Spa Sales Pressure Complaints? - Week Thermal Suite Pass Worthwhile?

[jdcml]

Have an upcoming Horizon 8 day trip.  We were looking to get a day pass to the thermal suites but they only do the full 8 days. I've looked at some videos and on the Horizon it looks like there are only 6 of the loungers and they are arranged 3 and 3 on either side of a hot tub.  My gut tells me that finding 2 of them side by side on any given sea day would be highly unlikely.  Has anyone had experience with availability?  We don't really steam or sauna much but could a time or two.  At an 8 day rate of $179 and times two that seems like more than we'd probably get value out of if we were always chasing an open lounger.

Then we thought about maybe just doing a couples massage.  Looking at the Carnival site directly the reviews are pretty rough.  Even positive reviews talk about high pressure sales, unknow add-ons, and free foot analysis to sell you on orthotics.  One review even mentioned that the therapist was point out the flaws in her skin during her massage to try and upsell her on other treatments and creams!  The overall theme was that the massage is decent but the add-ons, gotchas, and high pressure sales at the end detracted from the experience overall.

Thinking we may end up skipping the spa all together.  Anyone have experience with lounger availability or the post massage sales tactics?

[lazydayz]

I simply tell them I am not buying anything so save the speech.  If they argue with that, then no extra tip.  
 

I would try to buy a single day spa pass on the ship,  I wouldn’t pay that much for a week if I was only interested in the heated loungers.  My experience is you can usually find one, but you might have to be patient to find two next to each other.  
 

[jdcml]

@lazydayz - Are day passes usually only available on board?  It doesn't come up to pre-book.   We thought we'd give it a go for a day but a week was a lot more than we need.  I thought maybe they didn't have day passes with a sailing of 2 sea days, 3 ports, 2 sea days.  Then I thought maybe they were limited and already sold out...

[DeniseTr]

Going on Venezia Fri, have massage scheduled that day. Thanks to your post, will keep an eye out for the above issues.

 

I know spa employees aren't Carnival employees, and it's the same company as RCL.

Last cruise on RCL I got shorted by 20 minutes (they were in a meeting), and despite my complaints, I got no resolution.

[Bollycats]

I've never used the spa on a ship, but my aunt went for a massage and came back to the cabin in tears! She said "never again". 

[JerseyGirlJen]

I have used the Spa for a few things.  The weeklong spa pass was the best, I never had any problems with upselling or getting a lounger, but then again I was solo.  I will definitely purchase that again.  I have also done Mani/Pedi and the upselling was really annoying, I really just wanted to relax and enjoy, because it was a special treat for me, and that sort of dampened it.  

[LatinaInTexas]

All spas on Carnival ships are not created equal. Just based on my experience I wouldn't buy a week long thermal suite pass unless it was on a Dream class ship. The thermal suite on Celebration compared to the Dream was like night and day☹️

[Cloud9Family]

4 hours ago, LatinaInTexas said:

All spas on Carnival ships are not created equal. Just based on my experience I wouldn't buy a week long thermal suite pass unless it was on a Dream class ship. The thermal suite on Celebration compared to the Dream was like night and day☹️

I wholeheartedly agree! The Dream is my favorite ship and we always stay in a spa stateroom for the location and access to the thermal suite. 
 

I was perusing the spa menu to pick some services for our next cruise but the reviews jolted me back to reality. I’ve indulged twice and the last time in 2020 the sales pitches were longer and more aggressive. It spoils the experience for me. I’ll be going local for my mani/pedi before the cruise and either do a massage before or in port. 
 

 

[jeblack1]

We found seats in the spa routinely on the Horizon - the Celebration was much more difficult or completely impossible (will never get a spa room on that class again), but I don't remember any major issues on the Horizon.  Assuming they don't oversell it.

I do remember one time it became crowded and they were trying to sell some people on it and they came in and removed the towels for those that were in the hot tub, but were going back and forth between the tub and chairs.

 

They do try to upsell you on the lotions, etc, but the massages were pretty good.   I try to indicate I have money for an additional tip or products.  Once they figure that out, they relent on the products.  

Edited 8 hours ago by jeblack1

[jeblack1]

15 hours ago, LatinaInTexas said:

All spas on Carnival ships are not created equal. Just based on my experience I wouldn't buy a week long thermal suite pass unless it was on a Dream class ship. The thermal suite on Celebration compared to the Dream was like night and day☹️

So it wasn't just our cruise on the Celebration....that was rough!   

[Bob NC]

21 hours ago, jdcml said:

Have an upcoming Horizon 8 day trip.  We were looking to get a day pass to the thermal suites but they only do the full 8 days. I've looked at some videos and on the Horizon it looks like there are only 6 of the loungers and they are arranged 3 and 3 on either side of a hot tub.  My gut tells me that finding 2 of them side by side on any given sea day would be highly unlikely.  Has anyone had experience with availability?  We don't really steam or sauna much but could a time or two.  At an 8 day rate of $179 and times two that seems like more than we'd probably get value out of if we were always chasing an open lounger.

Thinking we may end up skipping the spa all together.  Anyone have experience with lounger availability or the post massage sales tactics?

 

We are on the Horizon 8 day right now.  We are in a Spa Balcony because we wanted use of the Thalasotherapy <sp> suite.

 

There are actually 9 of the heated loungers.  3 on one side of the whirlpool, 6 on the other.

 

This cruise starts with 2 sea days.  The first day we went to the suite, at about 8:30 am, the whirlpool was full when we walked in, but, we got 2 loungers next to each other.  After a steam and a sauna the whirlpool had emptied out.

 

Every day since we have gone to the suite every morning between 8 - 9 and there's been very few people in there and we've had access to anything we wanted to do.

 

We've been on ships with larger spa suites so we too were worried about crowding.

 

Crowding has not been a factor at all, either on sea days, port days, or even late docking port days.

[Bob NC]

Also, meant to add, we have not been approached AT ALL about purchasing any services.

[sanger727]

I get a spa treatment on every cruise we take.  The pressure sales only happen if you are open to them.  The first time they suggest anything.  If you firmly say that you aren't interested, I've never had anyone keep pushing.  They still want a tip and for you to book more treatments. 

[silvercrikhix]

You do need to be very assertive with the Spa/Salon crew. Last cruise, the Hair Stylist was trying to sell me 3 hair products totaling over $230. Two tries to shove this down my throat ended when I told him, I would never purchase oil from a snake handler. lol. He did a fabulous cut and style but sold me nothing more.