Westerdam Sauna

I love being in the heat (especially the sauna). Will someone (who's familiar with the ship) please let me know what the public use sauna is like. The general use sauna aboard the Zuiderdam was very small. Is the Westerdam the same? How much does it cost extra to use a nicer one?

Free sauna is the same. Thermal Suite is I believe $40 per day. As I recall about $249 for 7 days for 2 of us

This is all pretty accurate. If you like a traditional sauna (wooden, etc), the free one is the only one onboard. In the thermal suite there is a steam room, tiled sauna and a wet sauna.

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Free sauna is the same. Thermal Suite is I believe $40 per day. As I recall about $249 for 7 days for 2 of us

Thank you, Frank and Loren; It's a 13 night cruise, I guess I'd better save a bit more $$ for the cruise.

The thermal suite was $300 for two for our 10-day cruise on the Zuiderdam earlier this month. The daily pass was $40. The free sauna was not hot enough, very disappointing.

The thermal suite was $300 for two for our 10-day cruise on the Zuiderdam earlier this month. The daily pass was $40. The free sauna was not hot enough, very disappointing.

Well...depending on how much you are a "rules" person, I found this can be worked around on the Vista ships

The heat controls for the public sauna are (as of Sept 2015) on the wall, next to the door, in a little beige box, looks like a standard North American thermostat box for your home

Open beige door, quickly turn it "on/off" and then set your temperature higher, by the digital thermostat; I am pretty sure it is limited so you can't set it too high

I am certain passengers are probably not supposed to be doing this; that being said, I am an early riser, and the Lido deck crew were more than happy to show me this trick to turn on and reheat the sauna's so they would be cooking for me at 6AM...and they could get back to cleaning pools and setting up chairs.

Quite often, I would arrive early, and they had yet to be turned on from the previous evening.

In all honesty, I would probably try to find a crew member to quickly show you this, but in four trips on HAL Vista ships (plus one on recently retired Statendam...) this has always worked, and no one has ever stopped me or cautioned against it

Then again, I also make sure no one is looking when I do it, either.

Thanks for that info. By in large, I try obey the rules that govern hygiene and civility, but I don't have a problem adjusting the temperature of saunas or hot tubs to that of an acceptable level. It's been years since I've enjoyed a decent temperature in a hot tub on a cruise ship.

Thank you, Frank and Loren; It's a 13 night cruise, I guess I'd better save a bit more $$ for the cruise.

Guessing a 13 night cruise on the Westerdam is the fall TA. You can expect to pay $299 for a couple, 199 solo, for thermal suite. And yes, the public use saunas are the smallest at sea, but I'll continue to love them until they take em out or figure a way to upcharge me.

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Hate to show my ignorance, what is the difference between a steam room and a wet sauna?

Steam rooms have no steam in the air unless someone puts water on the hot rocks if rock version is installed.

West saunas have steam vents that fill the room with steam. Hope this helps.

Steam rooms have no steam in the air unless someone puts water on the hot rocks if rock version is installed..

That is a sauna; steam rooms always have steam.

West saunas have steam vents that fill the room with steam. Hope this helps

That is a steam room, not a sauna.