Personal water bottles

[MarKandi]

Any suggestions on how to get a personal water bottle cleaned/washed during a cruise?  I was once advised to give it to the cabin steward, but those folks are super busy and it takes time for them to get it back to me. Trying to pin down someone at the Lido where they take the dirty dishes to be cleaned can also be challenging. I once had a bartender say he could put it in the diswasher behind the bar at the aft Seaview Bar, but I believe  those have been removed and now everything goes into the main dishwasher to be cleaned.

Our 28day San Diego-Lima Maasdam cruise really posed difficulties on this. I reverted to rinsing it out w/hot water in the Lido. Discovered the wait staff got super upset with one passenger who filled a water container and touched the mouth of the container to the dispenser nozzle. For good reason!!! Some folks just don't think about what they could be spreading!

Thinking about taking a liquor mini filled with Clorox.

We're on the Eurodam on another 28day this March and am curious if anyone has an idea or thought.

 

[OlsSalt]

Use an appropriate clorox solution in your own bathroom sink or sufficiently large plastic bag thst allows full submersion - for the adequate amount of  sanitation time, or bring in your own supply of discardable small water bottles. Maybe worry less by taking reasonable precautions? How on earth would your room stewards insure its proper decontamination and chain of custody of your own private water bottle. This is a new one.

Edited January 16, 2019 by OlsSalt

[Homosassa]

Bring a small bottle of dishwashing detergent. Use it to wash the bottle in hot water in the bathroom sink.  

 

Soap and hot  water is all you need. (Microbiologist here).

[chengkp75]

OP, are you planning on using your personal water bottle, after being washed, directly in the water dispenser?  Your asking crew to sanitize your water bottle at whatever time of the day you present it, so they would have to run the glasswasher just for you?  Just use a ship's glass to operate the dispenser, and dump from it to your bottle, without touching the two together.

[onthelake]

If you do not already have - there are bottle brushes with a ‘Pom pom’ On the end which allows you to give a good cleaning to the bottom of the bottle.  That would certainly help you make sure the bottle is properly cleaned.

[OlsSalt]

Use one of the travel water purification "straws" that let you suck pond water and still feel feel safe.

[Homosassa]

40 minutes ago, chengkp75 said:

OP, are you planning on using your personal water bottle, after being washed, directly in the water dispenser?  Your asking crew to sanitize your water bottle at whatever time of the day you present it, so they would have to run the glasswasher just for you?  Just use a ship's glass to operate the dispenser, and dump from it to your bottle, without touching the two together.

LOL - After always having washed out  my water bottles with hot water and soap, I was on a cruise where I was following my usually procedure of using water glases filled with ice and water to fill my bottle at breakfast.  After watching me for several days as I was sitting in the same section each morning, one of the supervisors came over to me , took my bottle before I started the routine that morning, and took it away to be filled.

 

He did it every morning for the rest of the cruise (and also at lunch - bottle had also been washed with hot water and soap before going up to the buffet).

[POA1]

We took a bottle brush and a little bit of dish detergent. We cleaned them in the bathroom sink.

 

FWIW - Many of the newer ships have a bottle fill station. They're in the Lido. Saves you from having to mess with the glasses.

 

[kerryincork]

I have seen water bottles where you can unscrew the bottle neck and reverse it and use it as a funnel. Very practical for using with a water fountain. Also easy for cleaning.

 

Regarding cleaning just bring washing up liquid with you a bottle cleaner and you can use the sink in your cabin.

[jenp123]

Please bring your own supplies to wash the bottle in your room.  It is unreasonable to expect or ask crew to wash your personal belongings.  

[Krazy Kruizers]

We just buy bottles of water to take ashore and then throw them away once we get back to the ship.

 

No washing.

[IslaSarah]

I wouldn't bother with bringing special dish soap, I'd just wash it in my bathroom cabin using bar soap or shampoo. They're all soap!

[jb008]

You could pack denture tablets with you to clean out the bottles.  We just brought some dish soap and washed them out in our cabin sink.

 

A few tricks I learned from bringing a refillable bottle on our last cruise... wide mouth bottles are much easier to refill from a glass.  Also water dispenser was slow... fill the glass basically full with ice, add a little water so the slurry will pour, and you can fill the bottle much faster.  Also, there will be idiots who refill a small mouth disposable bottle by placing it under the dispenser and you will question whether it's worth using a refillable bottle to save a a little money but risk communicable diseases in the process.

Edited January 16, 2019 by jb008

[Fouremco]

Given the horrible impact on the environment of single use throw away plastic bottles, it's great to see the number of people who use refillable personal water bottles. 

 

Unless you plan on putting Gatorade or something else other than water in the bottle, I wouldn't bother bringing brushes or dish soap. Hot water and body wash from the shower work well and with a good rinse leave no taste.

[Palms2Pines2Sea]

17 hours ago, Fouremco said:

Given the horrible impact on the environment of single use throw away plastic bottles, it's great to see the number of people who use refillable personal water bottles. 

That's exactly what I was thinking, but I didn't want to state the obvious to someone with 100,000++ posts!

😎

[MarKandi]

Thanks for all the replies! Some good ideas here. 

Just for the record, I did state that I would NOT give my water bottle to the Cabin Steward for the reasons listed. Hes too busy and I'm not sure of its whereabouts during its absence.

 

I like to use widemouth Nalgene bottles as they hold 32oz which is more than most water bottles. Their reusable, durable, easier to fill,  and resealable. I'm not an environment freak but do like contributing to the reduction of plastic bottles if I can. I drink a lot of water so I like a larger water container.

I bring a good supply of gallon ziplock bags so I also like the idea of the 1st post reply about using one of those for a clorox sanitize solution soak. May end up going that route. Using a denture tablet is another good suggestion.

ALL soaps and body washes use a perfume that can transfer the scents over and produce a funny taste to the water that I dont appreciate. I'm also am not a real fan of washing out a water bottle in a bathroom sink. Their too small to do a good job and the water is less than scalding for good reason.

 

Hopefully there is a water refill station in the Eurodam's Lido. I do like those.

 

 

 

[Shmoo here]

2 minutes ago, MarKandi said:

and the water is less than scalding

I've found the hot water onboard ships (in the bathroom sink/shower) is often much hotter than at home.

 

 

[wombatKY]

@MarKandi, I have been taking a few drops of dish soap added to a papertowel to clean my water bottles for many years now. Try this idea and see how you like it before you leave home. Just let the soap dry on the papertowel and then rehydrate it when you want to use it. I pack several of these in a ziploc bag and they take up no room in the luggage and won't cause any mess.

[jb008]

Or a travel size squeeze bottle of some dish soap.  There are options out there that are dye and perfume free.  Dish soap also works well to spot treat when I inevitably get some form of food onto my clothes, and a drop or two works well if I want to wash laundry in the sink.

 

They also sell dish sanitizer tablets, that would be another option to disinfect a bottle.  Restaurant supply stores should carry them, some grocery stores might, or there's always amazon.

 

[TrolleyGirl]

Aside from the pollution

On ‎1‎/‎16‎/‎2019 at 8:20 PM, Fouremco said:

Given the horrible impact on the environment of single use throw away plastic bottles, it's great to see the number of people who use refillable personal water bottles. 

 

Exactly, also many of the new water bottles are insulated so you can enjoy cold water all day as opposed to room temperature water from a disposable water bottle.

[skypig]

On 1/16/2019 at 11:19 AM, Homosassa said:

LOL - After always having washed out  my water bottles with hot water and soap, I was on a cruise where I was following my usually procedure of using water glases filled with ice and water to fill my bottle at breakfast.  After watching me for several days as I was sitting in the same section each morning, one of the supervisors came over to me , took my bottle before I started the routine that morning, and took it away to be filled.

 

He did it every morning for the rest of the cruise (and also at lunch - bottle had also been washed with hot water and soap before going up to the buffet).

I have had several of the staff in the lido fill my bottle for me from their pitcher of water after watching me fill it with a glass numerous times. I have a wide mouth reusable bottle which could be easily filled without touching the water spout from the “machine” but there would be I’m sure some freak out from some other passenger despite the fact that irregardless of the posted signage I’ve seen other passengers refill a plastic “single use” bottle directly from the spout. 

[skypig]

You can buy fizzy tablets made specifically for reusable bottles on Amazon. But the denture tablets are probably cheaper & much more readily available ie $tree, Walmart