I love this gym friendly staff / environment and cool classes it's definantly under control and they have zumba I give it 5 stars a must try.. its also very clean compared to planet fitness. read more

Amazing! Staff very freindley, place very clean and most important you get so much for less. I love this place. read more

I joined a few days after it opened. Wait time to register was UNREAL. First two or so weeks were chaotic... classes overbooked, people walking around aimlessly, not sure where to go... workers walking around aimlessly trying to find a solution to inevitable problems... After being a member for 2+ months, things have gotten better. Taking classes early in the day seems to be the way to go. Afternoon and weekend classes are PACKED. You need to arrive at least 15 minutes earlier to claim a "spot" anywhere. I've used the childcare drop off facility, but it's a small room designed to hold up to 20 kids. Crazy when you consider you have over 1,000 people registered to use the gym. It's hit or miss... sometimes you can get your kid in, most times you can't. When it works for you, it's great... you can work out stress free. When it doesn't, you pack up and go back home, unless you've got someone else to watch your children. Did I mention your child (children) also have to be members to take advantage of child watch? Keep that in mind or you'll be in for a rude awakening. Pool is nice but remember: the greater the chlorine smell, the dirtier the pool. Let's just say that the pool is pretty fragrant - at all times. Locker room is great, both the family and women's rooms. I agree they could have more benches but if you can grab a stool, you're usually good. Steam room and sauna are nice (if you can ignore the chatterboxes that seem to want to converse nonstop while trying to relax). While they've recently added some classes for kids, I'd like to see more programming for them. I agree the teenagers can be problematic. But what can you do? They're kids... better in the gym mouthing off than stealing someone's pocketbook down the street... Overall, good facility. I think once the novelty wears off, it'll be great... and worthy of more than 3 stars. read more

I frequent the facility 3 -4 times a week every week and I've never had a problem finding parking, experienced overcrowding, or unruly people. The staff is friendly; I've never seen or heard children running around screaming and curing or teens just milling about. The YMCA is a beautiful facility has a wonderful family environment. It's a great place to spend quality time getting healthy and meeting people. It's multi cultured & ethnic environment is what help make the place joy to attend as most people I've met are very nice, helpful with giving tips on how to get healthy and accommodating when it comes to giving advice on how to get and stay fit and how to use equipment. Knowing from experience how some folk are, I get the feeling that if they Y were located in let's say predominately White Rockaway Park or Breezy Point and not in predominately African American Arverne, the negative comments would be nonexistent. Some people seem to never pass up an opportunity to spew hatred and find negativity. My one complaint is the roof construction, it has leaks and my understanding from staff is that they are aware of it and is working on resolving the problem, otherwise, all is good! Thanks Y for being in the community! read more

I joined the YMCA on 09/2014. The place is not overcrowded I have been to the gym during the morning, afternoon and during the night and I have not face any problems. The place is very clean and I'm always able to find parking. It is well under control now. read more

So i went back today because my girlfriends begged me to join with them and to give it another try. They didnt believe me before but they damn sure do now. We all want to work out together before summer and even have our kids join into some activity. But thats not going to happen. First off the place is over, over, over crowded, and I heard its like that all the time. Plus this time teenagers were running everywhere taking pictures on the equipment while people stood waiting to use it, some where just hanging out in the halls talking loud like they were on a street corner. And yet ofcourse the vulgar profanity users sitting right by the pool area cursing in front of kids couldnt of been missed. Then their were a bunch of kids running full speed up and down the halls into other people while the kids mothers just stood up talking to each other, as if it was nothing for them to behave so badly. Please go by and tell me if a bunch of teenagers are not walking doing nothing. One teenage girl even spit right on the gym floor in front of us. I swear to you this is not a lie. She actually spit right on the gym floor. i am sorry but some people just have no respect for their surroundings. I really wanted to give this place 5 stars & I wanted badly to enjoy it with my family and friends because we live so close. But I am so disappointed along with my friends, the staff needs to get control of that place. But of course for having an honest opinion and wanting people to have respect for themselves, others and their surroundings is wrong according to one reviewer. But i guess I should censor my honest opinion on the type of behavior i saw because saying anything truthful deserve a punch in the face. And yet of course the most famous excuse for being honest is being a hater or wanting to see it fail. How original. Honestly having such a huge ymca just a stone throw away and unable to join it is sad and if that fails mean my neighborhood fails. The employees just need to get better control of the place. When this placed open all I wanted was to join and be part it and I still wish to but for bow I cant. read more

WILD PLACE NOT WORTH THE MONEY!..kids (you know the type) allover the place yelling, cursing ,playing basketball and rap music inside the locker room, talking about the locker room to spend 23 million and not to build benches inside the locker room, people are fighting for few stools that they have inside there. also, steam room is a stand up or you have to fight for the stool out in the locker room, few days in to it they have like 5 workout machines that are already broken, considering that the gym floor is small and it is more like wild senior citizen fitness center locker room stinks floor is dirty, steam room and sauna barely warm at max and then kids run in,run out there goes warm air. I can believe people still sighing up there is no more room to breath morning, day or night in that place! read more

The lack of staff in the morning is unacceptable and i feel angered knowing i pay my membership and scan my card every time i walk in (like everyone should), and lately there has been no one at the counter there to scan so who knows if the people ahead of me are even members? I also used to enjoy my morning workouts before work but recently i don't even know if the workers have clocks that work because you never know what time it will be opened anymore. Anyone agree? read more

As another reviewer said the best time to go is early morning to around noon. I've noticed there is more of a presence with staff and security now. Wish they would install benches in the locker room. Plenty of classes have been added. Overall the place is very nice and much needed. Some bad apples not used to having something nice in their neighborhood brings down the place. read more

These reviews are terrible!!! This is a beautiful gym, the Zumba class is amazing!!! The only bad thing is it gets too crowded at times. I have never seen people walking around yelling and cursing, and I'm at the gym 3-5 days a week. It's so sad that people just want to see this place fail. read more

l o l--sorry i couldn't get passed the title of this site. is this fake news----a joke? how long has this been on line without correction? how about spell check? let me try. arverne ok arverwe looks like anyway you spell it = it's wrong. tell you what, call the mayor of new york, he's been to arverne at least twice. [ps just added the correct spelling to the dictionary so red line disappeared on correct spelling and i am a 74yo recently widowered who wishes he had something better to do than ''this'', saturday night in nyc on lunar new year!! read more

You know what I'm gonna do? I'm gonna print these reviews and hand them out. So your neighbors will know what y'all REALLY think of them. Shameful way to speak of your fellow humans. But at least you guys are smart. You're cowardly enough to post this on the web. Cus if anyone heard you say, you'd prolly get punched in the face. WOW read more

The Rockaway Ymca is fantastic! The fitness center is well put together and the employees are awesome ! Kevin A and Terry are great! Bravo!

Joined for a year. Overall experience was ok. There are quite a few amenities that I liked at this gym - showers, a pool, steam room, sauna, basketball court and a day care center. Zumba classes are fun. However, the staff is not always friendly and they do not have the gym under control. I see a lot of people who walk into the gym without scanning their membership cards and the staff doesn't stop them. Also, I would like to point out some unfair treatment which my friend signed in for a one day guest pass but had to fill out this long form which required providing personal information and then a copy was made of my friend's driver license. We were told this was procedure and that my friend was only allowed this one time and if he wanted to come back he would have to join the YMCA. So, all this is fine but it seems dishonest as I see people enter the gym with this small print out that says "guest pass" on it and the staff members just waves them in....never pulling them aside to register and some of them are constantly re-using the guest pass. It makes me wonder if they are letting people in for Free. Another issue to point out is what is up with the kids!? There are so many kids running and mistreating the machines in the fitness areas. Staff is on the floor but doesn't say or do anything about it. Final issue is the locker room situation --there are 3 locker rooms: 1) Men, 2) Women, 3) Family ..however there are a lot of women who come to this gym seem to think its ok to bring their Sons to the Women locker room instead of going to the Family locker Room. There was an incident I experienced where a boy was running into the Women's locker room and a Women was changing which she was exposed, completely topless and the boy stopped running and stared to stare at the woman's bare naked chest. The boy proceed to try to touch her, and the lady screamed. Luckily a staff member cleaning up the bathroom intervened and resolved the situation. But seriously, the membership is expensive if you're one person....money can be better spent on a better gym. read more

I love taking classes at this YMCA because, there is more than a fair share of great instructors to guide you on your journey. This gym has a ton of great equipment and awesome aquatic facilities. I love the total body classes as well as bootcamp, because these really have you working up a sweat. Kevin's workouts are intense, especially if you are as out of shape as I am, but I am glad I gave them a try after some initial hesitation. He pushes you to work really hard. I actually feel myself getting stronger with every class and see myself progressing, so as hard and hot as these classes are they are worth all the pain. The total body classes with Alex are hard work, but they can help to get you where you want to be. Alex is great at motivating the ladies in the class to push harder. There is an instructor that's always late and never apologizes, texts during classes, puts members on the spot with rude and condescending comments which is very annoying and off putting, but I will just try to take different classes with instructors that care and are professional. read more