Water package

[Beach Life 1]

Yikes!!  😬

[montecarloss]

On my 9 day cruise will be ordering the 24 pack.

[bkrickles1]

We ordered a 24 pack when we sailed on Encore in 2020 and that worked out well for the 3 of us in our cabin. The water was waiting for us when we got to our cabin and I had our steward empty the mini fridge so we could keep it in there.

I'm really not a fan of ncl not including water bottles in their beverage package, but it's otherwise a very good value for my family.

[intr3pid]

17 hours ago, BirdTravels said:

That's because bottled waters have minerals in their waters to give them some taste. Versus the distilled or reverse osmosis water on the ship. 

 

For example, Fiji Water

Nitrate 0.27 mg/l

Calcium 18 mg/l

Magnesium 15 mg/l

Sodium 17 mg/l

Potassium 5 mg/l

Silica 93 mg/l

Bicarbonate 152 mg/l

Sulfate 2 mg/l

Chloride 11 mg/l

 

For example, Evian Water

 

Nitrate 3.8 mg/l

Calcium 78 mg/l

Magnesium 24 mg/l

Sodium 5 mg/l

Potassium 1 mg/l

Silica 14 mg/l

Bicarbonate 357 mg/l

Sulfate 10 mg/l

Chloride 5 mg/l

Yes, very much.  Each major water source has its own unique taste.  The glacier or the spring or the aquifer has a lot of say in which mineral combo you get.  Evian's taste makes it our go-to travel brand - though also because (A) you can find it pretty much anywhere these days and (B) they are looking to go 100% recycled plastics by 2025.

 

Close to where we live, Nestle has the rights to an aquifer whose bottled water comes with a phenomenal taste.  Spares us the expense of consuming Evian or Fiji at home.

[MoCruiseFan]

On 10/6/2021 at 10:24 PM, Robb said:

I have never understood the need to buy bottled water.   Sorry...

 

 

They sell it to the same people who can hardly wait for them to start selling bagged air! 🙂

[MoCruiseFan]

On 10/7/2021 at 1:36 AM, intr3pid said:

You probably don't drink much.  Those of us who do like the taste of certain brands. 

Clean pure water has no 'taste'.

[MoCruiseFan]

On 10/7/2021 at 8:40 AM, disneylover89 said:

Are you permitted to bring your own soda or water on board?

 

A quick search on NCL's FAQ finds this -> https://www.ncl.com/faq#!#can-i-bring-water-or-soda-board

 

[MoCruiseFan]

On 10/7/2021 at 10:50 PM, intr3pid said:

The tap water on board is treated heavily.  It also has to first run through miles and miles of (sometimes old) ship plumbing.

Most bottled spring water isn't chlorinated and is sanitized using ozone and UV light, neither of which leave any kind of taste residue.  It is then filtered through carbon filters, and sometimes reverse osmosis, before being bottled.  At intake, you get the taste almost rightaway.  If you are used to a certain brand of water - Evian, Voss, Fiji - you will find the tap water on board very flat in the mouth but with a noticeable residual treatment taste. 

Personal preferences aside, congrats on drinking plenty of water!  We don't see many doing it on board, and sometimes taste is one of the reasons.  Not that you have to drink water, but we like to.  Low water consumption can lead to all sorts of problems - particularly when substituted with sugary stuff - so we like to use any incentive that we can find to drink it!

Evian is NAIVE spelled backwards!

[intr3pid]

2 hours ago, MoCruiseFan said:

Clean pure water has no 'taste'.

And where would we find this 'clean, pure' tasteless water?

 

2 hours ago, MoCruiseFan said:

Evian is NAIVE spelled backwards!

Yes, I can see you have got things backwards.  There is always one in every thread.

Edited October 14, 2021 by intr3pid

[hallux]

5 hours ago, MoCruiseFan said:

A quick search on NCL's FAQ finds this -> https://www.ncl.com/faq#!#can-i-bring-water-or-soda-board

 

A quick read of this thread would find the exact same link shared days ago in post 16.

 

Also, did you know you can quote multiple posts in one reply?  It's covered in the multi-quote section here - 

 

[phillygwm]

It sounds like many of the posters here are more into drinking water, however, if you have the Premium Plus package, unlimited bottled water (still and sparkling, 2 bottles at a time) is included.

[BirdTravels]

On 10/14/2021 at 1:29 AM, MoCruiseFan said:

Clean pure water has no 'taste'.

True, but no municipal water is "pure". 

 

Water in Montgomery contains: Copper, Chlorine, Haloacetic Acid, Trihalomethanes, Arsenic, Barium, Fluoride, Iron, Nitrate, Sodium, Zinc, Radium (on the high end of safe), Alpha radiation (on the high end of safe), Vinyl Chloride, and Dichloroethylene. Contributing to the taste is runoff from orchards, glass, and electronic production; discharge from drilling; discharge from metal refineries; erosion of national deposits; leaching from PVC piping; discharge from plastic factories; and discharge from industrial chemical factories. So, your water at home would have a taste.

[Selion]

6 hours ago, BirdTravels said:

So, your water at home would have a taste.

Hence the Brita filter at home for better tasting water.  I try to avoid buying bottled water whenever I can, but bottled water is just so convenient.

[luckyinpa]

How much is a bottle of water at a bar.

[Happy-48]

I had the drinking package, but i still bought some cans of soda, to take with me on tour the next day or for a late night drink in the night etc, in the ports 

A few times i bought water too

And some snacks, like lays chips

[MoCruiseFan]

On 10/14/2021 at 4:12 AM, intr3pid said:

1) And where would we find this 'clean, pure' tasteless water?

 

2) Yes, I can see you have got things backwards.  There is always one in every thread.

1) According to most people who just have to have bottled water, at any grocery store that carries said product.

2) One who does not fall for one of the biggest marketing scams ever?

[intr3pid]

33 minutes ago, MoCruiseFan said:

1) According to most people who just have to have bottled water, at any grocery store that carries said product.

2) One who does not fall for one of the biggest marketing scams ever?

The only marketing scam here is getting someone to believe they can find 'clean, pure' water to drink at a grocery store.

[ggTexasGal]

On 10/7/2021 at 8:13 PM, Rick&Jeannie said:

On our recent sailing on the Jade about a month ago, I tried to purchase the water package up front.  I never saw a bill or where they had applied the purchase to my account.  I had OBC and just assumed that the OBC covered it.  Well...once on board...no water and NCL had conveniently "lost" my order.  Not really a big deal; they just referred me to the nearest bar and they processed my order.  It was in my cabin within a couple of hours.

If you had fully completed the order, you would have had to enter a credit card to the order.

The credit card would have been billed immediately.  OBC can NOT be used on NCL pre-cruise!

Then, NCL would have emailed you a new CONFIRMATION.

(It would seem that you did NOT complete the order.)

 

[Rick&Jeannie]

21 minutes ago, ggTexasGal said:

If you had fully completed the order, you would have had to enter a credit card to the order.

The credit card would have been billed immediately.  OBC can NOT be used on NCL pre-cruise!

Then, NCL would have emailed you a new CONFIRMATION.

(It would seem that you did NOT complete the order.)

 

Yes, I realize this now (after the fact.)  This having been our very first NCL cruise and not knowing the "NCL way" certainly contributed to the confusion. 

[ggTexasGal]

4 minutes ago, Rick&Jeannie said:

Yes, I realize this now (after the fact.)  This having been our very first NCL cruise and not knowing the "NCL way" certainly contributed to the confusion. 

Hopefully your experience is helpful to others. 🙂

 

*added info for NEW to NCL cruisers:

As my DH just said, "If you want to use OBC on NCL, you can purchase water, meals, drinks, excursions, etc. with OBC AFTER you have embarked."

Edited October 16, 2021 by ggTexasGal
added info

[eileeshb]

On 10/11/2021 at 4:42 AM, BirdTravels said:

Unless you have well water at home, your water at home runs through miles of plumbing to get to your house. Many decades ago, I had a part time job in college working for my local water company fixing equipment in the large gravity flow water tanks.... you don't want to know what is actually in those tanks. I drink bottled water at home and on the ship. 

 

And sometimes that old plumbing on the ship doesn't work so well. 

 

 American students over in Ireland or the UK have to be warned to only drink water from the kitchen tap as that comes straight from the mains supply, the water in the bathrooms usually comes from attic tanks that are not covered. When my uncle renovated my grandmothers 200+yr old farmhouse he installed 4 attic tanks because the water pressure was so dire. Also if you grew up on the west coast of Ireland up to the 90s power outages due to storms were a regular occurrence so having the attic tank means we can still flush the toilet even when the supply to our house is down due to pumps being off. 
 

[Lisakct]

someone asked earlier, and I didn't see an answer. --  How much does bottled water or a can of soda cost at the bar onboard if you don't have the "plus" beverage package?