SeaHill Spa at The Cavalier — Hotel in Virginia Beach

I've been debating on writing a review for a few days, but after talking it through with some friends and family, I felt it would be beneficial for others.

First, my husband booked us a "Time together" spa day.

We started with breakfast there, the hostess was a doll, and the steak and eggs were delicious. The chicken and waffles were mediocre at best. The views, though the atmosphere, were stunning and reminded me of Italy. The server was very slow but kind and respectful.

The seahill spa, though. The front desk staff were perfect picks for a luxury hotel. There was one girl with a wolf cut dark hair and another with very light blond hair. Both were angels, and so so sweet and patient with us. The woman's bathroom was pristine in cleanliness and had amazing amenities. The showers were lovely, though the wall sprayers were broken.

We started by going to the salt room and were not impressed that it was heated by a small heater in the corner and chose to leave because it really was only nice to look at. Then we headed to the pool, which was stunning and there were barely anyone there, so we enjoyed the semi privacy. We wanted to order food, but when we were told it would be a 30-45 minutes wait when they had just opened up the food at 12 and our service was at 1245, we were super disappointed. Luckily, front desk ladies were to the rescue. The sweet brunette ran to their break room and got me a granola bar, and the blond girl ordered me a drink and worked magic for it to come out in time. They truly are exceptional.

Then, it was time for the treatment. We were told to be fully undressed for it to be the best experience for the salt bath if comfortable, which we were. The salt scrub was nice, and the salt bath was even better and impressive!

But then came the massage..... this is when everything turned around. I've had tons of massages over the last 15 years from various styles to genders to countries and have NEVER experienced something like this. The man who massaged me was...... rough. Now I don't mean heavy pressure... no, no... I mean man handled, pressed the boundaries, sensual almost foreplay kind of rough. I was chicken winged during the massage.... I have never been chicken winged outside of combat training, especially not in a relaxing setting as a massage. My husband was in the room and was enjoying his massage, and I felt .... guilty? Scared? Ashamed? To say anything and ruin his experience. Even though I was doing nothing wrong, I wasn't moving... and yet the way this man touched me made my hair stand up and scream run. I can go into further detail if a manager asks but.... honestly I wouldn't NEVER go back if this is what is done. I understand that's a kink to be manhandled but there's a place and time for that. I compared with my husband to see if maybe the girl he had did anything similar, if this is a weird cavalier special.... but no. He had a normal pleasant massage and after demonstrating a few things to him that the man did to me, he had his concerns high as well.

It's a crummy situation because... technically, he didn't touch me directly in places he shouldn't but he definitely pushed the boundaries.

I didn't leave feeling relaxed, I left feeling.... violated.

Edit: the owner contacted me immediately after the review to get more information. She didn't treat me like I was an issue and took me very seriously stressing that it's a woman owned spa and that this should never have happened and would investigate further. She offered me a redo and assured me that I wouldn't see him during my time there so I wouldn't feel uncomfortable. During the redo, no one made me feel like a bad guy, no one made me uncomfortable or gave us side looks. It was excellent. I had Abigail and she was perfect, exactly what a massage should be. She asked about pressure and verified throughout the massage if I was doing alright. She made me feel safe and comfortable. I left feeling more...

Overall a nice idea with poor execution. My husband and I did the massage and soak, which should have included a 20 minute soak and an 80 minute massage for $480. I then did the Hydro Capsule scrub ($140). So we were right around $750 after the automatic 20% gratuity. I don't mind paying high prices for a superior experience, but this wasn't it.

We were advised to arrive at least 30 minutes early for our 10:15 appointment time, which we did, actually arrived about an hour early. We were given a tour and told that 2 glasses of champagne or mimosas were included and would be offered in the relaxation room. We were also told that we could order lunch in if desired. We changed into robes and relaxed on lounges in the relaxation room. In 30 minutes, no one came by. I ran into the same woman in the locker room and said we would take her up on the champagne if we weren't too close to our treatment time. She did bring over two plastic cups of room temperature sparkling wine. Yikes.

Our massage therapists retrieved us from the relaxation room a few minutes after our service was supposed to start. They explained the protocol and left us to enjoy our "mineral soak" with cookies and ice water. I've had a lot of mineral soaks, there was nothing in that water. It was $100 for a 15 minute bath. I even tasted it. My massage therapist said there were magnesium salts in the water, something else I have a ton of experience with. Either they didn't put them in or they used a meaningless amount.

We were on the tables at 10:50 and off by 12:05, forget the time we spent waiting for them to come in. So that's 75 minutes on the table, max, not the 80 we paid for. When you're charging more than a high-end 90 minute massage for 80 minutes, it should really be 80 minutes.

We were taken back to the relaxation room, where I mentioned I had another service scheduled. (I should not have been the one mentioning this.) Our therapists said my provider would look for me there. What no one told me was that my next service wasn't scheduled until 12:45. I had to go ask the front desk. So they booked me with a 40 minute gap between services, during lunch time, with no heads-up (and no offer to order lunch, I might add).

The hydro capsule treatment started and ended promptly.

I will say that everyone we encountered was very friendly and all 3 providers were clearly skilled and did an exceptionally good job. Our massages were top quality, they just weren't what we paid for. Seahill has the facility and staff to compare against most resort spas, they're just missing...

I used to really enjoy this spa. I would come on my birthdays or anytime I was feeling burnt out at work and my girlfriends would join me and we’d have lunch by the pool together in between our services and then we have dinner at the hotel. I would book a full day of services and stay from open to close for my pampering reset. I’ve been to several luxury spas and was grateful to have one of this level in our area instead of driving hours outside of town. After a few challenging years since the pandemic, I was really looking forward to returning to SeaHill for my birthday and a long overdue spa day. Unfortunately I’m seeing a complete change in how the business is run. They’ve changed the rules to presumably keep less guests in the facility throughout the day. While I can appreciate making sure amenities are accessible to guests who’ve booked services, I don’t understand why I have to leave/arrive at the spa at certain times and my friends who are also booking one or more services aren’t allowed to arrive to join me for lunch or to stay until close to get ready to enjoy my birthday dinner in the hotel? We were planning to book rooms in the hotel to stay after dinner and return to the pool the next day. The scheduling rules are extremely restrictive and leave little room to accommodate a special occasion or any group at all. The most frustrating part is that I was told when I scheduled my 3 services by one scheduler that they could accommodate my group and offer wiggle room on arrival times so we could all have lunch together and leave for dinner together, but when my friends called to book their appointments, they were told that they wouldn’t be able to arrive the extra 15 minutes early to join me for the start of lunch by the pool and that I would be asked to leave after my last appointment, too. The inconsistency and inability to confirm how the day would go resulted in me canceling my spa day/stay/dinner at the Cavalier. I don’t understand the business decision but I suppose there are struggles to running a spa in this economy. If I’m being completely honest, I’ve had better massages at Massage Envy which is where I go every few weeks in between spa days. The only reason to pay the premium price for services is because you get to enjoy the amenities before and after. If you are removing the value of the offering, then it doesn’t make sense to pay the premium price for the same quality of services if you’re not able to relax and enjoy the spa without feeling rushed to leave. Really sad and disappointed to learn I don’t have a luxury day spa in the...