The whole point of my visit to the spa was to introduce a friend to some badly needed self-indulgence. He is practically allergic to the idea of hedonism, and my goal was to demonstrate that pleasure for pleasure's sake is a good and necessary idea once in a while. Of course, a well-planned trip to Vegas (he'd never been) is a good start. I was prepared to pay handsomely for the right experience.
After careful research here at TA, I chose Canyon Ranch Spa for its offerings for couples. It sounded as if they had the best options for two. I booked a couples massage followed by the Rasul thingy (chamber? experience? session?). I can only report on that aspect, not the gym or cafe or much of the single-sex sides. We had full run of the place if we wanted it, the separate men and women's sides, but we wanted as much togetherness as possible.
In that respect, my expectations were exceeded. First, after check in and separate relaxation, we were brought together in the treatment area. Two very skilled masseuses (female) pounded and pulled our stresses away, side by side, in a dim rather featureless room for 50 minutes, adjusting their technique to our individual needs. I could take more pressure and intensity, and when I told this to Jen, she dug in deliciously. My friend has a tender spot from a back injury, and his masseuse handled it expertly, and, he reported later, spent a lot of time working with lymphatic drainage. This is a super technique for someone deeply stressed, as he was. Somehow, she knew this through her hands. In addition, both were friendly, professional but non-intrusive, allowing us to silently heal to the subtle music.
The music is standard spa ambient, and you either like it or you don't. I do.
Limp as noodles, we were handed off to a personable man to guide us through the Rasul. I thought it would be a glorified mud bath, and it is, in a way, but beautifully packaged. The man told us that this is the ceremony that the Maharajas performed every time they took a new wife. Now that sounds like marketing blarney to me, but whatever.
We went to a perhaps 10x10 room, fairly plain, with a bench and a table of creams and towels, dimly lighted, a candlelight ambience. At one end is a giant shower-type stall with beautiful mosaic work and two porcelain cast chairs, thrones, really, facing each other. At the side of each seat were hung hand-held shower nozzles. Inset, rather like a cup holder, in one arm of each seat, was a constant bubbly stream of very warm water. We were shown a line-up of different colored creams and clays. (My friend is a potter and recognized them as standard variation on potting or tile making clays.) One is an obscenely rich cream for the face, and the others were for chest and belly, for arms, back and glutes, legs and feet. He was nice enough to explain that there really were no rules, except that only the cream should go on the face. Some were super slippy, others had a little grit. For exfoliation, a separate dish held sea salt.
Our "guide" discreetly set up a folding screen in front of the glass door and, once seated (minus robes, of course), the light went out and the domed ceiling sparked with a twinkling star effect. A mild steam began in the near darkness.
Now, this could be incredibly silly and giggly. But if you're in the right romantic frame of mind, it can be silent and nearly tantric. I will only say we found it incredibly bonding and spiritual as well as utterly pleasurable and fun. I can't tell you how long it lasted, but at a certain point, dotted head to toe in multiple colors, we were glad for the hand-held showers, and with perfect timing, just as we were blindly trying to get the last of the goo off, a rainstorm came down from the entire ceiling. It would have been totally perfect if the bright light had not suddenly switched on at the same time. The only flaw in the ceremony was the suddeness of the finale. I think they should slowly raise the light, as well as start the water as a gentle, escalating sprinkle.
Then we had about 5 minutes to finish rinsing, drying, and to come out and moisturize with the creams if we wanted to. We stayed to chat with the guy and it was interesting to hear how the ceremony had evolved and changed since it was first introduced.
We were offered the coed area afterwards. There is a hot salt steam room, and I felt salty and steamy enough, or a cool "wave" relaxation room. We went for the latter -- a kind of psychedelic water visual on the ceiling that reacts to the music (yes, the same ambient stuff) in another otherwise featureless round room with incredibly comfy recliners. It was okay, and good enough to simply recover in.
We did not do any of the other, non-couples features, so I can't speak to them, but I thought the women's dressing room, showers, and ample counters for hair drying or whatever were nicely appointed, clean, and comfortable. Luxurious without being ostentatious, neither hospital nor bordello.
I also greatly enjoyed the women's relaxation room (and I heard good reviews from my friend for the men's side of things). I don't understand the bad reviews of these areas. The only noise was when the guest's names were called for treatment, which seems necessary to the process, unless you're wearing a pager. I nearly dropped off to sleep during the half hour I waited. The services were offered on time, I just wanted to scope things out a little, so we were quite early.
The technicians and assistants were uniformly polite and professional. Again, I don't know why others report bad experiences in that respect unless they come in with an attitude.
I witnessed one woman in passing who seemed to be having a total meltdown in a hallway, screaming, "THAT"S JUST RUDE!" to a silent attendant who was not responding to provocation. You'll forgive me, but she looked remarkably like one of the Beverly Hills spoiled bad-girl sisters featured on a current reality show. She was wearing a tiny bikini over a much enhanced body outside the spray tan booth and repeatedly mentioned how much money she had spent that day. For some reason, I felt little sympathy.
Now, the spa itself is not perfect. I mentioned the small flaws with the Rasul, but it really was stupendous, otherwise. The number one complaint with the spa is its physical plant. It is impossible to find. Signage from the Venetian casino is nonexistent. (When we left, we figured out there was a much more direct elevator to the Pallazo, and I wish I had been told that when I made my reservation). We walked miles of hallways to get to the entrance, and miles after that, though at least there was some interesting art and stone work along the way after the entrance.
We were told it was the biggest spa in the (world or country or something) and that's not a selling point to me. The treatment area was a labyrinth of identical plain halls and minimalist rooms. Some of the art and other features of the entrance would have been welcome here. While the treatments are luxurious, this part of the setting is brutally plain. I felt lost and disoriented, and glad for the constant attendance of a guide in that area. The coed area really didn't offer much, though the coed common room was as tasteful and comfortable as the single-sex relaxation room, just bigger. Bigger is not better in any way. I would have preferred a more intimate and easily negotiable location to find and get around.
A very minor complaint is that the robe pockets are sewn shut. I would have liked to offer gratuities to our various helpers personally, but that wasn't possible. (It does deter you from any temptation to steal the robe.)
Finally, I did have one bad experience with noise. The whole point of the "wave" room is the silence except for the ambient music for relaxation. A dog's barking was audible, a yappy loud bark, about every 10-30 seconds. At first I thought it might be some irritating experiment with the ambient music, but then I realized it was coming from next door or above. At these prices, they can afford effective soundproofing. I mentioned it, in a nice, non-confrontational way, to the main desk, and they did admit that they were working on the sound leaks from other areas. There was no kennel club nearby, so I can't explain it.
But these were really minor points. I really debated removing one star from my review because of them, but I finally did. In crass terms, I felt I got my bang for the buck. I I spent over $500 (before tips) and both my friend and I were relaxed, happy, pampered and glowing.
And by the way, my friend is now a convert to occasional self-indulgences! Right now, he's trying to figure out how to work some hedonism into our next trip to surprise me with! He's talking Pompeii, which may have a little more volcanic ash in the mud baths, you think?
This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC.
