tinlizzienc

Gigglewolf- Thanks for the positive feedback! I'm glad you found the information helpful.

This was our first NCL cruise, and we did enjoy it. We want to try RCI next.

DH and I sailed on the Pearl on the 10/12 thru 10/19 sailing.

Background: I am a spa fanatic and have been to the Grove Park Inn's (Asheville, NC)fabulous, world-class spa. DH and I both have sailed on the Celebrity Galaxy and enjoyed its Thalossotherapy pool, steam, and dry saunas.

We had read on the NCL boards that the Pearl's spa is fantastic and offers week long passes. Based on our experiences on the Galaxy, we knew that it was often worthwhile to get a pass to enjoy a peaceful, relaxing atmosphere in the ship's spa. So, on Embarkation Day, we toured the Pearl's spa and without hesitation bought the weekly pass for each of us ($75/pp for a 7 day cruise).

Description:

The fitness center and spa are located on deck 12 forward and have some of the best views on the ship.

There is a large area dedicated for each sex, and a large co-ed area. To enter, you exchange your room card (with spa pass sticker) for a locker key and robe. Bring your own flip flops, as no spa shoes are provided.

The Men's/Women's area each has a decent sized locker area with three showers, two separate (single) whirlpools, a dry sauna, steamroom, ice cold plunge pool, two rain showers, and about four loungers. There were 2 large screen TVs in this area, which normally ran the spa's ads on mute, but once was showing a Law and Order re-run (again, on mute). DH told me that on the men's side, they often were showing ESPN or CNN. They serve iced water in this area.

The dry sauna has 7 large windows that look out to sea. I really loved this because this helped me from feeling too claustrophobic, which sometimes happens to me if I spend too much time in the sauna. I would estimate the sauna could hold 6-8 people comfortably, more if some people stood and enjoyed the views in front of the windows. Although there were several European ladies (Russian and French) who had a weekly pass, and I saw there every day, none ever went au naturel in the sauna (or anywhere) that I saw.

The steamroom was smaller than the sauna, and would probably hold 4-5 people. There were usually no more than 3 while I was there.

The Co-Ed area had a large therapy pool, hot tub that seated 4-5 people, several rain showers that you could choose tropical rain or ice water, about 8 heated, tiled loungers (DH's favorite), and about 6 single chaises and 2 double chaises perfect for couples. On the first day at sea, they served fresh baked cookies. The remaining days they provided various types of teas, ice water, orange juice, and oranges.

There were always plenty of fresh towels available both in the women's area and in the co-ed area. I felt the staff did an excellent job of keeping the towels and refreshments well stocked and the areas picked up.

DH and I spent at least an hour per day in the spa, even on port days, and on sea days, we spent 3-4 hours there. In our opinion, the spa was the highlight of our cruise. Our stop to Roatan was cancelled due to civil unrest, so spending the day in the spa on that unforeseen "day at sea" was great!

I did not have any spa treatments on this cruise, but from the feedback I received from other passengers, they were very good/excellent.

I highly recommend getting the spa pass if you ever cruise the NCL Pearl, or her sister, the Jewel.

Sorry for the long review, but there seemed to be alot of interest in the Pearl's/Jewel's spa facilities. I hope you find this information helpful.