Scarlet Lady Spa: do prices go down on port days like other cruise lines?

[singerdon]

Just trying to plan!

 

Thanks,

 

Singerdon

Milwaukee, WI

[_tacocat_]

not actual treatment prices, but thermal suite passes are $39 on port days/$59 on sea days.

 

i've been on quite a bit, and it seems like the deal of the week in the spa changes depending on who's working there haha.  the first time, if you booked an appointment the first day (just booked it, it could be any day), you got an extra 15 minutes.  the second time, you had to either book the treatment to be either the first day or the first appointment (i think 8am?) of any day to get the 15 minutes free. i was on last week, and the special was only valid for appointments made for the first day- so basically between 4-10pm on day 1. 

 

they must have gotten a new spa manager or incentive structure between july and now because they were never pushy with massage upcharges or product sales before.  i did a couples massage as soon as i mentioned i had tension in my shoulders, my therapist tried to upsell us both to deep tissue.  i said no, that i wanted a medium pressure swedish massage, but that i'd like her to focus on my neck/shoulders/back (the usual desk job suspects!) 

 

she proceeded to tell me that swedish was only very light pressure and i would like deep tissue more.  declined a second time and proceeded to have one of the most meh massages of my life because she would not add pressure without the deep tissue upcharge (despite the fact that swedish and deep tissue are totally different techniques).  so relaxing!

 

after my massage (oily rub basically?), they immediately mentioned products to buy and asked if we would like one of the body scan consultations.  go away!  the other couple times i've done their massages, it's been zero hard sells, and one of the therapists even said "you don't need any products, right?" on my way out, but ugh i totally forgot how irked i was about last week's whole spa experience until just now haha 

[cantgetin]

I met the spa manager on our recent cruise while I was standing by the elevator with a frequent cruiser who knew her, and friend asked almost exactly that question.  She said that "It depends on how full our bookings are.  If we aren't booking as much as we'd like, we'll make offers to fix that."  This was specifically on the 14 night TA crossing, so don't know if it applies to shorter  sailings or other managers.  People were giving rave reviews about the spa.  And a nice thing is that the price posted is the price you pay--no 18% or 20% add on gratuity and they wouldn't take a cash tip when we offered!  My travel companion was very pleased with the service she received.  I don't mind tipping for good service, but the grat added to the thermal suite on other lines always bothered me since there was no "service" aspect involved.

[singerdon]

Thanks for the replies!!

 

We're doing the spa thing regardless! Love me a deep tissue massage.

 

We're already doing the romance package for our 40th anniversary and will treat ourselves to the spa as well.

 

Don from Milwaukee

[chrisa2711]

On 11/4/2022 at 12:08 AM, _tacocat_ said:

not actual treatment prices, but thermal suite passes are $39 on port days/$59 on sea days.

 

<snipped>

thanks for posting this - I was on Scarlet Lady about a year ago and didn't even know that there was a thermal suite! I will definitely be checking it out on my B2B at the end of this month!

[CruisingWalter]

On 11/4/2022 at 1:08 AM, _tacocat_ said:

they must have gotten a new spa manager or incentive structure between july and now because they were never pushy with massage upcharges or product sales before.  i did a couples massage as soon as i mentioned i had tension in my shoulders, my therapist tried to upsell us both to deep tissue.  i said no, that i wanted a medium pressure swedish massage, but that i'd like her to focus on my neck/shoulders/back (the usual desk job suspects!) 

 

I have not found out who runs the spas on VV yet, but most of the major cruise lines have one of two companies that run all of the spas. Hard upsell is a major part of both of those companies, even in the barber shop. The cruise lines minimize their liability factor with the spas by contracting out all the services. 

[CruisingWalter]

On 11/4/2022 at 6:05 PM, singerdon said:

Thanks for the replies!!

 

We're doing the spa thing regardless! Love me a deep tissue massage.

 

We're already doing the romance package for our 40th anniversary and will treat ourselves to the spa as well.

 

Don from Milwaukee

 

You should have an amazing time on VV.  So much better than we ever expected! 

[_tacocat_]

10 minutes ago, WheresWalter said:

 

I have not found out who runs the spas on VV yet, but most of the major cruise lines have one of two companies that run all of the spas. Hard upsell is a major part of both of those companies, even in the barber shop. The cruise lines minimize their liability factor with the spas by contracting out all the services. 

OneSpaWorld.  It's just weird because I've been to the spa a bunch across 6 voyages, including 3 or 4 massages and a pedicure, and I'd never encountered the spa-typical hard upsell, which was quite refreshing!  My last experience was so off-putting and was definitely not relaxing at all. 

 

If I want to have the awkward choose-your-own-adventure upsell experience at every turn during a spa experience, I can certainly do that on land for much cheaper haha. 

[CruisingWalter]

3 minutes ago, _tacocat_ said:

OneSpaWorld.  It's just weird because I've been to the spa a bunch across 6 voyages, including 3 or 4 massages and a pedicure, and I'd never encountered the spa-typical hard upsell, which was quite refreshing!  My last experience was so off-putting and was definitely not relaxing at all. 

 

If I want to have the awkward choose-your-own-adventure upsell experience at every turn during a spa experience, I can certainly do that on land for much cheaper haha. 

 

Obviously the spa was not delivering on the revenue expectations so now the need for the hard sell. Certainly share your info with the VV guest relations team. 

[_tacocat_]

1 minute ago, WheresWalter said:

 

Obviously the spa was not delivering on the revenue expectations so now the need for the hard sell. Certainly share your info with the VV guest relations team. 

oh i certainly did!  i'm also a 485c member and was debating emailing that "batphone" email address.  i'll be back on next month so i might give it one more try before resorting to that...

[cantgetin]

2 hours ago, WheresWalter said:

 

I have not found out who runs the spas on VV yet, but most of the major cruise lines have one of two companies that run all of the spas. Hard upsell is a major part of both of those companies, even in the barber shop. The cruise lines minimize their liability factor with the spas by contracting out all the services. 

Absolutely no upsell on the October Valiant Lady TA.  And the spa personnel turn down offered tips by politely saying that their tip is already included in the cost of the service.  Yes, we've had the upsell on other cruise lines, not of VV so far.

[Wildcatllamas]

So this may be a little off topic but does relate to the spa. Last December, when I was on Scarlet, I had a facial that a friend had paid for. Now it was $199. But oh my, it was amazing. It was 90 minutes and included all the bells and whistles. I literally melted into the bed it was so relaxing. My skin glowed for several weeks after. No hard sell on anything at all. I would book one of Virgin's facials in a heart beat.

 

Now fast forward to my cruise on Discovery Princess in October. I decided to treat myself to a facial there. No discount on port days unless it was one of their "specials". So I went on the first port day and nada for specials. The facial was the same price as on Virgin but there was where the similarities ended. No real analysis of my skin. The facial was so basic that my skin care routine at home has more steps it seemed like. The whole thing from the time I laid down on the bed till I was out the door was less then 50 minutes. And the whole time, any announcement on the PA system, were being blasted in the treatment rooms. And then the pitches on the products. I definitely won't be wasting my money on a spa treatment on Princess ever again.

[cantgetin]

Comment to the above post--you also had an 18 or 20% autogratuity added on Princess, but the price on VV includes the tip.  Our spa person turned down an additional tip saying it wasn't allowed...and no product sales..at least to us.

[Wildcatllamas]

On 12/3/2022 at 12:17 PM, cantgetin said:

Comment to the above post--you also had an 18 or 20% autogratuity added on Princess, but the price on VV includes the tip.  Our spa person turned down an additional tip saying it wasn't allowed...and no product sales..at least to us.

 

So very true. And then she asked, but in a round about way for an additional tip. Virgin does it so much better.

[_tacocat_]

On 12/3/2022 at 12:35 PM, Wildcatllamas said:

And the whole time, any announcement on the PA system, were being blasted in the treatment rooms.

omg that is ridiculous - how can they even expect someone to remotely relax with that nonsense?????