Drinking Water

Hi.

We're kind of big water drinkers, especially at bed time. I know that NCL charges a fortune for bottles of water to be delivered to the room and that we can not bring bottles of water onboard...

SO... How does the water on board taste? How easy is it to get to (is it in multiple locations or just at the buffet)? How much are bottles of water to buy at the bars?

Thanks...

Hi.

 

We're kind of big water drinkers, especially at bed time. I know that NCL charges a fortune for bottles of water to be delivered to the room and that we can not bring bottles of water onboard...

 

SO... How does the water on board taste? How easy is it to get to (is it in multiple locations or just at the buffet)? How much are bottles of water to buy at the bars?

 

Thanks...

Ask your room steward for a pitcher.

Depends where you are and what ship you are on. NCL (like all other cruise lines) bunkers water in port as much as possible. They use water from the municipal water systems in the ports. There are some ships that bunker 100% of their water (i.e. don't make any on board through distillation or reverse osmosis). Most will be a combination of port water and manufactured water.

The water coming out of your bathroom faucet is the same as in the buffet (although they would have a filter on the buffet water dispenser to reduce build-up in the dispenser).

If you have a casino drinks card, bottled water is free. Otherwise, it is cheaper to buy a 24-pack of 1 liter bottles.

6-pack (1-liter bottles) $22.95

12-pack (1-liter bottles) $39.95

18-pack (1-liter bottles) $49.95

24-pack (1-liter bottles) $59.95

The source of the water plays very small role in the taste. No matter where the drinking water is from, it must be treated with significant amount (taste wise) of chlorine in order to keep impurities from it while it circulates through the ship.

Previous poster downplayed the significance of filtering - on most ships there is a very big difference in the taste of the water depending on the source - tap or dispenser.

As said, room stewards can provide filtered water, as do all the bars. Buffet is the only place to self-serve filtered water.

The taps in the room are fine.

Straight from the tap there is a slight chlorine taste. Let your glass of water sit for 5-10 minutes, and the taste greatly diminishes. Fill up a bottle and chill it in the fridge for 30 minutes, and it's indistinguishable from the bottle water they charge you for.

The "I won't drink the tap water" line is one of the stupidest things I hear from cruise passengers. It's completely psychological.

On all the ships we've sailed, I've found the water to be clear, odorless, and without taste whether it was cabin bathroom faucet water or otherwise.

The "I won't drink the tap water" line is one of the stupidest things I hear from cruise passengers. It's completely psychological.

It always saddens me to see people stating things like this with straight face - it shows that living in a country with clean and truly tasteless drinking water really is a privilege that not all can enjoy and therefore can't even know any better.

Getting off the Gem today I saw two different people carrying 12 packs of water off the ship. Did they win them as a prize? Why would anyone buy water on board and take that much off the ship? I cannot believe they smuggled even more than that onto the ship. I'm thinking NCL held it for them for the cruise and gave it back to them as they disembarked. I know in the ports it is easy to smuggle one bottle of anything back on the ship, just have a big bag with a bunch of stuff in it.

Getting off the Gem today I saw two different people carrying 12 packs of water off the ship. Did they win them as a prize? Why would anyone buy water on board and take that much off the ship? I cannot believe they smuggled even more than that onto the ship. I'm thinking NCL held it for them for the cruise and gave it back to them as they disembarked. I know in the ports it is easy to smuggle one bottle of anything back on the ship, just have a big bag with a bunch of stuff in it.

You might want to update your signature line, as it's simply not true anymore - and you have to do it after the cruise, after disembarkation, by mail.

I've never been on a ship where I had a problem drinking the water out of the tap. (Even when you could bring water on board NCL ships, I never did so, and I am a water drinker.) As noted above, chill the water your mini-fridge if you like it cold.

We make sure to let our cabin steward know that we would like the water pitcher and ice bucket to be kept full and they always have been. You could probably ask for an extra pitcher of water if you can figure out where to put it. (There are 3 of us in our cabin, so free counter space is very rare in our case.)

Ask your room steward for a pitcher.

I asked mine last week and he said I would have to order it from room service. I drank the water from the bathroom faucet and survived just fine.

You might want to update your signature line, as it's simply not true anymore - and you have to do it after the cruise, after disembarkation, by mail.

Really? I cannot increase my DSC while on the ship? Sorry to hear that.:D

Is the casino giving out the same water you can purchase on ship?

Is the casino giving out the same water you can purchase on ship?

The casino bar sell the same water sold everywhere else on the ship. The casino does not "give out" water.

If you have a casino drink card, you can use it to order complimentary bottled water just as you order complimentary drinks while you are an active player. But you need a casino drink card.

The water on the ship is chlorinated and may have a stronger odor and taste of chlorine than your local municipal water system. That is the case for us, and we prefer the convenience and taste of bottled water.

Ships use the same chlorine that you use in laundry bleach or liquid swimming pool chlorine, but your local community probably uses a different chemical treatment system called "chloramines" (longer lasting, less taste and less odor), or ozone which doesn't leave a residual (especially if you are in Europe). The water on a ship continuously circulates, unlike the pipes in your home, and they measure the chlorine at the furthest point from the injection point, and inject chlorine accordingly to maintain the level .05 ppm (if I recall; that's a lower level than most municipal systems). That's far below any health related concerns for the chlorine but enough to sanitize the water in a continuously circulating system.

A carbon filter will take out the chlorine taste and odor. Otherwise, the buffet is the only place you can freely get filtered water on the ship by yourself. Some people are saying the Brita or other sports bottles that incorporate a filter work fine with the tap water to remove the chlorine taste or odor.

I'm surprised that one person here said they had to order a water pitcher from room service rather than having the cabin steward provide it. Can you clarify on that? Is there now a $7.95 fee for a pitcher of water?

Getting off the Gem today I saw two different people carrying 12 packs of water off the ship. Did they win them as a prize? Why would anyone buy water on board and take that much off the ship? I cannot believe they smuggled even more than that onto the ship. I'm thinking NCL held it for them for the cruise and gave it back to them as they disembarked. I know in the ports it is easy to smuggle one bottle of anything back on the ship, just have a big bag with a bunch of stuff in it.

I know on our recent b2b med cruise on the Jade it was not allowed and there was no way people could smuggle water in a big bag with lots of stuff. Every port, including Santorini where they had to haul the garbage and water monitors ashore and make them stand in the blazing heat, confiscated water bottles. If by chance you made it back to the ship they removed it from your bag when the bags went through the X-ray machines.

Regarding the taste of tap water; I've never found it offensive. Perhaps a little chlorine after taste but like another poster mentioned, just fill bottles up at night and chill for next morning and the chlorine taste will dissipate.

It wasn't until the water ban and reading posts about swelling when passengers drank tap water that I even gave the tap water a second thought. Last year we solely drank tap water and while I didn't mind the taste, I had swollen ankles every day. This year as a test I only drank the bottle water and never had any swelling. We ate about the same amount and type of food, went on the same two week cruise and it was about the same temperatures (hot both cruises).

The water package if purchased by the case isn't that terribly expensive. You just have to Remember to bring your water bottles to dinner, meals etc. Our servers always asked, " do you want tap or bottled water." If you order the bottle of water with your meal it's over $6.

If the water was that good for you I doubt the crew would be running to get water in port. They're easily identified because they're the only ones allowed to bring it back on. I asked my room steward what he was doing when he commented he had some time off one day and he said he was going to enough water bottles to last him through the TA. He said the crew doesn't like to drink the tap water on the ship. Katakolon duty free right off the ship had a good size line of crew purchasing cases of water bottles. Obviously they stocked it for crew because the passengers were certainly not able to bring it back on.

You might want to update your signature line, as it's simply not true anymore - and you have to do it after the cruise, after disembarkation, by mail.

Reread their signature. They are talking about RAISING the DSC not removing it!

Getting off the Gem today I saw two different people carrying 12 packs of water off the ship. Did they win them as a prize? Why would anyone buy water on board and take that much off the ship? I cannot believe they smuggled even more than that onto the ship. I'm thinking NCL held it for them for the cruise and gave it back to them as they disembarked. I know in the ports it is easy to smuggle one bottle of anything back on the ship, just have a big bag with a bunch of stuff in it.

They might have prepurchased more than one 12 pack and didn't need all the bottles.

i'm a wateraholic. i bought 12 bottles for 60 on the BA and brought home 5. at dinners they gave me water and i never even remembered that i was supposed to note the taste to see if it was good. i assure you if it was bad id notice. at one local restaurant here at home there is something wrong with their water. like chemicals in it. so im not a water snob but i can tell when its bad.

that being said. do i want to drink a lot of the bathroom faucet? probably not. will bring empty bottles and fill with other things at the buffet safely

I have a water bottle (bought on Amazon) that includes filter inside it (think Brita pitcher but personal size - 32 oz). I ask the room steward to keep our ice bucket full and keep the water bottle on ice. Cold, filtered water for free.

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Anyone since the water policy has changed ??? Recent cruisers that have received complimentary water in the casino with their card? I sailed on the Jade last year and the complimentary water bottles in the casino were little bottles that were not the Aqua Fina bottles.

We drink water out of the tap, but it MUST be chilled....ship's water won't "run cold"...ever! Ask for ice in your cabin...plop some in a glass, turn on the tap and go to town!!!

Hi.

 

We're kind of big water drinkers, especially at bed time. I know that NCL charges a fortune for bottles of water to be delivered to the room and that we can not bring bottles of water onboard...

 

SO... How does the water on board taste? How easy is it to get to (is it in multiple locations or just at the buffet)? How much are bottles of water to buy at the bars?

 

Thanks...

In some ports particularly in the USA, the water on the ship is actually local tap water that is pumped into the ship's tanks by truck, the ship's do this as it works out cheaper than making their own water on board

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I think the water tastes fine. I get a kick out of all the posts from people saying something like "my doctor says I can only drink Heavenly Mist distilled pure water because otherwise I will die". I always wonder if those people get ice in their drinks, or avoid the soups, because many items are made with good old ship water.