Make my own coffee?

[cruiser3775]

I'm a first time cruiser and this is my first post.  I have just booked on a 12 day cruise on Coral Princess, and I'm sure I'll have more questions that I can't find answers to on this great site, but here's a small one to start with:

Can I make my own coffee in my cabin?  Is there a way to heat water, if I bring the coffee and a coffee press?

[John Bull]

hi, and welcome to cruise critic.

 

Our experience is that Princess out of Aus and the UK  provide everything  for tea-makings in cabins, including a kettle. But no coffee sachets, so bring you own instant or whatever you need.

 

JB 🙂

Edited March 20, 2022 by John Bull

[chengkp75]

2 hours ago, cruiser3775 said:

Can I make my own coffee in my cabin?  Is there a way to heat water, if I bring the coffee and a coffee press?

As JB noted, UK sailings, and I believe Oz sailings typically have an electric kettle in the cabin, other home ports that is not typical.  So, you would need to order hot water from room service.  If using a French press for coffee, please bring some ziplock bags to dispose of the grounds.  They cannot go down the toilets, and if you dump loose grounds into the trash, it makes it hard for the cabin steward to sort out the trash (stewards have to hand sort all the trash from cabins into the various recycling/disposal areas).

[1025cruise]

You can order hot water from room service, but generally speaking there are no coffee/tea making facilities in cabins, outside of UK/Aus sailings.

[pris993]

I remember someone who used a French Press Coffee maker.  They may have gotten the hot water from the room steward, don't know never asked.  They used to come to the MDR with their pot already prepared, since they enjoyed the coffee that way.  

[dolittle]

Most (I think all )cruise lines will give you a kettle. I once was seated with a women who asked about having hot water in her room. I told her to call housekeeping put on a British accent and ask for a ''kettle'' she did and they did . This a cultural thing with Brits all hotel rooms have them and they expect them in the cabin.

[1025cruise]

12 minutes ago, dolittle said:

Most (I think all )cruise lines will give you a kettle. I once was seated with a women who asked about having hot water in her room. I told her to call housekeeping put on a British accent and ask for a ''kettle'' she did and they did . This a cultural thing with Brits all hotel rooms have them and they expect them in the cabin.

Not correct. Kettles are a fire hazard. They are usually only provided on cruises out of UK due to the culture thing. On US based cruises, kettles are not a common feature and may not be available.

[Billish]

2 hours ago, 1025cruise said:

Kettles are a fire hazard.

Really ! - the kettles used by the likes of Princess are used in millions of homes everyday, without problem. And how many fires on cruise ships have been started by a kettle? 

Explain how a kettle is a fire hazard.  

And why should the kettle used on a cruise out of Southampton be perfectly safe, and the self same kettle  then become a fire hazard when sailing out of the US ?

P&O sail all over the world with kettles in the cabins, and  have come to no harm.  

[chengkp75]

9 minutes ago, Billish said:

Really ! - the kettles used by the likes of Princess are used in millions of homes everyday, without problem. And how many fires on cruise ships have been started by a kettle? 

Explain how a kettle is a fire hazard.  

And why should the kettle used on a cruise out of Southampton be perfectly safe, and the self same kettle  then become a fire hazard when sailing out of the US ?

P&O sail all over the world with kettles in the cabins, and  have come to no harm.  

All heating appliances that depend on an "auto-shutoff" device are potential fire hazards.  Yes, those kettles are used every day, many times without problems, but there have been fires from them in the UK.  The reason that kettles are allowed by Princess on some cruises and not others is that the insurance underwriters accept more risk on the cruises with kettles, and charge more premium for that risk.  The kettles supplied by the cruise lines are taken out of inventory periodically and inspected and tested by the ship's electricians for safety.  This is another reason that most itineraries don't have them, the manpower required to ensure the safety of the passengers.

 

Do you know for a fact that P&O have never had a fire from a kettle?  Where is the public clearinghouse for ship fires?

[Billish]

28 minutes ago, chengkp75 said:

but there have been fires from them in the UK. 

Please supply evidence of this.

[BruceMuzz]

3 hours ago, dolittle said:

Most (I think all )cruise lines will give you a kettle. I once was seated with a women who asked about having hot water in her room. I told her to call housekeeping put on a British accent and ask for a ''kettle'' she did and they did . This a cultural thing with Brits all hotel rooms have them and they expect them in the cabin.

Not quite correct.

There are many ships whose electrical systems cannot handle the additional wattage required by several cabins in close proximity using kettles, irons, hair dryers, and hair curlers at the same time.

The breakers trip, and one section of cabins has no electricity for a few hours until the electricians find the cause.

I have worked on ships where cabin fires were started from clothing irons, hair curlers, water boilers, kettles, and candles. There have not been that many, compared to other causes.

But it is well worth watching the facial expressions when we inform the responsible parties that we are adding a $60,000 charge to their bill for fire damage. The response is always the same; "Gosh, we have never done something like this before". It is always a good idea to read the passage contract terms before you engage in risky behaviour on a ship.

[Billish]

7 minutes ago, BruceMuzz said:

There are many ships whose electrical systems cannot handle the additional wattage required by several cabins in close proximity using kettles, irons, hair dryers, and hair curlers at the same time.

But if ships can handle hundreds of kettles being used when sailing from Southampton,  I assume there is no reason why the same ships could not also handle hundreds of kettles when sailing from Miami? 

[John Bull]

I can’t help thinking there’s a lot of well-intentioned mis-information flying around this thread.

 

I know that folk bringing their own kettles is a no-no because cabin crew  aren’t qualified to ensure that a passenger’s kettle is safe and within cabin limits.

But if a cruise line provides kettles ex-UK or Aus there’s no reason why they CAN’T provide them elsewhere if they want to.

And Marella and Anglo-American P&O provide them everywhere in the world that they sail from. Instant coffee sachets too 🙂

There’s a clue in that American ships sailing ex-UK / Aus provide tea-makings but no coffee sachets - they think that Brits drink tea and not coffee. And that Americans in the main would want a coffee machine because they generally don’t like instant coffee.

I THINK I may be right in saying that some cruise lines provide coffee machines In some cabins??? - but I’ve got my tin helmet on, waiting to be told I’m wrong 😉

 

JB 🙂

[Billish]

3 minutes ago, John Bull said:

THINK I may be right in saying that some cruise lines provide coffee machines In some cabins??? - but I’ve got my tin helmet on, waiting to be told I’m wrong 😉

 

Yes in suites on some lines.

[Billish]

13 minutes ago, John Bull said:

But if a cruise line provides kettles ex-UK or Aus there’s no reason why they CAN’T provide them elsewhere if they want to.

Exactly - some posters would have us believe that houses in the UK are burning to the ground on a daily basis due to electric kettle conflagrations! 

[chengkp75]

16 minutes ago, John Bull said:

I THINK I may be right in saying that some cruise lines provide coffee machines In some cabins??? - but I’ve got my tin helmet on, waiting to be told I’m wrong

And, again, those are typically limited in number to suites, and are inspected.

 

2 minutes ago, Billish said:

Exactly - some posters would have us believe that houses in the UK are burning to the ground on a daily basis due to electric kettle conflagrations!

It only takes one to devastate a family, never said it was widespread.  But, for an example of the liability of "auto-off" devices on these appliances, "Mr. Coffee" (ubiquitous in US, not sure of the UK) almost went out of business over litigation from house fires caused by their coffee makers.

 

https://www.sharrockinsurance.co.uk/faulty-white-goods-have-caused-16000-house-fires-since-2012/

https://forums.digitalspy.com/discussion/363671/my-kettle-caught-fire-is-this-normal

https://worksafe.govt.nz/about-us/news-and-media/kettle-caused-fire-that-killed-three/

 

And here's one on a ship (although not a cruise ship):  https://safety4sea.com/faulty-automatic-kettle-caught-fire/

[John Bull]

42 minutes ago, chengkp75 said:

 

 

And here's one on a ship (although not a cruise ship):  https://safety4sea.com/faulty-automatic-kettle-caught-fire/

I googled “fires caused by electric kettles”.

The first entry was about a fire probably caused by an electric kettle in New Zealand in 2018, which killed three.

 

The one that you quoted came up next - dated 2012 !!! And it was extinguished with no injuries and no damage other than to the kettle.

 

The third one was about American tourists in London accidentally causing fires - by putting electric kettles on the hob 🤔

Really???

it now occurs to me that I don’t think I’ve ever seen an elec kettle in US hotels or motels, always it’s a little coffee percolator. Are electric kettles really so rare in the US ???
EVERY household in the UK has an electric kettle - and the same  everywhere we’ve been in Europe.
Despite UK mains being double the voltage of the US,  believe me we just don’t hear of kettle fires.

 

Appreciated that ships are different, but the US is waaaay behind on the use of electric kettles at home.

 

JB 🙂

[chengkp75]

40 minutes ago, John Bull said:

it now occurs to me that I don’t think I’ve ever seen an elec kettle in US hotels or motels, always it’s a little coffee percolator. Are electric kettles really so rare in the US ???
EVERY household in the UK has an electric kettle - and the same  everywhere we’ve been in Europe.
Despite UK mains being double the voltage of the US,  believe me we just don’t hear of kettle fires.

 

Appreciated that ships are different, but the US is waaaay behind on the use of electric kettles at home.

Nope, you don't see kettles in hotels in the US.  As for double the voltage, that actually means the risk of fire is less, since for the same wattage, a higher voltage means a lower current, and current with resistance equals heat.  We're not behind you in having kettles at home, because we don't care to have a kettle at home.

 

Yes, I read the one about putting an electric kettle on the stove, but you'll notice I didn't include that one.  The first link calls out kettles as a cause of fires, but then goes on to mention the highest percentages for various appliances, but if you add those up, it only totals 64% of the 60 fires a day, and it is unclear how much kettles are of that remaining 36% (21 fires a day).  As for the shipboard one, sure it was 2012, but the only reason it was put out with no injuries or damage to anything other than the kettle, was someone was there when it happened.  Something I didn't link to are various warnings by fire safety, insurance underwriters, and other personnel on how to safely use a kettle.  One thing that was common to all of these was to switch off the kettle at the outlet when not in use.  While UK outlets have fuses and switches for each one, shipboard circuits do not.

Edited March 21, 2022 by chengkp75

[TheOldBear]

On QM2 electric kettles were added after the 2016 'remastering' refit. They are provided with UK style plugs, and the UK style socket has the expected switch [don't know how they are fused]. I don't recall an explicit safety instruction to switch off at the outlet, we figured that was standard for that style.

The suites [Princess & Queens Grill] rooms are provided with pod type coffee makers - perhaps a bit less versatile. 

[BruceMuzz]

3 hours ago, Billish said:

But if ships can handle hundreds of kettles being used when sailing from Southampton,  I assume there is no reason why the same ships could not also handle hundreds of kettles when sailing from Miami? 

Some ships can - but others cannot.

Just like automobiles, different ships are built in different countries, to different specifications, with different voltages.

Some are built for the American Market; some are not.

I am currently working on a ship that is almost entirely 110 volts, 60 cycles, which is quite rare.

Many other ships are mainly 220 volts, 50 cycles.

If the heat producing machines onboard those ships are 220 volts, there is not so much of a problem. But if many people try to use high wattage machines on them at 110 volts, the step-down transformers that supply the lower voltage will overheat and cause problems.

[minnesotasisu]

on our last cruise as we were leaving the terminal I spotted a small electric coffee pot that was sitting on the "naughty table" that had been confiscated during embarkation.

[Billish]

The question that has still not been answered,  as far as I can see,  is if kettles are safe to be used for 6 months in Europe, why cannot they be used on the same ship when sailing from  US ports for 6 months in the winter? 

[voljeep]

5 minutes ago, Billish said:

The question that has still not been answered,  as far as I can see,  is if kettles are safe to be used for 6 months in Europe, why cannot they be used on the same ship when sailing from  US ports for 6 months in the winter? 

follow the money and you will find the answer ... 

[Billish]

Just now, voljeep said:

follow the money and you will find the answer ... 

You are probably correct,  although less so now with the prevalence of Princess Plus. 

Shows that safety is not a factor. 

[voljeep]

6 minutes ago, Billish said:

You are probably correct,  although less so now with the prevalence of Princess Plus. 

Shows that safety is not a factor. 

safety has a cost factor ... it's always about the money