Forget the buffet, the newest cruise ships are all about wellness

From the late 1930s, Steiner’s the Hairdressers on Conduit Street in London’s Mayfair was attracting a clientele of aristocrats, Hollywood stars and royalty. Owner Herman Steiner even tended Queen Mary’s famously elaborate coiffure and was later granted a Royal Warrant as her hairdresser. By the 1950s, Steiner had salons around Britain, including one at London Airport.

Then Steiner went to sea. In 1956, the company won contracts to operate salons aboard Royal Mail Lines’ Andes and Cunard ships.

If Steiner was the trailblazer, then Cunard was the one that said, “Hold my hairspray.” Its partnership with California health retreat Golden Door in the early ’80s brought fitness classes, massage and other wellness programs to the legendary QE2.

By the 1990s, spas were becoming a serious part of ship design, and within a decade had grown significantly.

Today, some shipboard wellness facilities approach 3000 square metres and feature elaborate thermal suites, salt and ice rooms, cold plunges, hydrotherapy pools, experiential showers, fitness studios and even medi-spas.

OneSpaWorld, the corporate descendant of Steiner, now operates high-end wellness centres aboard almost 200 cruise ships.

It’s no surprise that the global spa industry is booming, and the stats tell the story. It generated $US157.4 billion ($220 billion) in 2024, according to the Global Wellness Institute, 35 per cent more than in 2019, as wellness goes beyond being an occasional treatment. Cruise lines have responded accordingly, both on new ships and by finding space for the latest wellness experiences as older vessels are renovated.

Take Norwegian Cruise Line’s newly refurbished 20-year-old Norwegian Jade and 2007-launched Norwegian Gem. The Mandara Spa and Salons onboard the 2400- and 2394-passenger ships, respectively, have been redesigned in accord with passenger feedback.

The thermal suite aboard Norwegian Jade and Norwegian Gem now features three times as many of the popular hot-tile loungers, a more centralised layout with an upgraded reception area and updated steam rooms and saunas.

NCL has also added new facilities. A charcoal sauna uses a radiant heat system with an outer charcoal layer, which claims to boost circulation and release toxins as well as help with muscle stiffness and tension.

A new ice room with cold air “invigorates the respiratory tract”, and the new salt room rides the popular wave of halotherapy, said to benefit breathing and skin. There’s a new collection of futuristic-looking four-senses loungers, designed for deep relaxation.

Norwegian Jade also has brand-new experiential showers that feature multiple water jets and lighting effects to help invigorate the body, as well as a plunge pool for cold-water immersion. Norwegian Gem has an updated hot tub and thalassotherapy pool.

Both ships now offer an IV lounge. IV therapy is a huge trend, said to help many conditions, from hangovers to jetlag.

Norwegian has overhauled the spas on other ships as well, and when it launches in May next year, Norwegian Aura, the line’s biggest ship, promises “the industry’s most expansive thermal suite, featuring 15 wellness experiences designed for relaxation, recovery and rejuvenation”.

Elsewhere, Celebrity Xcel, launched in 2025, has Celebrity’s largest spa yet, adding its first hydra room – a warm pool with massaging jets – and an outdoor vitamin D deck (or, in perhaps less “wellness” focused words, a sunbathing spot) to its nine-experience thermal suite. Cunard’s 2024-launched Queen Anne introduced extensive wellness facilities, including a Himalayan salt sauna, cold room and cryo-body treatments.

Explora Journeys’ new ships feature ocean wellness centres with salt caves, ice falls, hydrotherapy pools and experience showers.

Fleetwide, MSC Cruises is adding Japanese head-spa treatments, AI skin analysis, IV therapy and “medical-aesthetic” treatments (injectables and dermal fillers afloat) to its wellness menu.

See ncl.co