Albany Pool

I called during business hours to ask if there was still space in a class for which the online registration deadline had passed. No one answered & so I left a message. I called at least a couple more times after that, always during business hours and no one ever answered. No one returned my calls.
I dropped in on the morning of the day the class was to start (it was a 5:30 pm class). The man at the front desk couldn’t give me any information about available space as their system was down. I get these things happen but the guy was kind of a jerk about the situation and completely unhelpful.
My husband & two sons showed up about 15 minutes before the class was to start and found out that there was in fact no space. My husband decided to register our two boys for a future class for about $ 200. We talked about it that evening and decided to cancel the registration and sign them up at a later time. The very next day, he went in & requested the cancellation & a refund. They canceled it with no hassle. I allowed some time for the refund to process but after a full week & a couple of days we still had not been refunded. My husband went in to ask about it today. When he walked in they immediately informed him that all classes were canceled because of a chemical imbalance. When he told the lady at the desk he was actually there to see what was going on with the refund we’ve been waiting for she looked into it and told him that they had canceled the class as he requested but issued an account credit rather than a refund. She refused to refund us instead and told us we could have been refunded only within 5 days of registering. Like I said, we canceled the very next day. They messed up & issued a credit and not a refund! So I guess we were supposed to assume their incompetence & predict they’d mess our refund up in a timely manner so we wouldn’t miss the window of time allotted for a refund when we called to inform them they screwed up. I’m shocked at the way they run their business.

Poor management. Pool hours are changing, I’m an active lap swimmer and didn’t get any update email from the pool that I get used to get. We had conflict with the manager couple years ago and she is keeping up that and being personal with me. Keeping me out of email loop for any updates pool has for every patron is NOT A GOOD MANAGEMENT OR PROFESSIONAL. Who will stop the manager being mean to me personally and who can help me, someone tell me? If there was an email why I left out? I just bought 15 pass last Friday –October 30^th — and there wasn’t any warning or email or note at the front desk for patrons. Lifeguards didn’t mention at all any of changes is coming while I was buying my pass. Is she really being personal with me? Who can help to stop that if this is really happening?

Don’t swim here until they change the followings.
— the receptionist is super strict and arrogant. She speaks as if we are asking for help and she is giving it all the time.
— hours are super bad for family. They allocate good time for where they can make money with various programs. They don’t operate for community service but just for profit.
Recommend: go to the El Cerrito one. It is way nicer from people to the pool and it is outdoor.
Who would need swimming indoor like this worst swimming center in this area?

There are so many dedicated swimmers here who are friendly professionals desirous of becoming strong, fit and fast in the water. It’s such a pleasure to interact with like-​minded people found at this facility. Swimmers from all backgrounds — college competitive to learners frequent this facility. Nearby Solano Avenue, populated with restaurants galore, is a pleasant experience after a swim.
This facility is clean! There’s a variety of programs offered for everyone. The Masters Swim program is a plus. Their hours could be expanded, however. Right now, their hours are M/​W/​F 6a, 7a & M/​W 12:15p & Sat 8:30a, 9:30a. More info can be found here:

The outdoor pool is the most beautiful pool to swim in! It is always clean (never foggy) and a good temperature. My favorite pool to swim at! Plus, they have stepped up their game and the front desk is usually staffed, so patrons aren’t waiting around to be helped.
One thing to note: I’ve noticed that the patrons here do not like circle swimming, so most will choose to sit out and wait for people to get out of the pool, rather than circle. How crazy! Also, speed signs are not put out so people of random speeds will split a lane — perhaps that is why patrons do not like to circle here.

It’s really unfortunate that the indoor pool is not a true therapeutic pool (heated to 92 degrees or so).
It’s also somewhat unfathomable that there are only 2 disabled parking spots, considering how many physical therapy, arthritis exercise, senior classes, etc. they have.
Despite not being therapeutic, I’d love to go back to the Albany Pool if I could find disabled parking. But it’s too hard to come by, so I’ve given up.
I LOVE that there is a single-​stall, gender-​neutral, disability-​access shower/​locker room available (there may even be 2? I can’t remember).

This pool has so many programs it is hard to fathom. Along with this, we also have very hard working people who staff the facility and do their best to make it as safe a facility as humanly possible. They manage the chemicals and the patrons as though they are family. One must remember, if the pool loses money or can not break even, they will have less open hours. This is why teaching is not allowed except by authorized personnel (think of it as going into a business and saying you will teach somebody and cut out the owners out of the business, it is not nice to do, especially if the rent/​staffing is expensive). I hope this is a great insight to how this facility is run.

I wish I could give this pool a higher rating, but community pool it is not. If you’re a lap swimmer you may find it satisfactory – if you can get a lane. If you’re an older person who wants room for independent exercise and respect for what you do, forget it. If you want polite, responsive life guards, go elsewhere (Richmond Plunge). If you want a dressing room with space for all – again, go elsewhere; if you overlap with a baby class, you will be crowded out by strollers. Bad scheduling. Too bad, because it’s a new facility, and there was an opportunity to construct a larger enough indoor pool and reasonably sized dressing rooms. Didn’t happen. The culture is unwelcoming and unhelpful. I drive considerably farther from my in N. Berkeley to use an indoor pool that is a pleasure to exercise in (Richmond Plunge).

Nice outdoor pool, next to a big park/​recreation center. Be sure to check lap swim times; it can get crowded. Price was $ 6 for evening lap swim.

My 13 year old home schooled son needed a little practice on his swimming strokes, so I decided to bring him here for the first time to check out the pool. At 10:00 AM on a Tuesday, the outdoor pool was not busy, there was an open lane, and it seemed like a great set up.
HOWEVER, about 20 minutes into his practice, I was told by the lifeguard that I was not allowed to give him pointers or coach him at all from the deck unless I had a coaching contract with the pool. Yes, that’s right. A PARENT is not allowed to teach her own CHILD how to swim at the Albany pool, unless she is in the lane as well, giving whispered instructions and corrections lest the cameras catch her violating their coaching policy.
If you buy into the premise that only «experts» should be able to teach and you’re okay with forking over the dough for lessons that a parent could give equally well, the Albany pool is the right place for you. As for us, we’ll keep searching for a space where I can give my son pointers from the deck without violating pool policy.

Outdoor Pool: new, clean, beautiful, swimmable
Staff: They don’t give correct information on hours and don’t have enough printable schedules anyhow.
Changing/​shower rooms: tiny, no clothes baskets, no bars or anything to hold onto, except tiny 1″ hooks for your clothes. I got mixed stories on the lack of AIR in the changing rooms: «we don’t use fans, we use dehumidifiers”– ??? huh?
Why swim here? It’s closest to my home and has more lap swim hours than other pools nearby, such as E.C. and Berkeley, making it more possible to get a swim in, and because the pool itself is truly wonderful, being new.
Feel: Do not expect a community feel here, except if you happen to swim in the indoor pool with others who are exercising, who all know each other. For us lap swimmers, to each her or his own. I have made a concerted effort to be friendly to the lifeguards and some are indeed nice. The managing staff are the distinctly cold personalities. I know – it’s a pool – but we are people too.
Concern: With recent vandalism of the outdoor pool, where some people threw glass bottles over the fence into the pool, where they shattered, my initial concerns of how open the outdoor pool is to the public. Sure they built the kind of fence that people can’t climb over, but with the wide swath of pathway on the other side of it completely open to anyone walking through the high school campus, who is to stop future vandals?

D’oh! Didn’t follow my own advice, and signed up for another Mommy & Me class without asking more questions about the setup. This time (back in Jan/​Feb) the baby class was sharing space in the pool with a LOUD water aerobics class, and I couldn’t hear a thing our instructor was saying. I requested, and got, a refund after that first class, and now I am much happier in the swim class at the Berkeley Y where the baby class is the only activity going on in the pool. Let me emphasize again, if you want to take a class here, find out what other classes or lessons will be in the pool at the same time ’cause they like to jam ‘em in!

A solid newish indoor & outdoor public pool that’s decently clean with a water temp that’s not frigid. I am really not that hard to please when it comes to pools. Will have to write an updated review of swim lessons at a later time.

I’ve been going to aquatic aerobics for the past 3 months and can’t tell you how happy I am. I started the aerobics for my pregnancy and honestly if you are preggers you should totally do it. The prenatal water aerobics (okay I’m the only one that’s prenatal but whatever I recruited more preggers it’s a cult) is great, you can work out at your own pace, speed and intensity. The facility is über new and clean and the classes are indoors. Not sure how the outside would be but I’m happy with my experiences there. The locker room is clean and well maintained and the showers have great water pressure.
The only complaints I would have is that 1) you can’t buy a single class for aerobics (although I heard they’re changing that) and 2) you have to go from the locker room to the pool by way of a freezing hallway (okay so it’s like 1 foot but it’s still freezing subartic freeze your nads off cold) and 3) there are no lockers but then again no one really takes anything since it’s mostly older women and you can leave your stuff on the bleachers and keep an eye on things.
Go preggy water splashing make a fool of yourself and feel awesome albany pool

I swam for many years at the old Albany pool. It had heated floors in the changing rooms and an interesting mural of dolphins on the pool walls. Unfortunately the new Albany pool is inferior in many ways.
1) it is expensive for a public pool at $ 6 — way expensive compared to other states, and the most expensive by $.50 and $ 1 of the nearest local pools.
2) the changing rooms and showers are small and very crowded when children are swimming
3) unbelievably, there is no place to put soap or shampoo when showering.
4) the outdoor pool has a basketball hoop and children may be in one of the lanes shooting with a full size/​weight basketball. several times the ball lands in swimming lanes. good luck if the ball hits you in the head,
5) the staff are not pleasant– you will need to be persistent in asking questions for any information, and they’ll act as if it is a burden to answer.
This used to be my first choice local pool, now it is my last choice. Too bad, a lot of money spent for a pool downgrade. Must have been quite a bumbling bureaucracy that thought this one up.

It’s really nice in here. There are inside and outside clean pools and clean locker room/​shower area.
I was here when I was having physical therapy while pregnant so I can not review the front desk or the service. I was here in the ams M, W and F in summer of 2012. They were always friendly in passing when I came by tough. I will have to come back for free swim or to teach my lil one to swim if the classes are at a time that is good for us and update my review.

We went there today and had a nice 2k swim. Albany pool has an indoor and an outdoor pool. They use a fixed schedule and you might want to check the website when the pool is open to the public.
We just went to the outdoor pool as the indoor pool was closed (actually nobody was in there). The outdoor pool was at a nice temperature — in contrast to the outside temperature which was kind of too cold to feel good in a swim suit.
The changing rooms are clean but there are no lockers inside the changing room and only a handful of (very small) lockers outside. Remember to bring your own lock!
One of the things I did not like was the price: 6 $ per person seems to be a bit high if they only offer lap swimming (there is no hot tub or anything like that).

Albany Aquatic Center happens to be amazing! The facility itself is brand new, the pool has been open since this past February, which means there maybe be some kinks that need to be ironed out, but that definitely does not change the fact that the water at the facility is super clean and very inviting. IF you have not been to the Aquatic Center for a swim yet, you must go and experience it for yourself.

This is the worst pool I have ever been to. The people working there are rude. No one can get the rules straight. The rules are ridiculous. No air or ventilation inside.
I gave it 2 stars instead of one because at least there IS a pool.
If they ever read these reviews — try and make it fun for people to come there. It is a pool after all.

Nice, clean, and newly remodeled. Indoor and outdoor pools. Crowded, at least for the children’s swimming classes (baby’s in the guppies class). Bathrooms & showers are clean, but no amenities, like lockers or soap.