap water on board is safe to drink, save your money for other things. 

[Cruise Suzy]

37 minutes ago, msmayor said:

Actually, there is an Evian water package available, 12 liter bottles of Evian delivered to your stateroom for $42 or 6 bottles for $24.

 

Not as of last week. Only the gallon of distilled water is on the Beverages list to pre-purchase.

[I like vacation]

13 minutes ago, Cruise Suzy said:

 

Not as of last week. Only the gallon of distilled water is on the Beverages list to pre-purchase.

 

And the water( bottled water (sparkling 330ml or still 500ml) that is included in the Quench Beverage Package.

 

 

[1025cruise]

They are probably doing away with bottled water....

[Mary229]

Some of the cruise ships have water dispensers now, bring a water bottle.  I don't remember which lines I saw those.  

[oaktreerb]

There are usually large bottles of water in the rooms as part of the bar service which you will be charged for if you use them.  You can buy small bottles of water to take on your excursions as you exit the ship.  You can carry on bottled water at the ports.  The water onboard is fine to drink.  Distilled water is necessary for some medical devices and can be preordered.  

[jbecker6469]

Just talked with HAL Ship Services.  HAL is switching from plastic bottles to something else, maybe aluminum, and will contain a "European" version of Evian.  Don't know what that means, and neither did the rep.  The 6 and 12 bottle packs that have been for sale on the website are gone, and the new offering will be up soon.  She said you can still purchase on board until stock runs out, then the new product will take over.

 

Also, no more plastic straws!.  If you ask for a straw, it will be a paper straw.  Good for them.  See 4ocean.com

 

Ships water is as good as bottle water, IMHO, but to each his own.

 

Sail on

[scubacruiserx2]

 

The bottle on the left we got in Europe and it has a plastic label that can come off . The bottle on the right comes from here and had no label . We have a well at home and and also drink spring water in bottles that we recycle . To us the thought of drinking water that has been used for washing dishes and people and has waste in it doesn't appeal to us no matter how many chemicals have been used to treat it .

[NordicPrince]

10 minutes ago, scubacruiserx2 said:

 

The bottle on the left we got in Europe and it has a plastic label that can come off . The bottle on the right comes from here and had no label . We have a well at home and and also drink spring water in bottles that we recycle . To us the thought of drinking water that has been used for washing dishes and people and has waste in it doesn't appeal to us no matter how many chemicals have been used to treat it .

The drinking water for the ship is fresh desalinated ocean water which goes thru an evaporative process. You're not drinking "brown water" which has been used for other purposes. The ship water is probably cleaner than the water you drink at home.

[HamOp]

12 minutes ago, scubacruiserx2 said:

 

The bottle on the left we got in Europe and it has a plastic label that can come off . The bottle on the right comes from here and had no label . We have a well at home and and also drink spring water in bottles that we recycle . To us the thought of drinking water that has been used for washing dishes and people and has waste in it doesn't appeal to us no matter how many chemicals have been used to treat it .

Are you under the impression that the water on board is somehow cleaned and recycled after having been used for other things?  

I've never heard of this.

[vicd1969]

To be fair, ChengKp75, who's always given us the actual engineering point of view for ship operations, admitted water is a subjective taste issue. While the water is definitely safe to drink and not recycled, it does have chlorine added to it. It tastes differently than the Evian that OP prefers.

 

 

 

[TAD2005]

The HAL ships are not the International Space Station.   HAL does not recycle urine, sweat, laundry and shower water for potable use.   Your tap water is desalinated sea water, which is purer that most municipal city water.

I use a CPAP machine that requires distilled water.  When I cannot get distilled water, like in a resort hotel, I use the tap water and clean out the reservoir every couple of days.   When I get back home, I do a through cleaning of the reservoir and I see lots of scale and crud on the walls due to the minerals in the tap water.   On one HAL cruise of 14 days, I just didn't bother to order distilled water for the CPAP, I used the tap water from the bathroom.  After 14 days, my CPAP reservoir was immaculate, no scale, no crud.  That says a lot about the water on HAL ships.

[chengkp75]

5 hours ago, scubacruiserx2 said:

 

 

The bottle on the left we got in Europe and it has a plastic label that can come off . The bottle on the right comes from here and had no label . We have a well at home and and also drink spring water in bottles that we recycle . To us the thought of drinking water that has been used for washing dishes and people and has waste in it doesn't appeal to us no matter how many chemicals have been used to treat it .

Where did you get the idea that ship's water was recycled gray water?  It is in fact, recirculated, meaning it is pumped from the storage tanks throughout the ship, and what is not used returns to the fresh water storage tank.  On no ship is any system allowed to be connected to the potable water system, and the ship is outfitted with thousands of "backflow preventers", which may be as simple as an open funnel with a pipe a distance above the top of the funnel, so that if whatever the funnel is filling overflows, it cannot back up into the potable water piping above it, as there is an "air gap".  Some ships will recycle the waste water, but by law it cannot be used for any potable usage, it is strictly used for technical purposes in the engine room, or for circulating in the garbage disposal system.

[Aquahound]

44 minutes ago, chengkp75 said:

Where did you get the idea that ship's water was recycled gray water? 

 

I'm scratching my head on that one too. 🤔

[Papa Yoda]

 

Yeah but isn't what's in sea water worse than ship's gray water ?  🤔  ... just sayin' ...   😉  ... no whale poop for instance ...

 

but right, black water is off the menu

 

[/flame-retardant-suit on]

[chengkp75]

1 hour ago, Ferd Berfle said:

 

Yeah but isn't what's in sea water worse than ship's gray water ?  🤔  ... just sayin' ...   😉  ... no whale poop for instance ...

 

but right, black water is off the menu

 

[/flame-retardant-suit on]

Let's look at concentrations.  How much waste is in each gallon of gray water from the ship vs how much whale poop per gallon.  How many gallons are there in the ocean?  350 quintillion gallons.  And many municipalities take their water from lakes or reservoirs, no fish or bird poop there?  Besides, much of the water is distilled, so it is boiled and the vapor is condensed.  Don't know that poop vaporizes and condenses.

[Papa Yoda]

 

So you got me on the thermodynamics of whale poop ...  sigh.  I am only an egg.

[Nang]

1 hour ago, Ferd Berfle said:

 

So you got me on the thermodynamics of whale poop ...  sigh.  I am only an egg.

Fried, poached, boiled, scrambled or still on the shelf? 🙂

[Krazy Kruizers]

The water that comes out of the taps on the ships is way better than what comes out of the taps at our home -- we are blessed with black junk in out water.  Needless to say, we do not drink our tap water at home.

 

Save your money on the ship's water and drink the tap water.

[terrydtx]

1 hour ago, Krazy Kruizers said:

The water that comes out of the taps on the ships is way better than what comes out of the taps at our home -- we are blessed with black junk in out water.  Needless to say, we do not drink our tap water at home.

 

Save your money on the ship's water and drink the tap water.

I am in the water filtration business and you are correct the tap water on a cruise ship is much better than ours at home.  I will not drink tap water on land but I do drink it at sea on a cruise ship.

 

The cruise industry has been under a lot of pressure from environmentalist  groups to eliminate or reduce plastic bottle use at sea. This may be why HAL is eliminating the bottle water packages to purchase onboard.  We bought the 6 bottle package in July on the Noordam and for $24 is was much easier than trying to bring onboard with us.

[CruisinNana]

On the Zuiderdam last week, they were in the process of switching over to the aluminum cans. In the cabana, we had plastic for the first 5 days, and the aluminum the last 5 days. The water tasted the same to me, but I did not like drinking out of the wide-mouth aluminum bottle. I felt like it would cut my lip even though i didn’t. The bottles supplied in the cabin were still the plastic ones pictured above.  In the future, I will take a couple of empty plastic bottles and refill for my purse.  I take reusable insulated cups to use otherwise.  

[jbecker6469]

2 hours ago, CruisinNana said:

On the Zuiderdam last week, they were in the process of switching over to the aluminum cans. In the cabana, we had plastic for the first 5 days, and the aluminum the last 5 days. The water tasted the same to me, but I did not like drinking out of the wide-mouth aluminum bottle. I felt like it would cut my lip even though i didn’t. The bottles supplied in the cabin were still the plastic ones pictured above.  In the future, I will take a couple of empty plastic bottles and refill for my purse.  I take reusable insulated cups to use otherwise.  

 

What she said.  That is our plan as well.  We board the K next Weds, so we'll see what they have for us.  Not a big deal, just have to adjust a little.

 

[scubacruiserx2]

2 hours ago, CruisinNana said:

On the Zuiderdam last week, they were in the process of switching over to the aluminum cans. In the cabana, we had plastic for the first 5 days, and the aluminum the last 5 days. The water tasted the same to me, but I did not like drinking out of the wide-mouth aluminum bottle. I felt like it would cut my lip even though i didn’t. The bottles supplied in the cabin were still the plastic ones pictured above.  In the future, I will take a couple of empty plastic bottles and refill for my purse.  I take reusable insulated cups to use otherwise.  

 

Thank you for your report and bringing us back to the main topic of bottled water . And thank you for your suggestions . Would bringing straws help with the aluminium cans ?