Should i pre-pay water before the cruise?

[KeithJenner]

2 hours ago, PBM13 said:

You can get free water cartons depending on your drinks package.  We had a premium dinks package and we used to get the cartons free

I assume you mean the premium plus package, which is the upgraded one. Bottled water (or cartons) isn’t included in the standard package, which is, rather confusingly, called the premium beverage package.

[ontheweb]

We are gold and even at that level were given two cartons of water (one each I guess).

[KeithJenner]

For a short while a few years ago, NCL included a carton of water a day per passenger, delivered to your room on day one for European customers.

 

There were three of us on a 15 day cruise. Trying to store that, plus the ones we got for latitudes was a challenge.

[dmwnc1959]

On 4/3/2024 at 8:18 AM, Sim1979 said:

I don't remember exactly how expensive is the water package on board, i would need to buy the 24x1L bottle (gonna share with my parents) and those show as 59.94 pre-cruise (with 63% off... supposedly...).

 

I know on board you don't have taxes added in (only service charge), so i'm wondering if it's worth it to buy it pre-cruise or i should get the same price on board (without taxes)?

 

Any recent cruiser could tell me what's the onboard price for the 24x1L

 

Thanks

I plan on buying the water package as well. I find it a little more convenient to be able to toss the container when I’m done and not have to drag around a large empty stainless steel water bottle or empty Yeti around she ship. I also plan on bringing at least a dozen small boxes of water additive. Now that I think about it, I could probably dump all of the packets into a Ziploc bag and carry it that way. 
 

I took these screenshots off of my booking for the different prices:

 

Edited April 4 by dmwnc1959

[dmwnc1959]

22 hours ago, swmichigan cruiser said:

Our experience with buying water onboard wasn't that great. We bought one of the packages onboard at one of the bars. Didn't get delivered for 2 days so I contacted guest relations and it finally got delivered and the hotel directors secretary made that happen. Also we bought it only  once and were charged 6 times for it. Did finally get it straightened out again  with the HD secretary help.

 

I do have a question for you about this. When someone purchases a package on their online cruise reservation, it gives a ‘requested delivery date’.
 

When you purchased it at the bar, did they give you an option of the delivery date? Was this something that you did, and it still didn’t get delivered for two days?

 

 

Edited April 4 by dmwnc1959

[Distinctive-Destinations]

I bought the bottled water once. It was nice to have something you could stick in your backpack for excursions.

 

That said, I would not buy it again. Get a refillable bottle or Premium Plus.

[dmwnc1959]

1 minute ago, Distinctive-Destinations said:

I bought the bottled water once. It was nice to have something you could stick in your backpack for excursions.

 

That said, I would not buy it again. Get a refillable bottle or Premium Plus.

If I can ask you a question about this - since I don’t drink alcohol or soda I’ve eliminated the Unlimited Drink Package. If you were going to be on a ship for 32 days, would you reconsider buying a drink package? Even if it was for the 6 or 12 ‘bottle’ package? 

[Distinctive-Destinations]

6 minutes ago, dmwnc1959 said:

If I can ask you a question about this - since I don’t drink alcohol or soda I’ve eliminated the Unlimited Drink Package. If you were going to be on a ship for 32 days, would you reconsider buying a drink package? Even if it was for the 6 or 12 ‘bottle’ package? 

I’d get a Nalgene (or similar) liter bottle and fill it up with tap. If that gets boring, you can always get juice, coffee, etc with meals.

 

I like Nalgene bottles as I have hiked extensively with them. There are cheaper options.

[dmwnc1959]

8 minutes ago, Distinctive-Destinations said:

I’d get a Nalgene (or similar) liter bottle and fill it up with tap. If that gets boring, you can always get juice, coffee, etc with meals.

 

I like Nalgene bottles as I have hiked extensively with them. There are cheaper options.

I’ll definitely look into that. 👍
 

Being new to NCL - but not new to cruising - I wasn’t sure how it was going to work on the Norwegian Jade, especially in restaurants. Was figuring on being able to order a glass of water, iced tea, or some other complementary beverage. For some reason, I would just feel a little awkward bringing in a 1-liter container of any kind into a restaurant, other than maybe the buffet and The Great Outdoors, O’Sheehan’s, or Topsiders. Definitely don’t want to get any stares from patrons in the fancy places. 
 

 

Edited April 4 by dmwnc1959

[dmwnc1959]

17 hours ago, blackwing said:

I see people here telling OP to bring water bottles and fill from the buffet, bar or tap.  That wasn't his question.  His question was whether he should buy the water in advance or wait to buy once onboard, and if it makes a difference.

 

Some people don't like the idea of drinking tap water, they want to have their bottled/boxed water.  To each their own.  I'm fine with the water from the buffet but even though it's the same water, I can't bring myself to drink from the tap in my cabin.  No idea if my cabin steward is cleaning the cabinets/counters/toilet with a cleaning rag and then using the same rag to clean the sink spout.

 

Great point about the cabin steward cleaning the sink tap with a rag. Never even thought about that. I’m sure it can be resolved by flushing the water back up into the spout, but that just doesn’t seem to be an option for me. I’m probably more paranoid about that than most of the people.

[dmwnc1959]

18 hours ago, disgirl said:

Sorry if this is a stupid question but isnt bottle water included in the beverage package?  (asked by someone who hasnt been on NCL in 25 years).   I may have assumed incorrectly as it is with all the other cruises i have done with packages.  

 

15 hours ago, Caligirl33 said:

No it isn’t and I find that ridiculous. If you have the drink package on Princess or Celebrity water IS included. NCL should take note and also include it 

Totally agree @Caligirl33 my last drink package was with Princess Cruises and it also included bottled water, specialty coffees, and the juice bar. I probably would’ve kept the NCL Unlimited Drink Package if this was the case, but after much hemming and hawing decided to delete it. 

[swmichigan cruiser]

1 hour ago, dmwnc1959 said:

I do have a question for you about this. When someone purchases a package on their online cruise reservation, it gives a ‘requested delivery date’.
 

When you purchased it at the bar, did they give you an option of the delivery date? Was this something that you did, and it still didn’t get delivered for two days?

 

 

No they didn't ask when I bought it at the bar. Of course the person I bought it from might have been inexperienced doing it. My biggest problem was getting billed for it 5 or 6 times when I only bought it once.

[dmwnc1959]

11 minutes ago, swmichigan cruiser said:

No they didn't ask when I bought it at the bar. Of course the person I bought it from might have been inexperienced doing it. My biggest problem was getting billed for it 5 or 6 times when I only bought it once.

YOIKES! That creates a customer service issue I’d hate to have dealt with. 😢

[Capitan Obvious]

Should i pre-pay water before the cruise?

 

An interesting thread title.  I mean, isn't "before the cruise" the only time you can "pre-pay" water?

 

 

 

 

...just sayin' 😉

[Asawi]

If someone wants to pay lots of money for water it's up to them. I wouldn't do that, but I do spend money on other things lots of other people wouldn't. To each their own!

 

I just thought I'd chime in on the "refillable water bottle" subject: I do not own any expensive refillable water bottle. I use empty soda/water bottles and on cruises also the carton my gold status gives me. They are all "refillable". And should I not want to take them back from a tour I can just discard them. I can also keep a couple of them in the fridge, should I want to.

[dmwnc1959]

42 minutes ago, Asawi said:

If someone wants to pay lots of money for water it's up to them. I wouldn't do that, but I do spend money on other things lots of other people wouldn't. To each their own!

 

I just thought I'd chime in on the "refillable water bottle" subject: I do not own any expensive refillable water bottle. I use empty soda/water bottles and on cruises also the carton my gold status gives me. They are all "refillable". And should I not want to take them back from a tour I can just discard them. I can also keep a couple of them in the fridge, should I want to.

How many of the water cartons will fit in the fridge? I’m in a Solo Inside on Norwegian Jade and have seen some old pictures of the exact cabin I am staying in. 
 

This from an old thread by @shealea

[Asawi]

1 minute ago, dmwnc1959 said:

How many of the water cartons will fit in the fridge? I’m in a Solo Inside on Norwegian Jade and have seen some old pictures of the exact cabin I am staying in. 

 

Gee... I don't know... At least three standing. I haven't had any need for more so haven't really thought about it.
(I empty the fridge and put the bottles that were in it in the back of a shelf.)

[dmwnc1959]

Just now, Asawi said:

Gee... I don't know... At least three standing. I haven't had any need for more so haven't really thought about it.
(I empty the fridge and put the bottles that were in it in the back of a shelf.)

I’ll have to keep the water cartons in constant rotation from the shelf to the fridge. Like some others may have mentioned here, I drink a LOT of water. The medication I’m on for my cluster headaches severely dehydrates me, and the neurologist suggested a minimum of +100 ounces a day. So even here at home (and when out in town) I typically go through more than 10-16.9oz bottles of water in a 24 hour period. And yes, for anyone asking, I do recycle them. 😉

[zqvol]

2 hours ago, dmwnc1959 said:

 

Great point about the cabin steward cleaning the sink tap with a rag. Never even thought about that. I’m sure it can be resolved by flushing the water back up into the spout, but that just doesn’t seem to be an option for me. I’m probably more paranoid about that than most of the people.

You didn’t grow up drinking out of the garden hose along with a dozen of your friends. 😉

[dmwnc1959]

Just now, zqvol said:

You didn’t grow up drinking out of the garden hose along with a dozen of your friends. 😉

Oh, thanks for that flashback. 😉 I can still taste that now more than 55 years later. 🤢 And my friends all had cooties 🤣 which probably explains why my immune system is so good! 

[DCwom]

We usually get some water bottles for excursions, and yes we also have reusable water bottles, but sometime you want to just travel light. We're on the POA in May with ports everyday, so we can probably buy water in the ports from time to time, does anyone know if they give you grief for returning with multiple water bottles from off-ship?

[Xoxosnowball]

I'm a big water drinker and I need to force my partner to drink his required water each day.  We ordered the max package to be delivered on day one.   We'll take a few on excursions with us each day.  I don't want to be standing in line filling my yeti each day with the 20 other guests who wanted to save a few dollars after spending a couple of thousand dollars on a cruise.  I have enough to do just to keep us on schedule, adding "fill water bottle" to it is not in my wheelhouse.   It was actually a no-brainer for me.

[Asawi]

7 minutes ago, DCwom said:

 does anyone know if they give you grief for returning with multiple water bottles from off-ship?

It varies! I have seen people having to discard of water bottles (or at least of the water), but more commonly they seem to not care. I guess I could also depend on if "multiple" is 2-3 or 12. 😮 

[cruiseny4life]

29 minutes ago, Xoxosnowball said:

I'm a big water drinker and I need to force my partner to drink his required water each day.  We ordered the max package to be delivered on day one.   We'll take a few on excursions with us each day.  I don't want to be standing in line filling my yeti each day with the 20 other guests who wanted to save a few dollars after spending a couple of thousand dollars on a cruise.  I have enough to do just to keep us on schedule, adding "fill water bottle" to it is not in my wheelhouse.   It was actually a no-brainer for me.

I fill my Nalgene in my personal onboard restroom sink. Or, I ask a bartender for a glass of water if I need to do some serious hydration. 

[RocketMan275]

3 hours ago, DCwom said:

We usually get some water bottles for excursions, and yes we also have reusable water bottles, but sometime you want to just travel light. We're on the POA in May with ports everyday, so we can probably buy water in the ports from time to time, does anyone know if they give you grief for returning with multiple water bottles from off-ship?

While enforcement may vary, NCL prohibits bring water on board.