Included spa services

We are headed out onthe West Indies Explorer on Viking Sea March 7th. What spa services areincluded (sauna, etc.) and what services do past clients recommend on thisship. Thanks.

The spa is wonderful beyond words! When you board, go downstairs and inquire at the spa desk about getting a tour and one of the crew will show you around. There's a heated pool with jets so powerful it feels like you're swimming against the current. And then there's the dry and steam saunas. And the ice snow room and the ice bucket. And the cold water barrel in the changing rooms. Just thinking about it makes me wish we were back on board right now. All included. :)

Other spa services like facials and massages, etc, are at a cost. There's a hair salon too. I had my hair cut and the price was in line with what I pay at home. Great haircut as well.

I agree. The spa is wonderful!

I love a good steam and the Viking Oceans have large (read: Uncrowded) steam rooms. But overall, they have one of the best spa areas I've ever been. Don't cheat yourself and skip the ice bucket area, it's exhilarating! After a long steam I enjoyed the ice bucket over the 'snow closet'. But that's me.

Overall I'd give Viking's spa area a rating of 9 out of 10.

My wife and I have both had massages and while they were 'good', they were not 'outstanding'. But I'm particular when it comes to my massages.

Our last cruise was on this same West Indies itinerary and we loved it. Relax, enjoy yourself and splurge on a massage or facial...

I rate beautiful Viking ships "only" 4.5*+

I cannot rate them 5*, and the reason #1 is the spa that is the greatest design flaw.

The Viking designers missed a great opportunity to build a perfes (well, near perfect) cruise ship.

 

#1

a proper hydrotherapy pool ia a luxury feture and the core muscle of a proper spa on a cruise ship.

My biggest disappointment is the Viking spa pool.

Actually this is a fake "hydrotherapy pool" as it does not have any workable massage jets. Basically it's a big jacuzzi.

 

#2

The heated beds must be in a separate room, not near the noisy jacuzzi pool. It's not relaxing.

 

#3

The sauna door opens .... to the changing room. Who has planned this?

 

Some cruisers rave about this spa (?!) from what I can make a conclusion that the posters have not seen a proper spa on a cruise ship (offered by HAL, Cunard , then NCL, followed by Carnival and Costa).

Proper spa is not available on any of Royal Caribbean and Celebrity ships.

Just for the record: none of the so-called "luxury" cruise line have proper spa.

 

Of course Viking spa is better than no spa, but as I said.... it's a sadly lost opportunity and a huge disappointment.

Ronbe65, while I agree with wrong placement of the heated beds, I would never ever agree with "huge disappointment" statement. Yes, for some reason dry sauna and small cold pool are placed in the dressing room rather than with everything else BUT we didn't enjoy sauna less because of the placement. The temp was great in both dry sauna and steam room and we used both bucket and snow room.

Ronbe65, while I agree with wrong placement of the heated beds, I would never ever agree with "huge disappointment" statement. Yes, for some reason dry sauna and small cold pool are placed in the dressing room rather than with everything else BUT we didn't enjoy sauna less because of the placement. The temp was great in both dry sauna and steam room and we used both bucket and snow room.

I’m not a spa guru but the spas on the Viking ships work just fine . This is the Norwegian Spa concept and they supply the spa without any up charge so who am I to say that their concept is a HUGE DISAPPOINTMENT. If you don’t like it that’s ok just live with it and book with a cruise line that gives you what you want - plus a HUGE SPA BILL .