Azamara Journey Spa and Fitness

Astral Spa Fitness

Welcome to Astral Spa, Azamara Journey's spa and fitness center.  Following lunch we took a tour of the spa, signed up for the cruise pass for the Thermal Spring and private spa deck.   The Thermal Spring features a private spa deck with Thalassotherapy Bath.   Minerals in the warm water, combined with powerful jets massage your body will you bask in the sun.

Thalassotherapy Bath

One of the best bargains for a couple on the Journey is to sign up for the full cruise use of the spa deck which includes the Thalassotherapy Bath.   The price (at time of this post) is $20 per person for a one day pass or $99 a person for the whole cruise.   A couple can purchase the same pass for $175 which is a substantial savings over single use or individual pricing.

We signed up for the entire cruise but due to rough seas, all pools were closed the first sea day.   We'll just have to go multiple times some other day to make sure we get the full benefit of the package.

As is the case ships, this spa is run by Elemis and is a full service facility.   We are looking forward to hot stones massages on Friday.   Another bargain is to schedule your massage or other service on a port day, which is why we picked Friday.   We'll be in St. Martin for the entire day, leaving at 11 PM at night which gave us plenty of time to see the port while also taking advantage of special pricing.

Check out our Facebook page for more pictures.

NCL Dawn Bermuda - El Dorado Spa

A feeling of peace surrounds you as you walk into the El Dorado Spa lobby aboard the Norwegian Dawn. You immediately forget that you are even on a cruise ship since you are surrounded by tropical plants and warm colors that relax your mind and body.

The therapist behind the desk asks if they can help you. Since you have signed up for use of the spa area for the entire cruise, you give them your cabin card and in exchange receive a robe and a locker key. A few minutes later you exit the changing room and enter into the pool area.

After putting your robe, towel, and shoes by one of the lounge chairs, you decide to go for a swim in the warm waters of the pool. The water is very comforting. The spa isn't very crowded, so you have the pool to yourself. As you start to do some laps, you can't help but think about how much nicer it is having this pool to yourself instead of competing with everyone else in the main pool area.

After doing laps for awahile you decided to go into the thalassotherapy pool. The water is much warmer than the pool.

The warm seawater circulates around your entire body and you find yourself relaxing like you've never done before.

Thalassotherapy is a rediscovered spa treatment based on an ancient belief in the natural healing properties of seawater.

The word itself was coined in 19th Century France from the Greek "thalassa" meaning sea and "therapeia" meaning healing. Today, thalassotherapy is used as an alternative treatment for medical conditions and has become a popular tourist attraction for relaxation and stress reduction as well as a favorite method of anti-aging healing by maintaining healthy circulation in the body.

After relaxing awhile in the thalassotherapy pool, you decide to go into the hot tub. There are a couple people in there already and you strike up a conversation. They too are having a wonderful time relaxing in the spa. Isn't this heaven?

When the timer for the jets goes off, you decide you'll just relax on your lounge chair. Your chair faces the aft of the ship and you watch the wake of the ship as the ship sails away in the calm sea. The sun is starting to set. You've had a wonderful time and are feeling very relaxed. It's almost time to get ready for your evening activities, so you go take a shower and retrieve you belongings from the locker. You'll be back another time since you've got a cruise pass for the entire length of the voyage.

What a great way to end the day. Your day began with your Hot Stones (aromastone therapy) massage appointment. For 50 minutes, your therapist worked every kink out of your body using her hands, massage oil, and hot stones to relieve stress and muscle aches.

I hope you enjoyed your first sea day with visits to the spa. In my next post, I'll talk about some of the other things that were going on the first two sea days.

NCL Dawn Bermuda - Welcome Aboard

We arrived at the pier around 11:30 AM, checked our baggage with the porters, and entered the cruise terminal to check in. As usual, we had done our pre-cruise paperwork which makes life so much easier when you arrive at the pier. The only documentation we needed was our cruise ticket and passports.

The embarkation process went quite smoothly. There were separate lines for Latitudes (NCL loyalty program) guests, Balcony cabins, and other higher category cabins. When we arrived the special lines were short and the regular lines seemed to be moving pretty well. I didn't hear any guests complaining about the embarkation during the cruise, so I'll have to assume most people had no problems with the boarding process.

Once onboard we were greeted with a glass of champagne and told that the cabins weren't ready yet. One of the stewards took our carry-on bags and escorted us to a lounge where they were storing bags until the cabins were ready. After dropping off our bags, we headed off to explore the ship.

My husband and son wandered off to take a few pictures of the atrium area while I waited in line to make dinner reservations for the first sea day night. When we had been on the Pearl, we hadn't made a reservation for Teppanyaki restaurant and I wanted to be sure we'd get there on this trip. I made the reservation for Monday at 6:30 PM and then joined the rest of the family to continue our exploration.

One of our first stops is always at the spa to see what is offered, and to make our appointments so that we get our first choices. One of the therapists was demonstrating the Aromastone therapy, which is my favorite treatment. She gave all of us a taste of the treatment and we then made our appointments for the first sea day. We also purchased the cruise pass for the relaxation area which included a thalassotherapy pool. The spa warrants a separate post, so stay tuned for more details.

After leaving the spa, we headed to Spinnaker Lounge to relax for awhile before the mandatory lifeboat drill. As you can see in this picture, we decided to take advantage of one of the unique chairs in the lounge. A passing couple just had to take our picture because we looked so comfortable (which we were).

You'll notice that I've not mentioned food at all yet. Yes, there was the usual welcome aboard buffet in the Garden Cafe, but since we had had a buffet breakfast at our hotel, we weren't quite ready to eat at this point in time.

We left Spinnaker Lounge, picked up our carry-on bags and headed to our cabin. A couple of our suitcases arrived shortly after that, so we unpacked a little before heading out again.

The cruise was off to a good start and we were getting into the swing of things. In my next post, I'll talk about the sail-away party which included Statue of Liberty viewing and a cookout on deck.

South Pacific Spa

NCL's Pearl has one of the best spas in the industry. It is known as the South Pacific Spa and Beauty Salon. We spent many hours at the spa during our most recent cruise on the Pearl.

TIP !! It is a good idea to book any spa appointments early as prime times will be taken fast. As a rule, we make the spa one of our first stops once we get onboard and drop off our carry-on bags at our cabin.

One of the more popular recent additions to spa menus on ships is the concept of a thermal suite. The actual contents of a thermal suite will vary from ship to ship, but the basic premise is that it's a place where you can relax and enjoy various thermal ammenities. On the Pearl, there's a Thalassotherapy pool, a hot tub, several heated ceramaic stone loungers, showers, and lounge chairs with a view of the ocean.

In addition, the men's and women's changing rooms have several additional ammenities including a beautiful sauna with the same view looking forward, two individual soaking tubs, a plunge pool, showers, and lockers.

If you are interested in using the thermal suite during your cruise, the best value is to purchase a pass for the entire length of the cruise. The thermal suite is open from 8 am until 10 pm every day during the cruise. On our 5 day cruise, the cost was $20 per day or $75 for the cruise.

TIP !! Take time to pamper yourself during your cruise. Odds are that you've worked hard and long to make this cruise possible. It's time to reward yourself and rejuvenate your body.

For you men out there - that includes you too. Both my husband and I have regular massages, even on land. Our favorite treatment onboard a ship is the hot stones massage.