Fresh water pools

Would love to plan a cruise for my family (husband, 9 yr old twins) but my daughter can not go in salt water so my question is what US cruise ships, if any, are fresh water pools? Thanks all :)

Welcome to Cruise Critic.

Princess has freshwater pools

RCI- Freedom class and Oasis class

thanks for the responses. Would you know if any of those ships have water slides for kids and also if any of the norweigian cruises freshwater??? thanks again ;)

Royal Caribbean Oasis and Freedom class ships don't have a water slides, but they have an H2O zone, which is like a kids water park. They also have flowriders, which are surfing simulators, you can do boogie boarding on them also.

Not ALL of Oasis/Allures pools are chlorinated....the "beach pool" is salt water. The rest are chlorinated, like on land.

Princess does not have water slides.

Disney has fresh water pools. And slides.

Celebrity S-class ships have fresh water pools.

I think you'll find that for the most part, new ships are being built with fresh water pools today. Making fresh water was an issue on older ships, as were pool filters, so they just used salt and changed the water out every night. Newer ships have MUCH MORE water making capacity and filter systems that work so fresh is much more common . . . and fresh water is MUCH easier on the pipes!

altho - foot note .... living in heavy 'home pool' country I was surprised to see the latest rage in pool technology is the saltwater pool in lieu of chemical chlorination. Not exactly the same as sea water, but dumping in salt rather than Clorox boggled my mind when I first heard about it!

Please pardon me for being a bit nosy, but we have never heard of anyone that cannot go into salt water. Would appreciate knowing more about this and whether there are any conditions that preclude going into salt water.

Hank

Please pardon me for being a bit nosy, but we have never heard of anyone that cannot go into salt water. Would appreciate knowing more about this and whether there are any conditions that preclude going into salt water.

 

Hank

Many people have a sensitivity to salt water. I, for one, can only tolerate it in short bursts because it burns my legs like they are on fire until I've rinsed it off.

Please pardon me for being a bit nosy, but we have never heard of anyone that cannot go into salt water. Would appreciate knowing more about this and whether there are any conditions that preclude going into salt water.

 

Hank

It raised my curiosity as well. From my medical school days, I know that the human body is made up of about 70% water. That water contains 0.9% salt. Sodium is crucial to the body's health. Salt maintains the electrolyte balance inside and outside of cells. However, as in all good things, too much salt is a bad thing. Seawater is about 3.5% salt. Which is why we cannot safely drink sea water.

It raised my curiosity as well. From my medical school days, I know that the human body is made up of about 70% water. That water contains 0.9% salt. Sodium is crucial to the body's health. Salt maintains the electrolyte balance inside and outside of cells. However, as in all good things, too much salt is a bad thing. Seawater is about 3.5% salt. Which is why we cannot safely drink sea water.

Ahhh, but did your med school teach you why some folks cannot tolerate swimming in salt water?

Hank

Many people have a sensitivity to salt water. I, for one, can only tolerate it in short bursts because it burns my legs like they are on fire until I've rinsed it off.

Thanks for sharing that info. Must admit that we have never heard of that type of sensitivity...so I guess its live and learn :)

Hank

I have searched but cannot find the answer. Could someone please tell me if the pools on the Getaway are saltwater or freshwater?

Not ALL of Oasis/Allures pools are chlorinated....the "beach pool" is salt water. The rest are chlorinated, like on land.

I think you'll find that for the most part, new ships are being built with fresh water pools today. Making fresh water was an issue on older ships, as were pool filters, so they just used salt and changed the water out every night. Newer ships have MUCH MORE water making capacity and filter systems that work so fresh is much more common . . . and fresh water is MUCH easier on the pipes!

 

altho - foot note .... living in heavy 'home pool' country I was surprised to see the latest rage in pool technology is the saltwater pool in lieu of chemical chlorination. Not exactly the same as sea water, but dumping in salt rather than Clorox boggled my mind when I first heard about it!

Again, I'd like to clear up some misconceptions about salt water pools. When a ship is more than 12 miles from shore, a salt water pool may be in "flow through" mode, where sea water is continually drawn in and the overflow goes overboard, so the sea water is constantly "flowing through" the pool. In this mode, a salt water pool does not need to be chlorinated.

However, all fresh water pools, and salt water pools within 12 miles of shore, must be placed in "recirculation" mode, where the water is taken from the pool, chlorinated and filtered, and returned to the pool. All pools, fresh or salt, in recirculation mode must be chlorinated to the same levels. If the ship does not want to chlorinate a salt water pool, it must be closed and drained when the ship enters 12 miles from shore, and cannot be refilled until outside 12 miles again.

While the hot tubs must be drained every day, per USPH requirements, most of the salt water pools are done weekly. The reason for this is to reduce the amount of chemicals required when water is retained for long periods. USPH inspectors will tell you (they are generally ex-local health inspectors) that by weekly dumping of pools, the ships remove whole chapters on pool water chemistry from their operating requirements.

Even if a salt water pool were drained every night, if it was in use in port, it would be on recirculation, and would need to be filtered.

Water making is still a large expense for the ship, but with today's larger ships requiring larger engines, there is more power available to generate fresh water, but again, fresh water can only be made when outside 12 miles from land, so a port intensive itinerary limits the amount of water that can be produced.

Creating hypochlorite from salt and water, using an electric current, has been around for a long time, used in ship's waste water treatment systems. It probably has advantages in home pool maintenance in that it can tailor hypochlorite production based on the residual chlorine level in the pool. At times of low bather loads, it doesn't produce much, but when the pool is being used, it ramps up production, unlike weekly or daily water testing and dumping chlorine in.

I am sure the Carnival Sunshine is the only ship in the fleet to have a freshwater pool. It also has many slides. Maybe someone can confirm this?

Also I understand some eczema sufferers can find misery in salt water.

Again, I'd like to clear up some misconceptions about salt water pools. When a ship is more than 12 miles from shore, a salt water pool may be in "flow through" mode, where sea water is continually drawn in and the overflow goes overboard, so the sea water is constantly "flowing through" the pool. In this mode, a salt water pool does not need to be chlorinated.

 

However, all fresh water pools, and salt water pools within 12 miles of shore, must be placed in "recirculation" mode, where the water is taken from the pool, chlorinated and filtered, and returned to the pool. All pools, fresh or salt, in recirculation mode must be chlorinated to the same levels. If the ship does not want to chlorinate a salt water pool, it must be closed and drained when the ship enters 12 miles from shore, and cannot be refilled until outside 12 miles again.

 

While the hot tubs must be drained every day, per USPH requirements, most of the salt water pools are done weekly. The reason for this is to reduce the amount of chemicals required when water is retained for long periods. USPH inspectors will tell you (they are generally ex-local health inspectors) that by weekly dumping of pools, the ships remove whole chapters on pool water chemistry from their operating requirements.

 

Even if a salt water pool were drained every night, if it was in use in port, it would be on recirculation, and would need to be filtered.

 

Water making is still a large expense for the ship, but with today's larger ships requiring larger engines, there is more power available to generate fresh water, but again, fresh water can only be made when outside 12 miles from land, so a port intensive itinerary limits the amount of water that can be produced.

 

Creating hypochlorite from salt and water, using an electric current, has been around for a long time, used in ship's waste water treatment systems. It probably has advantages in home pool maintenance in that it can tailor hypochlorite production based on the residual chlorine level in the pool. At times of low bather loads, it doesn't produce much, but when the pool is being used, it ramps up production, unlike weekly or daily water testing and dumping chlorine in.

I'm glad you cleared THAT up :rolleyes:

Make perfect sense to me. We have a chlorine salt generator for our pool. The computer monitors the percentage of chlorine in the water.

DD can swim in our pool but not in those that use tablet or liquid chlorine. She's had no problem in the ship's pools but cannot swim in the ocean without immediately being able to take a soapy shower. She had a horrible reaction at the Dead Sea.

FWIW she's also ok in natural hot springs like those in Thermopolis, WY.

Disney has fresh water pools. And slides.

And really the best cruises when you have young children.