My 4 year old has completed a month of lessons at one of the Brooklyn locations and we are so happy…read morewith our experience! He was very nervous to get in the water, but his instructor Mr. Keith is a miracle worker! He is so patient and friendly and skilled at what seems like an impossible job of teaching two tiny kids to swim! My child has gained so much confidence in such a short time, and even though he is still nervous he is always excited to go to the lessons. I highly recommend this business!

i have registered two of my children there in quinten rd Brooklyn NY. I wished I never registered…read moremy children there waist of my money and my time. they don't teach anything but none stop talking to each other teachers. All I would say to new friends who is going to look for swimming class DO NOT registe!!!!

My toddler has been taking lessons from Take me to the Water for about 2 years. He absolutely…read moreadores his instructor, Ms T and the life guard is great! Soooo grateful for both of them.

My two kids learned how to swim through this program and I highly recommend them. One of my sons…read morehas autism and he can be quite tricky to teach. But we found an instructor who really understood how to meet him where he is and our son's swimming skills have grown exponentially due specifically to this one teacher. We have been very pleased with all the skills. They have acquired here, and I would highly recommend them to any family with young children who are looking for a great school to induct their children into swimming skills.

We have been to many swimming classes and why I like this program is for a few reasons. First the…read morelocation is good for us, there's ample free parking right outside. The schedule fits us and it is an hour long swimming lesson! I never understood the half an hour group classes, I mean the kids gets wet and wait for their term and few laps later it is over. This place is reasonable in pricing and also I see results. The pool is small but it is great for kids or timid adults ( yes you can take classes along your kids!) I think all kids need to learn how to swim for safety reasons and this is a great place to get them started.

-Location: It has free parking!!! Easy drive off belt parkway…read more -Facility: Old but functional, best part is they keep the heat on very high so the kids won't feel too cold when they are out of the water. -Program: I do recommend it! They have certain criteria/position kids need to be able to perform in order to advance to the next level. Parents can watch the class! Their office is also very helpful and easy reachable. My kids (5yo) are comfortable swimming freestyle and backstroke after 4 months (2 session-16 classes)and I can see their progress. Before joining I tried to teach them myself for few month without success, but they were comfortable to be in the water when they started. -Teacher: I can't thank enough to the wonderful teachers there. I am kind of parent that result means a lot, I like the teachers pushing the kids to do their best, challenging themselves to do more, yet keeping them safe & interested. All the teacher there are look out for the kids best interest. Carlos and Adrian C has been my kids teacher for the 2 sessions that we've been there and my kids love them, always wanting to come to class and most importantly, they learned how to swim!! Overall is a well run program that I am happy my kids are there.

My daughter loves going to swimming lessons there. I can see amazing progress and love people who…read morework there- very kind and professional .

Our daughter has been going to this location consistently for 3 years and prior to that she went to…read moreanother location. The swim instruction has been 4-5 stars. She's learned so much and she's a really good swimmer. In the beginning we frequently had different instructors, but she's been with the same man (Michael!) for a long time now. She loves him and she has learned so much with him. He truly cares about teaching the kids and he works with them at the level where they are. We anticipate our child will go on to be on a swim team at some point - and we attribute this to her teacher, who has helped her learn and thrive. The facility of this location is in an apartment building. The pool area is not well maintained by the building. It's important to note that the swim school/company rents this space from them and has no control over the maintenance other than making sure the pool chemical levels are in check. They are not responsible for the building, the cleaning, or even the supplies. I know this because I have asked many times and they have no control. Yes, of course they choose to rent here, but in NYC are there really that many options? The pool itself is great and we try to think of it that way - swimming pools and classes are hard to find here, especially for a good price. So we have stayed here all these years, with the facilities being underwhelming for sure, because the instructors and pool is good. I have interacted with the swim school administration as well. They are good, and have actually been willing to accommodate our requests, help us to find lost items, and listened to feedback. They offer makeup classes if you miss one, which many places do not. I've also seen the lifeguard in action and know that safety here is a priority. Overall, I'd recommend to people, as long as they know the place isn't super pretty or fancy and are okay with that. Again, the swim company doesn't actually control this at all, and while that sucks, it's true.

As someone with no water experience and who feels uncomfortable in the water, I don't think this…read moreclass is suitable for people in a similar situation. The class is divided into beginner and more advanced groups, but even in the beginner group, I didn't receive enough attention. When other "beginners" progressed quickly, it was easy for me to fall behind. And when you are clearly struggling, there isn't enough guidance from the instructors, so you often end up just practicing on your own without much direction. The instructors are very friendly, but if you are like me--completely inexperienced or not comfortable in the water--I wouldn't really recommend this class.

If you had told me a year ago that I'd be floating in a pool -- willingly, happily, and without the…read moresecurity of solid ground beneath my feet -- I would've laughed... and maybe cried a little. I spent most of my life avoiding the deep end like it was filled with sharks. Water and I were not on speaking terms. Honestly, I would've preferred two back-to-back dentist appointments over a single swim class. Enter Swim Easy New York -- aka the miracle workers: Krystoff, Evelyn, and Isabela. These three absolute legends took an adult who used to treat puddles like potential death traps and taught me not just the basics, but how to tread water, how to stay calm without feeling the bottom, and -- wait for it -- how to jump off the edge of the pool into the deep end. Let me say that again: I JUMPED INTO THE DEEP END. On purpose. For someone who spent a lifetime cautiously stepping away from the edge and praying never to fall in, that moment was nothing short of a mental breakthrough. My heart was pounding so hard I could hear it in my ears... but I did it. And YEYYY ME. What sets Swim Easy apart isn't just the amazing instructors -- though they are truly amazing. Krystoff is basically the James Bond of swim teachers: calm, cool, and in total control. Evelyn is like your personal hype squad with the patience of a saint, and Isabela radiates so much warmth and encouragement that you feel like an Olympian just for showing up. But the structure of the program is what really makes it stand out. Unlike most places where you're locked into one class a week, Swim Easy lets you take as many classes as you want. I personally went with two a week to help reinforce what I was learning. It made a huge difference. They also offer a variety of time slots, including classes starting as late as 5 PM, until 7.15 pm which is perfect if you work a 9-to-5. And the best part? It's super affordable, especially for the level of personal attention and support you get -- and the caliber of instructors you're learning from. I've laughed, panicked a little, swallowed enough pool water to qualify as a human sponge -- but I've learned to swim. And more than that, I actually enjoy being in the water now. That's something I never thought I'd say in this lifetime. If you've been putting it off, telling yourself it's too scary or too late -- please, just go to one class. That's all it takes to see how different this place is. They'll teach you, encourage you, and help you do things you never imagined you could. They changed my life. I think they'll change yours too.

I have been swimming with Red Tide for several years. I have met some of the most amazing and fun…read morefriends here. The coaches are experienced and work to create challenging, original practices. Red Tide has a great swim program while also being social. Whether you join for the physical challenge, or to casually stay fit (or bounce between them) this team has it for you! You don't have to be an amazing swimmer either - I joined and never swam open water and was a sprinter. I ended up swimming a 10 K in Vermont! I love this team!

Saw the reviews stating all levels are welcome, so I invited a few of my friends but they hesitated…read moremostly because of the word "masters" in the name. Nevertheless, I went by myself but I have decided that I will not be coming back because the coach wasn't teaching and it was not a swimming class. I had told the coach that I'm rusty and I would like to refresh my skill and that I wasn't comfortable in the deep end (15') but would like to work on that. Rather she put me in the slow lane and told me to play around and get comfortable with the water while she stood and focused most of her attention on the faster lanes and chatting away. There's a list of laps & styles she said I could follow, which was located on the board near the fast lane & very far from the slow lane, making it almost unreadable. So I wasted my hour learning absolutely nothing and only doing things that I would typically do at the pool in the gym... only thing is that in the gym I can swim to the end of the pool while in this one I could only swim halfway since half of the pool is 15' deep. Another perk about the gym pool over this is the amenities in the locker / changing room. One of the swimmers told me to use YouTube to learn and how it's better than the coaches. MISC. INFO.: - located inside John Jay College. - your first swim is free, you just need to show up and sign the waiver. - bring your lock, towel, flip-flops, shower supplies, etc. - $260 for a monthly unlimited if you decide to sign up, $30 per class if you don't want the commitment, $28 per class ($140 total) if you want to get the 5-class pass, and $210 a month if you want to lock in for 6 months unlimited, which is transferable to your friends or family if anything comes up. - $100 annual membership with Red Tide and a $70 annual membership with USMS are required before signing up. Overall, I will not be returning after going over the pros and cons between the gym pool and the pool here. But if you are advanced and don't have much to work on, by all means, go. They have daily swim with exception of Sunday, which makes it flexible.

I have been a member at the Prospect Park YMCA since 2021, and this has got to be the most poorly…read moremanaged YMCA I have ever been to. I stayed a member for so long because it's a convenient walk from my house, but I recently left here to join the Life Time and I couldn't be happier. Here's the good, the bad, and the ugly from my experience. The good: The pool. You really cannot get this anywhere else in/around Park Slope. That said, it is often crowded, with 4+ swimmers per lane, and the swim lane etiquette is not the best. They have lanes divided by speed - low, low/medium, medium, and fast - but basically I've found there is one fast lane, and all of the rest are slow. It feels like the fast-lane users are either former Olympic / Masters level swimmers, so I have to be in this awful position where I'm getting passed all the time in the fast lane, yet people get angry with me for going too fast in the other lanes. That's just my experience though. The bad: The free weight room. Basically, everything is overcrowded, and the etiquette is horrible. The free weight room has ONE power rack, which is insane for such a large gym. This is compounded by the hoards of teenagers that camp at the gym during peak time, sometimes leading to long queues to use any of the equipment. And the etiquette is some of the worst I have seen. People leave weights lying around on the floor or haphazardly put plates back wherever they feel, leading to a ton of clutter and general chaos. There is usually an attendant in the free weight room, yet they do absolutely nothing. Generally, the staff sucks. They do not greet you and just generally seem disinterested except when they are talking amongst themselves. The ugly: The locker rooms are just horrendous. Everything is filthy with dust everywhere. The lockers are super outdated, busted and rusting all over. There are often cockroaches in the dry sauna. But the worst is the showers. I think that was the final straw for me. It genuinely feels like a prison shower in that half the shower curtains are missing, and I even saw a bunch of blood on one of them. The ceiling is covered in mold; they don't even bother to paint over it. I don't need much, but I at least expect a clean and pest-free locker room. The state of it is shameful honestly. There is also no towel service, which is insane for how much you pay. Meanwhile, Harbor Fitness has towels, and the membership there is $76/month. All of this would be fine out of a low-cost, no-frills gym, but the cost of the regular individual membership is $96 per month, which is just out of line. The value is practically non-existent. They will also try to scam you when you try to cancel, saying there is a 15-day notice period, despite that being against the law in NYS. Bottom line, do yourself a favor and don't join this gym.

I have been a loyal patron of this gym for about ~3ish years but only recently started taking my…read moremembership seriously in the past year and started going here regularly. This gym is the best gym in the area by miles and I thoroughly enjoy my workouts here. Yoga classes are super fun, I love the instructors and unlike a lot of other gyms this place is truly home to a community. I enjoy seeing people of all ages and walks of life work out here, it's truly amazing and representative of the neighborhood. The high schoolers can be super annoying in the weight room and I know the staff has worked to curb their rowdiness by assigning them specific hours. I've heard a lot about towel service that used to be here but I've never experienced it, that would be nice to have back. The steam room and sauna are an absolute God send in the locker rooms and I really enjoy that the large pool has been segmented to avoid conflict with other swimmers. I've noticed if anything is out of order it doesn't stay that way for too long which I absolutely love. It's understandable in a big facility like this things will go out of order but maintenance is definitely on top of everything and deserves a shout out. It used to annoy me that the gym closed early but they definitely listened and extended their hours recently till 10 PM which I also greatly appreciate!!

I am in my early 30s and have a fear of water. Though I know it is possible I just could not bring…read moremy legs to come up and move around in the pool. I was encouraged by my husband to learn how to swim again after a bad experience from swimming lessons when I was a child. I contacted Lori and one statement she said stuck to me, "You will not be afraid, if you have an exit strategy." She put me in touch with Craig and when we met up for my first lesson, he just said: "As long as you trust me and trust yourself, I can probably get you to float during your first lesson." I honestly thought that he was quite ambitious. I had a two hour lesson and Craig spent the first part of the lesson getting me comfortable in the water and explaining to me theoretically how the water can work to your favor. I told Craig that my biggest fear was the front float as I was extremely uncomfortable with my face in the water. He explained to me that when I take my makeup off and wash my face in the shower at night, I had to hold my breath. He told me to treat it as it was the same routine. I held my breath and dunked my face in the water knowing that he was right there. Then, he proceeded to hold my hand and told me to try again and this time lifting my legs up. Lastly, he said, "When you first saw me, you gave me a hug...I assumed you liked me enough, that's why you leaned forward to give me a hug." "Why don't you try again, come towards me...trust me I won't let anything happen to you." And I guess, that was it...I looked at him, held my breath, and leaned in towards him and there it was I floated...just like that. I had a total of 4 (2 hour long) lessons with Craig. Currently, I am able to partially do the breast stroke, free-style, and float on my front and back. I've still got lots to work on and plan to continue my swimming journey with Craig, but I never knew I was able to do it until Lori and Craig encouraged me that I can. If you are an adult with a fear of water, but is eager to learn how to swim, please consider Aqua Skills. If you trust Craig/Lori and yourself, you can definitely do it.

I learned enough here to enjoy some shallow pool swimming, which I'm truly grateful for,…read moreconsidering how I wouldn't even set foot in a pool before taking these classes. However, for the price, I could've probably learned much more elsewhere. Most of the instructors here are great; patient, friendly, and professional. But I'm sorry to have to join in the chorus with others and agree that the owner, Lori, is a terror. She sets a hostile environment, constantly screaming at her boyfriend, Craig, and interrupting lessons. The way that she communicates with her staff is simply weird and disrespectful. I've heard her disparage the instructors to students. Other times, I'll hear her TALK TO HERSELF out loud and say things like, "I''ve been doing this for 15 years, I know what I'm talking about, no need to make a big deal about this" - - the look on her employees' faces after these bizarre statements is one of resignation and confusion, because they must be used to her passive aggressive style, yet bewildered by her snide remarks. I'm not describing constructive criticism expressed harshly, I'm describing a woman who gossips and complains about her employees to students. So everyone is minding their own business, teaching and learning, and then out of nowhere she'll just scream at Craig, or say something snarky to/about her instructors for no apparent reason. One time, Craig, who was really kind to me, mentioned that I should come in ten minutes earlier just to warm up. I thought that was nice, so I did. I'm in the pool, and I see Lori get out and go to Craig and loudly complain to him how it's not okay to allow students to start early. It was passive aggressive and rude. I arrived 10 minutes early only once, and only because Craig offered. But even if he was mistaken, it would have been fine if she simply just told me that they couldn't accommodate. The pool can be busy. I get it; too many people in the pool would be disruptive to students who paid for their sessions. Instead, she chose the childish tantrum route and talked about me in front of me. This made me so uncomfortable that I wanted to quit immediately. I stayed because I was determined to learn. You will see from her response below that she's not one for healthy conflict resolution or professional propriety. It is disturbing how she lies as a defense. It means a lot to customers when they see that an owner cannot own up to a mistake. See photo of screenshot I posted: Lori edited her comments to my review 21 times. Each iteration more bizarre and divorced from reality than before. Obsessing over her response is not only creepy but the end result becomes contrived. Does it take 21+ attempts to make herself appear right? It became almost humorous so I took screenshots of her versions of alternate realities. She kept erasing her comments after I called out each lie. Thanks to all former students who messaged me to support my review. It's true that Lori is her own worst enemy. I would have left my review at 3 stars had she not been so relentlessly vindictive. Those who are ambivalent about this place can find many more testimonials on the TimeOut New York site: https://www.timeout.com/newyork/sport-fitness/aqua-skills#tab_panel_4