Rocky Crest Golf Resort

My husband is a Clublink member so we got a deal staying mid week (from Sunday Sept 13th - 15th), I don’t think the club would be too impressed to have their name attached to this place. The surroundings are beautiful for sure but the property is not kept up well (pool wasn’t even cleaned) and the suites are very outdated for the price you pay. There was even a dead bug looked it has been there for a while on the wall in the shower. We were told that there would be information for us at the front desk for spas around, there was nothing when we asked. Food and service at Windows restaurant was great the first night but the food and service at Bayside was ok at best and way too expensive. My husband said he would golf there but we won’t ever go back to stay. Disappointing.

Stay away from this resort, not worth the price. The rooms are tired, dark and I’m in an updated room. Bedroom was fine, could have used a larger tv for the size of the room. Bathroom was fine. We booked a golf package through clublink. They want your money but not your service. For $1300 for two night and three rounds of golf. Getting tee times were not easy, each time was at 12:35. There first choice was 3:30 pm..in the fall! Stay away.

Although we are grateful that we were able to rent one of the cottages during this pandemic and have some sort of holiday with immediate family, we have some concerns. The resort is dated and so are the cottages. We were supposed to be able to check in by 4:00 p.m. at 5:30 p.m. we are still waiting and being told extra cleaning was being done due to COVID. When you wear white socks on the floor that was to be "extra" cleaned and your socks are black within the hour, I am not sure if any cleaning was done to the floors. At a time of COVID I would think that bars of soap would be replaced with pump hand soap. We brought our own. No paper towels in the restaruant washroom at Rocky Crest no matter how many times we reminded them. There is no security at the community pool and one person was vaping while in the water! No one to wipe down the chairs or the equipment. We mostly were in the lake on our boat but the overall feeling of the time there including a round of golf is that Rocky Crest is understaffed for the surplus of business the pandemic must have created. Staff is mostly grouchy due to this and patience is running thin. Kindness goes a long way and if there is an opportunity to have more staff on it may help. It would have helped with cleaning our cottage and getting it on time, it woudl have helped to have nicer staff at the golf course, and it would have helped when trying to place take out orders at the restaurant.

We booked this trip in early July for an August set of 2 rounds of Golf. We had 3 total rooms (2 couples in their own room and one 2 bedroom suite). We had the 2 bed suite. We arrived in morning and the boys went off to golf and the girls stayed behind and swam and waited for the rooms…which they got into a it early (good sign). When we got back from golf we went to the rooms and change and get ready for dinner at the steakhouse. Quick shower and then off to the restaurant. Bath was nice and the room seemed fine (AC in our room). But then we started noticing small things that eventually led to more conclusions (not good). We were seated at a 8 top and the wait staff was courteous. We ordered drinks and then apps and dinner. Some of the lowlights though could not be ignored IMO as they were rather glaring. • We asked for one of the Caesar Drinks to be made with Tequila – that was accepted by the wait staff but was certainly Vodka – ok to drink but not what the order was. The waiter specifically said Caesar with Tequila when he brough the drink. • 2 of the ladies ordered the Pickerel but when we reported (separately) that it was rather bland. The waiter stated he would check with chef (not regular chef apparently) but we were never acknowledged (and not even one of the one of the 2 was comped!) – disappointing with a rather expensive meal (2 bottle of wine and drinks all around.). • One the positive side – I don’t want to this to be construed as bashing – my steak and meal were excellent – on taste and “correctness” of the order. The others who had steak said the same. • One of us ordered Gin and Tonic at dinner but when his wife ordered the same at lunch (outside) – she was told that there was no Tonic (??? – really? How does that happen?) • At lunch 2 of the ladies ordered a salad with Avocado (which came out with no avocado)??? • When we got back to Room to watch Leaf game and we were all in the suite – it became very hot so we took fan from bedroom (more on this later). We tried to open all the windows in the vestibule but the handle was completely broken off so we had to remove screen and open window by hand and close same way – I can do window repair myself – it isn’t that hard to do. Without the windows open the room would have been unbearable. • When my cousin and his wife went to bed in the room (not facing water) they could barely sleep with the fan as the room was so hot. A mention to checkout staff the next day on the heat of the room – my cousin’s wife was told – that’s what the fan is for (not the answer you want after paying 600$ for the night!) – If a fan is the way to go (and I get it – that might be) then the tiny (barely felt) fan isn’t the answer. • A kayak outing should not require (even in COVID times) the purchase of a $38 PFD for an afternoon of kayaking. Most especially for someone who will not even use it again! This was ridiculous. • Overall the resort is quite nice, but we felt it was in need of some upgrades (not an unusual situation) – Had the staff been more understanding and accommodating of our requests (drinks, meal quality, PFDs, answers to questions about the room that were…TBH insulting), they might have been able to get us to overcome some of these shortcomings – Our next trip up north will NOT be at Rocky Crest.

Thank you to all the wonderful staff at Rocky Crest for a much needed getaway. Our room was great, spacious and very clean. We spent a lot of time soaking up the sunshine on the docks overlooking beautiful Lake Joesph and canoeing. We enjoyed breakfast on the patio each morning and had an incredible dinner at Windows restaurant. The protocols in place and the care each staff member took to ensure our health and safety was noticed and appreciated. Great Job Rocky Crest! I look forward to a returning soon.