Diamond Princess - Japanese spa

Has anyone experienced the Japanese style spa on Diamond Princess.

I believe the outside thermal bath is mixed and clothing is required.

Once inside apparently it splits into separate sexes and clothing is not allowed!

Can anyone comment on their experiences in this unusual cruise ship experience. Is it at all like the thermal spas in Austria or Germany?

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It is marketed towards the Japanese market to be like their Japanese Onsens. The baths are meant to be healing and cleansing. I think you shower before going on - and generally no swimming suit. Weird to me too - but they are very popular!

The main purpose are for cleaning. You rinse off and bath in the bath waters and clean yourself afterwards. It is how they clean themselves in Japan at places like that. Clothing is definitely not allowed if the ship is based in Japan. It is not supposed to be a novelty venue or a relaxation venue as you may think of it.

The main purpose of the bath part of a Japanese onsen is not for cleaning. You should wash yourself thoroughly and rinse well BEFORE entering the baths. The baths are for relaxation. The Japanese cannot understand why westerners insist on soaking while they are still "dirty".

The main purpose of the bath part of a Japanese onsen is not for cleaning. You should wash yourself thoroughly and rinse well BEFORE entering the baths. The baths are for relaxation. The Japanese cannot understand why westerners insist on soaking while they are still "dirty".

You obviously do not know anything about Japan, I do, I can speak the language and go there often. They are for bathing as I described. Here are some links that might interest you:

http://www.japanesebathhouse.com/history.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sent%C5%8D

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Onsen

It pays to do your research before commenting because I know this subject very well. There is a ritualistic procedure that they go through at these bathing places and they do rinse off and soap up before bathing. The public bathing water that they go in after that is supposed to contain minerals to treat the skin. It is also a communal event where people catch up and talk to others, business acquaintances and friends.

The bathing may be relaxing, but having a bath is also the relaxing way to bath yourself opposed to taking a shower in our culture.

I also take exception to what I have highlighted in bold in your reply. This is factually incorrect and is false and misleading. The purposes of the Japanese baths are in fact for bathing. They are not for relaxing and the bath house on Diamond Princess reflects this tradition. Upon entering you will find various public and open cubicles with wooden stools that you sit on with a shower nozzle available as well as a tap. There is a mirror and various toiletries where you are required to partake in a ritualistic cleansing ceremony type of thing where you will shave, clean your teeth, use the available soaps and clean your hair. There are also various oils available to scent and treat the hair. The soap is also mineral soap and designed to have a nice scent. After the ritualistic cleansing that you do you will then sit in the various bath waters which are also supposed to be treated with certain minerals to cleanse the body. It is very public and very social in their culture. Getting facts right is important here because I do not believe you have even been on Diamond Princess and been to these baths as you would have certainly seen what I just described here.

It pays to do your research before commenting because I know this subject very well. There is a ritualistic procedure that they go through at these bathing places and they do rinse off and soap up before bathing. The public bathing water that they go in after that is supposed to contain minerals to treat the skin. It is also a communal event where people catch up and talk to others, business acquaintances and friends.

 

The bathing may be relaxing, but having a bath is also the relaxing way to bath yourself opposed to taking a shower in our culture.

 

I also take exception to what I have highlighted in bold in your reply. This is factually incorrect and is false and misleading. The purposes of the Japanese baths are in fact for bathing. They are not for relaxing and the bath house on Diamond Princess reflects this tradition.

I have been to Japan. I did visit a number on Onsen and I did do my research before I went.

You missed my point, and therefore you contradicted yourself with your explanation. Certainly the Onsen is for cleaning, but the actual bath part of the Onsen experience is for relaxation, soaking tired muscles, and also for socializing as you say.

Your first post stated:

You rinse off and bath in the bath waters and clean yourself afterwards.

It would be extremely impolite to merely rinse off before entering a bath, you are expected to clean yourself thouroughly. You obviously understand this as you explained it in great detail so why tell other to clean themselves after using the bath instead of before? That is the false and misleading information.

Well! after all that, you can have your so called bath to yourself. I will not be going near it when I go on Diamond this year. I say respect the Japanese and leave it to them to enjoy as it is part of their culture. (n)

I have been to Japan. I did visit a number on Onsen and I did do my research before I went.

 

You missed my point, and therefore you contradicted yourself with your explanation. Certainly the Onsen is for cleaning, but the actual bath part of the Onsen experience is for relaxation, soaking tired muscles, and also for socializing as you say.

Your first post stated:

 

It would be extremely impolite to merely rinse off before entering a bath, you are expected to clean yourself thouroughly. You obviously understand this as you explained it in great detail so why tell other to clean themselves after using the bath instead of before? That is the false and misleading information.

I know a lot more about it than you and I explained it correctly. I cannot help it when you are unable to understand things correctly, misquote and allege I made the mistake. You deliberately misquoted the first time and made out that they were for relaxation with no mention of the cleaning facilities. It raises questions as to whether you have been to one at all.

Secondly Japanese bath houses are totally different to onsens. There is a complication in their language which means they are often refereed to as onsens but they are two different things altogether.

The Japanese baths on Diamond Princes are not onsens and are not meant to be like it.

There is a ritualistic rinse off and clean before entering the baths

They then bath in the waters

They also clean themselves after certain things are done after such as oils for hair and other self cleaning things which are not appropriate to do before entering the main bath water and other things are done before entering the bath water to make it more hygienic.

Once again you are totally incorrect with your highlighted red above and it clearly indicates your lack of understanding on the subject. An onsen is not for cleaning. It is not related to a bath house except for the fact that the word comes up in parts of the language.

An onsen is a hot spring, mineral water, volcanic water.

A bath house is for cleaning, the bath water is still for cleaning purposes even though you must "purify" yourself before entering the water.

I suggest you do more research on the subject.

Read my post again! I've quoted it for your convenience and highlighted the key terms. Note that I clearly differentiated between the Onsen ie the whole bathing complex and the Bath(s) ie the pools or tubs of steaming hot water that you soak in. I used the term Onsen as it is more widely understood by tourists. Also I made it very clear that cleaning oneself is required before entering the water.

The main purpose of the bath part of a Japanese onsen is not for cleaning. You should wash yourself thoroughly and rinse well BEFORE entering the baths. The baths are for relaxation. The Japanese cannot understand why westerners insist on soaking while they are still "dirty".

This differs from your initial comment which states:

You rinse off and bath in the bath waters and clean yourself afterwards.

Given that most westerners idea of rinsing off before entering a pool is usually the bare minimum they think they can get away with, it is important to emphasis that people should cleanse themselves thoroughly before soaking in baths/pools. That is why I stated that your comment was in fact the false and misleading information.

It is also important to emphasis to westerners that cleansing takes place outside of the bath - not in it, and that dirty bodies should not go in the pools. A quick rinse does not clean sufficiently, at least not to Japanese standards.

Certanly you can also clean yourself again afterwards if you feel the need to. However if everyone follows the correct bathing etiquette there should be no need to as the water should remain pure.

Read my post again! I've quoted it for your convenience and highlighted the key terms. Note that I clearly differentiated between the Onsen ie the whole bathing complex and the Bath(s) ie the pools or tubs of steaming hot water that you soak in. I used the term Onsen as it is more widely understood by tourists. Also I made it very clear that cleaning oneself is required before entering the water.

 

 

 

This differs from your initial comment which states:

 

 

Given that most westerners idea of rinsing off before entering a pool is usually the bare minimum they think they can get away with, it is important to emphasis that people should cleanse themselves thoroughly before soaking in baths/pools. That is why I stated that your comment was in fact the false and misleading information.

 

 

It is also important to emphasis to westerners that cleansing takes place outside of the bath - not in it, and that dirty bodies should not go in the pools. A quick rinse does not clean sufficiently, at least not to Japanese standards.

 

 

Certanly you can also clean yourself again afterwards if you feel the need to. However if everyone follows the correct bathing etiquette there should be no need to as the water should remain pure.

You are totally incorrect and are providing false and misleading information.

The onsen has nothing to do with it. An onsen is a hot spring that contains mineral enriched water, volcanic water that is found in Japan. It has absolutely nothing to do with the baths or Japanese bath houses (which is being replicated on the Diamond Princess. There is absolutely no onsen on the Diamond Princess, the baths on that ship are not an onsen. The baths on that ship are trying to replicate a Japanese bath house.

I was 100% accurate with my description, I cannot be held responsible because you cannot read or comprehend what I stated, do not twist my statements and do not misrepresent them. If you cannot grasp it then do not bother trying to explain anything you know nothing about.

You claim you have been to an onsen. That means you have been to a Japanese hot spring. A onsen has bathing facilities (for the purpose of cleaning yourself to ensure you are not dirty) before entering the waters of the onsen pool (which is totally different to a bath pool as found on the Diamond Princess and in Japanese bath houses).

No where did I elaborate in my earlier post that I said a rinse does not involve soaping up, you made that up and came to that assumption. If you have been to a Japanese bath house then you would have known what the rinse consists of and what the bathing consists off and what the full wash, hair, teeth and grooming consists of afterwards.

Before you enter a Japanese bath you rinse off. It is a basic clean with soap and water. The full on cleaning and grooming happens after bathing. You are not going to oil you hair before you enter the bath waters because that would get oil in the bath water.

You may have been to a "tourist onsen", but as I said you have no idea what a Japanese bath house is, what it entails, what it involves and how it works. In fact you do not even know the difference between the two.

Perhaps you should read up on the subject before commenting - http://onlynativejapan.com/2015/04/01/%E3%80%90taking-a-bath%E3%80%91visiting-public-baths-is-fun-but-the-difference-between-onsen-and-sento-may-be-tricky/4743

Funny how every time someone calls you out on something that you have posted incorrectly you go on the attack, Brisbane41. When are you going to grow up and act like an adult.

You've contradicted your initial post in every subsequent post. Your attempt to prove that you know everything and that my simple comment is wrong is just laughable.

BTW I have been to both Onsen and a bathhouse and in both cases the requirement is that you wash thoroughly first. Simple!

Of course it is over ten years since I was in Japan. Perhaps today's Japanese are less fastidious than they were then. In which case I shall avoid onsen and bathhouses on my next visit.

Funny how every time someone calls you out on something that you have posted incorrectly you go on the attack, Brisbane41. When are you going to grow up and act like an adult.

 

You've contradicted your initial post in every subsequent post. Your attempt to prove that you know everything and that my simple comment is wrong is just laughable.

 

BTW I have been to both Onsen and a bathhouse and in both cases the requirement is that you wash thoroughly first. Simple!

 

Of course it is over ten years since I was in Japan. Perhaps today's Japanese are less fastidious than they were then. In which case I shall avoid onsen and bathhouses on my next visit.

I do not believe you have been there at all. You have not once on this thread said the word "sento" which is what it is.

It is you who made the assumptions and drew incorrect conclusions from them. In my first post I was direct and to the point in as few words as possible. I made it 100% clear that it was a cleaning facility.

What strikes me as extremely odd is that you were the one that said "not for cleaning", you should have known full well that it was not an onsen as the water on the ship is heated and unlike the onsen where the water remains at its natural temperature and does not have to be heated.

Hi! Three years ago we went on the Diamond for three Japan cruises. We did go to the Izumi Japanese spa onboard and it was delightful. The attendants explained the procedure, handed you a towel and slippers, and off you went to the locker room to undress. Naturally men on one side and women on another in separate 'spa' facilities.

There was a shower area where you sat on a wooden stool and scrubbed up well (soap, shampoo, etc. provided). You then proceeded to the baths - there were two of varying degrees of hot. One had jets like a jacuzzi and I think the other did not. There was a wet-steam room that was scented with eucalyptus, and a dry sauna. I recall a cool rain shower, as well as a waterfall-like shower that hit you in-between the shoulders. I believe you had 1.5 hours to enjoy the experience and bounce around all about what was inside. We did this in the evening and at night slept very well!

I think it's worthwhile to check out whilst onboard Diamond Princess.

Cheers.

Hi! Three years ago we went on the Diamond for three Japan cruises. We did go to the Izumi Japanese spa onboard and it was delightful. The attendants explained the procedure, handed you a towel and slippers, and off you went to the locker room to undress. Naturally men on one side and women on another in separate 'spa' facilities.

 

There was a shower area where you sat on a wooden stool and scrubbed up well (soap, shampoo, etc. provided). You then proceeded to the baths - there were two of varying degrees of hot. One had jets like a jacuzzi and I think the other did not. There was a wet-steam room that was scented with eucalyptus, and a dry sauna. I recall a cool rain shower, as well as a waterfall-like shower that hit you in-between the shoulders. I believe you had 1.5 hours to enjoy the experience and bounce around all about what was inside. We did this in the evening and at night slept very well!

 

I think it's worthwhile to check out whilst onboard Diamond Princess.

 

Cheers.

I do not believe you have been there at all. You have not once on this thread said the word "sento" which is what it is.

You can believe whatever you like. As I said it was over ten years ago and I suspect the term "sento" was not widely used when describing Japanese bathing facilities to tourists back then.

You continue to try to twist my words instead on admitting that your inital post was not correct and that my following post clarified the issue.

Alessandra has kindly explained the Izumu procedure which confirms my comment. Thank you Alessandra.

Over and out!

Brisbane41, all that time and experience in Japanese baths seems to have boiled your brain and your sense of diplomacy!

OzKiwiJJ got it right the first time: one should use soap and water to CLEAN the body BEFORE entering the communal bath water.

I doubt anyone (myself included) read all the puffing and posturing.

Brisbane41, all that time and experience in Japanese baths seems to have boiled your brain and your sense of diplomacy!

 

OzKiwiJJ got it right the first time: one should use soap and water to CLEAN the body BEFORE entering the communal bath water.

 

I doubt anyone (myself included) read all the puffing and posturing.

Yep. Fellas got to be cool. It's about fun and not undercutting each other.

Also you can always use the "ignore" list too.

I love the idea of trying this, but don't like the idea of being fully nude! Is there a cover charge for it, and can men and women use it at the same time, obviously separate facilities, or is it all men or all women?

Yes, there is a charge (I forget now, but it might be $25?). Yes, men and women can use their separate facilities at the same time.

I know what you mean about being without a swimsuit!! I would take a towel in with me and wrap it around myself when I moved from the different waters. When I was there, I was usually alone! Sometimes there would be some Japanese ladies, but it was never crowded. Not sure how it is now.

Do try it!

We were on the Diamond from Sydney to New Zealand and for the non Japanese cruises they did allow swimsuits in the single-gender area during specific hours each day. For example, it was usually nude only 6-10 am and 8-10 pm with bathing suits only 10 am - noon and 1-8 pm.

On that sailing, they offered various pricing for the experience - $10 for 2 hrs on port days and $15 for 2 hrs on sea days. They also had a card you could buy with a discount for getting four sessions.

The male and female sides swapped each day and there were slightly different experiences in each.

The outdoor pool always required bathing suits. It wasn't a favorite of mine since when you're in that pool, you're sitting too low and can't really see out to the aft of the ship. The pools in the gender segregated areas were better since there were large windows and one of the pools was open above so you got fresh air as well.

I visited four times during our 13 day sailing and thoroughly enjoyed it.

You can believe whatever you like. As I said it was over ten years ago and I suspect the term "sento" was not widely used when describing Japanese bathing facilities to tourists back then.

 

You continue to try to twist my words instead on admitting that your inital post was not correct and that my following post clarified the issue.

 

Alessandra has kindly explained the Izumu procedure which confirms my comment. Thank you Alessandra.

 

Over and out!

The term sento has always been used for them. Given you do not know the difference between the two suggests to me that you have never been there ever. Even greater than ten years ago the term sento was always used. Onsen is an entirely different product.

The sento (Japanese bath house) is a facility for cleaning.

Brisbane41, all that time and experience in Japanese baths seems to have boiled your brain and your sense of diplomacy!

 

OzKiwiJJ got it right the first time: one should use soap and water to CLEAN the body BEFORE entering the communal bath water.

 

I doubt anyone (myself included) read all the puffing and posturing.

Obviously you have no clue what you are talking about either. Never in my post did I say that you do not use soap to clean first.

The other member who posted could not even tell the difference between a sento ( 銭湯) and an onsen (温泉). I even provided suitable references for the subject.

Given that this person above declared that "they were not for cleaning" clearly indicates their lack of understanding of the whole subject as I made it 100% clear in my first post that it was what their purpose was entirely for.

For external web references read up on it here - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sent%C5%8D - clearly you also need to read up on your subject before commenting.

For further reference to rbt001 and ozkiwijj who are both wrong and have not researched the subject properly, here is the correct bathing procedure for both of them - http://www.sentoguide.info/etiquette The term rinse is used and another article here - https://www.lonelyplanet.com/japan/travel-tips-and-articles/japanese-bath-etiquette-how-to-visit-a-sento/40625c8c-8a11-5710-a052-1479d277e275 - feeds more information into the subject. Another article here - https://www.spinjapan.net/9-must-know-sento-rules-before-coming-to-japan/

Soap is not compulsory for your rinse before entering the bathing waters as indicated in the second website like. It makes it clear that no traces of soap are to be in the water.

If it is an onsen that has mineralised water then the Japanese are likely to leave without a second wash as they prefer to leave these minerals on their skin. If it is a sento (bath house) they are likely to do more cleaning and grooming afterwards. Using hair treatment, oils, gels and skin creams are are all done after the bathing.

The whole establishment is a cleaning facility and to suggest otherwise is providing false and misleading information.

Has anyone experienced the Japanese style spa on Diamond Princess.

I believe the outside thermal bath is mixed and clothing is required.

Once inside apparently it splits into separate sexes and clothing is not allowed!

Can anyone comment on their experiences in this unusual cruise ship experience. Is it at all like the thermal spas in Austria or Germany?

I was on the Diamond Princess in April 2017, sailing from Singapore to Yokohama (Tokyo).

Between 8am and 10am each day swimsuits were not allowed and nude bathing was required. For the rest of the day, swimsuits had to be worn.

You are correct in saying that the inside sections are gender segregated, with the sides switching each day so both genders can experience the different types of baths and showers.

Again, you are correct in saying that the outdoor pool is mixed gender and swimsuits are required at all times.

I love the Izumi experience, the baths and steam room are so relaxing and it's lovely sitting in the hot tubs or jacuzzis watching the ocean pass by.

Generally the pricing is US$15 for a session lasting up to two hours, or you can buy a package deal up front of five sessions for US$60.

We are on the Diamond in a few weeks and interested it using the Izumi; does anyone know the current pricing whilst she is sailing out of Sydney so AUD as on board currency or if packages are available, nothing showing in our cruise personaliser?