Sante Wellness Spa - review

[Zeno]

Just got back (Dec 18 2004) from NCL cruise to the Western caribbean.

On Roatan we arranged our own excursion - to the Sante Wellness Spa.

Overall I would rate the experience - Excellent. Only one negative - which I will mention below.

The ship arrived at Roatan earlier than indicated on the itinerary. (It said 11AM- the ship actually arrived at 9AM). Kudos to Angela for being aware of the arrival time change !

Angela (owner of the spa) had asked us to try to be amongst the first of the boat. Unfortunately my husband was not feeling well - so we had to wait until the crowding on the stairs lessened a little but we were still off the boat fairly promptly. We quickly found a man displaying the spa sign and unfortunately at this point the negative part of my review starts. Two women (who had been able to exit the boat first thing) were already waiting with him. We were told that some more people were expected off our ship - so we waited (and waited and waited) in the hot sun for them. ( I was glad I had not rushed my somewhat unwell husband off the ship to stand in the broiling sun.) Eventually it became obvious that anyone who wanted to leave ship had left (only a trickle of people were still coming off ). My husband had just reached the point where he could not take it any longer when the sign holder directed us to go to the taxi area to meet "Alex". ON OUR OWN the 4 of us struggled through the crowds and dangerous traffic in this area. Luckily one of the women with us spotted "Alex" just at the point when my husband whispered to me that he was ready to turn around and return to the ship. Alex dispatched us with a driver and after a mercifully short (but dangerous walk - the port area is a traffic zoo) we were in a car and on our way. Luckily things were MUCH better from this point on.

Our driver was a very pleasant young man who pointed out things of interest and stopped for a scenic photo op at a gorgeous spot overlooking the ocean. The drive was quite pleasant through lush countryside. We arrived at the marina where Angela's husband picked us up in their boat and after a short (5 minute) boat ride we were at the spa. The setting is lovely on its own little island. We were greeted by Angela and a very friendly dog. After a brief tour of the facilities (lovely building with a wonderful huge 2nd floor balcony area with chairs and hammocks and several beautiful parrots) and some pleasant cold herbal tea (very refreshing and constantly available), we commenced out treatments. There is a small attractive plunge pool. A kayak and snorkeling gear are available for guest use. We had booked a therapeutic massage for each of us and they were FANTASTIC. I have never felt so relaxed and my husband was completely de-stressed. Then we had a very tasty lunch (shrimp and salad and half a yummy muffin for me). I was very pleased that Angela was able to provide chicken for my picky-eater husband (I let her know ahead of time that he does not like seafood or fish). Then we just relaxed and enjoyed the hammocks and birds. We considered going snorkeling (even got fins from Leon, Angela's husband) but since it was not ideal for snorkeling we changed our minds and just took it easy for a couple of hours. Leon got us back to the marina dock where our driver was waiting and we were delivered to the pier in plenty of time.

Overall this was a great experience that I would recommend to anyone.

As I said above the ONLY negative was the arrangements at the cruiseship pier. I felt we were made to wait too long for the no-shows and I was NOT impressed when we were sent off on our own through the zoo-like parking lot to find "Alex". My suggestion: 2 greeters pierside - one to coral guests and another to escort them to "Alex" and transportation. That way the greeter waits for any late-shows and the escorter gets the reasonably prompt arrivals out of the zoo and hopefully on their way. Angela did say that she thought she might have to re-work the pier arrangements after we mentioned some of our problems - so I am optimistic that this one negative will be fixed.

[M&M cruiseaholics]

Thank you for your review. My Husband and I are sailing on 1/8 and we have booked Sante for Tues 1/11/2005. I can't wait. I am the massage freak of the family. My Husband is going for me and to absorb the beautiful surroundings and hopefully snorkle. We were told if 4 or more people book the snorkle experience, they will take you, by boat for $15.00 extra, to an excellent snorkle area. As far as I know now, no one else but my Husband and I are booked.

We have our own snorkle equipment but no life jackets. Do you know if Sante has them available?

[Zeno]

I don't remember seeing life jackets with the snorkeling gear - so I suggest that you contact Angela and ask her - she is very good about answering any questions. The massage is WONDEFUL ! Try to convince your husband to have one - my husband loved his - it completely relaxed and de-stressed him.

[Joanandjoe]

We're obviously fans of the Spa. Our review is on this board.

 

We suggest that you place a posting on your cruise line board asking if anyone would like to join you at the spa. You might get results. What also worked for us was setting up an account in Virtual Tourist (since we didn't want to give out our main email address), then asking people to send us an email at virtual tourist. Once we received their email, with their email address, we started communicating directly by email. This communication technique has now worked for us on three cruises.

[Joby]

Zeno--how good is the snorkeling in front of Sante? We are going to Sante for the whole day in port. I am a diver, but will only be snorkeling in Roatan. I am hoping for excellent snorkeling at Sante beachfront, will I be disappointed?

[Zeno]

You have 2 choices for snorkeling at Sante:

1. for a bit extra Leon, Angela's husband can take you out in the boat (if you are agile enough to get in and out of a boat - this may be the best option).

2. you can wade out from the shore (Leon will point you in the right direction) we considered trying this (actually waded out a bit) BUT both entry points are very shallow and involve a bit of a struggle along uneven weedy shallow bottom before you can swim. My husband was concerned about me getting back to shore and the weather was not the best for snorkeling (overcast - I like bright sunny days when I can see everything) - so we abandoned our effort. Therefore I cannot tell you how good the snorkeling is. I gather from Leon that once you get out to the markers it is pretty good.

[Joby]

Zeno, thanks for the info. We only have 2 snorkelers going and Angela said you had to have 4 for the $15 pp price OR if only 2 snorkelers it would cost $30 pp. It costs $60 for 2 hours of boat snorkeling, divided by number of people ($60 divided by 4 = $15 pp).

 

We really don't want to spend $30 pp (since there will only be 2 of us) on top of what we spend for spa services, etc. That's why we ask about the shore snorkeling.

[Zeno]

Joby: You may not find the wading out from shore to be a problem. In our case I am awkward where footing is uneven (arthritis in both knees) so my husband was concerned about me stumbling around (particularly since near shore the visibility was not great (weeds and walking was stirring up silt)).

[Joby]

Zeno, thanks for the replies. We don't have any bad body parts--yet, so we are in hopes the wade out from the shore will be OK for us!!

 

I just hope the snorkeling is really good and we won't be sorry we didn't spend the $30 pp and go out on the boat!

[labcoat99]

Joby,

My children and I snorkeled at Sante with Leon during our visit in November 2003 while my wife was in the spa.

While we went out in Leon's small skiff, we were within reasonable swimming distance (100 yards or so offshore) of the house. The snorkeling was very good. The visibility was great and the water was calm during our visit.

There is a nice dropoff where the water goes from 20-30 ft to over 100.

Lots of different fish and coral formations.

The trip to Sante was a highlight of that cruise. You'll have a great time there.

[J & B]

Returned last week from our 10 day cruise with Celebrity Horizon and due to reviews on these boards had booked the Sante Spa - very glad we did!

B had the deep back treatment and I had a facial - both highly recommended. What was most impressive :D was the snorkeling. We brought our own gear (although available at the spa for rent), Leon walked us down to the beach and we waded in through the weeds (short wade) and then swam out along chanel markers to the edge of the reef. One of their dogs even laid on the beach and kept watch over our gear bag:cool: Even though it was an overcast day we saw awesome fish and coral etc. The best part - it was just us and the reef and the fish - we wished we could have stayed all day and longer as it was the best snorkeling of the trip. We have the underwater pics to add to the memory - saw hundreds of fish. The spa is beautiful and Angela, Leon and their staff are most accommodating. Overall a highly recommended excusion, transportation to and from the ship was no problem. We hope to go back some day for more spa and the water activities as well.

[Joby]

J & B, thanks for the reassurance! We are excited to go to Sante!!!

[Zeno]

J & B: ARRGH - Now I wish I had insisted to my husband that I could struggle a bit to get through those weeds ! Maybe next time we go to Roatan!

[Joby]

Zeno, a little off the Roatan topic but wanted to answer here instead of getting in the middle of a Cozumel beach battle---I just read your reply about the Palmar beach club on the Cozumel board. We have been to Cozumel for 1 or 2 week land vacations for the last 3 years. We have a friend who lives on the island and she told us about Palmar last summer.

 

We went and enjoyed it very much! It is just as you have described! Perfect for our family of 4 (2 teens and husband and myself)!!!

 

Is the snorkeling off the beach at Sante similar to Dzul Ha? We (my immediate family above) are divers, but on this cruise it will be my sister, 75 yr. old Mom and myself. I am the only diver in the cruise group. I did get my sister in the water last cruise at St. John to snorkel. She loved it!

 

She wants to snorkel at Sante, we are doing SRC and 2 reefs in Cayman and doing a dive/snorkel trip with Eagleray in Cozumel.

 

This became a long winded reply, didn't it????

[Zeno]

From what I understand from Leon - it is pretty good - it sounded like the coral was in better shape than at Dzul Ha (as you know near shore it is somewhat damaged at Dzul Ha). However Dzul Ha had the advantage of decent numbers of fish quite close to shore (a real advantage for me - since I could not get into the water with fins at Dzul Ha (just too rough right at the shoreline to manipulate fins with bad knees and poor balance - with my water shoes and husband' assistance I made it in but had to stick close to shore without the extra power fins give you)). However with fins on - getting further out (as is necessary at Sante) should be pretty easy.

[leno]

Where can I get info on the spa? Sounds great.

[M&M cruiseaholics]

http://www.santewellnesscenter.com

[lss111]

I made reservations at the SanteWellnessSpafor02/08/05 and willbe onthe Norwegian Sun.Kudos!!!