littlelulu01

I guess I missed the balcony the most.

So even though daughter and I had an inside stateroom we still had peaceful relaxation area.

Now here are some pics of the Haven area we used for relaxation. My husband and I loved coming back to the ship after being out in the cold, and taking a hot tub. Then watching the ship pull out of port from our balcony.

heated tile loungers in co-ed spa. Sure bliss.

view from women's loungers out to sea.

loungers on women's side overlooking ocean

sauna. saw a lot of sea action from here.

cold plunge pool on women's side

For the August sailing I knew I wanted spa passes. I did not even know about the spa in May and it was not really necessary as there was a steam room, sauna, hot tub and warm indoor pool right outside our stateroom door for the Haven. I subsequently found out about the spa passes and so we purchased as soon as we boarded for $119 for the week. We made good use of the passes, visiting every day and some days twice a day. I do wish I had brought a swim cap to save my hair from the chlorine.

Our inside stateroom was deck 10 aft, room 10167 and the spa was forward deck 12 but the walk was not bad.

There is a separate men's and women's side and then co-ed in the middle. The separate areas have cold plunge pool, personal ho tubs, sauna, steam room, showers, loungers. The co-ed area has a therapy pool with an extremely strong massaging jet, hot tub, I think steam room and heated tile loungers that look out at the sea. Usually peaceful in the spa and I loved watching the sea from this vantage point. The Haven area was virtually empty during our trip. It was just as nice but it's in the middle of ship so no vantage view points from the area. Here's some pics of the spa;

August was defin. a more social event. This could have been Haven vs. inside but the May sailing was very quiet and much time spent in the Haven area or our room looking at the sea. The August sailing had more kids... My daughter ran into a friend from school as soon as she boarded the ship and quickly met several new friends. With more kids and young adults there is just more going on. I assume the activities staff get into the cruise more when there are more willing participants too. Seemed like a lot more Americans in Aug and more Japanese, Brits and Australians in May.

And here's Aug:

on deck was a little diff too. Here's May

Same view but in May

now some from August. Granted I am the worlds worst photographer and these were taken with my old iphone so don't expect great quality. I'll start with coming up on the glacier like the first May pics.