Alyeska Nordic Spa — Attraction in Alaska

This was our second time to the spa. The first was in May 2023, so shortly after the spa was filled opened with everything available. Our first visit was great and everything was new and clean. This time, it was painfully obvious that the spa is being neglected and not maintained which is so sad to see. The locker rooms were pretty gross, hard water scum was building up on the shower heads, the rack that held the soap dispensers was broken so the bottles were precariously resting on the holder, the metal legs of the benches in the shower stalls were rusting and a trail of rust was on the ground leading to the shower drain. My fiancé said one of the toilets was out of service in the women’s locker room, and their paper towel dispenser was broken so there were no paper towels available. In the men’s room the paper towel dispenser was right above and connected to the trash can and for most of the visit the trash was overflowing so much that it was touching the clean paper towels above.

The hot tubs and cold plunges have a significant amount of grime on the grout lines, and there was a lot of debris floating in each of them. I overheard a patron mention that there were multiple nails sticking out of the floor board of the signature sauna and that they almost stepped on them.

The desk outside the locker rooms that usually had towels on the counter hardly ever had towels on it. Additionally, there was only a staff member at the desk a single time I went over and when I asked for a towel I got a sigh and a look like I was bothering them by asking for a towel since none were out. At another time in the day there was a group of around 8 people waiting for towels or a different robe size and no one was at the desk. After about 5 minutes we just walked behind the desk into the supply closet and got stuff ourselves. After that point I saw multiple people doing the same thing throughout the day.

The two trees bistro is hands down the worst food experience I have had in recent memory. To start, I have seen the menu change 3 times now, and every single time it is a limited menu where we just pick the single thing that sounds like least bad. We decided to get the Chicken Club sandwich. This was advertised as a sandwich with piri piri chicken on a pretzel baguette with pesto mayo and lettuce/tomato. What we received was a thick, dense, and dry pretzel bun slider with dry, plain shredded chicken and an unnoticeable amount of sauce. The two trees bistro advertises itself as using fresh seasonal ingredients from alaska but this sandwich couldn’t be further from that. I swear everything on the sand which was purchased straight from Costco. The sandwich looked like something you would make yourself for lunch, except I would be severely disappointed in myself if I made something that tasted like this. To top it all off, the two trees bistro has the gall to charge $26 for this abomination. I have never seen such an egregious money grab at a restaurant before. Finally, I don’t know if they control this, but the default tipping amounts when paying were 20, 25, and 30. This was just the cherry on top to think that this food and service warranted a minimum of a 20% tip.

It is extremely sad to see what is happening to the Nordic Spa and how much it has gone down hill in the past year. In a few years I can only imagine this place will be as dingy as H2Oasis...

Went on a Saturday. I will say that the outside atmosphere is relaxing because who doesn't love a soak outside in Alaska in the winter! but that's about all I enjoyed. The customer service is awful and the locker room was absolutely DISGUSTING by around 2pm. Dirt, hair, trash everywhere - by 7pm it looked like a bomb had gone off in there and equal to a good day at H2Oasis. Huge clumps of hair in the showers, dirt all over the floor and the toilets.... So gross. 🤢🤢🤢🤢 Is it really too much to do a quick clean every hour? It really was so disgusting.

Also, someone stole my slippers so I had to put my feet in the slippers of a stranger and that kind of grossed me out as well - I should have asked for a new pair of slippers but I didn't think of it at the time. Rope, towel and slipper theft was rampant because there's really no way to indicate that the equipment is yours. Friend had robe stolen and she did ask for a new one.

They had just come out with a Black Friday gift card special the night before our experience so all of our party bought it and then check-in was a nightmare because the gift card system is terrible. Then the front desk woman said rather snarky to her colleague that “they all have gift cards”. Excuse me, but it’s not our fault your gift card system is terrible, also, basic rule of customer service is to take a breath and solve the issue the best you can. Free drink in the lounge or something...anything! But definitely NOT snark.

But the biggest thing that made me upset was that I had called twice to ask if we could bring our own food and I was assured we could. Then when we finally got the gift cards to work, the same snarky worker said "I noticed you brought food with you but we can't have any outside food in the spa." Her coworker said, "Well you can have it if you sneak it in, but not officially." Then another coworker chimed in and said "NO. You may not have food." I told her I called TWICE to confirm which is why we brought food. So...they have quite a communication issue going on and there's definitely some management issues and mixed messaging. I doubt they pay their workers enough to care. Another worker said the same thing to us under her breath "yeah, I'd sneak food in too if I were you."

For the price of admission, which is now $119 (just for hydrotherapy) plus food which brings the day to a healthy $200, I’d expect stellar customer service and at least a semi-clean locker room. And if the locker room is that bad, I mean, are the pools and saunas kept clean? I don’t want to even think about that.

FYI the steam room is broken and we heard from a staff member it won't be open for possibly months.

The bistro food was pretty good - VERY rich so you really don’t need much of it. We had a good waitress - probably the best worker there. Her name was Debra and we appreciated her very much! You go, Debra, I hope you make lots of tips at this place.

Would I go again? Probably...if I buy another pain in the butt Black Friday gift card. But I'd definitely go on a weekday in hopes that the locker room isn't quite such a disaster and I'd still sneak food in to eat at the locker. My hope is that they will improve - like seriously, just clean the floors every...

I went to Alaska twice this year, with my husband for anniversary in April, and with my girlfriends, and both time Nordic spa was one of the most exciting stops. In fact, I loved the spa so much the first time, that I convinced everyone to come visit Alaska in December. Honestly, we had our fun and for the most part enjoyed ourselves. But I noticed that spa facilities looked really run down in December compared to our visit in April.The second steam room was my favourite the first time, but second visit not so much. The steam building itself was filthy, I didn’t see anyone mopping it once in hours we’ve been there, there’s definitely need in some basic maintenance, and something was off with steam, it just wasn’t steaming like it should. I tried that second steam room over and over within 6 hours, and for the most part steam was barely there. Had to run from second room to first steam room, then run back to use water bucket(the one in first one was broken too). Outside bathrooms were closed, water filling stations outside didn’t work. Finnish sauna was another favourite of mine during the first visit. It was sad to see that water caddy for splashing rocks got removed, and that’s what made that sauna experience feel so amazing. The little area with barrel saunas in the woods was slippery as hell, and I personally didn’t find those little jacuzzis warm enough to chill and enjoy both times. We preferred relaxation pools. Those were great, as always. Another bit change is an attitude from employees. Our first visit everyone were so nice, it made a big impression. Front desk folks were still nice, but we definitely felt rushed to leave by people working inside(and we walked out of the door at 8;55 with our heads half wet). I went it pick up fresh towel around 8 pm and was given the biggest side eye. And when I asked what time they close, because that side eye made me think maybe I am being confused and overstaying their hospitality, whoever was working that day barked at me that they close at exactly at nine. Front should probably go over the times when things getting turned off and when you’re expected to leave spa area. Or just close it right at 8;30, and there you have 30 minutes for everyone to get ready and leave. No need to be hostile. The bistro on site is a hard pass. We all agreed on that. On the other hand, free tea is amazing, still thinking about it sometimes:) In conclusion, I probably won’t use my miles and days off to fly to Alaska just for Nordic spa, like we did before, but if I’ll be in Alaska for other activities, I’d visit again. Honestly, this is such a great space with so much potential, and I love it still, but it needs some improvements. I was sad to see the decline in service and overall cleanliness. Being polite, putting some salt to slippery surfaces and using mop once in a while didn’t kill anyone yet, as far as I am aware. Wet and slippery floors did tho, so….. That restaurant is definitely something that needs big changes. The space is so beautiful, but the menu just doesn’t match. Don’t take my review as hate, take it as I want it to be seen- your friend, who loves you, tells you that you...