Deerhurst Resort is situated in a beautiful setting. The rooms are big and spacious. There are plenty of activities for children and the water sports available are great. Transport is provided to access different parts of the resort.
Still the best all round resort in Ontario. There are others that might be better at one thing or another but no other resort can provide everything that Deerhurst does - two golf courses (one spectacular and the other great to take kids on), the food is above average, the service can be hit and miss but it's like that every where and is still above average, there is every kind of accommodation (with/out kitchens), all kinds of watersports, indoor and outdoor pool, tennis, basketball, rock wall and on and on it goes....and the price is competitive...not cheap but no resort in ontario of this quality is going to be.
We had a family outing here. Great location and lots for the grandkids to do - but - do not foresee us going again. First of all WAY too expensive for what you get.
Check in time is really late - 4pm, but rooms weren't ready anyway, and all they offered as consolationwas a couple of drinks. No help when you have hungry kids. Great splash zone but all of the equipment was covered in goose poop. All they had for the staff to clean it off was a couple of oars. Did not work out well. Why can't they afford a couple of brooms or pails? To use the water equipment you had to sign a waiver. Thats fine, but they only had one person there to handle all of the guests. Wait time was really bad. Had a fishing derby on morning. Dock was covered in goose poop! Why not wash the dock before an event like that where there are going to be a lot of kids? Even with the high rates that we paid we had a view of the parking lot and no room cleaning service.
We had 2 units in the Birchwood condo. The units have been " refurbished" but the new furnishings are cheap compared to what was there before.
The TV and stereo didn't work with our computers ( for the kids to watch their cartoons on youtube) which was a real pain, in fact they didn't work with the computers at all so we couldn't watch netflix etc. They are really pushing their " pay for view".. At times we had no sound just watching TV... called the repairman and he couldn't fix it. This is unacceptable. However they have improved the wifi now.
We also found that many of the " good" cutlery, especially the henckel knife block they had which was great, has vanished and not been replaced. Otherwise things are pretty much the same in the units.
Beach is still nice, kids enjoyed it . Sunday brunch was Ok . Otherwise we did our own cooking in the unit or on the BBQs which worked great.
Overall we get the impression that the management is trying to squeeze everything they can out of the resort and then will probably offload it to another buyer. Not happy with all the new construction- it's ruining the ambiance it used to have and causing overcrowding, esp for parking.
However since the kids enjoy the lake we will continue to come up for a week each year in the summer. until our " lease" on the timeshare units run out. After that we have to see how things have changed/progressed to decide if we want to continue coming up.
Let's start with the positives - the setting is lovely - the lake is stunning, and we had amazing weather so that helped considerably.
The activities are varied and the activities staff are excellent - my son did waterskiing and we also did canoeing and swimming etc.
However, the rest was pretty dreadful. The bedrooms are tired, could do with a good clean and when we asked late afternoon on our 2nd day if they were going to make up the room they asked if we had "opted out" ? of what? cleanliness?!
The service was indifferent - no one really cared. When we checked out they didn't even ask - "how was everything" so I didn't bother telling them. Judging by the other reviews on here there is little point even submitting this!
Food - one word "diabolical" - breakfast buffet is the best bit about the Eclipse restaurant if you like crunching through discarded cereals and screaming kids (and we have children!) it's like a war zone. Lunch - they stop serving brunch at 1pm so it's closed until dinner (more on that later) there is no coffee machine to get decent coffee anywhere and the van down by the beach serves heavy, stodgy food, when all anyone really wants is paninis and easy beach food ? go figure.
Maple leaf pub is about the only place to bother with.
dinner - overpriced and awful. We went to the Eclipse - $35 per head and all I could find that resembled food was a couple of roast beef slices and some raw carrots. Most expensive slop I have ever had the misfortune to pay for.
When we stayed here, there were 3 weddings going on on the Saturday night - THREE.
it was loud, it was awful and when I rang reception at 11pm to ask when the noise out the front (don't get a room over the car park, its right over the smoking zone) was going to stop they said quiet time started at 10pm - hmmmmmmm
the noise went on until about 2am
this hotel was probably great in the 80's, even the 90's - but the fact is, it is trading on former glory. It hasn't moved with the times, the wifi is terrible, the food is awful and the prices are way too high for the service and overall facilities. It needs some serious investment to even claim to charge the prices it does.
never again.
