We have had a fantastic experience here! The facility is great--the pool and locker rooms are…read morealways clean and well maintained. One of the biggest pluses is the water temperature; it's perfectly warm, which makes a huge difference for kids getting into the water. Most importantly, the instructors are incredibly kind and patient. They truly know how to work with children and build their confidence. Highly recommend!

My experience at CRA started out great but has gone downhill, and currently, I'm really…read moredisappointed. When I started last summer, I had a great instructor and learned a lot. I continued on after the summer, paying $200.00/month for adult small group lessons. Some of the lessons were cancelled due to "black-out dates" or swim meets. Other lessons involved substitute instructors, some good and others who seemed young, inexperienced and lacking in teaching skills. CRA states that "there are occasional dates on which programming is cancelled. These interruptions are taken into account when calculating monthly tuition." So there were at least 9 cancelled classes and it is hard to wrap my head around the math - it seems like a few months, we were paying $100.00/class. I guess the money spent is OK if the instruction is consistently top-notch, but not if it is otherwise. Recently, there was an abrupt change in swimming instructors, and I wanted to talk to someone in management about it. I wrote two emails, waited a week, and was promised a call which I never received. So I'm finishing out my time with CRA since I already paid $200.00 for the final month of May, but as I said, I am SO disappointed and will likely not return. It is a real bummer. Follow-up: The new director of aquatic programming finally called me back and it was one of the most unsatisfying conversations I've ever had. He doesn't listen in an open-minded way and has canned answers. Although I doubt he has taken lessons with the instructors at CRA, I was wrong and ALL the instructors have the same level of expertise and can provide the programming I need. He had no desire to really listen to my concerns. Any nuanced people skills are woefully non-existent. I think CRA has hired the wrong person for the job.

My daughter spent quite a long time in this program and had little progress. The instructors were…read moreconstantly changed (frequently with little notice) so there was almost no consistency. In the group lessons the kids played and didn't pay attention and there seemed to be no order. In the private lessons, the instructors were often late, cutting the lesson short (sometimes up to a third the length of the lesson). Rescheduling lessons was a nightmare and simple questions like what the class schedule was was convoluted and shrouded in mystery as I could often not get any clear answers. I highly recommend against this program.

Amazing program. My kids are now terrific swimmers after starting as newbies. Program focuses on…read morewater safety and stroke technique. They break down the achievements into granular parts. Kids receive a sticker for each thing they achieve. It is very motivating and leads to mastery. I highly recommend.

Just had my first AquaMobile swim lesson. Was a little nervous about it since I had never heard of…read moreit before. Minutes after scheduling my lesson, I got a very nice phone call from the Instructor, Tara R., who confirmed the lesson. She was able to answer any questions I had, as well as asked me what I hoped my sons would want to get out of the lessons. It's amazing how you don't have to do anything, the instructor comes right to your house! First lesson went amazing, the instructor showed up right on time and had a whole lesson plan set for the hour. I was able to follow along with her. Highly recommend Aquamobile!

My 5 year old daughter has been attending Little Flippers now for a little over 2 years and I…read morecouldn't be happier. She has worked her way up from a being a non-swimmer to a strong swimmer knowing several stroke styles. For example, when she was 4 she was swimming the length of a pool while her older cousins were still using a life vest and a little timid. My siblings remarked on her ability. I have Little Flippers to thank. I appreciate how a few classes during a session they teach survival skills with the kids coming fully clothed and doing safety drills and skills. Heaven forbid something should happen, I feel confident that my daughter has enough knowledge on what to do. I truly appreciate and highly recommend Little Flippers to anyone interested.

Toward the end of a recent class, the "deck supervisor" approached my six-year-old child, while…read morestill in the pool and told her, in front of an entire pool full of children, that she "didn't do a good enough job" and wasn't moving up to the next class with the rest of her group. Then, when the kids left the pool, this same deck supervisor approached me, interrupting my consoling of my hysterical daughter and told me the same thing. She said, and I quote because this has stuck with me "your daughter didn't do good enough and she needs to stay in level 1". My daughter repeated it back to me. "Daddy, I didn't do good enough." And that broke my heart. That class is 30 minutes long. The deck supervisor could have approached me any time to talk to me privately and let me break the news to my daughter. The school could have sent us a message through their parent portal. They could have called or emailed us. But this "supervisor" chose to embarrass and belittle my daughter in front of dozens of other kids, and then again in front of the children's parents. The next day, I'd finally processed what had happened and the shock had worn off. I called the school and asked to speak to the manager. I was told he was on another call and he'd call me back. I never heard back. I called again on Tuesday and was told the same thing. He'd call me back. Wednesday and Thursday, my calls were met with the same "he'll call you back." Surprisingly, I never heard a word from the school until my wife left a negative review online. And suddenly, they care about the experience. They don't care that they traumatized my daughter to the point where she not only had nightmares for a week straight but specifically asked to never return to swim class because she didn't "want to see the mean lady." An absolutely unprofessional and unapologetic place that you should avoid at all costs.

Not safe for your child or your family. Not sanitary. Unacceptable administrative staff behavior…read more Stay away at all costs

When my son first joined Goldfish Needham, he spent two years stuck at the same level until I…read morerequested an assessment from management. Several friends of mine had similar experiences. We eventually left for another swim school. This summer, we decided to give Goldfish another try since it's close by and his current school is undergoing renovations. Unfortunately, we didn't see any improvements. I enrolled him in group lessons, but I noticed little progress and a lack of attention from the instructors. His final lesson this summer was supposed to be two private sessions scheduled back-to-back. Instead, each session started with about 10 minutes wasted as the instructors tried to figure out which lane he should be in, what level he belonged to, and who his private instructor was--even though all of that information was clearly available in my app. I had to step onto the pool deck to help resolve the confusion, and at one point an instructor even argued with me about my son's level because her clipboard didn't match what was in the app. Eventually, another staff member confirmed that I was correct. As a result, I paid $200, but my son only received about 40 minutes of actual instruction out of the 60 I paid for. That was the final straw. I voiced my concerns at the front desk in front of what appeared to be both the location manager and the pool deck supervisor, but neither acknowledged me or attempted to engage. I'm not sure if they truly didn't hear me, but given the small space, it felt dismissive. No one offered to make up for the lost lesson time caused by their disorganization. The whole experience felt like a rip-off and an example of very poor business practices. I had hoped that paying a premium for private lessons would lead to a better experience, but it was actually worse than the group classes. Last year, my son had a great private instructor who was highly experienced, so clearly the quality depends entirely on who you get. In my opinion, only experienced instructors should be assigned to private lessons, especially since the cost is more than double the group rate. Bottom line: If your goal is simply for your child to be comfortable in the water and play around, Goldfish might be fine. But if you care about steady progression, I would not recommend it. They do a poor job of tracking swimmer progress, largely because instructors rotate so frequently. And based on conversations with friends at other locations, this isn't just a Needham issue--it's a franchise-wide problem. One friend told me his daughter learned more in two weeks of summer camp than in two years at Goldfish. From my perspective, their strategy seems clear: keep students at the same level as long as possible to maximize revenue, rather than focusing on progress.

I've only remained a member because I mostly utilize the better clubs on my work commute such as…read moreChestnut Hill and Burlington, which are far superior. Worn out and tired looking MetroWest is still bottom of the barrel and in need of several updates. Lifetime MetroWest cannot seem to find good YOGA INSTRUCTORS. They've had them in the past and there are a couple that are good now but most of these classes by good instructors such as Brianda, have been replaced with an inferior, seemingly inexperienced yoga instructor named Caitlin. She seems nice. But she talks too much, too fast and really cannot conduct a yoga class for her life. Yogi's are supposed to be Zen, not chatty and all over the place. They keep plugging her in to new classes and nobody knows why. She's a dreadful teacher gives poor instruction, please replace her.

Great club but I wanted to give a huge thumbs-up for Mia -- her classes and her energy are…read moreincredible. She's a major asset to the Framingham club, and a big part of why we stay members. I get so much energy out of her classes that I wanted to give her a shout out.

David and the team at Determination Aquatics are true professionals: knowledgeable, reliable, easy…read moreto work with and generous with their time and expertise. I could not be more appreciative and pleased with the work they have done for me both in terms of running meets and helping me troubleshoot using difficult software. I recommend this company highly for all of your swim competition/timing needs.

I've belonged to a lot if gyms and this one is great. It has a large space and there is a ton of…read moreequipment for lifting and cardio. Glad I joined. Make sure you sign up for some personal training with Brian. Good guy who will get you in shape. I high recommend.

After joining they closed the pool and hot tub- they closed the spin cycle room and switched to a…read morePilates room which you need to pay extra for- they rent out the yoga room to an outside Physical therapy group for a large part of the day and they closed the child care center. They don't consistently maintain the equipment - when things break the repair can take an extensive period of time. All of this with no change in the membership fees. One other sad note I might add is that the men's bathroom is filthy.