By: Alicia Harriman, a Marvelous Mouse Travels agent
What’s better than going on a cruise vacation? Enjoying the SPA during a cruise vacation! The Greenhouse Spa & Salon on Holland America Line cruise ships offers a variety of wellness and relaxation services. You can typically expect to find:
The exact offerings can vary by ship, so it’s a good idea to check the specific services available on your particular cruise.
The first day of the cruise, after we boarded the ship, we made our way to Greenhouse Spa and were given a tour of the facilities available. Along with all of the options mentioned above, they also offered acupuncture and footprint consultations to determine where the pressure points are in your step. After the tour was over, I signed up for a special that included a thermal suite pass for the duration of the cruise, as well as an aroma ocean seaweed wrap and detox massage for 100 minutes.
The thermal suite onboard Volendam is accessed only by a key card that you get at the front desk when you swap your room key for one of these cards. This allows them to only have a limited number of people in there at once, so that it never feels crowded. You get assigned a locker with key and inside the locker you will find a pair of slippers and a robe. You also get exfoliating body scrub and a mud mask with the purchase of the thermal suite pass. A typical day at the thermal suite for me includes lathering up in one of the two body scrubs provided (one made with salt and the other with sugar) and then enjoying the steam room for about 10 minutes, allowing the scrub to open my pores. I would then get into the hydrotherapy mineral pool and enjoy the bird’s eye view out the front of the ship. After that I would rinse off and dawn my mud mask-always on my face and sometimes on my legs and arms. I would then either fall asleep on the heated stone loungers or read a book. Once the mud had dried, I would go into the locker room and take a shower. They provide shampoo, conditioner and body wash, as well as lotion and a hair dryer!
About halfway through the cruise, I was able to experience the aroma ocean seaweed wrap and detox massage. I laid down on a water table, on top of a heat wrap blanket (similar to the one that runners use post-race) and was then lathered from head to toe in a warm seaweed scrub. I was wrapped up like a burrito in the silver blanket and then submerged into the water. I can only describe it as a similar feeling to sinking into the middle of a waterbed. I stayed there for about 20 minutes until my massage therapist assisted me up and into the shower where I used a loofa to remove the seaweed. I went back onto the water table for round 2, although this time I was lathered in something called Formula A+B which is supposed to be good for tightening skin, increasing blood flow and circulation, and detox. She wrapped me up in a new silver blanket and down into the waterbed I went. This part got pretty sweaty, and I was ready for it to be over. If you are claustrophobic at all, this is not the experience for you! After rinsing off for a second time, I went onto the regular massage table and enjoyed a 75-minute-deep tissue massage. As I was leaving, I decided to book 3 more spa experiences: a fire and ice manicure and pedicure, a 50 minute facial and a 75 minute massage. This is called the gold package and allows you to pick out 3 services out of a list provided.
The fire and ice mani/pedi involved hot stone massage on my hands, arms, feet and legs. I am not sure what the ice part of the service was supposed to be as I didn’t experience anything that would fall under the category. I was able to pick out the shellac color that I wanted and opted for the same color on both my fingers and toes. The facial was customized to what I felt like needed the most attention. For me, this was skin pigmentation. The technician used a combination of manual application, as well as a machine, to do a deep clean and make sure that my pores were cleared.
The final service was a typical 75 minute Swedish massage. This was my favorite treatment that I was able to experience in the spa, as I felt like I was able to relax the most during this.
I absolutely recommend booking yourself a spa service at the Greenhouse Spa onboard Holland America Line ships! The thermal suite pass alone was enough to make for the most relaxing week and then to have all of the other services done as well was just icing on the cake! A Marvelous Mouse Travels agent can help you book your next Holland America cruise so that you too can experience the luxury of Greenhouse Spa!
