Pool is MUCH TOO HOT FOR LAPS!

Friendly and welcoming staff. Excellent fitness gym. Even parking during peak hours for members to get in and work out in downtown Princeton!

Does anyone ever look at the disgusting shower curtains in the women's locker room. Out of the 10 shower stalls, only 6 are functional, only 5 have curtains and all that do have curtains are so old, torn, missing curtain hooks and dirty. Please, it's been well over a year since those curtains have been there, time to replace them please. Why can't the pool water ever be warm, it's always so cold. Fix the **** thing.

I have Parkinson’s & am devoted to physical therapy for the disease. I believe many of the Y certified therapy is similar to Parkinson’s therapy. I wish Parkinson’s therapy was at Princeton Y.

The early morning Y staff are like friends and we love seeing them every week day. We also have "companions" who have worked out at the same time of day for years. They are our community. Of course, we also like the exercise and the convenience.

I am in a unique position to comment as I have being coming to the Princeton Y since 2005 and can see the value of what the Ym facilities and programs offer members and improvements to the interior over the years that add to the overall experience. As a non-Ym Aikido program member / volunteer administrator / volunteer instructor (at times), I also feel we share a spotty history of communication and a less than active interest in promoting the Aikido program. We have recently put together a marketing plan and have been communicating with an administration that seems to be rotating in and out or otherwise occupied by other priorities.

The staff are all amazing,extremely helpful and courteous.
There is a good range of activities.Tge pool is great
The only downside is that the building facilities could do with an upgrade especially the showers

You allow Palmer Square shoppers and workers to park in the Y lot. When I arrive for class the lot is sometimes TOTALLY full and I head home or I park illegally. You sometimes schedule class in the basement. Class participants are in their 80s and even 90s and they struggle with the steep steps…or stay home. Sometimes there are not enough chairs in chair exercise class! I only go because Suzette is a FABULOUS instructor. But we are otherwise treated so cavalierly that I can’t recommend the Y.

You really need to do something about the plumbing in the men's room. It looks so decrepit with so many showers not functioning. I encourage you to open the doors windows of the pool as much as possible to improve the air quality and reduce the chlorine smell.

Great activities and great staff. Reasonable pricing compared to fancy gym clubs

I love the friendly vibe at the Y, and I love the weight room and the deep water aerobics class. The issue is that the pool is not in good shape...water quality issues, dirty grout, rusty metal. Similar issues with the shabby women's lockerroom showers and bathrooms. Many lockers are not functional, and the carpet is FILTHY in the winter--an easier-to-clean flooring would be better. I like the big shower room, but the water gets scalding hot when a toilet is flushed. The showerheads are rusty, as are the hooks. Not a fresh look!

Again, amazing friendliness and good classes. Just got too rundown. I belonged to the Y in NYC and used several locations routinely over the 7 years living there, and they were all cleaner and fresher looking than the Princeton Y. We should do better!!!

Best place to work out. Got pools, basketball courts and

Carpets need cleaning and the downstairs weight rooms requirement remodeling. Upstairs locker rooms are outdated

Everyone who works there is so friendly! The gym has everything I need.

Limited class availability (more Pilates mat classes in the evenings would be nice - there's only 1 per week and it's in the morning on a weekday. I've been told for years that it's hard to get Pilates teachers. Maybe it's because you're not paying enough?). More of an issue is that the building is falling apart - have you looked at the ceiling in the Mind/Body room... tiles missing, water damage, stains, flickering lights... The Group Exercise room also is in terrible shape. I've been coming to the Y for 20+ years because of 1 class (Spanda Fusion) and will continue to as long as that class is at the Y, but the state of the building in such a wealthy town is so sad. With so many wealthy donors, and now that the Y is part of the Greater Somerset Y (which looks gorgeous!), why has 'putting a bandaid on a major issue' the solution time and time again?

I go primarily for the weights. However, things are dusty quite often, floors are dirty, there are never any tissues anymore, often times the disinfectant wipes are empty as well. I did notice new signs which hopefully will help, but the young boys sit on the machines looking at their phone more than they actually do any weightlifting. Sometimes the weight room is so crowded with teenagers. I can’t get in there.
On a positive note, Suzette is fantastic, and most of the workers are extremely friendly and helpful.

Same reason as always: last "upgrade" of treadmills crippled their longstanding prior ability to receive streamed audio from the TVs (for listening with headphones). Near-term restoration of this functionality was promised by staff for over a year but (now years later) seems to have been forgotten by the administration. Men's bathroom in downstair area has also been in disrepair for quite some time and now appears to have possibly(?) been abandoned. My $15 membership to Planet Fitness buys better facilities (including both of above) than my $100+ membership to the Princeton YMCA.

Good price; very helpful staff; good facility.

The

Improve parking - create a new sign, and display it prominently, stating that parking is for Y members only. The current sign is very faded and I watch people walk from the parking lot away from the building as I drive in prior to class. Then I’m parking a long way from the building entrance.

Better locker rooms.

It feels like then is run for its employees and not for users. The situation with the pool is terrible. Unreliable pool availability because lifeguards don’t show up- an indictment of both staff AND management - and unreliable water quality or temperature. Terrible experience with adult swim lessons. Indifferent uninterested and unreliable instructors. The men’s locker room and showers are in atrocious condition. It’s really shameful. I go to Y’s whenever I travel and the Princeton Y is in the worst shape of any I’ve ever seen.

If you’re looking for a

friendly, well-run

friendship

Facilities, particularly temperature upstairs. Too hot. Price is too high.

Strong points are very nice and competent staff, competitive rates. Weaknesses are facility is crumbling, things break and don't get fixed for months, place is not well cleaned or maintained.

The classes, the teachers and the staff. I did not rate it to a 10 because the women's locker room is soooo outdated and is NOT regularly cleaned. There is black mold in some of the cubicles and there is rust EVERYWHERE. Toilet seats , shower curtains and dressing room curtains are also disgusting. These are cheap accessories, why can't they not be replaced? At times, the locker room also smells funky, I think the smell comes from the carpeting. I am imagining that so much bacteria already live in the carpet in the dressing room.
The whole locker room desperately needs a renovation, please please

Love Suzette’s water aerobics classes.

the facility is old; needs to be cleaned more frequently. Blinds in the yoga room are broken and it's either too hot or too cold

The physical facilities are shabby. The locker rooms are disgusting and even dirty. Everything needs sprucing up. The yoga room ceiling looks as though it’s going to fall down the sunscreens in that room are shredding. The Y just doesn’t. measure up to other gyms in the area on cleanliness and attractiveness.
What the Y has going for it is the quality of the instructors and staff, as well as lots of classes and adequate equipment,

Much of my family and I have been coming to the Princeton YMCA nearly daily for years. We’ve always felt welcomed by the staff there, many of whom we’ve come to know on a first-name basis. We’ve really enjoyed the facilities, especially the weight room, the pool, and the gymnasium. When our kids were younger they benefitted from the swimming lessons, the swim team, and the summer day camp. Throughout, the friendships and camaraderie they’ve found with their peers at the Y have become a meaningful part of how this town feels like home to them. The Princeton YMCA—like the YWCA, the Public Library, the Arts Council, the Recreation Department, and Princeton Nursery School—is a cornerstone of civic life here. It feels like a genuine community organization and we feel fortunate to be able to be a part of it.

Friendly staff and members, affordable, variety of class choices all included in fees, warm community vibe.
The ONLY downside is the facility has some decaying areas that need attention/funding/upgrading (specifically, the showers and lighting in the women's locker room.)

you gotta fix these showers. or at least put new showerheads on those that work

Something for everyone!

The people are great, and I support its mission. The facility appears to have a lot of deferred maintenance, and I see things that lead me to question its cleanliness.

I am providing a generous 3 due to convenience of the location. Otherwise as I have communicated in the past the facility , which I only use for the gym is less than ideal.
The cost keeps rising and services keep going down. Bathrooms out of commission, air conditioning is barely on, equipment duck taped or not kept up to good working order, young children in crocs on the equipment and the cleanliness is not up to what it should be.
My latest complaint is that over 2 months ago I told a number of staff about the loss of internet and cell service. While I do not use my phone to talk , I need to be able to be reached due to a person with a health condition at home. You are in a black hole in the cardio and weight area. Plus I can not access anything else on my phone. Others have said the same and are frustrated as well. The service is still out. Many are waiting for the new gym at the shopping center to open and no longer be a member, I am one of the them.

I can’t recommend additional people when frequently, there is not enough parking for me (a paying member). If they enforced their own parking sign and not allow many of the parking spots to be taken by people who just park and walk downtown then that would solve the problem, and I could raise my ranking from 2 to 10

One of the main reasons we keep a membership to the Princeton YMCA is to have our 7yo take swimming classes. The aquatics team at the Princeton YMCA have recently been quite underwhelming, specifically after Amanda left. So we have not signed him up for the program because the instructors do not seem to care and apply themselves, sometimes not even paying attention to the kids for 15 min straight during a 45 min class. We are very unsatisfied with the current state of the aquatics program indeed. On a separate note, the locker rooms are quite dirty and rusty. Seems like at least replacing the lockers should not be so difficult.

I am generally a big fan of the Y. Unfortunately, I have run into frustrating situations when using the weight machines. Twice (a week apart) I have encountered young boys (perhaps 13 or 14 years old) who believed that 1) they needed to wait long periods of time (15-20 minutes) between sets while using the weight equipment, and 2) that this entitled them to monopolize that equipment while they waited, so that no one else could use it. In one case, two boys sat and chatted on the equipment for half an hour (not using it) while the other people in the room (at that point, me and another man) cycled through all of the other machines. They initially refused to move when both of us asked, and only moved after some angry tones were used (simply saying you can’t sit on the equipment while you wait). This was frustrating. A week later, I observed another boy of similar age tell an older woman that she could not use a machine because he was using it. In fact, he was using an adjacent machine. The women left the room. This behavior is so arrogant and entitled that it takes us by surprise and it is difficult to know how to respond. I was firm and verbal. Others are intimidated. This is effectively young teenagers bullying older adults who are trying to use the equipment. There is no monitoring to prevent this. It makes use of the weight machines extremely unpleasant. My primary interest in the Y right now is the use of the weight machines and I am unfortunately considering cancelling my membership because of this bullying behavior.

Pool is far too warm to comfortably swim laps!!!

The bathrooms were quite dirty and showers were broken. Also lots of bugs on the swimming deck. And there were no life vest available for my toddler.

group exercise classes

I coached basketball for over 10 years at the Y from 2010-2022, both of my sons played basketball and other activities, and my older son worked at the Y. Over the years, I have recommended the Y to other parents in Princeton.

I signed up for the two month program & was so impressed with Jass that I joined the YMCA with hopes I can take more classes with her as well as other classes. I have always taken aqua classes at another facility & would like to take them there but find the showers not at all desirable. I have heard that the aquatic instructor is outstanding.

Staff are nice and friendly. The facility are clean . Swimming has flexible hours . Love it

the women locker area is ok, the shower and bathroom facilities are disgusting - why aren't they fixed and/or updated , they are terrible. ;(

Staff is friendly and nice

The Swim program has turned a leaf with Lo and Brandon and Sheena as the tutor it is one o

I have been trying for six months to get an answer about why it takes so long to change all the lights that are out in the ladies locker room, to unclog a sink that stays clogged for two months, to remove rusty hooks from the shower area, to pick up trash strewn along your fence that runs along Robson place that I had to pick up myself after a few months etc. etc.

If you had a well kept, clean, functioning locker room, I would give it a 10+ because the people at the pool and at the front desk are so lovely and you have a very nice lap pool that I use five days a week.

The other reason I gave it a 1 is because occasionally a lifeguard will not show up for duty and everyone has to get out of the pool and leave. That should absolutely never happen. I was a member of a Lifetime pool in Denver for nine years and that never happened once. It has happened multiple times in the six months that I've lived here and used the Y.