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Monte Carlo

First look: The swanky spa planned for 'most luxurious ship ever'

Gene Sloan
USA TODAY
Luxury line Regent's next ship, the 750-passenger Seven Seas Explorer, will have an elegant Canyon Ranch SpaClub.

A new cruise ship that's being billed as the most luxurious ever will feature a lavishly appointed spa operated by Canyon Ranch.

The Deck 5 oasis on luxury line Regent Seven Seas' next vessel, the 750-passenger Seven Seas Explorer, will boast eight treatment rooms and a thermal suite with a state-of-the-art infrared sauna, aromatic steam room and a "cold room" maintained at 54 degrees, the line will reveal today.

As can be seen in the first images of the spa, in the carousel above, the area will have a soothing decor that takes its inspiration from a butterfly's cocoon (continue to click through the carousel for a "first look" tour of other areas planned for Explorer).

Setting the tone will be a reception area decorated with crisscrossing light-grained wooden bands that are designed to evoke the silk wrappings woven into a chrysalis. Decorative light fixtures will cast twinkling lights off an abstract Swarovski crystal sculpture, forming dappled reflections on the marble floor that are designed to create an aura of woodland twilight.

In addition to hot and cold rooms in the thermal suite, the spa will have a shower room where passengers can choose from a menu of preset shower treatments with various distributions of water flow, chroma-therapeutic lighting and audio effects that mimic natural sounds such as thunderstorms or waterfalls.

Explorer is scheduled to debut in July 2016. At 56,000 tons, it'll have the highest ratio of space to passengers in the history of cruising, and Regent is promising to set a new benchmark in luxury cruising with the ship.

Like Regent's Seven Seas Voyager and Seven Seas Mariner, Explorer will be an all-suite vessel and, at $450 million, the most expensive luxury ship ever built. Only a handful of luxury lines, including Hapag-Lloyd Cruises and Silversea Cruises, offer all-suite vessels.

As previously announced, Explorer initially will sail in the Mediterranean after its christening. The ship's maiden voyage -- a 14-night sailing from Monte Carlo to Venice -- kicks off on July 20, 2016 and will be followed by nearly a dozen other Mediterranean sailings featuring visits to such destinations as Barcelona, Ibiza, St. Tropez, Venice, Istanbul, Alexandria (Egypt) and Jerusalem.

For a deck-by-deck look at the luxury of a Regent ship, don't miss our new Cruise Ship Tour of the line's recently revamped Seven Seas Mariner in the carousel below.

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