Taiora: QEII Recreation and Sport Centre

Negative experience: Good pool if you can get in! Last few times we’ve been - even by 9am - there’s a half hour plus wait to get in due to being at capacity. An absolute joke!

Positive experience: Good location, easy access. Plenty of car park. Lots of fun activity area. Very good indoor swimming pool for all age groups

Negative experience: Took cash in left my efpos card at home refused my cash had to go home with 2 disappointed kids what a joke

Fantastic experience: Great kids area for little ones

Fantastic experience: Best swimming pool in Christchurch.

Negative experience: Over the last week the steam and sauna rooms have been cold 3 times at opening time (5.30am). This morning (Saturday 6am) Both were cold and unusable. When asking the female life-guard, her response was, 'its not my job". This person last week also had some smart remark when the lights weren't working in the Sauna when she decided to close the Sauna. I told her that it had been like this all week and her response was, 'well I wasn't on then'. After a time she let in a customer into the Sauna and when ask by another member of the public she responded 'I found the light switch' Is it possible to turn on the Sauna and Steam rooms before opening and show staff where the light switch is.

Negative experience: Consistently at full capacity for the leisure pool and you don’t realise until you arrive and read the sign at the door. Really poor and inadequate design/size for the community and its needs. Really disappointing.

Positive experience: Great venue with lots of swimming options. Spa, sauna and steam room available. Good exercise classes. Fabulous café. Great staff. Unfortunately some regulars who go to booked classes are less than polite and bordering on racist.

Fantastic experience: the bestest ever place to go to..rest of nz..take note..todays special deal for hot soak ,,swim or spa..$6-70 for 2 people..ROTORUA pools..surely u could match this or are u to green ..

Fantastic experience: Always enjoy my visits to QE2.Facilities are clean and staff friendly and helpful.

Negative experience: This is such great pool ‍♀️but 1 staff ruin my day !!!

Fantastic experience: ND user here. First time to the pools and cant speak highly enough of the staff, especially Wan (?). She took me aside and looked after me, showed me around and was just generally wonderful. Since joining and going swimming, the life guards are similarly awesome. Checking to make sure I'm OK and being generally supportive. Oh, and the facilities are great too.

Fantastic experience: Special land magic water fun always stay true to nature

Negative experience: Why did the staff member at the counter not ask the man in front of me if he has a community services card, but ask me? Is it because I'm Maori your staff just assume I have no job and pocess a community services card? If your going to ask one person if they have the card, ask everyone or people feel like they are being belittled.

Fantastic experience: Loved this place

Positive experience: This is such a great pool and facilities. I showered in the female changing rooms and the shower temp was great. I went to help my daughter and grand daughter in the baby change area and the water was EXTREMELY hot, my daughter burnt her head. Fortunately, not my granddaughter. I know these temps will be monitored as part of your quality programme so I thought this would be useful info for you.

Fantastic experience: Great pool for all ages, children are allowed in every pool except the spa pool, which is aged 16 plus

Fantastic experience: Fabulous for kids. Just did over 65 exercise class. It was great. Thanks Michele.

Fantastic experience: I,v been going to QE2 gym and pool for the last yeah and a half my fitness and wellbeing are both way better for itit's become a big part on my weekly rotate great staff and facilities

Fantastic experience: Awesome facilities one stop shop for fitness. I've been coming here most of my life. Staff are all stars

Fantastic experience: Love the pool and facilities here.

Fantastic experience: Love the hydrotherapy pool. It's great for us who have various ailments. Everyone is friendly and you see the same people each time. The pool is not too deep and ideal to aquawalk or your own workout. Great spa afterwards. The changing area has plenty of private cubicles and the ones for families. I go in the mornings when it is busy but not too busy. Pop earbuds in to listen to my own playlist and do a 30min easy workout in the warm water. Perfect

Fantastic experience: Really enjoy coming here in the mornings for aqua jogging. The hydrotherapy pool and spa are also a plus. Front staff are awesome especially sandy who helped me find my phone when I lost it! Thanks sandy!

Negative experience: Most of the front staff are really friendly and helpful except the older lady with ginger hair as she is grumpy, rude and harsh to deal with and the guy who looks Indian ( sorry if this is wrong) isnt very helpful or friendly either. Staff used to be much nicer and great people who welcomed people as they enter and leave but this has dropped off in the last month where you generally get no greeting now and rude service in the mornings. Lessons are run well but would be good to have a few more option times. ( 5 stars) I have had the pleasure several times to talk with MacKenzie the life guard who is really friendly, chatty and smiley. ( 5 stars) Also the way the pool is given out to schools and teams rather than letting the general public swim is a huge problem. You should expect you can go to a public pool and not have the best times of days taken up by teams or schools. This is early mornings or evenings. The floor is generally put to 2m throughout at this time depending how many lanes the teams require which means it excludes even more people who may like to stand up when required. This facility isnt big enough for all the lanes that get taken up with nothing or next to nothing for the general public. So many people turn up and have to either leave or swim in a shallow kids pool. Not acceptable the way this is run as it excludes to many people at the times of days that are popular.

Negative experience: This public pool is absolutely disgusting. The changing rooms reek of urine, and the smell is so strong it makes me feel sick. It’s clear they’re not cleaned properly, and the whole place feels unhygienic. The water isn’t much better—cloudy and questionable. This place needs serious maintenance and a deep clean. I won’t be coming back!

Fantastic experience: Very cool. Lots to do and fun slides!

Fantastic experience: Fantastic family friendly facilities at reasonable entry prices.

Positive experience: Not letting us go on to the website

Fantastic experience: It's great place for everyone every age group. Good for stage of fitness. One of my favorite places to swim and aqua jogging

Fantastic experience: Great pool, exciting slides and great recreational and lane pools, they have a sauna, a spa, and a nice cafe, highly recommend

Fantastic experience: Visited the gym for a Zumba lesson. I don't speak English well but they helped me out and took me to the room and showed me around the facility. Very friendly and Zumba, yes! Great vibes Recommended

Fantastic experience: Very clean overall, Best Sauna in town, not too busy

Fantastic experience: It's nice to play with preschooler

Fantastic experience: Good for family. Request for sauna

Fantastic experience: good place to unwind after a long day skating or working for a reasonable price, given the options of using the steam room, sauna, spa, heated exercise pool and my favourite, the long chilled laned pool for those who love to regulate their body heat, i recommend checking it out also features a couple hydro slides and a kid friendly pool so everyone in the family can enjoy having a safe dip suited to any swimming ability no matter the weather

Fantastic experience: Great pool and amazing staff , love how the floor can be dropped !

Positive experience: Great place for the kids. Shame there's no diving pool.

Negative experience: ⚠️BEWARE OF THIEVES ! Someone stole my shoes from the changing rooms - be careful with your belongings / valuables. Shame on whoever did this. Otherwise a great leisure centre…

Fantastic experience: QE2 is a great facility, great pool complex, with kids pools, adults lane pool and spa and sauna. It has a well equipped gym with modern equipment.

Negative experience: "Because I got kicked out of the spa just because I don't look 16 and haven't hit puberty yet it hurt me a lot as she said"umm how old are you yeah no you don't look 16 I will need to see some id" I reply with I'm sorry but I don't bring id to a pool she replys with "I do not care what so ever "and then tells me to " shut up and your not fooling me " then this bit hurt me the most as I am growing up without a father "why don't you have facial hair or any hair apart from your head" and then says " your father must have not taught you how to lie very well" with is also very rasist as I am black I'm not sure what the life guards name is but she was a elderly woman where's a yellow shirt not the best looking teeth (not in a rude way) and glasses. Thank you for reading and I hope by the next time I'm here I will be treated fairly "

Fantastic experience: Great sauna

Fantastic experience: Excellent facilities, good parking and pleasant surroundings. Staff are excellent with a particular shout out to Kristina who runs the weekly class I attend.

Negative experience: Went in for a swim today, as a swimmer that drowned once before I swim in shallow water. Went in today, learners in the deepest part of the pool, experienced in the shallow end. Discrimination against people with water issues. Unfair, couldn't go swimming.

Positive experience: Great place to swim happy they have a hydrotherapy pool great staff on today especially Chis on front desk

Fantastic experience: This place has the biggest steam and sauna room in town. Its much newer than other pools in town. I travel quite far away from home just to come here.

Positive experience: Good pool complex overall. Foot baths might be a good idea before entering the pools.

Fantastic experience: A great place to spend on a rainy day,seim spa sauna and steam room plus grab a coffee ☕ in the cafe on your way out a great family friendly environment .

Fantastic experience: It's a fun place to swim and can hangout with family too.

Positive experience: This isn't a complaint against staff as I know the habits of other users of qe2 can't be controlled by staff. But a few times, including this morning, I have seen the family rooms being used by a solo person (usually the older people). This morning, 4 out if the 5 rooms were being used by single older people while myself and 3 other mothers/parents were waiting for a room to be free with 1-3 kids in tow. I had just got out of the pool and we were wet and cold.. I went to use the main changing room, it was full, which would be ok on my own, but with a toddler who needs nappies put on and likes to run away it wasn't ideal. I know I probably sound like a Karen, but if these solo people just used the changing rooms how they are meant to it would make life much easier. I suggest perhaps putting a sign on the doors to remind pool users these rooms are reserved for families? I did say to one lady who exited a room that it would be nice if she allowed the rooms to be free for families, she was rude and replied the other rooms didn't have space to which I said there's only 1 of you so it's easier. She went on to ask 'and you are'?.. just take some accountability and say yea ok fair enough I'll know for next time

Negative experience: One very rude older male lifeguard, how dare you bang on the changing room door as you could hear a toddler having a tantrum with the mother in the room helping to get them dressed. How dare you shame this mother infront of other customers instead of being patient and waiting to see if you could help. Instead you aggressively yell and bang on the door asking what's going on. Clearly need to understand not every toddler will be happy to leave the pools..

Fantastic experience: I love the gym and pools friendly helpful staff

Negative experience: Well before the earthquake this was the place to be now its definitely on my don't wast my time list feels like a scam going there knowing what was there before

Positive experience: Pool is great for kids. As a parent it was ok. Surprised there aren't more showers, lockers in the changing rooms, or healthier options in the cafe.

Positive experience: For $3.80 this is an excellent place for my toddler to play and enjoy the waterworks. Totally worth the drive since I don't live very near but I would go there just so she can have a good play. There's also a massive hydroslide as well as inflatable devices if you have a slightly older child. Very fun. My only quibs are the toilets aren't very well kept. There were hair bits everywhere and people just didn't keep the sitting chairs dry. But those are minor issues comparatively. Just affects the rating is all.

Negative experience: Lady was rude and a cry baby got kicked out because she thought I was saying things I wasn't

Positive experience: Great facility, but staff start ushering you out 15 minutes before actual closing time.

Fantastic experience: Absolutely love coming here, staff are always friendly and Lifeguards are on point! Thank you for an awesome membership.

Fantastic experience: A great place to swim, one of the best. Friendly staff & a variety of warm pools to swim in, from toddlers to adults.

Fantastic experience: Absolutely outstanding pool perfect for young children and toddlers in particular. Our 20 month old girl loved the toddler playground. It was extremely clean and the front desk reception lady was very helpful and kind. We will definitely visit again!

Negative experience: We went there with friends on Sunday and there was poo in the babies pool, I told the lifeguard about it and she didn't believe me until I showed her then she got everyone to get out of the pool, but not long after the babies slides was closed as there was poo in that pool too, we end up leaving as we were to scared that the big pool in the babies area will be next - a very poor system that they've got - they need to tell all parents to check their toddlers nappies especially after seeing poo in 1 pool to make sure that that child with the poo nappie doesn't go into the next pool, but they didn't. We found out that it was an African child who was the guilty one and the mother didn't even seem to care. The pools was packed with people and after the poo in the pools more than half the people left the pools. Even one of the staff agreed with me when I've said you guys might just closed for the day. I don't think we will visit this pools again.

Fantastic experience: First time since fix

Fantastic experience: As much as i loved the old pool that was QEII this one is wonderful, the classes for aqua fitness are so good, and lots of lanes meaning room for everyone when its busy - the staff are so friendly too just a wonderful place semi local to home as well

Fantastic experience: First Time Visiting QEll Tonight & Was Pleasantly Surprised. Had A Personal Guided Tour From Billie & She Made My Visit Worthwhile. Absolutely Loved Everything About The Place & Can’t Wait To Join. Thank You So Much Billie For Taking Up Your Time To Show Us Around & Just Being A Wonderful & Supportive Person, You Certainly MaDe Us Feel Right At Home. QEll Is Well Laid Out, Plenty Of Room To Move & A Relaxed Place To Be, Super Excited….

Fantastic experience: Great pools with slides, sauna, steam room, gym and classes

Positive experience: Just started attending the Hydrotherapy gentle aqua class on Thursday mornings and loving itand the instructor, is amazing, healing my lower back, and the pool temperature is perfect.

Negative experience: Don’t buy coffee or hot chocolate from the Cafe. We asked for it to be hot, and it came cold. Also the barristers were rude when asking for a tray to carry the 4x cups.

Positive experience: We love QE2 and go there regularly but have noticed recently that it is incredibly hard to find a park. It does not seem that these cars are people using the pool as the number of cars far outweighs the amount of people in the pool facility. Often we have to park outside the gymnastics centre, which is a hard walk for my elderly grandmother. I have noticed that this is generally only an issue during school hours, which would indicate that the highschool students next door are parking there. It would be really great if regulations could be in place so people that are actually using the pools dont struggle to find a park.

Fantastic experience: Aqua gentle was great today. Michelle T had no sound or mike yet kept us going with her enthusiasm and bright personality. Well done, you deserved the clap at the end

Fantastic experience: Great council pool. Large kids play area. Check hydro slide hours of operation of planning to use.

Fantastic experience: A good facility, providing all round relaxation and exercise options.

Fantastic experience: Love it there so much fun, love the inflatable little bouncy slide

Positive experience: Busy today (25/3) 45 min to hour wait to get in, as they were at capacity.

Fantastic experience: Great indoor swimming pool complex, lots of options to suit everyone provided you want to stay indoors. Our kids love the child friendly pool area.

Fantastic experience: Fantastic facility..staff so helpful and friendly...all the swimming aids provided..great experience xxx

Positive experience: Yeah, good. Took my son to the hydroslide. All was good, friendly staff, good value for a few hours of fun.

Fantastic experience: J.J. Walker is an absolute star. Wonderful helpful service with a smile. Great way to start your swim.

Fantastic experience: Great place for doing some lane swimming or taking your grandchildren to the children's area. Friendly helpful staff.

Fantastic experience: Great facilities for kids swimming lessons.

Positive experience: It is the venue I go to 3 times a week to do aqua jogging...2 lanes available so good as most times there can be up to 8 people aqua jogging...enjoy a spa after the session...on the way out stop in at the red cafe in the facility and have a hot drink..don't usually have food there but have taken away muffins and also custard square...both very nice...staff in cafe very helpful and friendly

Fantastic experience: The adult beginner's swim classes offered here are so very helpful especially for people like me who've missed the boat at a younger age. Personally, I feel Eden is an amazing instructor who's been able to help me with boosting my confidence and overcoming my fears around swimming.

Negative experience: Pools and recreation area absolutely freezing. Typically cold at the best of times but today was exceptionally bad. Couldn't stay very long to hard for kids....Could be a great place but leave disappointed every time. Bring back the old QEII!

Fantastic experience: Went there with my 2 kids. Was free to go because we had the kids. Great area and play zone. Plenty of family changing areas and an on-site Cafe. We will return.

Positive experience: Hard to know when pool lanes are available, website use to show how many vacant lanes but that changed it a few months back. The pre Earthquake QE2 was awesome, it's a shame it wasn't restored to a similar size.

Positive experience: Taiora: QEII Recreation and Sport Centre is an excellent facility for fitness and recreation. The facility is very well maintained, with a wide variety of equipment, classes, and activities available. The staff are friendly, and always willing to help. The centre also has a pool, which is great for swimming and aqua fitness classes. Overall, Taiora: QEII Recreation and Sport Centre is a great place to stay active and have fun. Although it may not be as good as it use to be, I still Highly recommend going here!

Positive experience: Unsure if the staff leaves are down or if the place is too small for the amount of people that want to use it. But waiting to go into the pool is annoying. AOnline booking system want help this out a bit or more staff once inside the kids love it but trying to keep them interested before is hard

Negative experience: 50% of the time, it's pointless attending the lane pools. As they struggle to keep their website up to date. I.e mostly the lanes will be privately booked up. But nothing to tell you this on their site. So, too often, I waste my time. I also find nobody cares about the lane pool rules or enforces them. Consistently, the fast and medium speed lanes are always full of people doggy paddling and swimming into each other as they don't seem to know how to follow the same direction. Perhaps a sign is needed with directions‍♂️ But please bring back the timesheet that tells us how many lanes are available at times and dates.

Fantastic experience: After coming here for almost two years, I had a heart attack. If it wasn't for doing so much exercise I would have never known there was a problem. The best part about the heart attack was that alot of people I chat with have now gone to their doctors and had check ups. The staff I deal with kept in touch and made others aware of what had happened to what seemingly was a fit, healthy person. Good place to belong to.

Negative experience: Extremely disappointing. My friend and her daughter came to your pool And went in the hydrotherapy pool to then be questioned why they were in the pool she explained her daughter has Cerebal Palsy with the worker to reply doesn’t look like she has a disability and once she recovers she won’t be aloud in the pool. Your staff need more training on disabilities and how to go about it.

Negative experience: Visited 29th Jan 2023 to enjoy the leisure pool with my 5yr old son - his favourite pool at this facilities . Sign at entrance said leisure pool (lazy river) was closed and would open at 3.30pm. Paid for entry and began using other facilities while we waited for it to open. Pools open began getting very crowded and 330 rocks around and life guards change the poolside board to read ‘open 5pm’. Left the kid in tears and me very unhappy as if it wasn’t due to open at 330 we would have visited another facility. Communication between life guard and facility staff appalling with customer services staff blaming life guards, and life guards blaming customer service staff. This facility needs to work on providing customers with clear, accurate information and better communication, so customers can make informed decisions before entering. Signs everywhere also state community services cards holders receive 25% off with no mention of terms and conditions, however there are terms and conditions and isn’t applicable with family passes for some crazy reason. When questioned, customer service staff could not provide me with terms and conditions and only stated ‘the computer won’t allow us too’. Usually a great experience but after today will visit a facility who care about their customers.

Positive experience: As always had fun at pool with kids although disappointed in the lazy river. It was very slow and took a lot of the fun out of it. Please can we have it a bit faster. Also the kids were first one down the hyroslide and found it very hard to breath with the chlorine and came out coughing a lot. Great local facility we have though and very helpful staff.

Positive experience: 5 star facility. Kids / family pool with play area and slides, very family friendly and plenty of lifeguards monitoring the kids swimming. Larger pool which is used for the junior swimming lessons, heated and not so deep. Competition pool, variable depth and not heated. Great for when the kids want to do some diving. There is also an aqua jogging pool, spa and sauna along with a gym facility. There is a cafe on site that offers a good range of food.

Fantastic experience: Friendly staff and awesome big pools. Down sides were a VERY loud water fall on a corrugated iron roof in the kids' area and cooler water in the kids' pools than the main pools. Slides and play area were great! Nice clean changing areas.

Fantastic experience: Well, I come here every 2nd day for a swim. Somehow the entire carpark is 95% full every time I visit, yet inside it is comfortable, not crowded. Only $6.70 for a swim which is pretty good for a choice of 5 pools and sauna and a steam room. I always leave feeling good and surprisingly warm given the mid winter chill outside.

Fantastic experience: Absolutely love the pool at QEII - the slide setup they have for the kids makes it my favorite spot. From the exciting slides to the relaxing lazy river, there's so much to enjoy. It's definitely a top choice for my weekends. My only suggestion would be to have more family-friendly changing facilities available.

Negative experience: According to the website above, MyVaccine Pass is required for entry and masks must be worn. Maybe it is time that the owner of this website got there site upto date.

Negative experience: I waited an hour for the children to get in and go on the hydro slide and their was no one on it.

Fantastic experience: Great pool and friendly staff first thing in the morning.

Fantastic experience: Great , soa pool lovely and hot especially on a cold day like today

Fantastic experience: Great to exercise in the pool. Was amazing to have the space without lots of people.

Negative experience: Nothing compared to the previous QE11. Only hydroslide is a joke. The whole complex seems so much smaller.