An essential part of any holiday these days is the proximity of a spa, with holidaymakers now seeing relaxing massages, facials, saunas, hot tubs, and health and beauty treatments as all part of the essential holiday experience. Any top hotel worth its salt will now incorporate a spa, and cruise lines have not been slow to catch onto the trend either, with most cruise ships now having excellent spas along with all their other on board wonders. And increasingly, the spa is not just a spa, but a medi-spa too, where you can get various long-lasting beauty treatments that involve a little more than simply the application of cream.
P&O have some lovely Oasis Spas on their ships where you can get all sorts of treatments from mud therapy to tooth-whitening, and even facial peels, as well as all the traditional spa treatments. Azura, P&O’s new, sleek and sophisticated super-liner due next spring, will have a tremendous spa incorporating a mud chamber and an adults-only spa terrace known as The Retreat, where you can relax well away from the little ankle biters.
P&O’s Oasis Spas even offer the Oxyjet Star facial, which has been popular with celebrities such as Madonna, and Jennifer Aniston – you only have to look at them to know it must work!
Celebrity Cruises’ latest ship, Celebrity Solstice, has a medi-spa that includes treatments such as Botox and Restylane, which work wonders on smoothing that face. The spa has 23 treatment rooms as well as a Persian Garden relaxation room with warm beds, a steam room and even an aromatic dry sauna.
Carnival Cruises’ new ship Carnival Dream will also have a large spa, with 17 treatment rooms, a thalassotherapy pool with heated ionised water and pulsating water jets, and a thermal suite with four wet and dry heat therapy chambers to cleanse, tone and purify the body.
It seems that with every new cruise ship, the on board spa just gets better and better, making for the perfect relaxing holiday afloat.
