FloridaTourist Posted March 4, 2016 #1 Share Posted March 4, 2016 My DW and I will be doing the Adriatic Sea cruise on the Oosterdam starting April 18. We are big water drinkers. I can go through 4-5 water bottles a day at a minimum myself. While I would never drink the water in the ports, is it safe to drink the water on the ship? I do have SBP so I know I can get water bottles there for when we are at port. Several years a go, my DW and I were in Israel for 2 weeks. Thought I could drink the water there but I got sick from it. Trying to be smarter this time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
knittinggirl Posted March 4, 2016 #2 Share Posted March 4, 2016 We drank the ship water on Royal Caribbean's Legend of the Seas. The only caveat was when I came down with NOROVIRUS, our steward told me to drink only bottled water, and ice chips from room service. He made a point of clearing out everything else. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RuthC Posted March 4, 2016 #3 Share Posted March 4, 2016 I've used the ship's water (and ice) on every HAL ship, in pretty much every place they go---most of them more than once. This includes eastern and western Med. several times. I've never gotten sick from it. Only once was there a foul taste, and that was when the ship on-loaded water at a particular port in South America. An officer blamed that on the chemicals used to treat it, and said it would dissipate in a few days. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rkacruiser Posted March 4, 2016 #4 Share Posted March 4, 2016 I never drink bottled water unless it is off the ship in a locale where the water might be suspect. I always drink the water aboard the ship. They must meet the requirements for water quality that the USPHS require. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare whogo Posted March 4, 2016 #5 Share Posted March 4, 2016 My DW and I will be doing the Adriatic Sea cruise on the Oosterdam starting April 18. We are big water drinkers. I can go through 4-5 water bottles a day at a minimum myself. While I would never drink the water in the ports, is it safe to drink the water on the ship? I do have SBP so I know I can get water bottles there for when we are at port. Several years a go, my DW and I were in Israel for 2 weeks. Thought I could drink the water there but I got sick from it. Trying to be smarter this time. How would you know it was the water that made you sick and not something else? I drank tap water in Israel, Europe and cruise ships and never got a stomach bug. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sail7seas Posted March 4, 2016 #6 Share Posted March 4, 2016 The ships water is safe and delicious no matter where the ship is sailing. If for any reason the water should become less than it's usual high standard, there would be an announcement. That is not something that would be kept secret if the water was not safe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FloridaTourist Posted March 4, 2016 Author #7 Share Posted March 4, 2016 How would you know it was the water that made you sick and not something else? I drank tap water in Israel, Europe and cruise ships and never got a stomach bug. Well you really never know for sure but the symptoms seem to match what one would expect. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Krazy Kruizers Posted March 4, 2016 #8 Share Posted March 4, 2016 We drink the ship's water -- it is better than what we have at home coming out of our taps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Krazy Kruizers Posted March 4, 2016 #9 Share Posted March 4, 2016 How would you know it was the water that made you sick and not something else? I drank tap water in Israel, Europe and cruise ships and never got a stomach bug. When we were Israel, the ship warned us not to drink the water there unless it was in a sealed bottle. Cunard gave each person as we left the ship a liter bottle of water -- no charge. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KirkNC Posted March 4, 2016 #10 Share Posted March 4, 2016 Understand that often the ships water is made onboard via desalination. On cruises with short cruising times they occasionally have to supplement the onboard water with water from a port. The issue is they use the heat from the funnels to desalinate so short distance between port or port days make it difficult to make water. I forgot which captain talked about this in a presentation but think it was on the Noordam. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sail7seas Posted March 4, 2016 #11 Share Posted March 4, 2016 The ship makes lots of the water but also bunkers in some ports. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kamloops50 Posted March 4, 2016 #12 Share Posted March 4, 2016 My DW and I will be doing the Adriatic Sea cruise on the Oosterdam starting April 18. We are big water drinkers. I can go through 4-5 water bottles a day at a minimum myself. While I would never drink the water in the ports, is it safe to drink the water on the ship? I do have SBP so I know I can get water bottles there for when we are at port. Several years a go, my DW and I were in Israel for 2 weeks. Thought I could drink the water there but I got sick from it. Trying to be smarter this time. Ship water is safe to drink no matter where they sre. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SightCRR Posted March 4, 2016 #13 Share Posted March 4, 2016 I'd say if the sbp is from Explore 4 then drink the bottled water all the time. You might be one of the few that can actually get 15 drinks a day unless I am goofed up about E4. sightcrr Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OCruisers Posted March 5, 2016 #14 Share Posted March 5, 2016 The water on HAL ships is always totally perfectly safe to drink. Actually, I've been drinking tap water since 1961 on many ships and cruise lines -- never ever have had a problem! :) LuLu Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dockman Posted March 5, 2016 #15 Share Posted March 5, 2016 I often wonder how many people drink bottled water because they like the convenience of a sealed bottle? But with so many good available water bottles these days does it make any sense to pay several dollars for a bottle of water when you can fill up your own bottle for free? Remember: Evian is NAIVE is spelled backwards. Don’t let the bottled water industry fool you into thinking they care about consumers’ concerns regarding the safety of your municipal water. As mentioned before, they trick you into thinking their product is safer than tap water when, in fact, tap water is more heavily regulated, tested more often, cheaper than bottled water, and the preferred drinking water option. But hey if you want to pay for something that most every expert agrees is no better and often not as good than what comes out of the tap it's your money. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NaughtyNanna Posted March 5, 2016 #16 Share Posted March 5, 2016 Not to mention the environmental issues from all those plastic bottles!! :eek: I have never had a problem with ships water. I think the water is safe pretty much everywhere in Europe as well. However South America and Asia would be a different matter. Regards Jan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Keith1010 Posted March 5, 2016 #17 Share Posted March 5, 2016 You are fine to drink the ships water. I would avoid drinking water off the ship other then bottled water. Keith Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jakkojakko Posted March 5, 2016 #18 Share Posted March 5, 2016 Ships water is safe to drink unless anounced otherwise. Not every country in Europa has potable tap water. You should check with the locals. For sure, Netherlands, Germany and Scandinavian countries have potable tapwater. In general the further south, the more chance of not having safe tap water. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sail7seas Posted March 5, 2016 #19 Share Posted March 5, 2016 I drink tons of water, always from the tap on HAL ships, and have never had any problem. I think it tastes just fine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lizzie68 Posted March 5, 2016 #20 Share Posted March 5, 2016 I will be the lone dissenting voice.:o I dislike the ship's water, for me there is an after-taste which is not pleasant. However, where I live we have pristine water, so it is not a good comparison. And especially after we had so many times where the water ran somewhat brown from the cold tap on our last cruise. I purchase the bottled water onboard. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Despegue Posted March 5, 2016 #21 Share Posted March 5, 2016 The water in all EU countries is perfectly safe to drink or brush your teeth in unless explicitly mentioned ( some Greek Islands and hotels that use their own well water for example) and thankfully, water in the EU is devoid of Fluoride taste... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chengkp75 Posted March 5, 2016 #22 Share Posted March 5, 2016 Cruise ships that sail from EU ports must meet the EU cruise ship sanitation regulations, very similar to the USPH regulations for US homeports. The ships are only allowed to take on water in ports where the specific hydrant used has been certified as potable to WHO standards, within the last month. The water bunkered in port is chlorinated to 4 times the level it is when circulating around the ship, before it goes into the tanks. The tanks that have been loaded in port must not be used until a coliform bacteria test is done onboard, which normally takes 18-24 hours. So, long and short of it is, the water onboard is safe to drink. All water onboard is from the same system, there are no "special" water outlets. The water served in the dining venues (from the waiter's pitchers), at the buffet drink dispensers, the bar guns, drinking fountains, and ice makers will have a different taste (if the taste of the tap water isn't pleasant to you) because they use a filter to remove the charcoal so that this water dispensing machinery does not scale up. You can also use a Brita type water bottle or pitcher for your tap water, or simply leave an open pitcher in your fridge overnight, and the chlorine will dissipate naturally. The yellow to brown water seen some times comes from chlorine scale, which lines the pipes. When the system is shut down for maintenance, the scale dries out and falls off the pipes, and will circulate around the ship for a little while, and sometimes is congregates in the non-flowing lines leading to your sink and shower, so running the water for a minute or two will generally clear it up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sail7seas Posted March 5, 2016 #23 Share Posted March 5, 2016 As always,,,,, really helpful post. Thank you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare TiogaCruiser Posted March 6, 2016 #24 Share Posted March 6, 2016 So, long and short of it is, the water onboard is safe to drink. All water onboard is from the same system, there are no "special" water outlets. The water served in the dining venues (from the waiter's pitchers), at the buffet drink dispensers, the bar guns, drinking fountains, and ice makers will have a different taste (if the taste of the tap water isn't pleasant to you) because they use a filter to remove the charcoal so that this water dispensing machinery does not scale up. You can also use a Brita type water bottle or pitcher for your tap water, or simply leave an open pitcher in your fridge overnight, and the chlorine will dissipate naturally. So are these inline filters, or separate units that are specific to ships? I'm thinking about a way to address our shower scale problem when we replumb and re-tile. Are these units small enough (and affordable), for home application? (Did you mean remove calcium instead of charcoal??) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tripper10 Posted March 6, 2016 #25 Share Posted March 6, 2016 The ships water is safe and delicious no matter where the ship is sailing.If for any reason the water should become less than it's usual high standard, there would be an announcement. That is not something that would be kept secret if the water was not safe. The ship's water might be clean but it's definitely not delicious in my opinion Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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