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2 hours ago, Rooney428 said:

Along this train of thought-although not specifically cruise related-  is there a land resort you might recommend to go to in between cruises, that offer separate spa options much like we enjoy on these ships "?

Vegas mandalay and cosmo are both awesome and better than any cruise ship spa I have been on.

3 minutes ago, phoenix8 said:

Mariner of the Seas still free and single sex as of this morning after our 5 day cruise

I was on it last year and it was more hot and humid in the steam room than actually having any steam. Have they fixed this or is it pretty much the same? Happy sailing!

1 minute ago, JourneyMan89 said:

Was it worth it?  I might be going on Jade in the future.  Do you need the thermal pass to use the men's sauna and steam?

Sorry to jump in here, but on the Pearl anyway, the thermal pass was 1000% worth it. I think it is the same on all the Jewel class. 

1 minute ago, GaryR6273 said:

I’ve often found that sometimes a little small talk can really help someone get more comfortable for longer conversations. I don’t mind the small talk at all. I get the zen relaxation state benefits, but if someone needs a little small talk to feel comfortable, I’m happy to banter back a bit. 

I'm talking about shorts guy who comes in wanting to know how your cruise has been going and talk about world events, or who knows what else. Again, everyone has their own opinion here but my take is it is best to stay Zen vibe, there is no further communicating needed with proper towel use and subtleties. 

17 minutes ago, JourneyMan89 said:

I'm not sure if this is off-topic too much, but I had a general question for those men who enjoy cruise ship saunas.  Regarding the social atmosphere in the sauna, do you prefer it to be very quiet and peaceful with very little or no talking, or do you enjoy conversations and camaraderie with other gents, or perhaps something in between?

Everyone has their own take..but I prefer to stick to traditional sauna and spa culture of relaxation and quiet. There's nothing worse than being in a meditative state and relaxing when someone comes in and starts chatting some nonsense small talk. Kills the vibe..

7 minutes ago, JourneyMan89 said:

Thanks for the info.  I think my wife and I will be going on NCL Jade sometime soon and it looks like it a has a similar layout.  I do enjoy the cruise ships that have non-mixed steam rooms and saunas.  Some  ships have only co-ed saunas that require swimsuits, (which is uncomfortable, IMO).  Do you mind me asking how much you had to pay for the thermal pass?

I don't remember, but I think it was somewhere around $120 for the 9-day cruise. I could be off though, I'm sure you could Google it. Enjoy the Jade!

1 minute ago, greg1969 said:

Yeah I totally agree. Water situation is a bit strange. When were you on the ship. 

See my post one page back. https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/200724-mens-spa-facilities-on-cruise-ships-which-ones-do-you-think-are-the-best/?do=findComment&comment=66621980

1 hour ago, GaryR6273 said:

I’m going on the Pearl next week and I specifically chose this ship (as opposed to Scarlet Lady) for the spa thermal suite set up. Disappointing to hear most weren’t adhering to spa etiquette and dress code typical for single sex spa areas. I’m hoping on our full cruise sailing next week I won’t be the only one of the few adhering to the typical etiquette! Did you find  that those that did use the areas in the buff twist limit that to the sauna and steam or was that for the hot tub and cold plunge/showers/loungers as well? How closed off is it from the coed area?
 

Thanks!
 

Gary 

The only time I saw other naked people they were sitting in the steam or sauna on a towel like I do. Lots of people walking in and out from the co-ed area so they are going to be wearing suits as they were out there with their spouses or whoever. It's fine to be naked in there though, the door to the coed area is angled as such that no one will ever see in.  I used the single person hot tub naked as well but did not see anyone else doing it.  The setup is totally awesome, in my experience just the passengers were not.. good luck!

12 minutes ago, greg1969 said:

Currently on the Siver Dawn. Great single sex sauna and steam room facility. I am always nude once inside. Locker room separate. You have to enter a coed area then into the male only area. Very underused. 

Did you find the water setup on that cart as annoying as I do?  Good steam and sauna for sure. Missing a cold plunge.

Reading through the various posts on this thread I can recall seeing a few of people that went on Disney and had a great time. I think Disney knows their job is to get the kids away from the parents, give the parents peace of mind that they are safe and protected and having fun, and let the parents have a little fun too.

2 minutes ago, Scott Trippett said:

Going on the Disney wonder in Feb. is it ok to naked in the sauna in the men’s change room?

Absolutely 

NCL Pearl mens wet area pix - Great view looking out over the bow of the ship. 

20 minutes ago, greg1969 said:

Looking forward to my next cruise on The Sillver dawn leaving Fort Lauderdale 5th January.  I think there is a male only sauna onboard, can anyone clarify this?

I just sailed in Norway on the silver Dawn this past August. I really don't want to rain on your parade and feel bad doing so, but I was not super pleased with the ship and would not sail on silversea again. If I'm going to go on a ship full of old people that focuses on food, Oceania is far, far better. The ship is not run well, you can tell across many arenas.  We had to change rooms because there was a constant sewage smell blowing into our room as did several other people on our hall. I found the dress code to be laborious and did a ton of room service. Heavy marketing on the food makes it sound incredible but execution falls short. 

Silver Dawn spa:

- there is a central area where people who are getting treatments or who want to just hang out in the spa will go, with a bunch of chairs shared by men and women, and a couple refreshment stands.

- On either side there is a set of two showers, a wet steam, and a dry sauna behind a smoked glass door.

- For at least a couple days you will have men and women going in the wrong sides because they don't have a sign that actually says men or women, there's just a mural with a painting of a man or a woman on that wall that you are supposed to understand. 

- Privacy in the sauna and steam is decent as far as people out in the main area seeing in,  the whole setup is pretty cramped, but nice.   

There are some super annoying things about the spa as well:

- They stupidly put the spa directly under the piano bar and at 5:00 or 6:00 p.m., the piano bar starts blaring music that you can hear clear as day loudly from the loungers below where you are trying to relax from your massage or whatever. They also have their own spa music playing on speakers so at some point you start hearing two different sets of music playing daily. 

- WATER. The one thing you want when you are having a sauna and steam session, is to come out and pound water. They have these little carts with drinks and snacks and the top shelf which is at about waist level has a bunch of chocolates and other edibles you don't want when you are hot and steamed, the second shelf has a bunch of fancy designer TONIC waters...puke... And then finally at ground level about where your ankles would be there are a bunch of glasses and in the very back behind those glasses are bottles of water with screw on caps that everyone shares. They expect you to bend down reach to the back get out a glass unscrew the bottle for your glass re-screw the cap and stick it back on the bottom shelf.... Major pain in the butt and absolutely ridiculous for people that come out hot from a sauna and just want to slam a couple glasses of water. I mentioned how ridiculous this was (politely of course) to the spa manager and she says she knows it doesn't make any sense but it comes down from silver Sea corporate. Generic it's not my fault response basically..

- spa staff that service is the water cart comes out and handles the top of every one of the glass drinking glasses before putting them upside down on the card, with no gloves of course... And then I watch them almost daily come with a glass full of cut limes for the tonic water, which they pull out with their ungloved fingers and put where they are supposed to go, All of course after grabbing the door handle to the spa that every single person grabs. You definitely get the vibe that they are excited COVID is over and they could go back to their old procedures/they learned nothing about germ process.

I'll stop there because I don't want to rain any further on your excitement, but perhaps with this review, your expectations will be tempered a bit and maybe you will be happily surprised.. If anything I hope you appreciate the time I took because I know not as many folks sail these smaller lines. Hopefully you also complain about the spa water situation and they will remedy it. 

Just got back from 9 days on the NCL pearl. Can confirm that in the paid thermal area there are still separate men's and women's wet areas on either side of the ship with a coed area in the middle. Men's side still has an awesome sauna, small but working steam, single person hot tub, and single person cold plunge.  Super disappointed at the crowd in there though, lots of people in suits yammering away that don't have spa etiquette. I sat in the sauna and steam naked on a towel, but there we're only other two folks on ship following suit.  There is a small two to three person steam room attached to the gym in the men's bathroom, that was not super frequented either.  It's a shame because so many people go on Royal Caribbean and the food is so much worse than NCL, although the entertainment is better. 

52 minutes ago, alexdw said:

I did not havethat same experience. Food was good but not great, staff was good but not as warm as other lines.

That's surprising. I have always found oceania service to be just the right amount of engagement. I want them to be there when I need them but I don't really need any warm and fuzzies from them. I do find that with any cruise line, the management and staff and vibe on individual ships can be better or worse.. I found the food better on riviera than insignia or nautica.  Perhaps your expectations were too high as far as the food? That was probably part of our frustration traveling on silversea. They certainly have lots of marketing as far as how sophisticated their food is supposed to be etc, but fail in execution much of the time.   What line have you found the best food in your experience?

3 minutes ago, alexdw said:

Recently returned from a week on Oceania Insignia.

Great free all tiled 9-10 man free steam room in mens locker room. Unfortunately it was very under used only saw two other men in there the whole week.

The food and service are awesome though 👌

On 10/6/2023 at 12:18 PM, alexdw said:

Think that would have been a loosing battle. Not impressed with Princess and will not br sailing with them again.

Maybe. Good to know about princess. I sailed with Silversea in August and once was planning to know I won't be returning to that line either. 

3 minutes ago, alexdw said:

I did see a comment on here but we had already booked and paid for the cruise and could not change without penalty.

I wonder if you could have taken a credit and changed without penalty due to the fact that their deck plans were currently incorrect.

4 minutes ago, sauna director said:

Just off the Emerald. ..they have eliminated the "free" S&S.

What exists now? Is there a single sex paid spa area or all coed or nothing?  Thanks for the clarification 

14 minutes ago, ShipWalker said:

Is there something you want added?

Yes, That's why I included all the information about the silversea dawn in my above post. Could you add the ship? I don't want to mess up the spreadsheet using my phone. Thanks

2 hours ago, ShipWalker said:

Database is up and running again!

 

A big thanks to @CruiseMsclDad for providing me with a .pdf of the database with all the data!

 

Still some tweaking to do but it is good to go.

 

A friendly reminder to all users to the database...

*******

Best viewed on desktop or laptop. (using a mouse)

 

Steam/Sauna Database

 

As a reminder to all, ANY change you make to the database is auto-saved. There is no temporary change while you are on it. That means if you highlight ships to compare them. It is permanent. If you change the formatting of the data in any way, it stays that way when you exit.

 

The DB then needs to be cleaned up (not that hard to do) but still takes time.

 

Enjoy!

What is your suggestion for additions that are not currently on the list?

Silversea Dawn has both mens and women's separate sauna,steam,shower facilities, with a shared coed lounger/snack area. It was definitely used reasonably frequently!  They really made a mistake putting it right under the piano bar, because at 6:00 or 7:00 you can hear them singing and playing right over the spa music. 🤦😂 For several reasons I would likely not sail with that line again, but it was not the worst I have been on.

On 9/1/2023 at 2:29 PM, alexdw said:

Heading out on Oceania Insignia this month. Has anyone any info on the men's Steam room?

The steam is in the men's only locker room in the spa, and seats 4 comfortably. It was quiet in my experience but my favorite place to shower vs the room.  Enjoy

2 minutes ago, iramack said:

What app is that? NCL? Other booking engine?

 

SM

Not sure if you were responding to my comment immediately above, but that was just a screen shot I took from ncl.com on my phone's browser. I'm pretty excited to get back on the Pearl again!

On 8/19/2023 at 8:37 PM, cdnmr said:

NCL's pricing has been getting out of hand.  They are not a premium liine but some of their pricing makes me think they believe they are premium. 

Oct 2023:

7 day balcony out of Boston to Canada/N.E. on Royal Serenade of the Seas-$3397 CAD/cabin
7 day balcony out of Boston to Canada/N.E. on Norwegian Pearl- $8299 CAD/cabin

I like NCL better than RCL but not at over double the price.
 

That's just a few expensive itineraries. I'm going on the pearl in December out of Miami for 9 days and the prices are very reasonable. 

3 hours ago, deepbluediver said:

 

Even if I can afford a Silversea cruise, I won't want to take it - all inclusive or not. A better (almost) all-inclusive would be Virgin Voyages.

 

The point is that it's only a locker room that was previously free to use. Would you pay $30 just to use a locker room? Well... maybe you would.

 

Of course, it's not just NCL that's now charging a fee to use something that used to be free, or cutting back on services, or inflating the prices of everything (way beyond the rate of inflation). Again, maybe not an issue for some of you, but for the rest of us, it is.

Justifying the whining by claiming that those who disagree must have different means... that's a funny posture 😂

Entitled consumers are hilarious.. they want the prices to be the same as they always were, yet everything in the world including the insurance, the labor rates, the fuel the cruise ship has to use, food cost etc has gone up. Realistically they should just include everything and raise the rates of the ship to avoid this kind of complaining, but they're trying to make it approachable for those who can't afford it. If they need to raise their bottom line by increasing costs in certain areas, they are sparing those who can't afford a higher fare. Welcome to 2023 👌