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Men's Spa Facilities on Cruise ships: Which ones do you think are the best?


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The Jewel is the best, I went on it again recently and it is still incredible. There is a sauna, steamroom, jacuzzi, rainshowers and a cold plunge. It is remarkable. The only thing is you have to by a spa pass to use them. But it is soooo worth it.

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  • 2 months later...

Hey all,

I'm the originator of this thread; THANKS for posting your observations & detailed information! In my opinion, the opportunity for details ios priceless, since it's often impossible to get a straight answer from teh cruise line customer service reps (which isn't really their fault, since the "head-honchos" share relatively little shipboard info with the front-line).

 

Your posts have me incredibly curious to sailt he Jewel or Pearl to experience their dedicated spa facilities. While it sucks that there's a "cover charge" to access, they sound like they might be VERY worth it!

 

Escaping into the steam, sauna or jacuzzi for a few hours is bliss for me & a lot of other guys. There are many of us that also prefer to get ready for dinner in these facilities, since there's TONS more room and we can stay out of our spouses way as they get ready, lol.

 

Too bad none of the 3 & 4-night ships out of Miami or Fort Lauderdale have extensive steam & sauna facilities (locker room area). I sailed the Majesty of the Seas last year, after her refurbishment, and her spa was SHREDDED and reduced down to nothing (insult to injury...the tiny steam room was NEVER operational).

 

Does anyone know what the Carnival Fascination or Norwegian Sky steam & sauna facilities are like?

 

Keep the thread goin', guys!

 

Later,

GigglewolfOfTheSeas

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Your posts have me incredibly curious to sailt he Jewel or Pearl to experience their dedicated spa facilities. While it sucks that there's a "cover charge" to access, they sound like they might be VERY worth it!

 

On mainstream cruise lines I think it is a positive to charge for certain facilities because it reduces the number of people using the facilities. I will pay happily for that!

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I would agree with you, Oceans&Rivers; however, even on the large Voyager-class ships in Royal Caribbean's fleet, the number of folks using the complimentary steam & sauna facilities in the locker room was relatively minimal when one considers the passenger capacity of these ships.

 

Just an observation.

:p

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Bon voyage, Dave & Jeff!

 

Definitely eager to hear all the details of your Pearl Thermal Suite experience. Luvin' details over here, so keep tabs ;)

 

On an earlier thread in the NCL room, I openly wondered if the folks (mostly North American, I would guess) using the men's thermal suites went "European style" (towel-only) while using the Thermal Suites or not (wore shorts/bathing suits).

 

Of course, some folks insisted that even though they were NOT co-ed, they'd feel odd using the facilities "au-natural", even though that's the way it's done in most spas & resorts, where the men's & women's facilities were separate. Las Vegas has some excellent examples of this, with amazing facilities, where nudity was not an issue & more the "norm".

 

Let me know what you find.

 

Have a great time,

Gigglewolf-Of-The-Seas

:p

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  • 3 weeks later...

So I have done some research and it appears that there are some differences between the Pearl and the Jewel (both NCL) spas. The Jewel has one 5-6 person hot tub in the mens spa area and on the Pearl it appears to be two single person tubs. Also the Jewel has two thermal rainshowers in the mens area and they do not seem to be present on the pearl which is disappointing considering that they are awesome. The whole spa layout seems to be different on the two ships, so it should be interesting to see if I like it as much. I am sure that I will love it, but I hope that it be worth the pass....ah hell....of course it will be worth the pass lol

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  • 2 weeks later...

DH and I sailed on the Pearl on the 10/12 thru 10/19 sailing.

 

Background: I am a spa fanatic and have been to the Grove Park Inn's (Asheville, NC)fabulous, world-class spa. DH and I both have sailed on the Celebrity Galaxy and enjoyed its Thalossotherapy pool, steam, and dry saunas.

 

We had read on the NCL boards that the Pearl's spa is fantastic and offers week long passes. Based on our experiences on the Galaxy, we knew that it was often worthwhile to get a pass to enjoy a peaceful, relaxing atmosphere in the ship's spa. So, on Embarkation Day, we toured the Pearl's spa and without hesitation bought the weekly pass for each of us ($75/pp for a 7 day cruise).

 

Description:

 

The fitness center and spa are located on deck 12 forward and have some of the best views on the ship.

 

There is a large area dedicated for each sex, and a large co-ed area. To enter, you exchange your room card (with spa pass sticker) for a locker key and robe. Bring your own flip flops, as no spa shoes are provided.

 

The Men's/Women's area each has a decent sized locker area with three showers, two separate (single) whirlpools, a dry sauna, steamroom, ice cold plunge pool, two rain showers, and about four loungers. There were 2 large screen TVs in this area, which normally ran the spa's ads on mute, but once was showing a Law and Order re-run (again, on mute). DH told me that on the men's side, they often were showing ESPN or CNN. They serve iced water in this area.

 

The dry sauna has 7 large windows that look out to sea. I really loved this because this helped me from feeling too claustrophobic, which sometimes happens to me if I spend too much time in the sauna. I would estimate the sauna could hold 6-8 people comfortably, more if some people stood and enjoyed the views in front of the windows. Although there were several European ladies (Russian and French) who had a weekly pass, and I saw there every day, none ever went au naturel in the sauna (or anywhere) that I saw.

 

The steamroom was smaller than the sauna, and would probably hold 4-5 people. There were usually no more than 3 while I was there.

 

The Co-Ed area had a large therapy pool, hot tub that seated 4-5 people, several rain showers that you could choose tropical rain or ice water, about 8 heated, tiled loungers (DH's favorite), and about 6 single chaises and 2 double chaises perfect for couples. On the first day at sea, they served fresh baked cookies. The remaining days they provided various types of teas, ice water, orange juice, and oranges.

 

There were always plenty of fresh towels available both in the women's area and in the co-ed area. I felt the staff did an excellent job of keeping the towels and refreshments well stocked and the areas picked up.

 

DH and I spent at least an hour per day in the spa, even on port days, and on sea days, we spent 3-4 hours there. In our opinion, the spa was the highlight of our cruise. Our stop to Roatan was cancelled due to civil unrest, so spending the day in the spa on that unforeseen "day at sea" was great!

 

I did not have any spa treatments on this cruise, but from the feedback I received from other passengers, they were very good/excellent.

 

I highly recommend getting the spa pass if you ever cruise the NCL Pearl, or her sister, the Jewel.

 

Sorry for the long review, but there seemed to be alot of interest in the Pearl's/Jewel's spa facilities. I hope you find this information helpful.

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Hi tinlizzienc:

No need to apologize for the length & detail contained in your post; it was PERFECT! More often than not, posts contain vague information and lack the detail so many folks would like.

 

Yours was an ideal post, in my book, lol! Thank you for taking the time to share this information and your overall impressions.

 

Frankly, I'm not a huge fan of NCL (more of an RCI-kinda-guy :p ), but if there was ever an exceptionally good deal to be had on a Pearl or Jewel cruise & the timing was right, I would strongly consider them, just due to the spa experience you & others have described.

 

Cheers!

Gigglewolf-Of-The-Seas

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Glad to hear you're considering RCI, tinlizzienc. Keep in mind that on their larger ships (Voyager & Freedom-class), I don't believe they have anything like the NCL Pearl's dedicated/for-a-fee type spa facilities. However, they do have steam & sauna rooms & showers in the men's & women's locker areas (which serve both the spa & fitness center). The GREAT thing is use of these facilities are FREE OF CHARGE. There is also no co-ed area for the spa, like the Pearl has at the front of the ship.

 

The steam & sauna rooms probably on the Voyager-class ships seat about 10+ folks, each. There are also about 6 showers available.

 

On RCI's Radiance-class ships, they do have a "for-a-fee" THERMAL SUITE, which has the heated tile loungers & I think they have a eucalyptus-scented steam room (not 100% certain, since I've never paid to use them). However, they also still have the steam & sauna & showers available FOR FREE, but on a slightly smaller scale (steam seats about 4 comfortably, sauna about 6-8, shower stalls: 4).

 

Gosh, I hope RCI's Oasis-class ships have fantastic spa set-ups! As big as those ships are going to be, they can do SOO much with the design...just hope they don't charge "an arm & a leg" to use the facilities.

 

I'm sailing on the Navigator of the Seas (Voyager-class) in December and I'm looking forward to spa-ing for MUCH of that voyage, lol!

 

RCI has begun removing the steam & sauna rooms from some of their older vessels, so if you're a big fan of spa-ing, proceed cautiously if considering anything other than the Voyager, Radiance, Freedom or Oasis-class ships.

 

Bon voyage to ALL,

Gigglewolf-Of-The-Seas

:p

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  • 3 months later...

There is a sauna and steam room on the NCL sun, not bad size and the changing rooms are quite large with three large showers. Plenty of towels and other goodies in there to use. Both sauna and steam room are separate mens and ladies and are free of charge.

I am on the azamara quest in a few weeks and hope there is a sauna and steamroom on there to use after the gym.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Bon voyage on Azamara!! If you have the opportunity, please check back in with this thread upon your return and give us the details on the spa facilities for the Azamara vessel. I haven't heard much about these ships, so any info you can share would be great.

 

The Navigator in December of '08 was fantastic!! The spa facilities (in the men's locker room area) were in excellent condition and good working order. There were moments when it was a bit busy (cloudy sea day, for example), but for the most part, relatively little "traffic". Can't wait 'til Navigator returns to Florida in the fall to try the shorter cruise again.

 

I just might have to book a longer cruise on the Liberty of the Seas to hold me over, :D.

 

If any other folks have detailed info on the spa/steam/sauna facilities of a ship that hasn't already been mentioned here, please feel free to follow the format of previous posts (details, details, details! haha) and share your insights.

 

Much obliged,

Gigglewolf-Of-The-Seas

Edited by GigglewolfOfTheSeas
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We were on the Navigator in November and were not greatly impressed with the facilities. The sauna was very cool much of the time and showers not working properly etc.

 

Prefer the Radiance class set up, will be on Brilliance next month so hope it is still as good as we remember.

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We were on the Azamara Journey in December 2008. the spa facillities were pretty limited. A steam room that seated approx 7-8, although I rarely saw anyone in there. 2 "rain" style showeres. This all in the men's locker room area. The thalassotherapy pool was outside and co-ed. This was a major disappointment. Was refilled daily and only above lukewarm on 2 or 3 days out of 15 days.

Happy Cruising,

TnT

almost forgot: Only charges were for use of the thalassotherapy pool and seating area outside there, the rest were no charge.

Edited by tnt10
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Thanks for your post on Azamara Journey; VERY insightful!

 

As for the Freedom-class ships with RCI (Freedom of the Seas, Liberty of the Seas and Independence of the Seas), my understanding is that the locker room steam, sauna and shower facilities are VERY similar, if not, IDENTICAL to those on the Voyager-class ships.

 

As such, the steam & sauna rooms are located in the locker rooms shared by the fitness center & spa (so are NOT co-ed). The steam room seats up to 10 comfortably. The sauna can probably seat 12+ at a time. There are at least 6 showers in the locker area, along with a rest room. I am quite certain the Freedom-class ships do NOT possess thalassotherapy pools, nor do they have co-ed lounging areas that require a fee (as of now, such fee-based spa lounging areas only exist on RCI's Radiance-class ships, which I have never used, since the locker rooms on these ships also have steam & sauna rooms, plus showers).

 

Looking forward, I'll speculate that the Oasis-class ships will have such co-ed (fee-based) areas, but am hopeful they'll still possess more private areas for enjoying a steam or sauna. That remains to be revealed.

 

I hope you will find this information useful.

 

All the best,

Gigglewolf-Of-The-Seas

:p

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Glad the info I gave was of some help.

Thanks for the info on the Independence.

Was on the Jewel OTS, and the Thermal Suite was really not worth the charge, unless you like laying on warm tile lounges. I tried it, but actually found them not all that comfortable.

TnT

Edited by tnt10
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I discovered from previous posts the Enchantment had her steam room & sauna REMOVED during her major refurbishment a couple of years back.

 

If you're planning on sailing during the fall through early spring, I'd recommend the Navigator of the Seas, which still has its steam & sauna rooms. Navigator does a similar 4 or 5-night run from Fort Lauderdale. Unfortunately, the Navigator heads to Europe for the summer, so us short-cruise folks miss-out on decent spa facilities while she's over there.

 

Hope this helps,

Gigglewolf

;)

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I discovered from previous posts the Enchantment had her steam room & sauna REMOVED during her major refurbishment a couple of years back.

 

If you're planning on sailing during the fall through early spring, I'd recommend the Navigator of the Seas, which still has its steam & sauna rooms. Navigator does a similar 4 or 5-night run from Fort Lauderdale. Unfortunately, the Navigator heads to Europe for the summer, so us short-cruise folks miss-out on decent spa facilities while she's over there.

 

Hope this helps,

Gigglewolf

;)

 

Thanks for the info , already booked for april 19, panama to fla. for 8 night. Any other sugestion:rolleyes: Thank you for the quick reply though. It looks to be a pretty interesting cruise .

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From pictures I see online it seems Princess Sapphire has a lot of nice pools but what about their spa facilities for men? I see on Grand you have to wear swim suit because sauna and steam are in public areas which is not hygienic in German spas. Are there any Princess ships with mens relaxation areas with windows, steam, sauna, jacuzzi where you dont need swim suit... sounds like NCL Jewel is best at sea.

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