Celebrity Cruises just reminded everyone that cruise ship spas are a cutthroat business

Five years after bringing onboard luxury spa operator Canyon Ranch, Celebrity Cruises is now switching back to their previous operator, a major rival.

Canyon Ranch is best known for their Tucson flagship, but with two other spa resorts, spas on three other cruise line vessels, and a Spa + Fitness deal with Vegas’ Venetian and Palazzo hotels, Canyon Ranch is one of the largest spa operators in the nation. The luxury spa operator was a surprise when in 2014, Celebrity announced they would be replacing Steiner Leisure since parent company Royal Caribbean remained with Steiner, a partnership that dates back nearly three decades.

Celebrity will now bring back its old spa operator, now under a new name after being sold off by former parent company Steiner. Now known as OneSpaWorld Holdings, the spa operator remains the world’s leading spa operator for cruise ships. Ironically, it gained its dominance thanks in part of a deal with Cunard in the 1960s that saw OneSpaWorld winning the contract to operate the spas on board the Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth II. That contract with Cunard is now operated by … Canyon Ranch.

In February, OneSpaWorld mentioned in a public filing they were actively pursuing all of the cruise contracts that Canyon Ranch currently holds. OSW is already the largest outsource cruise spa operator in the world.

Over 20 million cruise passengers partook in OneSpaWorld services in 2018. It’s found on 163 ships and boasts the largest onboard spa staff in the world. Nearly three dozen new ships will launch with OneSpaWorld spas within the next five years. More than 80 percent of spas found on cruise ships are operated by OneSpaWorld, more than eight times larger than Canyon Ranch, the second-largest cruise spa operator.

Two months after confirming it was actively pursuing all cruise contracts that Canyon Ranch holds, OSW confirmed it would be operating the spas on the upcoming Virgin Voyages ships. By August, OSW had announced extended contracts with Norwegian, P&O UK, Windstar, and SAGA Cruises. Then in October, Prestige announced it was replacing Canyon Ranch with a new custom branded spa developed by OSW for both its Regent Seven Seas Cruises and its Regent cruise line.

Celebrity is rolling out the transition slowly with all ships having OSW operated spas by May 2020. The newest Celebrity ship, the Celebrity Edge, already has an OSW spa onboard and OneSpaWorld is working with Celebrity to ensure the upcoming Celebrity Apex launches with one of the best cruise spas in the world.

OneSpaWorld isn’t resting on its laurels. In public filings, they noted Canyon Ranch’s contract with Cunard expires in 2021.

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This article appears in The 12 Pups of Christmas.