It's an elegant spa befitting of one of the world's most luxurious cruise liners

When it comes to spa brands, Canyon Ranch is undoubtedly one of the world's most famous. An award winning spa destination since 1979, it not only offers cutting edge beauty and wellbeing treatments, but also promotes an holistic, healthy lifestyle.

In addition to several spa resorts and communities located in the USA, in recent years Canyon Ranch has also partnered with several cruise lines to provide destination-style spa experiences on the high seas. One of those partners is the five-star Regent Seven Seas Cruises.

On each of its three ships, Seven Seas Voyager, Mariner and Navigator, there's a Canyon Ranch SpaClub enabling discerning cruise guests the opportunity of enjoying a little pampering in between fine dining, exploring ports of call, and indulging in the many benefits of a leading luxury cruise line.

On Seven Seas Voyager, which I cruised recently from Sydney to Beijing, I had the opportunity of visiting the SpaClub for a much anticipated treatment. The spa offers a broad menu of treatments from signature massages and therapeutic body work, to facials and the award winning Canyon Ranch Your Transformation skin products.

The Decor:

From an aesthetic perspective, this spa oozes style from the moment you step into its spacious reception area. The decor is warm and welcoming, with a focus on warm wood and soft gold furnishings, with bold accents of colour from the black, flecked marble pillars to the purple vases. While waiting to meet your therapist, aside from a gentle rocking of the ocean beneath you, you'd be hard pressed to know you were at sea.

The Treatments:

Choosing a treatment in a spa can be a challenge, but for my part a massage is hard to beat when judging the quality of a facility. As the cruise I was taking was a segment of a world cruise there was a special offer for spa goers - to add various treatments to another one, or extend a treatment. So I decided to really indulge, and book a fascinating treatment called an Organic Mermaid's Purse Wrap, and add to it a Canyon Ranch signature massage.

The wrap uses a lovely Irish organic skin care range called Voya, and it's a deeply hydrating and detoxifying treatment ideal for dry or dull skin. It begins with the application of a seaweed paste which is thick and chilly, very dark green in colour and possessing that unmistakeable marine smell. It wasn't too strong or unpleasant, however, which was a relief. I was then wrapped in muslin cloth and covered with towels, both to keep warm and to aid the seaweed's detoxification of the skin.

I was left to relax for about 30 minutes, then had to shower the paste off using an organic lemon gel wash, ready for the 50 minute massage. This signature massage is traditional Swedish in style but a little more relaxing, and highly customised. The therapist asked me if I had any special concerns or tightness in my body, and responding to my comments she focussed on my back for most of the treatment.

The Verdict:

All up the treatment lasted for around 100 minutes - a lovely way to kill time on a sea day. The wrap on its own would have left you a bit wanting, and the time spent alone felt longer than it should have; the bar on the enjoyment factor could have been raised with a scalp massage. However, afterwards my skin felt decidedly smooth and soft, and the massage had eased any tension away.

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