Nanaimo Aquatic Centre

Positive experience: Great pool and all but the condition of the changing rooms leave a lot to be desired. I can only speak for the family and the female but my husband assures me the male changing rooms is just as bad. I understand there's a lot of foot traffic going through but it wouldn't hurt for someone to go through with a mop every hour or so. People walking in with muddy shoes then adding in hair into the equation on the floor makes it vile to walk through barefoot. Been to many aquatic centres across Canada and this has to be one of the dirtiest. That being said, we do love the pool and the hot tub.

Negative experience: Staff is always friendly and the gym is clean. Would love to see some sort of shoe rack or locker system to help the change rooms stay clean. The floors are consistently filthy. Patrons must walk into the change rooms with street shoes on because there is no shoe rack or shoe locker system. If everyone took their shoes off before entering the changing room it would remain much cleaner. Today there was blood, mud and dirt on the floors in the change room. The sauna simply is not hot enough. I believe the temperature just needs to be turned up. The steam room should have a fresh water hose to rinse the benches and walls periodically. Overall cleanliness and hygiene are very poor in this facility. And could be fixed quite easily! Would love to see some effort to implement plans for improvements. Also maybe some signs to educate people on the importance of showering thoroughly before entering the pools. Take some notes from Japanese Sento (bathhouse). In Japan you must remove your shoes before entering the facility. Also you must clean yourself immaculately before entering baths. In return, the public gets to share a clean and healthy space! We could learn a thing or two

Negative experience: I used to be a regular not anymore. Their change rooms are filthy gross dirty, multiple blood stains… people swimming with bandages and leaving bandages in the pool. Found tea bags near the water station list goes on and on. Love their gym .. they really need to work on keeping it clean. Ps Wish I could take pictures of dirtiness

Positive experience: Just ok.. I mean the general public doesn't know it's mandatory to shower before entering the pool.. even if the already had a shower that day.. it's a bad example for children, imo. I asked a lifeguard to teach a patron about using a glass mason jar but he did nothing except hi-5 the guya few days later the steam room was shut down bc someone dropped a glass water bottle and the glass shards went everywhere. Luckily no one was injured. Oh and the swim suit spinner is always inoperable as is the wave maker. Idk, maybe axe 1/2 the staff and pay the remaining crew a little more but train them better and do some maintenance. Otherwise it's a good place to workout and although the sauna is small it's a lively place to gather.

Negative experience: Change rooms are trash, grossest thing I've ever seen. I remember a cleaner would come through with a Mop when I was a kid. The amount of dirt and hair all over the place at any given time is disgusting. Also, turn the water pressure up for the showers

Positive experience: I go every week. Avoid holidays at all cost. Pool was filled with 200 + kids and sauna wasn’t hot at all. Hot tub was closed and when it’s wasn’t it’s packed. I’ve never seen this many people at the pool ever.

Fantastic experience: Great facility in town

Positive experience: I just had to share because I thought this was SO odd. Today on Halloween we went for an everyone welcome swim. They were playing Halloween theme music the entire time. When we were done my 5 year old said trick or treat to the receptionist and her response to us was “we don’t hand out candy because this is a neutral zone and people come here to escape that”. How does that make sense when they’re playing Halloween music? Escape what?

Positive experience: Fun place to swim, though the mens changeroom could use a good cleaning

Positive experience: It was busy, but kids had fun. Loved the waterslides, and lazy river and different temperature pools. Great value for money.

Positive experience: I brought grandkids, for the pirate ship..unfortunatly. . It is gone. The steam room is nice, relaxing, but standing room only, sometimes

Fantastic experience: An excellent place to relax. meet a few people and once in a while come across a really good conversation in the sauna

Fantastic experience: Very nice community center. Pool and sauna were excellent. Clean change rooms and 7.45$ for adult with locker token.

Fantastic experience: Great place to swim!

Negative experience: Men’s washroom smells like piss never smelled like that a year and a half ago.

Positive experience: Only use the hot tub there and it's jets are not consistent, they don't all move around, and they are not at the best spots to hit the right muscles.

Positive experience: Bring back the extension machine It is impossible to do exercises on the new one, it is too high and does not fix the legs

Negative experience: Pool Was closed and no sign or anything.

Positive experience: $7 drop-in for a solid little gym is hard to beat

Fantastic experience: What an awesome venue. A wave pool, 3 waterslides,and a lazy river. Very cool.

Negative experience: Saturday, open at 9. Someone needs to be dedicated to updating the website of new schedules.

Negative experience: Why can't they put it on the web site that the swimming is closed!!!! They have it closed in August to September. It is closed now till August 15. It closed on July 22.

Positive experience: fun, but no diving, i got in trouble once for diving in the pool that said no diving.

Fantastic experience: Really great beach entry pool for smaller kids. Lazy river & water slides. There is a wave pool too but it’s currently broken. Expected to be repaired around October they told me.

Fantastic experience: So this place not only has a decent pool but a decent gym. They also offer personal training sessions which are subsidized. Most places it’s about 100$ per session or 1200$ for 10 to 12 but at the pool it is only 460ish for 10 and for 1-3 it’s 60-160$. Check it out!!

Fantastic experience: Clean change rooms and shower area Appreciate the available gym and rooms to rent for additional community programs

Fantastic experience: Great pool, clean and bright. The swim lesson staff are excellent and there are at least 4 lifeguards that I could see at all times..

Fantastic experience: My clients Love this swimming centre. They have a pass for adults with disabilities, and it's so beneficial for they're low incomes.

Negative experience: The water fountain station is rusty and that's kind of gross

Positive experience: decent facility, usually pretty clean, front desk staff are great. lots of cool art in the pool and a nice little gym. lifeguarding could use a bit of work. it seems like a lot of parents are dropping their feral kids off below the unsupervised age limit and it often seems lifeguards can’t be bothered to police or deal with that. lots of older unruly older kids paying no mind to the toddlers and adults they are running into/splashing.

Negative experience: Went to the aquatic centre on June 30th around noon time. The gym door was not opened as I followed instructions “ pressed the bottom once”. So I went on and kept pressing it. The female staff at the front desk decided to come out to the side door start to yelling at me saying” excuse me, you only press it once , once!”and made me feel that I don’t understand what’s the sign says on the wall. It’s just not a good feeling, sorry city of Nanaimo, maybe educate your staff on how to talk to people to come use the facilities instead of yelling at them

Positive experience: The wave maker is shut down :( and they took out the kids play area. Overall it's kinda mid. When compared to bigger locations like in Calgary or Vancouver it's lacking.

Fantastic experience: Very cool place, amazing customer service! Thanks Kelsey, for helping and explaining everything! Very knowledgeable!

Positive experience: Bring sandals or crocs. The floors in the change rooms were so so so dirty both times I visited in the last week. The website pool schedule needs to be updated!

Fantastic experience: I was one of the people who was there when it opened. It still running strong today.

Fantastic experience: Absolutely. Loved it. Lots of fun. I ended up going again the next week with my boyfriend. The only thing is that they no longer have a little play area for the kids. It used to be like a small water park to the side, but now it's just empty.

Fantastic experience: Kids had a blast. Staff was friendly.

Fantastic experience: Very clean, attentive lifeguards and wonderful front window staff. We attend as often as we can

Positive experience: One of my favorite pools on the island. Large wave pool, slides, steam, sauna and hot tub.

Fantastic experience: The absolute pillar of our community. Thank you to all the staff and people who keep this place running year round for all the public to enjoy.

Fantastic experience: The Nanaimo Aquatic center is the go to indoor swimming pool and gym in the area. Big warm wavey swimming pool with shallow beach end and lazy river, large accommodating hot tub with decent jets, hot sauna, extra scorching steam room with room for stretching. Change facilities are clean and well lit, swimsuit dryer, hot showers, token lockers (get tokens when you pay).

Negative experience: Went to have a swim on a Saturday morning in March. Public pool was unavailable due to a private rental! Staff refused to refund my entrance fee even though I wasn’t allowed to use the pool. Pathetic!

Negative experience: Heard the pool supervisor andrew make racial comments toward indigenous people. Really not ok don’t care if it was a joke or not.

Negative experience: Do not recommend, 83 year old lady was attack in the bathrooms by homeless and nothing was done the lady is now back on the streets like nothing happened. Don't recommend bringing your children and if you do keep your eyes on them 24/7 the junkies are attacking people

Positive experience: Would be a 5 star however the phone listed brings you to a voicemail that unless you know g

Positive experience: This pool would have gotten 5 stars except... 1. Not at all clean. Change rooms are neglected. Often, there are used diapers and tampons left in stalls and lots of mud/dirt that feel like you're stepping on leggos when barefoot in the changerooms and walkways. 2. Garbages are often overfull and very stinky in the changeroom washrooms. 3. All the shower heads spray unevenly and in all sorts of directions. And they are always either too hot or too cold, and there is no temperature selector. 4. The pool deck is extremely slippery. And as a disabled person, very, very dangerous. I have had a lot of very, very close calls. So far, I've only suffered a pulled groin and a pulled muscle in my back from my near fall's. And to go along with that, there is a severe lack of hand rails. Due to this fact alone, I'd highly suggest buying a pair of non-slip flip flops or aqua shoes if you have any struggles walking from disabilities or injuries. 5. Prices for their annual pass are outrageous, like, conpletely insane!! I was very lucky to have ICBC cover my pass. But my partner is paying for the annual pass monthly, and it's still quite a hefty amount of money even though it's monthly. I've been to many similar pools that cost half the amount or less for their annual pass. With this one, you'd basically have to use all their amenities on a daily basis to make it worth it. 6. The staff are very friendly and super reasonable and understanding. 7. The pool itself is quite nice. It's much better than the other options mid-island. I just really wish they had much better upkeep and a much more frequent cleaning schedule. 8. All the change rooms are very small. Their much smaller than most pools. 9. I've caught a few people using cameras in the changerooms and in the pool. Not always for good purposes (you know what i mean). It feels like a massive invasion of my privacy, and they have absolutely no rules against it, when most pools have banned cell phone and camera use anywhere past the changrooms and in the pool. Unless they have special permission for event purposes. I think I've said enough... I honestly wish i had more pros than cons for this pool. But this pool has gone downhill significantly in the past 5 years. This pool is advertised as a wave pool. Yet, in the past 8 years, I've seen the waves working a handful of times. And now they have a sign at the door that specifically says that the waves are broken and no longer have any function. I spoke to a staff on the matter, and they said the waves will more than likely never work again as they are completely destroyed. The handicap change rooms are very bad and have broken showerheads and benches. As well as they are terribly small to fit a small adult sized wheelchair.

Fantastic experience: Shout out to all the life guards that helped an older gentleman who lost consciousness in the sauna today. The lifeguards responded very adequately and l was very impressed!

Fantastic experience: Amazing pool facility for all ages. They have sauna, steem room, hot tube, laps pool, waves pool, water slides and lots of pool toys for kids. Opens every day.

Positive experience: Overpriced vs other aquatic centres. Over $7 dollars and no student rate. Most aquatic centre are under $4.25 including Qualicum and Victoria for students.

Positive experience: Great amenities and service. Good place to have a dip and play various sports.

Fantastic experience: Pretty decent gym, clean throughout the facility, and a hot tub that's actually on the warm side.

Positive experience: Hot tube and Sauna still not hot enough . Hence why I hardly go to this place

Fantastic experience: Great aquatic center. Only problem is that it is popular. So it gets crowded.

Positive experience: This is a large centre with lots of amenities. The gym is good and the pool is one of the best. Great for everyone.

Fantastic experience: We attended a Masters Swim meet.The facility was clean and organized. The staff were welcoming and knowledgeable.

Negative experience: Our kid wanted to celebrate Thier 13th birthday in Nanaimo. We did the trampoline park and they chose swimming with Thier friends at this pool mainly because it's advertised in the website as onw of the largest wave pools in Western Canada. That they have 3 awesome water slides. And that they had a fun pirate ship structure with climbing net and water sprays. We went during a everyone welcome session. There were no waves sessions. The water slides were all out of order and apparently they removed the pirate ship play structure. Needless to say, the kids were all pretty upset about it. Would not recommend and would suggest they uodate the official website.

Fantastic experience: Went for my nephews swim meet and I found the facility to be clean and the staff friendly and professional.

Fantastic experience: Went for a provincial swim meet. Pool was really deep and huge. Awesome wave pool and 3 waterslides. Basically a kid's dream

Negative experience: I’m very disappointed with the Nanaimo aquatics centre. I have been going there a long time and I can’t believe how cold it is in the change rooms and pool area itself. Once you leave the shower from the change room you are frozen before you can get into the pool which in my opinion would be fine if the pool was a bit warmer but really they should just heat the building so it’s not so uncomfortably cold.

Fantastic experience: Worst soup EVER!!!! Tasted like chlorine and urine!!! Seriously though, great place to take the kids for 2-3 hours of cheap entertainment.

Positive experience: One of the better aquatic centers on the island. However, over the last couple years it's gotten overcrowded in the evenings and they no longer have the extended hours which used to be perfect for those who don't want to be around screaming kids.

Fantastic experience: Every single thing about our visit was good. The facility was clean, great customer service, and the pool, hot tub, sauna and steam options are great !!

Fantastic experience: Me and my daughter spent a lovely evening at this establishment it's very family friendly and comfortable atmosphere. The most important part it the first interaction you get with a employee at any place if business in this case it was Michelle a amazing cashier that has amazing service and is very kind and helpful I highly recommend going here especially when she is working this establishment should be proud to have a great person working there thanks Michelle for a great experience.

Fantastic experience: Love this pool for a weekend workout and swim with the kids, altho I heard they were putting in a new play structure over their cleaning period and we came back and in its place was just a boulder sized play rock for kids to climb on, I guess? It was comical but at the same time wondering if they plan on adding anything more exciting :)

Positive experience: The Pool was a great place to spend a few hours. The waterslides where fun and not crazy busy. I love that there is a sauna and steam room. The waves where not huge and there was a good break between sets. the hottb was really warm and a great way to relex. I would recommend for visitors or locals to stop by for a swim.

Fantastic experience: This place is awesome. Water slides, the strongest lazy river ever! Wave pool. Friendly staff. What more could the parent of a 7 year old need??

Positive experience: Really good experience though I do reccomend looking at the calendar schedule before going and calling to see if anyone has booked the diving board area or any specific part of the pool!

Positive experience: After a workout I was told I couldn't go outside for air before my swim or they'd charge me again! They really are unfriendly

Negative experience: Poorly maintained and closed frequently due to inability to manage staff and building. The equipment and children’s play area is also in disrepair and the paint chipping falls onto the water where it can get in the kids eyes or mouth.

Fantastic experience: It was fun and the staff is really kind to everyone, no matter the age difference, they are also really nice to kids and it's a good place to just leave your kids if you need a break

Positive experience: The kids had fun. Some good pool games too. Great to have the wave pool on after we arrived. The lazy river will suck you in and not let you, so coming around pay attention and grab hold to pull yourself out. Just be careful on the wet floor coming out of change rooms.

Negative experience: I don’t know how competitive or advanced swimmers train here? The fastest lane had people who clearly weren’t in there to swim constantly. It’s impossible to get into rhythm More and more pools are catering to overweight folks who think dancing with pool noodles is lap swimming. More pools are reducing their long course times. It looked like this place was different but it’s just like the rest of the aquatics centers these days.

Positive experience: Persons who helped me about my leap made it easy and not confusing as my brain needs simple explanations really was helpful

Fantastic experience: Nanaimo Aquatic Centre is amazing! So open and bright, the wave pool is fun for the kids and the young at heart. The hot tub, sauna, and steam rooms are really wonderful. The lap pool is a lower temp, and the lengths are Olympic length. And, of course, there are diving boards and foam canoes! NAC is a wonderful pool!

Fantastic experience: My kids think this is the best pool we have been to on Vancouver island, yet.

Fantastic experience: Super busy but best pool in Nanaimo! 3 waterslides, steam room, sauna, large hot tub, wave pool with a whirlpool, length swimming pool which also has diving boards.

Positive experience: nice gym with good equipment. locker room has a shortage of usable (lockable) lockers that require tokens instead of coins .

Fantastic experience: Good facilities. Much better than the smaller Beban Park. Very clean throughout. Even a handy spin dryer for your wet clothes in the changing rooms.

Fantastic experience: Excellent facility for all your swimming needs. Pools, slides, saunas, diving boards, playstructures and more. Great job on the play elements Whitewater Amusements.

Negative experience: Not sure why you would close on the days where young children aren't in school. Weekends are for swimming. So disappointing!!!! Paying your staff to quite literally stand around. This place used to be quality. Big boo!!!!

Fantastic experience: Awesome water slides, wave pool, lengths, and wading pools! Clean. Quality staff.

Fantastic experience: Fabulous! The wave pool is a lovely warm spot to hang out with a fairly even depth throughout (ranging from 0.8m to 1.2m). The lazy river is propelled by air - all the ones I've been to used water jets - so it's a fun experience; especially sitting in the central circle which feels like feathers. A large boat-shaped play structure completes the "fun" area. The large lap pool has a variable depth floor at one end and diving boards at the other. The water is cooler than the wave pool, which is perfect for laps. The hot tub is large and very warm. A dry sauna and a steam room complete the choices to warm up after a swim. The art hanging from the ceiling is beautiful! It really adds to the ambiance.

Negative experience: Something needs to be done about the lost and found and how to properly retrieve your items so that someone doesn't just steal your items. All of my stuff was retrieved except for my 4 year old daughters underwear. Please have the person describe in full detail exactly what they left behind before allowing them to search the bins. Now god knows who has my child's underwear. As a parent you know damn well what underwear your child is wearing so this wasn't a mistake from another parent. I will never come back here. Seeing as there have been reports of a man identifying as a woman probably just to watch women and children.

Fantastic experience: Lots of fun, great place to take your kids. Lots of space and always something to do. Great Fun

Negative experience: This place is the absolute worst! The management and staff are despicable. We had an issue where a friend's daughter witnessed a man servicing himself in the "river" area, they told the lifeguards but the staff refused to do anything about the man, not even calling the police. The staff blamed the children for leaving the area where the man was saying it was their fault for not doing anything. We found out about it when we picked the children up and were outraged by their actions. The management were concerned about their reputation more than the children's safety. Another incident happened where a man was looking under the stalls in the women's change rooms at children and they refused to do anything because he wasn't being a danger to others. Do not allow your children to be there unattended, they will certainly be at a higher risk of being violated at the Aquatic Center.

Positive experience: Nice pool with waves and slides, jacuzzi and sauna. Cons: too busy, water in the pool doesn't get changed only filtered, too much chlorine,

Positive experience: The staff was friendly, the pool was fairly quiet so it was easy to converse with others. Only downside was the hot tub jet were weak, lazy river ones were powerful though.

Negative experience: has seemed to have done nothing about or speak out about the multiple reports of the same person lurking, watching people, and harassing women AND CHILDREN in the change rooms. to care more about violating the human rights of someone who looked under a stall at a 9 year old girl than the actual violation of the 9 year old girl is so shameful. this is a predatory issue and should not be focused on their gender or what they identify as, regardless of what they identify as, they are violating other peoples rights to privacy and preying on children.

Positive experience: I wish the showers could be hotter. They are Luke warm now at best. Also having the waves on during the day on a Friday would be awesome. My kid goes to a school that is 4 days a week and would be nice to have a day where it is not so busy to go and enjoy them.

Negative experience: Every time I go here they tell me the hot tub is closed, the pool is closed, we're short staffed. It just goes on and on. I I'm actually considering canceling my membership because every time I go here there is a problem!

Fantastic experience: Great pool with enough to entertain my 5 and 9 year olds for hours!

Positive experience: Great facility, very clean. The only downside is that the facility was at maximum capacity so there was a long wait to get in.

Fantastic experience: Our family regularly visits NAC. This visit tonight is our first of the year! The kids had a blast hubby and i did too. Thank you lifeguards for keeping the kids safe and happy

Fantastic experience: Super fun for families! Lots of space in the leisure pool with a nice shallow end for kids. The tugboat spray park and lazy river are both great. Waves and water slides turn on later in the day for bigger kids. Lots of parking and big family change room.

Positive experience: Clean chaingeing rooms. The shower temperature is intermittently hot and cold.

Positive experience: Great place for their hot tub. Their life guards are extremely rude though.

Positive experience: Great place to go for a freeswim or better yet an awesome gym to go take our all the stress of the week

Fantastic experience: Wonderful place, friendly and knowledgeable staff who knows how to deal with large crowds . Clean showers and changing rooms. Well maintained pools and facilities.

Positive experience: I stopped by after work hoping to grab a quick bite to eat...there is no more concession stand (Sharkies) Otherwise the pool and gym are great

Fantastic experience: Pool and hot tub are a great size. Staff are helpful and the change rooms are a good size