Where do I start with this place? It was one of those times where reality was so different from what we expected that we had many good laughs during our stay. Read on to laugh with us, but in summary DO NOT STAY HERE unless you enjoy being ripped off.
I usually don't trust bad reviews, I assume they are people with unreasonable expectations or people who encountered outlier circumstances. Now having stayed here the other 1 and 2 star reviews of Under Canvas Acadia are 100% accurate. You'll notice many of them have consistent complaints which indicates their credibility.
Overall, this place is priced like a 5-star resort and its online description indicates 5-star amenities and a great location. None of this is true. It's more like a 2-star resort (I use the term "resort" loosely). Staying here left me fantasizing about staying at a Super 8 where I could have saved money and had the same amount of luxury. My husband and my #1 issue with this place was the price because the value of staying here was so minimal. We were there in August 2024 for 2 nights, including taxes and the "resort fee" (I'll get to more on that) it came out to $838.10 per night. We upgraded to a "stargazer tent" (I'll get to more on that too) which was not worth it. For comparison we stayed our 1st night in the area downtown Bar Harbor in a very nice place with a heated pool and luxury accommodations for $730 all-in. Therefore coming to a place marketed as glamping and luxury, we expected nice canvas tents and top-notch service which didn't happen.
The tents are not luxurious. If you compare the tents to a small nylon tent and a dirt floor yes, they're nicer, but they're not $838/night nice. They're $250/night nice. The walls are paper thin, there is red and black mold on the walls in the bathroom and shower area. The part about having to get up every 2 hours to stoke the fire to keep it warm is true. Luckily my husband is good at making fires so we were able to keep it warm without smoke in the tent, but even in 60 degree nighttime weather we needed the stove on to stay warm. Some of the tents are 15 feet away from the walking path, making the bathroom with a thin canvas layer 15 feet away from other people. It's true, the shower is a pull-cord and you either have to shower 1-handed to keep the water on and warm, or keep letting the water turn off, which causes the temperature to vary. If you don't figure out how to get your tent warm with the stove, it makes the showering experience even worse as it's not relaxing or consistently warm. The towels are also fraying and worn. The stargazer aspect is a plastic window above the head of the bed that acts as a magnifying glass in the morning on a sunny day. Prepare to have the sun beaming onto your face as soon as it rises. There is no cover provided and no way to craft a cover for this area. They provide chintzy, cheap little eye covers that you can use. The pillows are not comfortable, they are the over-stuffed artificial filling kind. And folks, read closely on this one because this was one of the funniest most unacceptable things I didn't read in any other review... the bed was a king sized mattress on a queen sized frame!!!! In what world is that $838/night?! Can you imagine going into a 4 Seasons or Fairmont (similarly priced actual luxury) and seeing this in your room?
The prices at the restaurant are so over and above reasonable as well. The Caesar salad is $17, no protein included. I checked an expensive steakhouse downtown Chicago, where I'm from for comparison, and it's $14 and that one doesn't come on a metal tray like it did at Under Canvas Acadia.
It took us 5 minutes into the stay to know we were being ripped off. So we looked at the bill to painfully remind ourselves how much we were paying. They charged a resort fee for $139.80 for our 2 night stay. When we asked what that was for, they said it's for the s'mores, the fire wood, the beach access, the fire pits at night, the golf cart service, etc. Basically all of the "free" stuff! Lol. Such a slap in the face.
The staff is nice but they are untrained in hospitality and good service. We needed more kindling for our stove so we asked on our way through the lobby and they said "grab a bucket" as they had them setup and stacked on the side. When we checked out no one asked how our stay was, and when we asked for a golf cart to come to our tent at 9:30 (it was 9 when we asked) so we didn't have to drag our suitcases over the woodchip path to our car in the parking lot (since you can't park near your tent), they said they would but that we needed to remind them at 9:30. We didn't remind them, that shouldn't be necessary, and of course one came. We shouldn't even have to ask to have a cart come take our luggage at this price they should ask us when they can bring a cart to help us.
This is getting long so I'll wrap this up. Their mission statement (see photo) says nothing about hospitality a read more