I received gift certificates to Goldfish Swim School for my young son for Christmas. You pay a $25 yearly membership fee and $88 a month for weekly 30 minute swim lessons. My son is not potty trained, so a cloth swim diaper is required - which they sell there for around $12 ( and a 25% coupon is included in your welcome package).
The atmosphere is cute and inviting and the staff are very chipper and accommodating . They make registering a breeze and give you a tour and talk you through the routine prior to your first lesson.
The lesson for my son was the first level (mini 1) where a parent needs to be with the child. The pool is very warm, and there are routines and songs for each step of the lesson. He had a blast!
I enjoyed everything up until the end of the lesson. The instructor left quickly. We stayed in the pool for a couple extra minutes because he was having such a good time and the staff members who were previously inviting and accommodating did a 180 and now wanted to know if I paid for another lesson and if not to get out of the pool now. If we wanted to practice in the pool we need to come back (and pay for) a family swim event, which are offered a few days a week. Everything felt very corporate at that point - which was disappointing.
I will ride out the remainder of my gift cards, but I was really hoping for a more personal and accommodating relationship with the swim school. I'll be looking for a different infant swim and rescue program which will provide practice time in the pool and a more personal relationship with the instructors.
In addition to my first review, I was a little put off my the make up policy. If I didn't want to be billed for another month I had to completely unenroll at least a month before my gift certificates would be used up. I had to cancel a few lessons because my son was sick and did not have the ability to make them up because I work and didn't have time during the week - now these lessons are lost and I can never make them up. We had a good experience at Goldfish apart from this.