"Free Water"

[fotoguy]

I just read somewhere (on another review page) that the Magica does not serve "free" water during meal times. Anyone know anything about that?

 

Also, can you make reservations for the specialty restaurant on line. I haven't seen any links to that effect on the Costa website and want to make sure I get to have dinner there at least once.

[taszmom]

Of course they have free water.

[taszmom]

I think the misconception about the water is that it's not free flowing like in restaurants where they are continually filling up your glasses. Fresh water is a precious resource on the ship....you may have to ask the waiter to fill up your glass. They do conserve energy & water, like asking you to put dirty towels on the floor after use so the room steward can distinguish clean/reusable towels vs actual dirty towels so they are not laundering more than necessary.

 

You can only make the reservations for Club Vincenza once on the ship.

[joetrizeo]

the potable water on a cruise ship comes from a 'desalination' unit. it is 100% pure clean H2O, like distilled water, better than bottled water. a desalination unit works by reverse osmosis or (distillation), basicaly sea water is H2O plus salt or sodium cloride ions. a desalination system works by pushing salty water through a series of ultra-fine membranes which draw out the tiny sodium and chloride ions.

it is an 85% yielding process (aka 100 gallons, 100 liters or 100 bathtubs will yield 85 gallons, 85 liters or 85 bathtubs respectively)

it is a very expensive process, it takes a lot of energy, the more salt, the more energy it takes and the more expensive it costs.

distillation works by evaporating the water (boiling) the bad stuff lis left behind, then you condense the water vapor.

in any event it costs about $2.50 – 4.00 per 1000 gallons to produce commercially, now what that cost is for a unit that can be mobile like on a ship, i dunno.

 

http://www.awwa.org/Advocacy/pressroom/Desalination.cfm

 

-Joe

[zippimom]

There was plenty of water at every meal. I am a big water drinker so I always have 2 glasses of ice water going all the time. after the first day they knew I liked my water and I always had the 2 glasses full. I also liked the taste of the water and the ice an never had to buy the bottled water. Your ice bucket in the cabin get filled twice day too. They sell bottle of chilled water when you get off the ship if you are going on a side trip. I had my own sports bottle with me and filled it up in the cabin.

[fotoguy]

I appreciate the feedback. The information I based this thread on was actually a review of the Magica when it was first launched. Perhaps the information is accurate when the ship sails in the Med.

 

I just wanted to make sure that I did not have to purchase a bottle or two of water at every meal.

[fotoguy]

I like the sports bottle idea.

[itsmlf]

There is plenty of free water on board. However even though it tastes wonderful it is high in sodium.