tapwater on the Dream

[cruiseonthebrain]

On the Dream and any other ship, my DH has always gone with the tap water and had no problem. I always go with bottled water. Or drink the rum if you really want to be safe :-)

[tkportersat]

I don't know about the Dream water specifically (yet) but in general find ship water to be just fine. I made my son's baby bottles when he was 10 months old with it, he is almost 6 now and doing A-OK.

[cruiseonthebrain]

What did the other 4.000 people on board the ship have to say? One comment, really???

 

Why you gotta be so rude? And things and stuff?

[merryink]

One of the things that is done to the water, is because distilled water is slightly acidic, and can corrode piping, or attract minerals from the body. To counteract this, the water is sent through a filter chamber filled with calcium carbonate (same antacid ingredient in Tums). When the carbonate is refilled, it needs to be flushed for a while to remove the silt from crushed granules. If they didn't flush this "rehardening filter" sufficiently, this could have resulted in the taste you experienced.

i have never had any problems with the water in in the public parts of the ship but i have had the water come out green in the cabin sink. I also had my cloths come back from the laundry with brown stains, (on a different ship), but the ship was having problems and they fixed the cloths.

[cruzelover55]

I never drink tap water at home. Only bottled. Our tap water tastes weird and we really don't get a great review from the water analysis they send yearly. But, for some reason, we think the water on the ships,(so far) tastes better than bottled. We take 2 empty plastic bottles and fill as needed.

[chengkp75]

i have never had any problems with the water in in the public parts of the ship but i have had the water come out green in the cabin sink. I also had my cloths come back from the laundry with brown stains, (on a different ship), but the ship was having problems and they fixed the cloths.

 

The water used in the ship's laundry is the only water that is different on the ship. Most of the water used in the laundry is condensate from the A/C air handlers. Believe it or not, this can be 100+ tons per day, depending on the weather. This water requires special handling due to the presence of copper and other minerals from the cooler coils. This requires extra chemicals added to the washing machines, notably a weak acid to neutralize the copper, which causes green stains on whites when hot water is used.

[Badfinger]

Just read a negative comment on the quality of the tap water on the Dream. I assume that the filtration systems on these ships produce good quality drinking water. Comments?

 

You all should also know that in the US, taste, color and odor are NOT primary standards, meaning no "enforceable" limits. But of course suppliers do the best they can to minimize complaints and keep consumers from potentially using unsafe sources of water.

[Preacherman46]

Don't know what the negative comment about the water was, but going to go over ship's water in general.

 

The ships source water in three ways:

 

Some is taken from shore. This must be from sources that are tested monthly and meet USPH requirements for water quality. This water is chlorinated onboard the ship before it goes into the storage tanks.

 

Some is made from flash evaporators, and this produces distilled water. This water is chlorinated before it goes into the storage tanks.

 

Some is made from reverse osmosis watermakers. While these units have pre-filters, they are not really filtration units, but the sea water is pressed through a membrane at about 6000psi, and the membrane has pores that only allow molecules the size of water molecules to go through. This water is chlorinated before it goes into the storage tanks.

 

At your municipal water supply, which may chlorinate or brominate the water before sending it down the water mains, where it sits in the pipe until someone opens a valve, and where the chlorine dissipates naturally over time, so there is no guarantee of the chlorine content in the water at time of use. However, on ship, the water is constantly recirculated from the tanks throughout the ship and returns to the tanks. While recirculating, the residual chlorine content is measured at the farthest point from the engine room, and USPH requires that there be a measurable residual chlorine content at that point of 0.5ppm. This ensures that the water is being sanitized at all times. This requires a continual dosing of chlorine, and the levels are recorded continually for future documentation for the USPH.

 

Now we come to the problems that passengers have with ships water.

 

Water taste is a very subjective matter. Many people are turned off by the taste of the chlorine in the water. Since the control point for the chlorination is at the furthest point, if your cabin is closer to the engine room, it may have a higher chlorine content, and more taste of chlorine. This can be resolved for your sink taps by simply leaving a pitcher, water bottle, or glass of water open on the counter or in the fridge for a couple hours, and the chlorine will dissipate naturally. The water from dining venues, bar guns, water dispensers, and ice machines all have charcoal filters to remove the chlorine, but this is for maintenance reasons, and the taste improvement is a side effect. All the water from any source on the ship is the same water, the restaurants and bars get the same water as your sink and shower.

 

Sometimes there is a whitish to brownish discoloration to the water, usually most evident when collected in a sink. This is caused when the water system, or a part of it, has been shut down for repair, and when the chlorine scale on the inside of the pipes dries out, it falls off and then is circulated around the ship. Usually, if the water is let run for a minute or so, it will clear up, as it is just in the non-flowing branch pipe right at your cabin.

 

The USPH requires that 6 samples, from random spots around the ship be taken monthly, and tested for water quality, including bacteria count.

 

Ship's water is as good a quality, or better, than most municipal water supplies.

 

We really appreciate your answers. Could you comment on a metalic taste on the Dream last year.

[chengkp75]

We really appreciate your answers. Could you comment on a metalic taste on the Dream last year.

 

When it comes to things like taste, it could be anything or nothing, as I don't know exactly what your taste buds are telling your, or what you are used to in water. My first thought would be where the ship home ports, and how much shore water they load. Generally, tastes like this come from shore water. It could come and go through the cruise, as shore water is segregated when it is loaded. This is because any shore water must be tested for bacteria, and especially coliform bacteria before it can be used onboard, and this test takes 18-24 hours.

[crewsweeper]

When it comes to things like taste, it could be anything or nothing, as I don't know exactly what your taste buds are telling your, or what you are used to in water.

 

Tastes in water will vary between localities as well. Even in cities where the municipal water supply comes from a single source, your water may taste slightly different from someone else's in another part of the city, due to aging of delivery pies or pies in the house. Also you'll get slight differences in taste from different filtration systems, depending on the main source of the water. That's why when you move to a different place it can take sometime to get used to the water's taste. So it's not surprising that for some people the water on the ship doesn't "taste right" or tastes differently from one ship to another. Doesn't mean anything is "wrong" with the water, just something new to your taste buds.

[Preacherman46]

When it comes to things like taste, it could be anything or nothing, as I don't know exactly what your taste buds are telling your, or what you are used to in water. My first thought would be where the ship home ports, and how much shore water they load. Generally, tastes like this come from shore water. It could come and go through the cruise, as shore water is segregated when it is loaded. This is because any shore water must be tested for bacteria, and especially coliform bacteria before it can be used onboard, and this test takes 18-24 hours.

Thank you for responding :)