Spa Lover? Here are the Top 5 Indulgences and Innovations

We've just named our top 5 spa indulgences and innovations at sea for 2009:

Most Extensive Fitness Program: Lotus Spa, Princess Cruises. The Lotus Spa onboard Princess ships offers a fitness program focused on three vital components of balanced health called Core.Balance.Strength. Each component has corresponding classes. Princess also invites passengers to virtually participate in the Tour de France. Through a partnership with LiveStrong, the Lance Armstrong Foundation, cruisers can try the Tour de Spin program at Lotus Spa. Participants receive one of the foundation’s yellow wristbands, and all proceeds from Tour de Spin benefit LiveStrong.

Best New Luxury Spa Concept: The Spa at Silversea. Silversea Cruises has launched a new ultra-luxury spa concept throughout its fleet. The Spa at Silversea features treatments and rituals designed to offer a personalized experience focused on the guest’s individual needs. The Spa includes contemporary décor, Elemis aromatherapy products, dry and steam saunas, a beauty and hair salon, and a fitness center and aerobics studio equipped with circuit weights, treadmills, cardiovascular equipment, stair climbers, rowing machines, stationary bicycles, fit balls, step blocks and yoga mats. Silversea also offers a variety of treatments and fitness programs. For example, travelers can participate in a body age assessment that tests body fat, cardiovascular health, strength and flexibility against the guest’s actual chronological age. Based on the results, The Spa’s personal trainers will design a lifestyle program for the guest once they return home. The Spa also has incorporated specialty grooming services, including facials and barbering services.

Most Unique Spa Cabins: Costa Luminosa. The Samsara Spa onboard Costa Luminosa spans two decks and offers ocean views from the 23,000-square-foot facility. The line’s spa cabins and suites offer direct access to the spa via a private elevator and stairs. These accommodations feature flat-screen TVs, Elemis bath accessories, unlimited access to the spa, two complimentary fitness or meditation classes, a personalized wellness consultation, two treatments, two sessions in the solarium and an invitation to a spa tea ceremony.

Best Full-Day Spa Experience: Seabourn’s The Spa Villas. The Seabourn Odyssey’s Spa at Seabourn is more than 11,400 square feet on two decks. The Spa aboard Odyssey offers two private, canopied Spa Villas on Deck 10. Couples and small groups can reserve a villa for the day. Each villa features a soaking tub, private treatment table, double-sized sun bed, plush lounging and dining furniture, and a private sun terrace. Treatments available in The Spa Villas include European and Asian techniques such as Thai massage. The Spa’s gymnasium has top-flight equipment and amenities, from rowers and treadmills to free weights. A fitness studio offers a new Kinesis Wall for full-body workouts on a sophisticated cable-and-pulley system.

Best New Contemporary Spa Concept: Carnival Splendor’s Cloud 9 Spa. Spanning the forward portion of two decks with picture windows, Carnival Splendor’s new Cloud 9 Spa offers nearly 70 exclusive spa staterooms and suites accessible via private elevator. Cloud 9 Spa boasts 17 private treatment rooms, two VIP couples treatment rooms, a beauty salon, a separate men’s grooming area and an Asian-inspired post-treatment area. A full gymnasium features workout areas and Lifecycle equipment, with treadmills, weight training equipment, stair climbers and rowing machines. Highlights of Cloud 9 Spa’s treatment menu are Asian, Middle Eastern and European massages, teeth-whitening services and mani/pedi combinations. The thalassotherapy pool is covered by a glass dome and features heated ionized water and pulsating water jets. Adjacent to the thalassotherapy pool is a thermal suite of four climate-controlled rooms with varying degrees of warmth and coolness.

Carnival's Spa Staterooms to be Non-Smoking

If you think about it, this new policy really shouldn't surprise anyone. Carnival announced that their new Spa staterooms and suites, debuting on the Carnival Splendour later this year, will be non-smoking:

"The Carnival Splendor Cloud 9 Spa will be the perfect place for guests to relax and rejuvenate. Created to provide a heavenly atmosphere and ensure all guests enjoy their stay, the Cloud 9 Spa will be promoted as a smoke-free environment. Thus, all Cloud 9 Spa staterooms and suites have been designated as non-smoking areas with smoking strictly prohibited.

Guests who are currently booked will be notified and all marketing materials are being updated. Moving forward guests will be informed at time of booking, through marketing material and via "No smoking" signs prominently placed in each spa stateroom.

In order to preserve the Cloud 9 Spa standards and ensure staterooms are free of smoke residue, Carnival will assess a $250 reconditioning fee per spa stateroom for guests that do not comply with the non-smoking policy. This fee will cover the cost of deep-cleaning required to restore the room back to its original smoke free condition. In our efforts to accommodate guests wishing to smoke, they may do so on the outdoor decks and in lounges (excluding the main show lounge)."

Wave of the future? Definitely. Smoking costs the cruise lines in many ways. While entirely non-smoking ships were economically unviable (just think back to the Carnival Paradise - popular among her fans, but overall an operational failure), limited smoking onboard makes sense financially and otherwise to the cruise lines.