Salt water swimming pool!??

[jamielynn23]

I just went on my first cruise, Carnival Imagination. It was a lot of fun, an actually a lot nicer than I expected.:D However, one really hot day, my boyfriend and I decided to use the waterslide into the ship's pool, and much to our surprise we were plunged into about 5 feet of salt water:mad: . Disgusting when you are expected a nice chlorinated pool! Is this common on cruise ships? I never heard of anything like it!

 

Enlighten me, please!

[ladycaveat]

Yeap . . . pretty much common on all cruise ships to have salt water slides and pools . . .

[jetskier]

It is a common practice. The water is filtered and treated. There are showers located nearby to get the salt water off.

 

Dave

[traveling1969]

We have cruised on Carnival, RCCL, and Princess. The Sun Princess had fresh water in her pools, the others had salt water. Our friends who are platinum Princess cruisers tell us that is typical for Princess.

[ParrotRob]

Yeap . . . pretty much common on all cruise ships to have salt water slides and pools . . .

 

Yep. The pools are drained and refilled every day with filtered seawater. This is apparently to help keep microbes from propagating in the pools.

[thechandlers99]

Put one check in the Princess column for fresh water pools! We went on our 1st Princess cruise last month and the freshwater pools are the reason I will choose Princess over another line. It was so nice!

[johnql]

Disgusting when you are expected a nice chlorinated pool! Is this common on cruise ships? I never heard of anything like it!

Why is it disgusting? Is it any different from swimming in the ocean?

[jamielynn23]

johnql- I guess if I were prepaired to swim in the ocean, ie: I wouldn't keep my eyes open without goggles, I wouldn't be so disgusted. But, since I thought I would be plunging into a regular pool, which doesn't bother my eyes, I kept them open. I was disgusted when the salt burned my eyes, and nose!

 

Thanks to all those who confirmed that this was a common thing on cruises. I never would have guessed.

[Sheffie]

Okay, a pool full of daily replaced Caribbean Sea water, or a fresh water pool full of chemicals. Hmmmmmmmm........

[OyVey]

If u enjoy pool swimming then Princess is the line to cruise on....fresh water pools. :)

[traveling1969]

I love the smell of chlorine in the morning.

[Titan(ic)5.6]

It's funny reading this knowing that saltwater residential pools are all the rage now.

[jlp20]

Not that it matters to the swimmers, but it’s not fresh water. All Princess ships have massive desalination plants for drinking water for the entire ship. These machines are so effective; they produce unsalted water for all the pools and hot tubs.

[johnql]

johnql- I guess if I were prepaired to swim in the ocean, ie: I wouldn't keep my eyes open without goggles, I wouldn't be so disgusted. But, since I thought I would be plunging into a regular pool, which doesn't bother my eyes, I kept them open. I was disgusted when the salt burned my eyes, and nose!

 

Thanks to all those who confirmed that this was a common thing on cruises. I never would have guessed.

I understand surprise and I completely respect your not liking it. But "disgusting" just struck me as an extreme adjective.

[Southbound]

HAL also has freshwater pools, plus a large retractable dome in the event of inclement weather.:cool:

[greatdanemom]

Disney also has fresh water pools.

[LHP]

I just went on my first cruise, Carnival Imagination. It was a lot of fun, an actually a lot nicer than I expected.:D However, one really hot day, my boyfriend and I decided to use the waterslide into the ship's pool, and much to our surprise we were plunged into about 5 feet of salt water:mad: . Disgusting when you are expected a nice chlorinated pool! Is this common on cruise ships? I never heard of anything like it!

 

Enlighten me, please!

 

I can certainly understand someone being "surprised" at this, if they were not expecting it. It looks so pretty!

[Cruising89143]

Disney also has fresh water pools.

 

Freedom of the Seas has fresh water pools also. I don't do public pools since I don't trust what people do in them,;) but I think that I would rather have salt water that is dumped each day than the fresh water pools that is not changed as often.

[cengelbe]

Well, if the salt water in the pool bothers you I guess you wouldn't want to know where all of the drinking cooking water, tap water, ice cubes, showers, toilets etc. on a ship comes from? That's right the ocean. They use desalineinators to remove and clean the water that's used for everything on the ship.

They rely on salts instead of chemicals oin the pools for a few reasons, they would have to have someone checking the chemicals all the time, pool chemicals are dangerous, chemicals cost money. They change the water in the pools many times during the cruise. The salt water in the pool is alot cleaner then if they kept the same water and clorinated it. For instance the pools are usually emptied at night when the ship is moving at high speeds to stop the water from coming out and also when the seas are rough. I'm guessing you've not spent much time in oceans. I'ts not all that bad, and you can float alot better with the salt.

[Taters]

I've spent plenty of time in the ocean as well as in swimming pools... My eyes usually burn after swimming in a chlorinated fresh water pool, but never do after swimming in the ocean or in a salt water pool... I keep my eyes open when I swim. Your own body is full of salt and water.

 

Have fun and don't sweat the small stuff!

 

Taters

[kakalina]

HAL generally has both a salt water and a chlorine pool on the S & R class ships.

[newmexicoNita]

Why is it disgusting? Is it any different from swimming in the ocean?

I have to agree with John, a shock? maybe, but discusting is quite another thing. The pools are treated and are not nearly as salty as the ocean, at least the ships I have been on. Oh sure, they still have salt but I have never found it to be a problem. Princess offers fresh water pools, as does Disney and I think I heard one other line is switching over, maybe it was RCI or HAL. Of course Carnival could have saltier pools than other lines, that could have influenced you some. If it was as bad as the ocean, I too would have been taken back. I still think discusting is a bit strong. NMnita

[Tristan]

I LOVE LOVE LOVE Saltwater pools!!!

 

I actually have booked vacations solely because a resort has

a saltwater pool. Chlorine is vile....IMHO.

[Browneyedhunni85]

My boyfriend & I were also surprised after we went down the slide & discovered the salt water. I liked it dont get me wrong, but it really burned my eyes & the taste was yucky especially since it was unexpected. Heck I dont care if its salt water or not. The only complaint I had about our ships pool was that it was too small...lol.

[BruceMuzz]

So you think that saltwater in a swimming pool is disgusting????

 

When you swim in a fresh water pool on a ship, can you imagine how much it costs to produce all that fresh water ??

 

Cruise Ship operators think about it all the time. Instead of draining it frequently and putting new clean fresh water in the pools, they just keep adding more chemicals to kill the bacteria. This goes on as long as possible - usually until even the chemicals cannot stop the bacteria from growing. At that point the water gets cloudy from all the urine and e-coli bacteria, and it is changed.

 

Sea water on the other hand is free. Cruise ship operators don't mind emptying it back into the ocean every day and replacing it with clean sea water.

 

When you swim in a sea water pool, your eyes sometimes sting from the salt content.

 

When you swim in a fresh water pool, your eyes also sting. Many people think that this sensation is from the chlorine and bromine that is added to kill the bacteria. In most cases they are wrong. The stinging sensation comes from the high uric acid concentration of all the urine that has accumulated in that pool over the past several days or weeks.

 

How many people do you see showering BEFORE using a swimming pool these days? The levels of e-coli bacteria and urine in a ship's swimming pool are really frightening. I would never consider entering one.