Staying Afloat

Healthy Treats for the Mind & Body Aboard the Queen Victoria

Although you may picture a leisurely cruise as a way to float lazily across the ocean and eat until your heart’s content, today’s cruise ships take a different approach to health and fitness—and the Queen Victoria (QV) is no exception. Offering facilities and treatments you would expect to find at an upscale gym and spa, the QV’s Cunard Royal Spa & Fitness Centre gives its patrons a way to stay in tip-top shape while on vacation.

Try a little one-on-one personal training, Yoga, Tai Chi, Pilates, step aerobics or spinning classes to keep the bulge at bay. And for the skin enthusiast, well, there is no end to the amount of pampering your skin will receive. The spa indulges its patrons with fabulous treatments for the body, face and hair, offering specialized facials and massages for men and women alike. Another exciting element is the private 745-gallon hydrotherapy pool area, complete with relaxation beds where guests can sit back and unwind.

“Up until the late 1980s, most cruise ships only consisted of a beauty salon, featuring hairdressers, a nail technician and a beauty therapist,” explains Darryl Preston, CEO of Multitrax, and the managing director of The Onboard Spa Company—the company that helped create the ship’s spa. “At the end of that decade, the cruise industry really spearheaded the modern spa by building enormous multi-treatment room spas onboard the vessels. Naturally, the QV developed a large spa with panoramic views and a sophisticated treatment menu.”

Indeed, QV’s spa menu reads like a heavenly list of various body and facial treatments that rival any day spa on land; Preston describes these offerings as a multi-layered sensorial experience for guests. What’s more, QV now offers medical spa services for those who are seeking results-oriented procedures. For chirally correct, high quality, medical grade skin care, the spa turned to CosMedix.

“I have been involved in the spa industry for 20 years and to me, the CosMedix concept is a part of the evolutionary process of the spa offering,” says Preston. “[CosMedix] has a stronger medical and scientific basis, produces amazing results, and offers better education and support than many lines on the market. Plus, with longer cruising, we can give guests a complete treatment program with long-term results.” Among the CosMedix treatments offered are the Blueberry Smoothie Peel, Pomegranate Peel, Benefit Peel, Purity Peel and Timeless Peel. Moreover, there is a licensed medical esthetician on board to administer these peels.

“A destination within itself, the spa is a place where many of the guests prefer to spend their time,” Preston says.

With so many pampering options to choose from, it’s easy to see why.

For more information about Cunard Line and Queen Victoria, contact your travel professional, call 800.7.CUNARD or visit Cunard.com.