Carnival to cruisers: Relax, you now can book spa treatments in advance

[mercedes]

Add spa treatments to the list of things you can book in advance at Carnival.

The world's largest cruise line says it has finished rolling out an on-line advance purchase system for the spas on all 22 ships in its fleet. Carnival customers who are fully deposited for an upcoming cruise will have access to the system, located at Carnival.com.

Carnival says more than 30 treatments are available for advance booking, including acupuncture, massages, facials, wraps and even tooth whitening. Pricing and available dates and times for each treatment on each cruise are listed online.

To book treatments, customers must be registered on carnival.com and access their reservation through the “My Reservation” link on the site. Click on “Plan Activities” and then “Spa Appointments.”

A caveat: Customers pre-booking treatments will have to pay in advance online by credit card. Still, Carnival spokesman Vance Gulliksen tells USA TODAY they can cancel at a later date for a refund.

Gulliksen says Carnival began rolling out the system ship-by-ship late last year.

[coloradocruisers]

Good for Carnival. Hope the others follow suit. The spa is usually one of Sharon's first stops after boarding; she'd much rather sign up before hand.

[55ChevyLady]

that is great news.

I always thought their business would run smoother that way for passengers, especially in the hair salon area...you wait to long to make an appt. to get your hair, make-up or nails done, then you just aren't getting them done.

[DebbieandJerry]

Celebrity's website has spa services also available for pre-booking.

I agree. Nothing is worse than wanting to be pampered, planning on it, saving for it and not being able to book the appt. because it's not available. At least this way, the person taking the vacation has the option to pre-book. Sure, you're paying in advance but it is refundable if you cancel. Gotta read the fine print. I'm sure there's a cancellation timeframe in order to get the full refund.

[cruzin]

Has anyone actually booked the spa before a Carnival cruise yet? I was looking at it the other day but our cruise is still 200 days out and it was only giving me two things to choose from. I'm just hoping that it is because we have a while to wait yet.

[DebbieandJerry]

Once we made final payment, we were able to pre-book spa services. Excursions, however, can be booked at any time. I think the difference is the spa/beauty salon is a leased facility where the excursions are a part of the ship.