[A few weeks ago I wrote about my stay at Chaminade Resort and Conference Center, but when posting I clicked the wrong button and erased my work. Hastily I tried to recreate my review, but did a poor job. TripAdvisor is giving me another chance to do better.]
I thought Chaminade was just for groups. In years past I had been on their grounds; I remembered what a pretty place it was, and so I was pleased when I needed a place on short notice in high season to find Chaminade takes individual reservations as well. I stayed there 6 nights in August.
High atop its own private, old-growth forested hill above Santa Cruz, Chaminade sits on open ground in the sunshine. It was once a Catholic school for boys, seminary, and retreat. Now it's a privately-owned business open to the public. It's a beautiful site for both conferences and weddings, and a getaway for fresh air, exercise and health. The campus is in California Mission style, white exteriors, adobe tile roofs, many flowering vines and shrubs. The original school is now a lodge containing offices, conference rooms, dining facilities, a parlor with fireplace, and beautifully landscaped terraces with great views out over Santa Cruz to Monterey Bay beyond. There are a dozen or more two-story motel units where guests stay, each with about 8 rooms, that encircle an outdoor (heated) swimming pool and recreation field, with tennis courts to one side and a gym/workout center/pro shop/spa building on another side. There are measured hiking trails in the nature-abundant woods down over the hillsides.
On the next hill over is the nice DeLaveaga Golf Course (and an 18-hole frisbee course as well), and it's about 2 miles downhill and across town to surfing beaches, the Santa Cruz Wharf and Boardwalk, and the harbour, marina and yacht club. One needs car or taxi to get downtown, and it would be helpful if Chaminade did van-runs around to the local attractions of Monterey Bay for guests who arrive by airport shuttle or private boat.
From one's guest room one must walk to the lodge for dining. Employees will chauffeur on request or in inclement weather, but one ought to walk, especially to breakfast in the absolute silence of early morning, for the beauty of the moment when fog obscures the entire town and bay below and Chaminade is above the clouds.
Various complaints by other reviewers are with merit. Noise can be a problem. Some guests are not thoughtful of others, and how they can act so clueless is beyond me. The buildings are of fireproof materials that conduct sound. New jet-black carpet with a disorienting gold logo (Hilton? InterContinental?), undoubtedly for sound absorption, turns one's feet and socks black, but may not do so after a shampooing or two. More annoying to me was the combo of black carpet, walls in dark Mission colors of deep reds and browns, and the maddeningly low, energy-saving lighting that ganged up on my ability to see in my room. When I turned on my flashlight to find a lost sock, I found someone else's sock and discarded cellophane wrappers, meaning the maid did not have adequate light to service my room.
Smoking is discouraged, but opening my window drew in smoke from someone on a patio below. Since the patio was about 4 feet from the edge of the forest floor, I wished that guest were not in my building and was thankful for the many bright-red fire-hose connections on the property.
The rooms do not have enough electrical outlets (so what else is new?), and I fumed at management for hard-wiring my TV into one of the only pair of outlets on the wall with the desk, meaning I could use the lamp at the desk, OR my computer, but not both at the same time.
The beds are heavenly!! No complaint there!!! However, a huge mirror covered the wall alongside my bed, making me wonder WHAT kind of establishment I was staying in. The mirror was not in a location to be used for checking one's appearance as one left the room.
The bathroom was European style, i.e., tiny, with diminutive tub and hose shower, liquid shampoo and soap dispensers on the wall, slippery footing underneath, and not a single thing to hold onto, with water far too hot to be safe in guests' rooms. The new sink countertop was caulked in the wrong material: the rubbery stuff to which dirt and lint stick. Outside the bathroom an alcove with countertop and (the only) electrical outlet meant for coffee service could no longer be used for that purpose because a second sink, a gigantic vessel sink, too tall for my use and apparently recently installed, took up the entire counter and raised the question, "WHAT was management thinking?". The room lacked a mini-fridge, and its wall safe was so old it required a key. I wished improvement funds had been spent for these two items instead of that sink.
Outdoors, a recent installation of a beach-volleyball court right next to the swimming pool means that the tons of sand dumped for the court are gradually making their way into the pool...and into its drains...while there is lots of open space for the court elsewhere.
There is resentment between spa users, who want silence, and robust gym and workout-room users, and enforcing quiet puts staff in the middle and is unfair to all. Spa services need to be relocated elsewhere.
In summary, I felt that planning decisions are being made by people who do not use this place.
I only had breakfasts at Chaminade, so can't speak about other meals, but my buffet breakfasts were VERY nice -- fruits, pancakes, cereals, pastries, yogurts, juices -- a big step above ordinary motel breakfasts; also, an omelet chef was on call for special orders. The quality and quantity of the food depends on who gets there first: individuals, or a big group of conference-goers. I was disappointed that other guests had been able to find package-deal reservations online with complimentary breakfasts. There are a wide range of prices through online agents, some even with free items for reserving through them, but I could not get my breakfast even for the one dollar advertised on Chaminade's own web site when reserving directly with them, and once $17 (plus tip) breakfast charge, $20 "resort fee" and miscellaneous taxes were added to my daily room charge, my bill was quite a bit higher than expected -- over $1,100 for my stay, a budget-buster.
When I made my reservation and again when I checked out, just one busy person was handling desk, phone, and office while other staff were standing around, and I didn't know whether they were trainees or just improperly deployed. Perhaps someone was on vacation.
Chaminade is a nice place to get away to, a "summer camp" for adults and their offspring, though I would not bring a preschooler there; there is not much for the younger child to do. Would I stay there again? Yes, in a heartbeat. The grounds are lovely, and employees work hard to maintain them. I would bring my books, my swimsuit, and my hiking boots next time, and would do a lot more enjoying the outdoors. After all, Chaminade is about the outdoors.
Room Tip: For a quieter room, ask for second floor, back side, in the middle of a building.
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This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC
