Spa Passes

[harcin]

A recent review of the Quest mentioned spa passes which allow you to use the private, forward area of the ship for sunbathing and relaxing. Apparently there are only 30 available for an additional fee. Is this the same for Journey? Has anyone else had these passes and are they worth it?

 

Thanks for any comments

[crzrr]

We were on the Feb. 16th Quest and purchased the spa passes for the length of the cruise. They did limit the number of passes and we did hear the number 30 but I can't confirm that number. I do know that they sold out of the passes on the day of boarding fairly early.

 

We enjoyed our time up there. It was quiet and very comfortable. There are plenty of seats in the sun and nice sofas in the shade - great places to nap. On many port days we were the only people up there. My husband and I were travelling with friends and the four of us had passes and all thought that they were worth the money. One day, there was champagne and chocolate covered strawberries for us - what a way to live!

 

Hope that helps. I would assume that the Journey is the same.

[scarlett68]

Hi,

 

I am wondering what is the cost for the spa paases. Thanks

[crzrr]

Hi,

 

If my memory serves me, we paid $175 per couple + taxes. I think that it ended up around $200 for the two of us.

[harcin]

Any ideas as to why is these passes are not advertised? Only learned of them and the area through your post. Where on ship do you purchase the passes? We try to board early so it should not be an issue.

Thanks

[crzrr]

You buy the passes in the spa. We had seen information about the passes on the boards and then, when we went into the spa, there was information and pricing posted on the desk. Besides the length of cruise pass there are day passes available. We really enjoyed being up there and would do it again.

[andreadan]

Does anyone have pictures of the area?

[Cruz Doggie Gal]

Is this where the thermal pool is located and is there a charge for the thermal pool area? Anyone?

[crzrr]

This is where the thalassotherapy pool is located. You need to have a spa pass or be a suite guest to use the pool.

[karolm]

Have to purchase the spa pass.

 

I believe Celebrity allows suite but Azamara not.

[harcin]

On the Constellation, the thalosotherapy pool may be used by all without any pass or fee. The steam rooms in the spa require a fee (I cannot recall the name they give to this area). Suite guests used to have free access to this area but no longer. I just found this on the Azamara website under spa.

Thalassotherapy Pool

All Penthouse and Royal Suite guests may enjoy complimentary use of the pool at all times. Additionally, any guest receiving a Spa treatment may enjoy complimentary use of the Thalassotherapy pool for the entire day of the treatment on port days, or one hour before and after the treatment on sea days. An additional fee will apply to any other guest that wishes to use the Thalassotherapy pool.

[1cruiselvr]

We sailed on Azamara Quest for 14-day cruise in 11/07. We purchased the spa pass. It was pricey and not worth it in my view. We were told only 25 passes were sold but I know they sold more as my gf called me when she was purchasing hers saying that I needed to get up there right away and buy mine as they only had 2 left. I did and next day as I was passing the spa desk guess what - they were selling spa passes to a group of people. So much for only 25 passes and I got the last 2!?! Also, chair hogs hang out here. They put their personal stuff on the chairs, then leave for hrs. One lady was sitting in a chair but had assembled her personal stuff on several other chairs saving them for her husband and friends for when they wanted to come by. My gf got into an argument with the lady because there was no place for us to sit and we wanted to use one of those chairs. Folks that buy these passes seem to have a sense of entitlement to the area. Like they rented it for the entire cruise just for their family and friends. Also, anyone that books a spa treatment, gets a complimentary 1/2 hr use of this area. They do not monitor how long these people stay so it can get crowded. Finally, it can get very hot in that area as there are huge glass partitions to shield from wind when sailing. However, when in port, it can be like a sauna. Many times we tried to sit and get some sun, only to leave after 20 min of melting. In conclusion, it wasn't worth it to me as these passes are not cheap and you aren't getting anything that you can't get at the pool area except for use of the t. pool. Happy Sailing!

[emcee207]

We're sailing in 3 weeks on the Quest for a two week Best of Italy cruise. Although I LOVE hot tubs I am a little put off by the cost of this spa thing. It is a lot of money. I'm thinking when i need to go I'll just slip in. Let them put me in the brig. At least with Celebrity's Persian Gardens (on the Mclass ships) you have a steam room, lots of room, etc and then can head out to the Thallasotherapy spa for that. Seems kind of crass to charge for this area. Just MHO.

[Tricia724]

.....Also, chair hogs hang out here. They put their personal stuff on the chairs, then leave for hrs. One lady was sitting in a chair but had assembled her personal stuff on several other chairs saving them for her husband and friends for when they wanted to come by. My gf got into an argument with the lady because there was no place for us to sit and we wanted to use one of those chairs. Folks that buy these passes seem to have a sense of entitlement to the area. Like they rented it for the entire cruise just for their family and friends. Also, anyone that books a spa treatment, gets a complimentary 1/2 hr use of this area. They do not monitor how long these people stay so it can get crowded.

 

We had the same experience in the spa as you did. I was totally disgusted the last couple days of the trip to see how many people were saving chairs in the spa and getting away with it.

 

On our last two sea days, we went up late in the afternoon only to find about four or five people there and most of the rest of the chairs had someone's belongings on them.....totes, books, shoes, etc. There were a couple of chairs with towels on them and we removed the towels and sat down. We were there for an hour, and in that time, none of those people came back to retrieve their items or use the chairs. How's that for being rude and inconsiderate? I was almost hoping someone would come along and say something to us because we were both hopping mad and armed for bear.

 

I have never seen such chair hogging in my life as on our cruise. People literally claimed pool chairs early in the morning and kept them tied up all day with all their junk piled up, even when they didn't use them for hours at a time. Some people went out to the pool early, left belongings on a couple of chairs in the shade....then sat on chairs in the sun until they'd had enough and moved to the shady chairs.

 

Azamara needs to post rules against saving chairs and then enforce it....both in the spa and on the pool deck. They put a small note in the daily program which means nothing. There simply aren't enough chairs for everyone to use on hot sea days, so they need to find a way to make sure that everyone gets a fair chance at those that are there.

[1cruiselvr]

We had the same chair hog experience at the pool as you did. In fact, my gf got into it with a guy because we moved his SHOES to the floor and used HIS chair. We were there at least an hr before he showed up and got nasty with my gf for taking HIS chair (saved with shoes????) He actually got in her face about it, but we didn't back down. So he huffed and puffed his way over to another chair which by now had opened up. BUT it was not good enough for him, he wanted HIS chair, so he proceeded to loudly insult my gf to anyone that would listen around him about how rude she was to take HIS chair. At one point I was starting to get concerned about the level this man took his anger over HIS chair. At that point, I think a deck steward should have come over and explained that nobody owns the chairs. But as you know, the CL won't get involved and enforce their 'no saving chairs' policy. Personally, I think they should announce that personal items will be removed if the chair is not occupied after 20 mins and then put the personal items in a basket for the rule breakers to collect. A few times of doing that and I think the chair hogs would get the message. Prior to my Azamara cruise, I had never experienced chair hogging as bad as it was on that cruise. Happy Sailing!

[emcee207]

I would have thrown that jerk overboard.

[cruisecountess]

Tricia, I'm sorry your gf had to endure such rudeness. I'm proud of her and you for not backing off. If it's any consolation, however, chair hogs are not limited to Azamara. We had the same experience last summer on Oceania.

People left a book on the chair early in the morning (the book was probably from the ship's library and the hog wouldn't care if it got taken!) and often never showed up until the afternoon. They could have just taken my husband's and my chairs then, as we leave when it gets too hot. No one on Oceania would say anything to the hogs. Their solution was to set up extra chairs on the running track, a deck above. That just invoked the ire of the runners.

Can't win when it comes to hogging.

[rubinstein2r]

Is a thalassotherapy pool a deep hot tub? Can someone explain to me what it is so I can decide before my cruise if I want to buy the passes?

 

Thanks!

 

--Myra in AZ

[LovetoCruisex2]

The spa area is nice, but almost stark. The loungers are the same as those found in the pool area. which by the way, are simply phenomenal. Best we've had at sea in our 30-something cruises. While the spa pass allows access to the T-pool, it's really not much better than a deeper, bigger hot tub.

 

The steam room and tropical showers in the locker area are very nice, but the spa passes are not necessary to use them.

 

I'll gladly forward pictures to anyone requesting. Our email address is swsosters@aol.com.

[1cruiselvr]

When we were on the Quest 11/07, the spa loungers were different than the ones at the pool. They had nice towel-like covers over them and were wicker. Happy Sailing!

[Rue's Ma]

I also would not recommend the spa pass -- we had one for the first 2 days of the cruise and asked for a refund for the above mentioned problems. We found staying on our balcony the best option.

[scarlett68]

Is a thalassotherapy pool a deep hot tub? Can someone explain to me what it is so I can decide before my cruise if I want to buy the passes?

 

I would like to know what this pool is as well. Is it a warm water swimming pool, a hot tub, etc?

[1cruiselvr]

It's basically a huge jacuzzi with powerful jets. It will hold many people. Happy Sailing!