Bottled Water

[sparks1093]

On 4/6/2024 at 9:48 PM, silvercrikhix said:

Yes, they need to make money.  Blah, blah, blah…

But $14.95 + 18% fee for 12 small bottles of water is absolutely price gouging.  
And greed at its finest.  Not impressed a bit. It’s ridiculous.  $17.64 is robbery. 
They might pay $1.00 / 12 pk, if that much. 
They have a captive audience of their making, after then saying it would be reasonable. 
And yes, cheerleaders, I know it’s our decision whether or not purchase this product. 
And we will. Not happily though. Another scratch on the hull for Carnival. 

 

And if you don't have Cheers you are saving quite a bit over what they charge by the bottle. Price gouging is what NCL sells their water for. (And even though it sounds like it, I am not a cheerleader. I am a realist, though.)

[sparks1093]

21 hours ago, kdr69 said:

One of the great cons of all time was getting people to buy sterilized tap water (oh excuse me "Spring Water") put in bottles.  

If if is labeled "spring water" it has to be spring water. And yes, spring water does taste different than tap water if you've never had it. I used to get 25 cents per jug to fetch spring water from our village spring for an elderly couple when I was a kid (should have bought the spring and become a spring water mogul, but then, I was just a kid).

[mz-s]

23 hours ago, kdr69 said:

One of the great cons of all time was getting people to buy sterilized tap water (oh excuse me "Spring Water") put in bottles.  

 

It's absolutely a ripoff but it is spring water, it's not tap water.

 

On 4/5/2024 at 6:15 PM, Butterbean1000 said:

We will continue to buy their water and pay their prices.  I have drunk ship water and it tastes fine.  However, even though it goes through a desalinization process, there is still a lot of salt in it.  I swell up noticeably when I drink it. I still think it is worth the hassle it used to be bringing on your own.

 

Unless things have changed post COVID they typically do not desalinate for onboard drinking water, they take on water from the home port. Even if they do desalinate, there should be no salt left in the water. However - there is plenty of salt in the food that Carnival serves.

[TrinaLC]

 

[aborgman]

On 4/6/2024 at 9:48 PM, silvercrikhix said:

Yes, they need to make money.  Blah, blah, blah…

But $14.95 + 18% fee for 12 small bottles of water is absolutely price gouging.  
And greed at its finest.  Not impressed a bit. It’s ridiculous.  $17.64 is robbery. 
They might pay $1.00 / 12 pk, if that much. 
They have a captive audience of their making, after then saying it would be reasonable. 
And yes, cheerleaders, I know it’s our decision whether or not purchase this product. 
And we will. Not happily though. Another scratch on the hull for Carnival. 

 

 

If they didn't provide perfectly good and safe tap water all over the ship - I'd feel like they had an obligation to make bottled water cheap.

 

Since they do provide perfectly good and safe tap water all over the ship - I feel like they have a moral obligation to make bottled water more expensive to discourage it's use.

[aborgman]

2 hours ago, sparks1093 said:

If if is labeled "spring water" it has to be spring water

 

False.

 

It has to be water from a source that eventually feeds a spring.

 

See:  Pure Life, Poland Spring, Arrowhead, Zephyrhills, and Ice Mountain "spring" water that was pumped out of well in Evart, MI.

 

Pumped. Well. Spring Water.

[aborgman]

39 minutes ago, mz-s said:

 

It's absolutely a ripoff but it is spring water, it's not tap water.

 

 

 

About 60% of spring water is pumped from the exact same aquifer layer as tap water.

 

...and lots and lots of spring water is filtered, treated with chlorine/chloramine, and has minerals added/removed.

 

Just like tap water.

[sparks1093]

1 hour ago, aborgman said:

 

False.

 

It has to be water from a source that eventually feeds a spring.

 

See:  Pure Life, Poland Spring, Arrowhead, Zephyrhills, and Ice Mountain "spring" water that was pumped out of well in Evart, MI.

 

Pumped. Well. Spring Water.

 

Seems to me that there is little difference between gathering it from the spring at the surface or drilling down and getting it, and this is permissible according to the FDA:

 

The name of water derived from an underground formation from which water flows naturally to the surface of the earth may be "spring water." Spring water shall be collected only at the spring or through a bore hole tapping the underground formation feeding the spring. 

[mz-s]

2 hours ago, aborgman said:

 

 

About 60% of spring water is pumped from the exact same aquifer layer as tap water.

 

...and lots and lots of spring water is filtered, treated with chlorine/chloramine, and has minerals added/removed.

 

Just like tap water.

 

It's all water in the end. Whether it's desalinated and purified sea water, spring water from a plastic bottle, tap water from your home faucet, etc. It's all safe to drink.

 

I think it's ridiculous to pay any amount of money for bottled water because you think it's safer to drink (unless you're in a place with bad water, it's not). I buy a few bottles a year purely for convenience's sake - forgot my refillable bottle and am past security at the airport. Etc.

Edited April 8 by mz-s

[aborgman]

1 hour ago, sparks1093 said:

 

Seems to me that there is little difference between gathering it from the spring at the surface or drilling down and getting it, and this is permissible according to the FDA:

 

The name of water derived from an underground formation from which water flows naturally to the surface of the earth may be "spring water." Spring water shall be collected only at the spring or through a bore hole tapping the underground formation feeding the spring. 

 

Seems to me there is no difference between spring water pumped out of the aquifer using a well, and most municipal tap water... which is pumped out of the aquifer using a well, and in a majority of cases that aquifer feeds a spring.

 

Almost every aquifer feeds some springs somewhere - so by the FDA definition, if your city pumps (as opposed to drawing from a lake or river).. your tap water is "spring water".

[sparks1093]

2 hours ago, aborgman said:

 

Seems to me there is no difference between spring water pumped out of the aquifer using a well, and most municipal tap water... which is pumped out of the aquifer using a well, and in a majority of cases that aquifer feeds a spring.

 

Almost every aquifer feeds some springs somewhere - so by the FDA definition, if your city pumps (as opposed to drawing from a lake or river).. your tap water is "spring 

Don't drink much bottled water but most bottled spring water is minimally processed whereas almost all municipal water is treated. My municipal water comes from the river that runs through our village and I'm glad it's treated (and there are fresh water springs in the area where we can fill all the jugs we want and it tastes way better than tap water).

[aborgman]

6 minutes ago, sparks1093 said:

Don't drink much bottled water but most bottled spring water is minimally processed whereas almost all municipal water is treated. My municipal water comes from the river that runs through our village and I'm glad it's treated (and there are fresh water springs in the area where we can fill all the jugs we want and it tastes way better than tap water).

 

 

Most spring water is processed the same as most municipal tap water.

 

It is disinfected (treated to remove bacteria and possible contaminants), but retains most of the Total Dissolved Solids in the water. Which is exactly like most municipal tap water systems.

 

Now - "purified" water... will be much purer (10 parts per million dissolved solids or less) than either spring water or municipal tap water.

 

My tap water has 357 ppm TDS - or about 5x as many dissolved minerals as most commercial bottled spring water.

 

Mountain Valley Spring Water is one of the most mineral rich bottled spring waters. It has about 50% less dissolved minerals (220ppm vs. 357ppm) than my municipal tap water.

 

...and yes, you have to run water softeners on municipal tap water here.

[sparks1093]

47 minutes ago, aborgman said:

 

 

Most spring water is processed the same as most municipal tap water.

 

It is disinfected (treated to remove bacteria and possible contaminants), but retains most of the Total Dissolved Solids in the water. Which is exactly like most municipal tap water systems.

 

Now - "purified" water... will be much purer (10 parts per million dissolved solids or less) than either spring water or municipal tap water.

 

My tap water has 357 ppm TDS - or about 5x as many dissolved minerals as most commercial bottled spring water.

 

Mountain Valley Spring Water is one of the most mineral rich bottled spring waters. It has about 50% less dissolved minerals (220ppm vs. 357ppm) than my municipal tap water.

 

...and yes, you have to run water softeners on municipal tap water here.

Around here they add chlorine and in some places fluoride as well to tap water.

[ninjacat123]

10 minutes ago, sparks1093 said:

Around here they add chlorine and in some places fluoride as well to tap water.

Yes, our tap water smells like a pool sometimes. Oh well, at least we have easy access to clean water.  So many people around the world don't.

[aborgman]

15 hours ago, sparks1093 said:

Around here they add chlorine and in some places fluoride as well to tap water.

 

Most bottled spring water is treated with either chlorine or chloramine.

 

Because they aren't shipping it through pipes, they can wait for it to off gas before bottling.

 

[JMAE]

Glad we like to drink the ship's water.  

[Roxxy]

Are we still allowed to bring on bottled water?  I read somewhere it has to be 'canned' water now.  Do they even sell canned water? lol

[mz-s]

16 minutes ago, Roxxy said:

Are we still allowed to bring on bottled water?  I read somewhere it has to be 'canned' water now.  Do they even sell canned water? lol

 

https://www.carnival.com/help?topicid=2633

[DallasGuy75219]

On 4/8/2024 at 7:29 AM, aborgman said:

Since they do provide perfectly good and safe tap water all over the ship - I feel like they have a moral obligation to make bottled water more expensive to discourage it's use.

Let's get real; Carnival's obligation is to its shareholders and debtholders.  If they felt an obligation to discourage the use of disposable water bottles, they'd stop selling it onboard altogether; instead sell refillable water bottles and install refill stations like airports: and sell bottled water only at the gangway in foreign ports, where passengers might not feel safe drinking the water. 

 

But as long as there is more profit to be made selling bottled water than refillable water bottles, Carnival will continue with the status quo. 

[aborgman]

4 hours ago, DallasGuy75219 said:

Let's get real; Carnival's obligation is to its shareholders and debtholders.  If they felt an obligation to discourage the use of disposable water bottles, they'd stop selling it onboard altogether; instead sell refillable water bottles and install refill stations like airports: and sell bottled water only at the gangway in foreign ports, where passengers might not feel safe drinking the water. 

 

But as long as there is more profit to be made selling bottled water than refillable water bottles, Carnival will continue with the status quo. 

 

Carnival is an amoral corporation with a fiduciary duty to maximize profit, so they will.

 

That doesn't change a bit that they're failing in their moral obligations.

 

We can look at the long, long history of illegal dumping, environmental violations,etc. and see that.

 

Cloth napkins and candy straws are a perfect example of Carnival only doing the right thing when forced by money.