Spa - Do they do the hard sell?

[WrittenOnYourHeart]

I know that spa things on board are more than on land, but sometimes it is nice to just chill for a bit and treat yourself. But nothing ruins the chill like the hard sell for products that I’ve experienced on ships (RCCL and HAL) at the end. Even when I have put “No sales pitch, please” on the form I fill out I have gotten it.

 

How is it on Celebrity? And if they do the sales pitch, do they pay attention to the “Please no” request? (Specifically Edge if that makes a difference.)

 

Thanks!

[CHEZMARYLOU]

I did not have any offers to purchase a produce after my last couple of massages but it's been a while since I used the spa. I think the last time was November 2018 on Silhouette. I know I did not use them last year. I've now get my massage before I leave home.

 

I've seen happy posts that Steiner is coming back to Celebrity ships (they are currently on Edge) and I smile to myself because they did not have good reviews when they were on board prior to Canon Ranch and everyone was happy to see them go.

Edited January 18, 2020 by CHEZMARYLOU

[NantahalaCruiser]

CR does try to sell additional products and services. I guess I would label them as mildly hard sell rather than super hard sell.

[hcat]

Depends on the indiv and ship...some accept that..some pout but its at the end anyhow when they write out their suggestions...and line up stuff they want you to buy

 

I tell them right away that I get the products cheaper on line with free shipping and have more stuff  at home than they have in their treatment room!

 

 Hoping the new entity is as good on other ships as it was on EDGE.  

Canyon Ranch was very disappointing on the other ships!

[WrittenOnYourHeart]

1 hour ago, hcat said:

Depends on the indiv and ship...some accept that..some pout but its at the end anyhow when they write out their suggestions...and line up stuff they want you to buy

 

I tell them right away that I get the products cheaper on line with free shipping and have more stuff  at home than they have in their treatment room!

 

 Hoping the new entity is as good on other ships as it was on EDGE.  

Canyon Ranch was very disappointing on the other ships!

Thanks! I’ll be on the Edge, so hearing that it was good on there gives me hope!

[NCHPcruiser]

On our last cruise on the Solstice there was indeed a very, very hard sell before and after both mine and my husband’s massages.  They continued to call our room every day for the rest of the cruise (three more days).  It was very annoying and will keep us from ever going to the spa on a Celebrity cruise again.  I know, we should have complained but didn’t.  I much prefer to get a massage, etc. pre-cruise.

[hcat]

7 hours ago, NCHPcruiser said:

On our last cruise on the Solstice there was indeed a very, very hard sell before and after both mine and my husband’s massages.  They continued to call our room every day for the rest of the cruise (three more days).  It was very annoying and will keep us from ever going to the spa on a Celebrity cruise again.  I know, we should have complained but didn’t.  I much prefer to get a massage, etc. pre-cruise.

Were the calls encouraging you to buy products or book more services?

 

At some point two cruises ago,  we were getting a ridiculous number of calls from the CD staff,  Cap Club, art auction, spa  etc, throughout the day and early evening.  They left very long messages & it was very annoying . We and others complained....and  the next time in the same ship we did not have the same issue. Perhaps with the app in place, they decided to call less often.

[janetz]

Before your treatment, on the form you fill out, write in, I am NOT interested in purchasing any products.

Has never failed me 😊

[WrittenOnYourHeart]

5 minutes ago, janetz said:

Before your treatment, on the form you fill out, write in, I am NOT interested in purchasing any products.

Has never failed me 😊

Yeah, I have tried that to no avail on RCCL and HAL. Hence my hesitancy.

[hcat]

2 minutes ago, WrittenOnYourHeart said:

Yeah, I have tried that to no avail on RCCL and HAL. Hence my hesitancy.

But the sales pitch comes at the end.

During the treatment they sometimes described the product and why it is being used , but  it is not until the end that they give you a card with recs and line up some of the products. At that point just say  no thank you ,  I enjoyed the service but am  not interested in products and  need to get going....bye bye!

[keesar]

13 hours ago, WrittenOnYourHeart said:

I know that spa things on board are more than on land, but sometimes it is nice to just chill for a bit and treat yourself. But nothing ruins the chill like the hard sell for products that I’ve experienced on ships (RCCL and HAL) at the end. Even when I have put “No sales pitch, please” on the form I fill out I have gotten it.

 

How is it on Celebrity? And if they do the sales pitch, do they pay attention to the “Please no” request? (Specifically Edge if that makes a difference.)

 

Thanks!

Prepare yourself by going to a time share presentation.

 

With  our experience, a "supervisor" came and began to ask why we did not want X and Y.   This took away from the experience as you do not want to end  on that note.  

 

[hcat]

10 minutes ago, keesar said:

Prepare yourself by going to a time share presentation.

 

With  our experience, a "supervisor" came and began to ask why we did not want X and Y.   This took away from the experience as you do not want to end  on that note.  

 

That crosses the line,...I'd  walk out.

 

We had a terrible  exoerience with a presentation  at the gym b/c we did not realize it was a  disguised sales event.. We thought it was just a health lecture but it was really a  hard sell for seaweed pills. We politely stayed til the Q and A started. The presenter turned  quite nasty insisting people sign up for expensive  long term deliveries and questioned  why did  we all waste her time if we would not buy in,,...All quite ugly..turns out she was not even a Celeb or gym  employee but a vendor rep.

Edited January 19, 2020 by hcat

[charlielinda]

I haven’t had massage or facial in past few years.  I got hard sells on whatever ship I was on.  Once I even told them my husband wouldn’t allow me to purchase any additional items.  If you knew me, you’d laugh at that.  I found I was more stressed because I was waiting for the hard sell.  Now I figure, I’m already on a cruise so I’m relaxed.  I wait till I get home and pay 1/2 the price and get to relax a second time.  
 

 

[drakes2]

12 hours ago, hcat said:

 

I tell them right away that I get the products cheaper on line with free shipping and have more stuff  at home than they have in their treatment room!

Well you havent seen my cosmetic drawers and cupboards. I have more stuff than a stores beauty section. 😁

[mikkelhansen]

15 hours ago, WrittenOnYourHeart said:

How is it on Celebrity? And if they do the sales pitch, do they pay attention to the “Please no” request? (Specifically Edge if that makes a difference.)

My wife and I were on Edge in December 2019, where my wife had a pedicure and a manicure over two days. Both times, the salon employee recommended "packages" of two or three products from their partner brand (don't remember the brand name, but incredibly high prices - I recall +100$ for some of the individual products), but then just left it at that, when my wife showed no interest in the products. No pushing sales. The employee might have received a percentage of the purchase value, but she clearly accepted a "silent ignore".

[lawk]

Does anyone know the price of a pedicure?

[drakes2]

1 hour ago, charlielinda said:

I haven’t had massage or facial in past few years.  I got hard sells on whatever ship I was on.  Once I even told them my husband wouldn’t allow me to purchase any additional items.  If you knew me, you’d laugh at that.  I found I was more stressed because I was waiting for the hard sell.  Now I figure, I’m already on a cruise so I’m relaxed.  I wait till I get home and pay 1/2 the price and get to relax a second time.  
 

 

I once had an early morning massage on a port day that was offered at a cheap price I think 69 bucks. It was ok but not great. She never asked me to buy any products and if so i pretend not to hear. I buy vouchers for massages, mani and pedis locally and the experience has been excellent. 

[drakes2]

16 minutes ago, lawk said:

Does anyone know the price of a pedicure?

$90 on port days $120 sea day for 50 minutes.  IMO not cheap plus 20 percent gratuities.

[mikkelhansen]

31 minutes ago, lawk said:

Does anyone know the price of a pedicure?

Depends on the ship and the different pedicures. On Edge in December, my wife got a "Fire and Ice Pedicure" in the afternoon of embarkation day, for 49$ + 18% service charge. So under 60$ total. On sea days, it would have been ~10$ more. We used OBC to pay for the treatment, so no money out of pocket.

20 minutes ago, drakes2 said:

$90 on port days $120 sea day for 50 minutes.  IMO not cheap plus 20 percent gratuities.

Those are some very high prices, compared to my example above. Was this on a non-Edge ship with Canyon Ranch?

[drakes2]

28 minutes ago, mikkelhansen said:

Depends on the ship and the different pedicures. On Edge in December, my wife got a "Fire and Ice Pedicure" in the afternoon of embarkation day, for 49$ + 18% service charge. So under 60$ total. On sea days, it would have been ~10$ more. We used OBC to pay for the treatment, so no money out of pocket.

Those are some very high prices, compared to my example above. Was this on a non-Edge ship with Canyon Ranch?

Yes its Canyon Ranch. I read they are going back to Steiner.  I heard a lot of negativity about CR.   I'm on the Apex in May but I'll have booked my treatments prior to the cruise. May do a massage and use up obc that's non refundable.  Gratuities are now 20 percent fleetwide.   

 

[Luvcrusn]

Yes. I stopped using the spa because of the high pressure. I'm married to an insurance sales manager, so I'm pretty immune to feeling pressured, but they were relentless to the point that massages were no longer enjoyable. If not enjoyable as well as being overpriced I could no longer see the reason to go. I tried specifying that I wasn't buying anything and asked multiple techs to not try to sell anything before the service started, but it never worked. I also tried writing it on the form they give you. They must be under tremendous pressure to sell products. I now get my massages at home. They're less expensive and much more enjoyable.

[Barwick Cruiser]

We were on the Solstice in Dec and had a lot of obc to use up at the end. I booked myself and hubby in for separate massages on the last sea day when they had a promotion. I wrote on my form that I wasn’t interested in any extra services or products but hubby wrote nothing extra on his. We both had great massages (I go regularly at home) and neither one of us had any pressure sales or pushing of products. Was a great experience although even with the discount they weren’t cheap and I certainly wouldn’t have paid out of my own pocket for them! It’s unfortunate that there’s no consistency from sailing to sailing or even ship to ship. 

[dogs4fun]

1 hour ago, Barwick Cruiser said:

It’s unfortunate that there’s no consistency from sailing to sailing or even ship to ship. 

Yes, it is a shame - it is for this reason that we book no spa treatments.