I recently returned from an amazing trip to Italy and Croatia. 12 days of unbelievable food, wine, and sites leave the body a bit beat up. Enter the Ying & Yang Spa on board the Norwegian Jade.
On my first day aboard the ship, I knew instantly I wanted to hunt down the spa. I was in desperate need of a mani/Pedi and could really use a massage & facial after 13 hours on an airplane. I hopped in the line for the tours and booked their “welcome aboard” intro package along with a Mani/Pedi. A 75 min package of minis for $125. A great deal of a facial, body scrub, and massage.
I arrived 30 minutes early to take advantage of the water rituals… only to be told you have to pay an additional $30 for that. So I passed.
My therapist came out, a super nice girl from Canada, and showed me to my room. We spend way too much time on a consult, like 15 minutes (of the treatment time!) She leaves and I quickly get undressed and check out the room. They use Elemis, a product line I am vaguely aware of. The room was pleasant with a Hawaiian/ Japanese theme and super warm. The bed is disappointing, just your regular fold-out table and covered in towels. What they don’t have sheets? My therapist returns and begins the treatment. She starts with a great dry brush, using a brush made of cactus bristles and tea tree oil. I’m kicking myself for not bringing this home with me. She moved on to the facial, talking the whole time she choose a lavender treatment. She described each product and what they did and why I should take them home with me. I really hate when I get a spa service and they do this. Keep the sales pitch to the end with the post consult! The lavender treatment smelled amazing and really helped all my post-flight breakouts. While I was masked, she moves into a light massage and then removes the mask and has me flip to massage my back. The treatment ended with a quick back massage and her leaving the room. She returned a short time later with a glass of water, my bill, a list of recommendations, and the hard sell to book more and buy more. The treatment itself was great. Towards the end, I really relaxed and enjoyed it. I would have liked a little less talking. But the product was pleasant smelling and feeling, plus the room was great.
On to the Mani/Pedi. My therapist was a super, sweet girl from South Africa. She was great. I was pretty sleepy from the massage and my jet lag and super cold in the salon area. So she found me some towels to wrap up in and let me be to just relax through it. The view was amazing the Pedi chairs faced a large window and I got to watch the sunset over the Venice skyline. Pretty amazing. Again they used the Elemis brand and she described each and every product with it’s benefits. It was a great Pedi and she used hot stones with an icy hot oil for massage, a very unique feeling. I loved it. By the time we moved on to my manicure, I realized I was running out of time and had to meet my group for dinner so I had her skip the paint and just buffed out my nails. Again I received the icy hot stone massage and a great mint scrub. Which I ended up taking home with me.
Overall I loved the spa and staff so I booked a seaweed wrap for the next day.
Plus… great decor, super nice staff, great views, and nice products.
Not so plus… cold in the mani/Pedi area, way too many product descriptions, and rushing the treatment to sell more… not good.
