Dalhousie Castle

My husband purchased this spa day for my birthday and it was very much needed. From the get-go, we had trouble finding the spa in the castle and there was no staff around to help us. We followed some small signs on the wall throughout the maze of hallways to finally get to the spa area. There were only two chairs, which were taken, so we had to stand in the hall to fill out our forms. Once we got in and changed, we went in for our massages. The ambiance of the massage room was nice, but the massage therapist seemed inexperienced and fumbly. I've had many massages before, and although the warm massage oil was nice, it was basically the equivalent of a friend rubbing your back. Our package included 2 hours of use of the spa facility, so we were keen to take advantage of that as well. Overall, the facilities were just sad. Most things were broken or ill-maintained. The strong back water jet, when in use, sprayed water all over the room, over people and their hanging robes, and all over the floor, making it impossible to wear slippers. The tropical shower temperature handle was broken, so you either got frozen water or scalding hot (and I like really hot water). While there was a sign that it was under maintenance, and water temperature could vary, it was unbearable and quite frankly, a safety concern. The Turkish steam room was the nicest bit, but the equipment was broken you had to fill up cups with water (from either the foot bath, bothering the people trying to use it) or the soaking pool, running back and forth to get enough water to make it steam. The steam bowl was cracked, so the water even flowed out of the cracks, making your efforts a bit in vain to begin with. The floors were heated, which was nice but in the sunroom, the floors were so hot they burned you. While the staff did recommend you wear slippers if your feet were "sensitive", since the floors that you have to go to have about 3 inches of water, you would have to go back to the front and get your slippers and dry off your feet once you get there to be able to try and enjoy some sunshine and have a cup of tea. Overall, the spa was small, overcrowded, and under maintained. The tea was ok, but more than three small sandwich slivers per person would have been appreciated. Overall, I am a very forgiving person and was hesitant to criticise a gift, but my husband agreed that under no circumstances would we be returning and it was definitely not worth the cost.

Very small, hydro pool was disappointing as only 2 people could really use it unless you’re happy to just stand in it. The treatments only lasted 15-20 minutes! On the deal it says 30 minutes, this was very disappointing. On the plus side I have to say the afternoon tea was absolutely delicious.