How's the water?

[twokey]

I have seen a couple of posts about the water on cruise ships being from the ships own filtration system. I hear that it is as good to drink as bottled water. Can that be true?
If so, what is the point of buying bottled water on the ship? I drink lots of water, so that will save me bundles.
Tell me what your experiences are with the water on board the ships.

Thanks!

Tom

[cb at sea]

Yes...it's true. There is no point to buying water at all. Do know that the water will never "run cold", but ice or your fridge will rectify that!

[CruzieSue]

We were on RC Voyager of the Seas this past March and the water served in dining areas was just fine. I drink a lot of bottled water (Ozarka is my drink of choise). There was no strange taste or smell. Just good, clean water. We did break down and use a couple of the bottles of water (Evian) from the room refrigerator just because it was convenient and we like having water in the room before going to bed and when getting up in the morning.

[Capt_BJ]

virtually all cruise ships today produce their "potable water" aka drinking water via the reverse osmosis process

if you read the fine print on the label of your locally purchased bottled water you'll probably find it is local water cleaned by the same process

'spring water' can be different as is imported water

BUT the ship's tap water is AS refined as your local "bottled water" maybe more . .

[broberts]

Many cruise ships also use flash distillation to produce potable water. Both reverse osmosis and flash distillation produce very near "pure" water. So pure in fact that trace amounts of some minerals may be added to the result to remove any "flat" taste.

[CruiserBruce]

As you don't really know where bottled comes from - many that claimed to be "spring water" have been exposed as tap water - I think it is safe to say ship's water is at least as good, if not better than bottled.

[skrufy]

The water is fine. Add ice to an insulated cup, and your all set. Ice is always available.

[beachbum53]

Originally Posted by CruiserBruce

As you don't really know where bottled comes from - many that claimed to be "spring water" have been exposed as tap water - I think it is safe to say ship's water is at least as good, if not better than bottled.

I remember seeing a story on one of the news programs, maybe ABC's 20/20(?), (not sure), that some brands of so-called "mountain spring water" were actually bottled city water. We've never had a problem or any complaints about the ship's water. It just seems so silly for people to carry on cases of bottled water. For shore excursions, you can buy a bottle (or two) of water on the ship to carry with you, or, do as we and others have done by taking a couple of refillable bottles in your luggage, and then fill them up from the ship's drinking water.

[Hlitner]

Ship water is tested several times daily. Bottled water.....who knows? Never could understand why folks will spend more money on water then gasoline (hate to admit we have Perrier and Pellegrino in our home) but water has obviously become one of the great fads of the 90s and current decade. This fact has not been lost on the major soda companies which have all jumped on the bandwagon. We have one local company that simply takes city water, runs it through a simple filter, and sells it for hundreds of times the cost of the city water. Sounds like a good plan.

Hank

[Putterdude]

The water on cruise ships is excellent however it does come from the faucet a big warm. To overcome this we refill bottles and keep them in the fridge.

[SadieN]

Only one in the 20+ cruises we have been on has the water tasted 'off'.

[Keith1010]

You'll find that the water does taste very good on the cruise ships.

They make the water while the ships are at sea.

Keith

[Katana_Geldar]

I have found it is rather "hard", and not nice on your skin and hair. I'm oily and mine dried out quite a bit but that may have been the salt air.

[Krazy Kruizers]

I wouldn't waste money buying bottled water on a ship. The water on the ships is much better than what comes out of our taps at home.

[Pancake16]

So, going on my first ever cruise in 32 days! I am a BIG water drinker. I plan to drink the ship water without fear and know it should taste fine.

I was planning a small case/pack of bottled water for the convenience of shore excursions. So much is said about the etiquette of re-filling bottles, etc and those refilled bottles are not sealed tight for transport.

Is there another way that I'm not thinking of?

[loubetti]

Originally Posted by Capt_BJ

virtually all cruise ships today produce their "potable water" aka drinking water via the reverse osmosis process

if you read the fine print on the label of your locally purchased bottled water you'll probably find it is local water cleaned by the same process

'spring water' can be different as is imported water

BUT the ship's tap water is AS refined as your local "bottled water" maybe more . .

Having been in the bottled water business, the above is quite correct. "RO" is used on most ships, and is very good when it comes to purifying water for drinking.

Note: RO is not "distillation", you don't want distilled water to drink.

[beachbum53]

Originally Posted by Pancake16

So, going on my first ever cruise in 32 days! I am a BIG water drinker. I plan to drink the ship water without fear and know it should taste fine.

I was planning a small case/pack of bottled water for the convenience of shore excursions. So much is said about the etiquette of re-filling bottles, etc and those refilled bottles are not sealed tight for transport.

Is there another way that I'm not thinking of?

Go to a store in your area that sells sporting goods, or Amazon.com, and look for re-usable water bottles that are insulated and (most importantly) leak-proof. You'll find them in sizes ranging from 16 oz. - 24 oz. Keep in mind that the ones with a slightly larger opening are easier to put ice in. You can get ice and water to fill your bottle(s) at the buffet area prior to your shore excursion(s). And an empty re-usable water bottle is much easier to carry on board at embarkation than a case of water.

[BruceMuzz]

Not so long ago, most of our fresh water came from sea water via reverse osmosis and flash distillation.

With fuel costs skyrocketing, we often cannot afford to go that route anymore.
One ton (one cubic meter) of water now costs between US$4 and US$6 to produce onboard.

One ton of water can be purchased in most ports for between US$2 and US$4.
When you consider that we are using thousands of tons of fresh water every day, the cost savings of buying water in port can be considerable.

Fresh water produced onboard is very soft - with no mineral content. To protect our pipes, and the flavor of the water, we must add large quantities of mineral salts to the water before pumping it to you. This is also expensive and time-consuming.
Water purchased from shore already has mineral salts in it, saving us additional money.

[we're sailing away....]

It is not bad .

[suekay]

Originally Posted by Pancake16

So, going on my first ever cruise in 32 days! I am a BIG water drinker. I plan to drink the ship water without fear and know it should taste fine.

I was planning a small case/pack of bottled water for the convenience of shore excursions. So much is said about the etiquette of re-filling bottles, etc and those refilled bottles are not sealed tight for transport.

Is there another way that I'm not thinking of?

Refilling of water bottles direct from the public supply is not allowed because of the risk of contaminating the tap. We get 2 or 3 glasses of water and decant them into the water bottle to avoid this (or use the melted ice from the cabin ice bucket each morning) We've never had a problem with leakage when we refill shop-bought bottles