Cruise Ship water the original Smart Water?

[Hlitner]

I will admit to being one of those strange folks who never understands why many will pay good money for bottled water when they can just drink from the tap.  Personally, just give me tap water and I am as happy as a clam :).  But I could not help but notice the new trend where folks (including one in my own family) are now paying good money for SmartWater.  So when you read about Smartwater it is distilled water which then has some minerals (they call them electrolytes) to put some flavor back into the flavorless distilled water.  So consider that most modern cruise ships make much of their own water by distilling it from sea water.  And guess what, they then add back some minerals to give the water some taste.  Now many folks on those ships will not drink that tap water and still spend good money to purchase various bottled waters.  But all they need to do is turn on the tap in their cabin bathrooms and they can get a product somewhat similar to SmartWater.  Go figure.  

 

Hank 

[donaldsc]

I guess that what you are saying is the "smart" water is actually "really dumb" water.  If that is what you mean, I am in total agreement w you.

 

DON

[rkacruiser]

1 hour ago, Hlitner said:

So consider that most modern cruise ships make much of their own water by distilling it from sea water.  And guess what, they then add back some minerals to give the water some taste

 

Never thought about some minerals being added to the distilled water that the ship makes.  I have attended a few presentations by the Environmental Officer of a ship and I don't recall that person ever mentioned that.  

 

The need to be carrying a bottle of water around by a person is a "need" that I have never had during my 70+ years on this planet.  And, paying for bottled water?  I have better use for my money than that!

[mom says]

Have never felt the need for bottled water while on board. Tap water is fine for us. And yes, rkacruiser, minerals AND chlorine (and sometimes CO2 I think) are added to the distilled water produced by either the evaporators or reverse osmosis to make it potable and palatable.

 

However, when going ashore, if the weather is warm/hot, and or the local drinking water might be dodgy, we grab a bottle or 2 to bring with us. Getting dehydrated on an excursion is not enjoyable.

[zekekelso]

There is stuff to drink in a cruise other than beer???? Who knew.  You learn something new everyday on cruise critic. 

[shipgeeks]

Couldn't agree more.  We love cruise ship water.  Have never bought bottled water at home, ship, or eatery.

We usually pack our own water bottles for going ashore.  Fill up in the cabin or buffet.

[AmazedByCruising]

2 hours ago, Hlitner said:

So when you read about Smartwater it is distilled water which then has some minerals (they call them electrolytes) to put some flavor back into the flavorless distilled water.

 

Not all water is distilled, it could have been made using reverse osmosis or bunkered in port as well.

 

2 hours ago, Hlitner said:

And guess what, they then add back some minerals to give the water some taste.

 

Not only taste, also because pure distilled water is very acid and the ship's piping wouldn't like it. (@chengkp75 would have a precise explanation :))

 

That aside, most cruisers are used to at least some level of chlorine added to the water at home. If you are not used to chlorinated water, like me, the faintest smell of chlorine reminds you of freshly cleaned toilets or a swimming pool as those are the only circumstances where you meet the smell.

 

I don't think water from a bottle is any safer, healthier or smarter than water from the tap in my bath room, but if there's a bottle left in the fridge I'd drink that. And might decide to get a beer instead of walking all the way back to the bath room 😄

Edited September 16, 2021 by AmazedByCruising

[ldubs]

3 hours ago, zekekelso said:

There is stuff to drink in a cruise other than beer???? Who knew.  You learn something new everyday on cruise critic. 

 

I have heard that some people add scotch to the water.  

[ontheweb]

14 hours ago, mom says said:

Have never felt the need for bottled water while on board. Tap water is fine for us. And yes, rkacruiser, minerals AND chlorine (and sometimes CO2 I think) are added to the distilled water produced by either the evaporators or reverse osmosis to make it potable and palatable.

 

However, when going ashore, if the weather is warm/hot, and or the local drinking water might be dodgy, we grab a bottle or 2 to bring with us. Getting dehydrated on an excursion is not enjoyable.

Going ashore when the local tap water may not be healthy is one of the few good excuses for ahving bottled water.

[chengkp75]

16 hours ago, Hlitner said:

And guess what, they then add back some minerals to give the water some taste. 

Nope.  Taste has absolutely nothing to do with the addition of anything to the distilled water made onboard any ship.  As Amazed has learned from my posts, both distilled water and reverse osmosis water is acidic, and can cause corrosion to ship's piping systems.  Therefore, the only thing added to the water is calcium carbonate (the active ingredient in Tums) to neutralize the acidity.

 

Ship's water will taste of chlorine (whether you can detect it or not is a personal thing), as unlike municipal water sources, which only inject chlorine once into the water, and then send it to travel miles and sit idle in pipes until someone turns on a tap, which allows the chlorine to dissipate by the time it hits your sink, the ship circulates the water and continually injects chlorine to maintain a required residual amount at the furthest point from the chlorine injection point.

 

What is added to most bottled water, especially things like Smart Water, are far in excess of that needed to neutralize the water, but it does make them closer to spring water than distilled water.  I've drunk ship's water for 6 months a year for 46 years, and have no side effects, other than some tooth pain when our "mineralizer" (the thing that puts the Tums in the water) went south and the acidic water attacked tooth enamel.

[sparks1093]

54 minutes ago, ontheweb said:

Going ashore when the local tap water may not be healthy is one of the few good excuses for ahving bottled water.

This is one of the times we buy and use bottled water, when we go ashore. The other time is when we are at our camp. The rest of the time I am fine with tap water.

[ontheweb]

1 minute ago, sparks1093 said:

This is one of the times we buy and use bottled water, when we go ashore. The other time is when we are at our camp. The rest of the time I am fine with tap water.

I'm also fine with tap water, but DW is not and only drinks bottled water.

[sparks1093]

4 minutes ago, ontheweb said:

I'm also fine with tap water, but DW is not and only drinks bottled water.

DW doesn't like plain water and uses flavor packets. She will drink plain bottled water if it is spring water though. We generally buy a pack of water (I think it's 12 16 ounce bottles) and will take several of them ashore with us. If we don't end up drinking them all ashore then I will consume them on the ship before disembarkation.

[ldubs]

4 hours ago, ontheweb said:

Going ashore when the local tap water may not be healthy is one of the few good excuses for ahving bottled water.

 

Even if the tap water is OK, I would carry a bottled water if I thought I would need water to drink.   But in general I would be OK if the 16 oz bottles were outlawed.  I'm tired of seeing them spread all over the landscape.  

Edited September 17, 2021 by ldubs

[ontheweb]

3 hours ago, sparks1093 said:

DW doesn't like plain water and uses flavor packets. She will drink plain bottled water if it is spring water though. We generally buy a pack of water (I think it's 12 16 ounce bottles) and will take several of them ashore with us. If we don't end up drinking them all ashore then I will consume them on the ship before disembarkation.

My DW either adds lemon juice of Truvia (an artificial sweeter).( I bought it once with a free coupon, and now find myself having to buy it. I guess that's the reason for a  company providing a free coupon.)

[evandbob]

We had the luxury of drinking pristine water via the NY Aqueduct system for over 6 decades.  Never needed bottled or filtered water with our "Croton Highball".  But once we moved to SWFL, we first utilized bottled water, esp. for coffee making, cooking, and rinsing fresh foods.  Then we installed a whole house filter to get rid of foul tasting and unappetizing tap water. We now use less soap and shampoo washing dishes, doing laundry and taking showers.  We only buy bottled water now for emergency use for blackouts or hurricane disruptions.

 

On board ship, we generally order 16 oz bottled water just for convenience sakes. We're careful to dispose of the empties properly.  I imagine at some point we will cease this practice, but we're not at that point yet.

[chengkp75]

21 minutes ago, evandbob said:

We had the luxury of drinking pristine water via the NY Aqueduct system for over 6 decades. 

While I have no problem with the taste of NYC water (and it makes great pizza and bagels), to call it "pristine" after reading the annual water quality reports, is a stretch.

[donaldsc]

51 minutes ago, chengkp75 said:

While I have no problem with the taste of NYC water (and it makes great pizza and bagels), to call it "pristine" after reading the annual water quality reports, is a stretch.

 

I read the latest NYC water report.  Looks pretty good to me.  What problems do you have w it.

 

DON

[evandbob]

44 minutes ago, chengkp75 said:

While I have no problem with the taste of NYC water (and it makes great pizza and bagels), to call it "pristine" after reading the annual water quality reports, is a stretch.

NY bagels and pizza are the best!  Purely just bad imitations that don't compare (with just 1 or 2 exceptions that somewhat vaguely taste almost like NY products)  in our new FL home.

 

Yeah, pristine was a stretch, but I remember when pollution from our MidWestern States was causing acid rain to fall in NY back in the 70's and we needed Federal Law to end those atrocities.  Now that brings up memories of rivers in PA and OH catching fire as well. What a rabbit hole we were falling into!

[chengkp75]

1 hour ago, donaldsc said:

 

I read the latest NYC water report.  Looks pretty good to me.  What problems do you have w it.

 

DON

Sodium is a bit high, total coliform bacteria count shows that their chlorination process is not totally effective, lead is a bit high.  It's not bad water, but it's not "pristine".

[XBGuy]

To the OP:  That is what makes the world go 'round.

 

You can ask the same question about, just about anything:

• Why would somebody pay $4000 for a wrist watch?  I guarantee that my $30 Timex is just as accurate.
• Why do I spend $100 for a bottle of wine?  Fermented grape juice is fermented grape juice.
• Why do people pay extra for clothes that have logos?  Why doesn't the manufacrurer pay me to be a mobile advertisement for them?
• What is the difference between jeans and designer jeans?
• In 1970 would you have believed that people would pay $1 for a cup of coffee?  Don't make me laugh.
• Why do I prefer to cruise in suite cabins?  On every cruise I have every taken, all the cabins have followed the same itinerary.  If I booked inside cabins, I could afford to cruise more often

There is no right or wrong answer to any of those questions.  Generally, these are not dollars and cents decisions.  They do not have to explain their preferences to me.  Similarly, I do not feel any resposibility to explain my decisions to others.

 

Thankfully, not everybody is exactly like me.

 

OK.  End of pontification.

 

Now, I'm really going to step in it.  I have always admired the knowlege and the Cruise Critic contributions of @chengkp75, and I have always thought it was folly to disagree with him.  It appears that I am not understanding something correctly, and, so, I am going to ask for clarification.

 

Chief, in post #10. above. you state that "both distilled water and reverse osmosis water is acidic."  I may be an old guy, but there were several gems from 8th Grade General Science class that have stuck with me.  One of them is that pure water has a pH of 7--it is both acid and basic neutral.  

From your statement, I am likely to conclude that these distillation and reverse osmosis processes leave some impurities in the water that push the pH below 7.  Is that it, or is there something else that I am missing?

[rkacruiser]

10 minutes ago, XBGuy said:

From your statement, I am likely to conclude that these distillation and reverse osmosis processes leave some impurities in the water that push the pH below 7.  Is that it, or is there something else that I am missing?

 

That's an interesting question and I would also like to know what the answer may be.  If the pH does fall below 7, if there is something in the water that causes that, could it come from the equipment used to make the water?  

[rkacruiser]

22 hours ago, mom says said:

However, when going ashore, if the weather is warm/hot, and or the local drinking water might be dodgy, we grab a bottle or 2 to bring with us. Getting dehydrated on an excursion is not enjoyable.

 

  I have done the same after I learned a lesson about dehydration.  After one cruise, I spent 3 days in Rome and decided not to buy bottled water.  I used the bottled water that the hotel daily supplied, but that proved to be not enough hydration.  (Why did I do this?  I was being "cheap".  Why ought I have to pay for water was my thinking?)  Well, my thinking was wrong!  I arrived home dehydrated and made, I believe, my jet lag worse.  I made my dehydration worse by drinking wine rather than water.  

[rkacruiser]

22 hours ago, zekekelso said:

There is stuff to drink in a cruise other than beer???? Who knew.  You learn something new everyday on cruise critic. 

 

 

Beer?  I thought it was wine!  😆

[AmazedByCruising]

 

1 hour ago, XBGuy said:

I may be an old guy, but there were several gems from 8th Grade General Science class that have stuck with me.  One of them is that pure water has a pH of 7--it is both acid and basic neutral.  

 

Not the Chief, but CO2 from the air will soon make it less pure and lower the pH depending on the amount of available C02.