Pools on Oosterdam

[cjm66]

I have read references in recent reviews to the temperature of the pools - positive comments - very comfortable for swimming etc. Does this mean that the swimming pools are heated? And if so does this only happen when cruising in Alaska or also in warmer climes? - We are booked on Oosterdam for November - Queensland Coast (Australia) and South Pacific.

 

Thanks

[CruiserBruce]

They are heated where they need to be - Alaska for example. Not heated where Mother Nature does it for them.

[sail7seas]

We got a real kick out of the kids on Oosterdam all swimming with the Lido pool roof open when we were in Ketchikan and Juneau..... It was gorgeous weather. :)

 

[ceejay3377]

I have read references in recent reviews to the temperature of the pools - positive comments - very comfortable for swimming etc. Does this mean that the swimming pools are heated? And if so does this only happen when cruising in Alaska or also in warmer climes? - We are booked on Oosterdam for November - Queensland Coast (Australia) and South Pacific.

 

Thanks

 

We have done a couple of Summer cruises to the South Pacific on the Volendam, and the pools were not heated. It is really not necessary, with the cool water a welcome relief from some of the hot, humid days you get in the South pacific in summer.

 

From memory, the midship pool (with the retractable roof) was chlorinated, while the aft pool was sea water. Incidentally, the sea water is not replaced very often, maybe once a week (?), and with all the Aussies on board, most wearing liberal amounts of sunscreen, much of it ends up in the water, and it had a slimy scum on top after about a week. We brought it to the attention of the Environmental Officer and it did get changed after a day or two.

 

The mid ship pool is generally considered the kids pool, while the aft pool is meant to be adults only, but my experience is that this is not clearly signposted and inconsistently enforced (and on our last cruise lead to some heated arguments between a couple of parents and some passengers who were looking for a child free retreat ...:eek:)

 

(I just read through my comments, and it doesn't sound that positive, but really these are nice pools and well maintained:). I think the sunscreen problem was probably really only an issue because there were so many skin cancer conscious Aussies on board. I lost count of the number of EXTREMELY burnt Brits, Americans and Canadians, most of whom dismissed our warnings of the harsher sun and greater danger of sunburn in the southern hemisphere).

 

Cheers,

[CruiserBruce]

On every HAL cruise we have been on, both pools are desalinated water- not salt water. Salt is very corrosive to everything, they don't want salt water getting to tiles, rails, other plumbing.

 

Commonly the pool water is changed every day or two at night- you don't notice. The pools seem to be drained and scrubbed about once a week.

[jtl513]

Sometimes the pool water has been purchased in ports. BruceMuzz has commented many times on pool water. Here are a few posts:

 

Uughh, not quite true.

The better cruise lines have fresh water in pools, occasionally putting salt water in one pool if there are several.

The low-end cruise lines save a lot of money by pumping salt water into and out of their pools.

 

A tryical ship's swimming pool holds between 80 and 100 tons of water. The cost to produce a ton of fresh water ranges between $4 and $6.

The better cruise lines usually have fresh water pools, sometimes with one salt water pool for those who prefer it.

 

Ship swimming pools typically hold between 80 and 100 tons of water each. Producing fresh water onboard costs in the range of $6 per ton. If there are many families and children onboard, the pools quickly become polluted and must be drained and re-filled every few days.

 

That gets rather expensive. Chemically treating the water takes time, requires closing the pools until the chemicals balance, and costs extra money as well.

 

The lower end cruise lines typically have salt water pools.

Salt water pools are filled for free. No chemicals are required. As soon as there is too much urine in the water, it is drained and quickly re-filled.

 

You are correct. The ship I manage has this technology and equipment onboard. But we have a challenge with waste heat from the engines. There isn't enough of it.

 

Priorities for recycled engine heat are:

1. Steam for galleys and laundry.

2. Hot water for cabins and galleys.

3. Heat for swimming pools.

 

Whatever waste heat is left over is used to produce fresh water.

But we are in the Caribbean right now, meaning very few opportunities to produce large quantities of fresh water from Sea Water.

 

Last week my ship produced fresh water at an average cost of US$7 per ton.

We bunkered fresh water at several ports at an average cost of US$3.50 per ton.

We consume 2,500 tons of fresh water every day.

The costs - and savings - add up very quickly.

[Viesczy]

While I don't suffer from Mysophobia (fear of germs), that pool/hot tub areas of any boat aren't where I prefer to spend my time. Communal area, heat, water, and who knows who has what... that's a recipe for coming down with something worse than Captain Tripps from Stephen King's The Stand.

 

If I go in, my head doesn't go under the water...

 

Derek

[ceejay3377]

On every HAL cruise we have been on, both pools are desalinated water- not salt water. Salt is very corrosive to everything, they don't want salt water getting to tiles, rails, other plumbing.

 

Commonly the pool water is changed every day or two at night- you don't notice. The pools seem to be drained and scrubbed about once a week.

 

The environmental officer definitely said the water was changed weekly. I was surprised, given that it seemed to be salt water and not treated. (It was salty, so that's why I assumed it was salt water. I found it necessary to rinse the salt off in the showers next to the lido doors if I had taken a dip. Maybe it was partially desalinated ...?). Anyway, in the end I stopped using the pool and just cooled of under the showers ;).

 

(But then again, the environmental officer also said the black soot on our clothes could not have come from the ship's stack, as it is fitted with scrubbers ... :rolleyes: Maybe he was not being completely truthful ...;))

[cjm66]

Thank you all for your comments. I regularly swim in a heated pool at the gym - it tastes salty - but does not smell of chlorine. Looking forward to the Lido pool with the retractable roof for the early sea days and to the aft pool for the (hopefully) warm sea days around New Caledonia.