Are the pools on Harmony of the Seas fresh or salt water?

[suzk2275a]

Does anyone know if the pools on the Harmony of the Seas are salt water.  We were on Harmony, but I can't remember.

 

Thanks,

Susan

 

Edited January 28, 2019 by suzk2275a
edited.

[Allura_317]

 

13 minutes ago, suzk2275a said:

Does anyone know if the pools on the Harmony of the Seas are salt water.  We were on Harmony, but I can't remember.

 

Thanks,

Susan

 

I think all the pools are freshwater with the exception of the beach pool, which is salt water.  Somebody please confirm this.

[Clarea]

1 minute ago, Allura_317 said:

 

I think all the pools are freshwater with the exception of the beach pool, which is salt water.  Somebody please confirm this.

 

That is my understanding also.

[Allura_317]

Just now, Host Clarea said:

 

That is my understanding also.

Thank you!

[suzk2275a]

5 minutes ago, Allura_317 said:

 

Thank you both!

 

Susan

[APDMOM]

That is exactly correct.  We are picky about freshwater pools, since we like to exercise and swim laps.  That saltwater sure burns your eyes 🙂

Edited January 29, 2019 by APDMOM

[Paulette3028]

13 hours ago, APDMOM said:

That is exactly correct.  We are picky about freshwater pools, since we like to exercise and swim laps.  That saltwater sure burns your eyes 🙂

To be honest the pools are not really designed for swimming laps, they are small and usually filled with people trying to stay 'cool'.  You best chance would be early in the morning and then it would take  3 or 4 strokes to be at the other end.  

[NavyCruiser]

So where do they store the extra extra long freshwater hose?

& do they connect it to the home port spigot or the at next port? 

😎

[Clarea]

22 minutes ago, NavyCruiser said:

So where do they store the extra extra long freshwater hose?

& do they connect it to the home port spigot or the at next port? 

😎

 

They do load potable water at ports from time to time.

[tahqa]

1 hour ago, NavyCruiser said:

So where do they store the extra extra long freshwater hose?

& do they connect it to the home port spigot or the at next port? 

😎

 

42 minutes ago, Host Clarea said:

 

They do load potable water at ports from time to time.

 

They also have desalination plants that can make about 500,000 gallons of drinkable water each day. Though, as Bob said, they usually fill up the water tanks in port as it's usually cheaper.

[Pratique]

5 minutes ago, tahqa said:

 

 

They also have desalination plants that can make about 500,000 gallons of drinkable water each day. Though, as Bob said, they usually fill up the water tanks in port as it's usually cheaper.

Also I believe they can't run the desalination plants while in port, the ship needs to be underway ("fresh" seawater not that gunk that's sitting in the harbor), so they try to store some extra potable water before docking to hold them over while docked in case they can't load water from shore.

[Paulette3028]

47 minutes ago, tahqa said:

 

 

They also have desalination plants that can make about 500,000 gallons of drinkable water each day. Though, as Bob said, they usually fill up the water tanks in port as it's usually cheaper.

I believe I was told at a Q&A session that pools on board are usually saltwater pools and the water is pulled in from the ocean while at sea.  The desalination plants on board are for converting saltwater taken from the ocean and turned into drinkable water for us onboard.    

 

Considering the amount of water that the pools need to be filled, it would seem to me, that using the potable water they have converted from salt water would be a rather poor use of resources.  The water in saltwater pools would still be going through a filtration system designed for pools, but not designed to desalinate it.

[Pratique]

Oasis class ships have both fresh and saltwater pools and holding tanks for the water when the pools are drained so that the water can be reused. I presume the water is held when drained for operational purposes like rough seas not drained for cleaning purposes. As with many things Oasis the system capacity is much more than needed for ordinary use. Might not be the case on smaller/older ships.

[chengkp75]

1 hour ago, Pratique said:

Also I believe they can't run the desalination plants while in port, the ship needs to be underway ("fresh" seawater not that gunk that's sitting in the harbor), so they try to store some extra potable water before docking to hold them over while docked in case they can't load water from shore.

That is correct, they cannot "make" water within 12 miles of shore.  If the Harmony only had a water making plant capable of making 500,000 gal/day (1800 metric tons), I would be surprised.  I was on a much smaller ship (2200 pax) and we had a capacity of 1600 mt/day.  I would suspect the Oasis class can make around 3000 mt/day (790,000 gal/day).  The ship consumes about 1600-1800 mt/day of water, so with the capacity I stated, she should always make more than needed, but when you take away the time in port, and the time inside 12 miles, this reduces the total production for the cruise.

 

It is not cheaper to load water in port, as port of Miami charges $2-3/metric ton for water.  Ships load water because their itinerary does not allow them time to produce all the water needed.  A further crimp on water loaded from shore, is that it must be kept segregated from all other water, and not used until a coliform bacteria test comes back negative, and this takes 18-24 hours.

 

The thought that the ship stores "some extra water" "in case they can't load from shore" is humorous.  The ship will have a storage capacity for fresh water of about 9000 metric tons, or 5-6 days of water.  There is plenty of reserve water.  The storage capacity may be even more, given the large number of fresh water pools onboard Harmony, and the need for make-up water in these pools.

[Pratique]

11 minutes ago, chengkp75 said:

The thought that the ship stores "some extra water" "in case they can't load from shore" is humorous.  The ship will have a storage capacity for fresh water of about 9000 metric tons, or 5-6 days of water.  There is plenty of reserve water.  The storage capacity may be even more, given the large number of fresh water pools onboard Harmony, and the need for make-up water in these pools.

That's what an officer told us once at a Captain's Corner, that they try and build reserve before arriving in port. I may have taken that remark out of context, or sometimes they overgeneralize for us dummies to understand.

[APDMOM]

4 hours ago, Paulette3028 said:

To be honest the pools are not really designed for swimming laps, they are small and usually filled with people trying to stay 'cool'.  You best chance would be early in the morning and then it would take  3 or 4 strokes to be at the other end.  

Yes, you are right.  We go early.  Also, the sports pool (Allure and Oasis) sometimes has scheduled lap swimming time, which is usually early (around 8 a.m.)  On port days, we have had the sports pool to ourselves - sometimes for more than an hour before others came.  And, it actually takes me 10 to 11 strokes when I do breast stroke to each end (I’m a math freak and count everything 😂).  An hour of that gives a good workout.

[NavyCruiser]

"I believe I was told at a Q&A session that pools on board are usually saltwater pools and the water is pulled in from the ocean while at sea. "

 

SeaWater.  No wonder those pools are so wavy...

 

[Clarea]

50 minutes ago, NavyCruiser said:

"I believe I was told at a Q&A session that pools on board are usually saltwater pools and the water is pulled in from the ocean while at sea. " ...

 

That is the case for Voyager class and earlier, but staring with Oasis class, Royal started putting in fresh water pools.

[tahqa]

19 hours ago, chengkp75 said:

If the Harmony only had a water making plant capable of making 500,000 gal/day (1800 metric tons), I would be surprised.  I was on a much smaller ship (2200 pax) and we had a capacity of 1600 mt/day.  I would suspect the Oasis class can make around 3000 mt/day (790,000 gal/day).  The ship consumes about 1600-1800 mt/day of water, so with the capacity I stated, she should always make more than needed, but when you take away the time in port, and the time inside 12 miles, this reduces the total production for the cruise.

 

I actually couldn't find statistics for the desalination plants on the Oasis class so I pulled a figure from Freedom class and 'winged' it. Thanks for chiming in! 🙂

[BecciBoo]

20 hours ago, Paulette3028 said:

I believe I was told at a Q&A session that pools on board are usually saltwater pools and the water is pulled in from the ocean while at sea.  The desalination plants on board are for converting saltwater taken from the ocean and turned into drinkable water for us onboard.    

 

Considering the amount of water that the pools need to be filled, it would seem to me, that using the potable water they have converted from salt water would be a rather poor use of resources.  The water in saltwater pools would still be going through a filtration system designed for pools, but not designed to desalinate it.

And I was told that the newer ships do not use the sea water, but rather use Salt Water Generators to cleanse the "fresh" water pools now.  Perhaps the beach pool does indeed suck in some sea water though.  I love the sea water cuz you float good  We use a Salt Water Generator in our pool and love it.  Cuts your pool expenses in half if not lower.

Edited January 30, 2019 by BecciBoo

[FrankMoses]

Does anyone know if the Navigator also has fresh water?  Just got back from 4 days on Mariner and the pools were salt. First time I ever saw this on 5 cruises.  I brought my 4 year old because he loves to swim,  but never got back in after the first 20 minutes.  I am asking because I believe the 2 boats are in the same class,  and I want to try this again next year.

Thanks.

[Clarea]

6 hours ago, FrankMoses said:

Does anyone know if the Navigator also has fresh water?  Just got back from 4 days on Mariner and the pools were salt. First time I ever saw this on 5 cruises.  I brought my 4 year old because he loves to swim,  but never got back in after the first 20 minutes.  I am asking because I believe the 2 boats are in the same class,  and I want to try this again next year.

Thanks.

 

Navigator has salt water pools.

[basictek]

Just a few things to note about salt water pools. 1st see this article on how and why RCI is using them.

 

• The amount of salt in a salt water pool is typically about 1/10 the amount that is in the ocean. You would be hard pressed to taste the salt or to have it burn your eyes because the amount is so low.

 

• Salt water generators turn salt into chlorine and the pool is sanitized the same way as a chlorine pool but the maintenance is much easier (no need to constantly add or store chlorine)

 

• When using salt water as a source for chlorine the stabilizer levels in the pool are typically raised higher which reduces the harshness of the chlorine that is generated by the salt water generators.

 

• So if you have the impression that a salt water pool is anything like the ocean, it is not, and from managing my own salt water pool, and belonging to a forum of others that also manage salt water pools, the water is softer, less harsh, cleaner, and much easier to maintain. 

 

• Oh 1 more thing to note, generally the main reason pool water hurts peoples eyes is usually attributed to out of balance PH more than chlorine if the chlorine is properly stabilized and maintained. 

 

Edited May 21, 2019 by basictek

[chengkp75]

And, since this was first introduced on Harmony, there are likely only three ships in the RCI fleet that have this system:  Harmony, Symphony, and Ovation.  All previous ships do in fact take in sea water, but must still chlorinate sea water in most instances.  Changing older ships to accept the Howell Labs (from just up the road in Bridgton) system would not only require changes in piping to the pool systems, but also increase the demand on the ship's fresh water making capacity to be able to drain and refill pools weekly.

 

Also, this technology is not a "salt water pool", it is a means of generating chlorine from salt in a separate unit, and injecting it into the pool water. It uses basically water softener pellets.

 

With regards to stabilizers, this is just acid to keep the pH at the proper range for the chlorine to be most effective at sanitizing.  Not sure what pH you keep your salt water pools, but this is mandated by the USPH for ship's pools to be 7.0 to 7.8, and this is on a continuous monitor and dosing, and has been that way for years.