Spa Stories

Read about places our team has been to.

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Oasis of the Seas - Vitality Spa At Sea – by Joanna Hall

Among seasoned cruisers there is always considerable excitement over the launch of a new cruise ship. In the case of Royal Caribbean’s Oasis of the Seas, however, the frenzy surrounding her impending launch made headlines across the globe, and captured the imagination of travellers of all persuasions - and for good reason.

For one, Oasis is the world’s largest cruise ship. She weighs over 225,000 tons, stretches the length of four football fields, and accommodates a whopping 5,400 guests, mostly families. In terms of cruise ship design however, Oasis is a ground-breaker on many fronts.

Within the cruise industry Royal Caribbean is well known as an innovator, and from the day construction began on Oasis back in March 2007, the hype surrounding her escalated.

For a start, she would be the first cruise ship featuring seven distinctly themed “neighbourhoods”, each one boasting extraordinary and unique features never before seen at sea. Even the accommodations were set to break with tradition. Along with ocean view staterooms and suites, guests with an eye for fashion could choose from trendy urban-style loft suites, or staterooms with a balcony overlooking the ship’s interior.

The furore gathered momentum in November, however, when Oasis set off from a Finnish shipyard to her new home in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The first images to hit the wires showed the behemoth barely clearing Denmark’s famous Great Belt Bridge on her way out into the Atlantic. Then, when she arrived in Port Everglades a week later, Oasis unceremoniously dwarfed the high rise apartment blocks dotting the famous water front.

The hype was in the forefront of my mind when I joined Oasis last November for a three-day jaunt off the Florida coastline. And as I quickly discovered, it wasn’t just her mammoth size and revolutionary design which catches the eye; its Vitality at Sea Spa and Fitness Centre has set the new benchmark for wellbeing facilities at sea.

Operated by Steiner, it rivals anything I’ve seen at a major land-based resort in the US. Along with 29 treatment rooms and a thermal suite with heated tile loungers, it has 158 exercise machines, an exercise studio for spinning to kickboxing, and the longest jogging track at sea.

Where spas are concerned, however, size isn’t everything. The menu is just as important as the facility, and some of the newest offerings on board Oasis go way beyond traditional facials and massage.

It offers virtually everything a spa aficionado could think of, from Elemis facials and body treatments, to acupuncture, couples massage, tooth whitening, and Ionithermie cellulite treatments. You can even have a facial tune-up on a cruise on this ship, with medispa services including Botox shots on offer.

My treatment of choice during my cruise was an old favourite - hot stone massage. It’s a Balinese treatment which fuses a traditional full body massage with deep, penetrating heat from volcanic stones bathed in essential oils, and in the hands of a skilled therapist will massage your muscles into total bliss.

First I was shown to the women's changing room, where I swapped my leisure gear for a comfortable robe and slippers. After chilling back with some tea in a relaxation room, I was met by my therapist and lead downstairs to the spacious, modern treatment room.

Riddled with jet lag and some muscular discomfort particularly around my upper back and neck, I requested a deep tissue massage. At the end of 75 minutes, most of my tensions had been successfully pummeled away, leaving me feeling more refreshed and revitalised.

Oasis is a massive ship - it took me twenty minutes to return to my stateroom, but even if the idea of such a big ship makes you wary, a bonus is the impressive variety of facilities on board. That includes the Vitality Spa, which has everything a cruiser in need of some pampering could require.

Spa Files

The Hot Stone Massage costs US$195.

Oasis of the Seas spends her year cruising the eastern and western Caribbean. For more information, visit Royal Caribbean International: www.royalcaribbean.com.au