u/That-Buffalo-4355

Tldr: This was originally written as a Google Review (3/5 stars) but was too long to post in its entirety. Thermea is still the best and only spa of its kind in Winnipeg, but the quality of the experience has steadily declined throughout the years.

My husband and I booked a visit on July 18, and there were multiple little things that added up to a lacklustre experience and demonstrated areas where Thermea has cut corners over time.

First the positives:

• Very attentive staff: anytime I came into the change room, there was always someone mopping or cleaning. Someone was always at the front desk and had towels readily available. Front of house at the restaurant were all thoughtful and prompt with their service.
• The Aufguss artisans: definitely the highlight of our experience. I appreciated all of the music and scent choices, and particularly enjoyed the rituals led by Bree and Quinn (sorry if I spelled your names wrong!)
• The restaurant improved exponentially since Chef Banman joined, and the quality of the food has been the one consistently good thing about all our visits to Thermea in the last few years
• They haven’t gotten rid of cotton swabs and plastic bags for wet swimsuits in the change rooms. While I appreciate that some things haven’t changed, a swimsuit dryer (like the ones at Altea or the YMCA) would be a more sustainable solution, or at least cut down the use of plastic bags. I understand that they can get a little bit loud, but the change area is not a quiet zone anyway and about the same volume as any gym changing room

Positive upgrades:

• The Barik sauna has been replaced with a larger barrel sauna with a window that overlooks the trees and “beach” area - it looks especially pretty in the wintertime :) Downgrade - no more hooks inside the new Barik sauna (my favourite place to hang my robe in the winter). The inner door of the sauna is glass with a wooden knob, and I swear it is always loose or falling off
• The addition of the sound bath tent. They are heavenly and you will probably fall asleep or reach some kind of flow state part way through.
• The benches in the change rooms have always been laughably small, but recently they have added dividers with hooks on both sides to make it easier for more than one person at a time to use the bench.
• Finally newer hair straighteners and blowdryers!
• The parking lot has a few more spots at the front now since they have added more gravel. I overheard someone ask one of the servers at the restaurant why the parking lot still isn’t properly paved over and the answer was that since the City of Winnipeg owns the Crescent Drive Golf Course next door, they aren’t allowed to develop the parking lot further because its shared. I don’t know exactly why Thermea and the city can’t split the cost of upgrading the parking lot, but there is a change.org petition circulating to prevent further development of Crescent Drive Park.
• Addition of the pizza station and upgraded beer garden in the beach area. Note that pizza station in particular is only open for short periods during the day.
• Lounge beds in the beach area. Negative: there is no signage or policy to not leave belongings unattended on a lounger for prolonged periods of time. In friendly Manitoba, no one wants to move someone’s stuff when they could come back. But often loungers are unoccupied for hours with people “saving spots” during busy periods. Folks are then walking around looking for somewhere to lie down, but 3 out of 4 lounge beds are “taken” but unoccupied. I wish that there was a staff member assigned to this area during peak periods to ensure that this doesn’t happen. It would also be helpful to have signage at the entrance of the “beach” area to let people know to collect unattended belongings at the beer garden or front desk if they are left for more than 30 minutes

Noticeable downgrades if you haven’t been back to Thermea since covid:

• The robes. They used to be white, with three loops for the belt. Make it make sense why Thermea decided to overhaul the robes but make them less functional. They’re grey now - a matter of taste/preference, but a white bathrobe immediately makes you think of a fancy spa or hotel room. A grey robe tells me that its cheaper in the long term to keep these robes in circulation because it’s easier to hide dirt and discolouration. The worst part of these robes is that there is one long band? in the back to keep the whole belt in place. This results in the belt dragging on the ground and getting dirty with pool water and gravel. It became a drinking game to see who would come out of the change room for the first time and look for the side loops of the robe and not find any.
• NO MORE ARBOREAL AUFGUSS??? I have been to Thermea on three separate occasions in the past year (spring, summer, and winter, weekdays and weekends) and they never seem to have the arboreal aufguss. I was hopeful that there would be at least one arboreal this past Saturday since it’s my favourite, but it wasn’t on the schedule at all (again). I think 2024 was the last time I got to experience it, and they introduced a system where you had to get a numbered wrist band to be one of the 20 people at the aufguss. It was only offered once that entire day, and luckily we got in, but you shouldn’t have to plan your day around making sure to line up 30+ minutes before the one time slot of your favourite aufguss. My guesses for why the frequency of the arboreal has been dramatically reduced/cut altogether: cost and potential safety concerns for the artisans. I don’t know how much eucalyptus branches cost, but maybe it became unsustainable? Also there is a part of the ritual where the artisans walk up and down the rows - this could be slippery, but this could probably be solved by laying more towels down (the wooden sauna benches are definitely less slippery than the tile floor). Anyway - the arboreal aufguss was always at capacity in the past, so clearly it was a fan favourite.
• The salt scrub no longer has actual pieces of lavender or eucalyptus in it to infuse the scent, and for some reason now it leaves an oily residue (probably since there’s more essential oil in it now to add fragrance). This becomes a safety hazard because the Vaporo hut is already a very slippery environment, and if you put your flip flops on after rinsing off the salt scrub, you will likely slip out of them or nearly twist an ankle like I did
• The lockers are now more like little cubbies rather than full size lockers. This makes having the bottom locker in a stack of four pretty miserable, and the lockers aren’t large enough to accommodate a large parka, boots and a toiletry bag in wintertime
• No more back rests in the Finlandia or Barik saunas. I really miss these because they made the rituals more comfortable, rather than having to sit cross legged/leaning forward the whole time. It was also a nice way to keep my towel in place and catch any back sweat
• No ice outside of the Finlandia sauna. I noted this in a previous review, and Thermea responded saying that the ice was removed because it prevents one from reaching an optimal body temperature during the aufguss or solo sweat sessions. I understand the rationale, but having the option was nice. Maybe I don’t want to be optimal, maybe I just wanna relax and feel refreshed?

My longstanding gripes:

• The steam rooms are too dark. Imagine entering a pitch black room with strangers and having to play Marco Polo to find an empty seat. Eventually your eyes adjust, but it poses a safety concern to have such low lighting because these rooms are a sarcophagus of shiny, groutless tile and stainless steel. Getting on and off the second row of bench seating is particularly sketchy and I have witnessed many falls and near misses. If you are a naturally clumsy/fall-prone person, just avoid the Vaporo hut entirely.
• Just. Put. Towels. Everywhere. Everyone starts their Thermea day with one towel in their locker. Ideally, there should be two towels in the locker for your shower at the end of the day. For a truly “resort” experience, actually have someone at the towel booth by the change rooms, and put towel stations in more places throughout the spa. The policy is to always sit on a towel in any of the saunas, and before the rituals there is always a staff member coming around with towels. However, I’m torn between trying to reuse my one designated “sitting towel” to help save water but risking someone else accidentally taking it off the hook and sitting in my sweat and dead skin, or asking for a new towel with each ritual and putting it in the hamper immediately after. The front desk will always give me however many towels I ask for, but that means tracking water through the lobby and having to ask someone again when it feels like towels should just be readily available anywhere.
• Bring back the silence policy. It’s like the speed limit: if 100 is posted, people do 110. If you tell people silence, they end up whispering. If you tell people to whisper, they’re now having full volume conversations that I can hear in detail from across the pool. I know that every 20 minutes a staff member comes around with the “shhhh” sign and the little bells, but the “whispering below the volume of the waterfall” lasts maybe two minutes. On the plus side, if you want to catch up with the whole family or have a bachelorette party undisturbed, go to Thermea on a weekend. If you’re an individual or couple that wants a day of peace and quiet with a sprinkle of nature sounds, go elsewhere.
• The washroom stalls need to be renovated. They are definitely showing their age with cracked drywall and gunk in the corners of the tile. I appreciate how they are fully enclosed, but they are so small that it is impossible for an average sized adult to open the door and not find themselves having their leg graze the toilet seat. As a whole, Thermea has just outgrown its facilities. I know that there is no space to expand the change rooms, but pro tip: there are washrooms in the Vaporo hut (sorry if you’re a clumsy person and can’t set foot in here).

The only aspect of the Thermea experience I have not tried are the massages and treatments. I have never booked one because of Thermea’s longstanding reputation of sub-par services compared to other local options. See the other reviews to confirm this.

Thermea first opened in 2015 with a price of $45-49 and a robe rental of $11. It is now $97. That’s a >60% increase in ten years. If the cost were to rise with inflation, $80 in 2026 would be more reasonable. (Yes, I am aware of the $75 weeknight evenings promo until the 14th). If Thermea would like to consider itself a “luxury” experience and price itself like one, then consider addressing the pain points that I and many other reviewers have noted.

Why did I need to write this? Within a one month period, my husband and I, my parents, and my two sisters and their partners all separately planned to celebrate birthdays and anniversaries at Thermea. At dinner, we all got talking about how it has lost its shine over the years. I could not find a recent, über detailed review with everything we noticed, so I decided to compile it here.

Is it still the most immersive spa experience in Winnipeg? Yes.
Is it still somewhere I always bring out of town guests? Yes.
Is it still the best “resort” experience in the Prairies? Yes.
Is Thermea world-class or one of the best spas in Canada? No.

Thermea doesn’t have much competition in its particular category outside of Klar So spa at Clear Lake. Ten Spa is more cost prohibitive as a full day activity, so Thermea does have a monopoly on the “grown up waterpark” model. I just think that maybe upper management and the executives making all the decisions have become comfortable and complacent. The regular staff often go above and beyond, but there is nothing they can do about the infrastructure or necessary system-wide improvements. I wish I could give a 2.5/5 star rating for a “meh” experience compared to the Thermea I once knew, but I’m rounding up to 3/5 purely because of the lovely, hardworking folks that try to make our spa day special despite the facility’s shortcomings. If you are someone that wants to spend your hard earned cash at Thermea and dedicate a whole day to pampering yourself, I just hope that this review helps you make an informed choice.

Thank you for coming to my TED talk.

Edit: bullet point formatting, I’m on mobile