I've been going to Carson off and on for more than 40 years. I've always enjoyed its funky atmosphere but particularly enjoy the mineral water soaks and swimming pool. I went with my daughter the other day and was saddened at how the newer management has let things down.
The pro's:
You can still get a soak and wrap in a private tub.
You can still pay by the hour to use the pool.
The lobby offers free tea, water, and coffee while you wait.
Hotel room nightly rentals include unlimited use of the pool.
Massages are available with advance booking.
The resort has a restaurant up at the golf course.
The con's:
They have decided to do away with reservations and go by walk-in, first come first serve basis. The leads to a back-log, pile up situation. When you drive an hour or more to get there, the last thing you want is to discover you are going to have to wait a couple of hours and then have your reservation still be late by 20 minutes.
The bath house staff are overwhelmed, probably due to understaffing. They kept us waiting for several minutes, after already being 20 minutes behind, while the one stressed out woman on duty raced around cleaning tubs, wrapping up folk who gad chosen the combo, re-filling tubs, handling laundry, checking people in. She then forgot me in my tub after my 25 minutes soak while she served others. After an hour and ten minutes I just climbed out. I never got my wrap.
The massage technicians are varied in skill and approach. At my last massage, I ended up with a mediocre massage delivered by someone who seemed to have no more than a perfunctory knowledge of body mechanics and technique. At the price charged I expected more.
The restaurant is pricey; also mediocre. You will do better at one of the few places in Carson--the cute coffee/sandwich joint with real food, or the brewpub. Or find the food cart at the end of town by the mill.
The housekeepers do a good job on the rooms, which are very basic; overpriced for what they are.
They discontinued "women identified only" hours at the pool, which were popular. I shared the pool with a group of Russian Old Believers once who are too modest for co-ed bathing. Its a big loss.
--It doesn't make me happy to write this review. It makes me less happy to see how this once smooth running, accessible, local attraction has fallen into a sort of money making vacuum. Hopefully, its just a phase and they'll return to quality and service based values as once existed there. read more