Waterfront Suites & Marina - Nanaimo, British Columbia

Ken P.

We called looking for a couple nights stay in the Marina. We received an email with a map of the marina, indicating where our slip was. The front staff at the office were friendly, helpful and informative. The marina docks look brand new, they are well lit at night. The shower was amazing, cleaner than the showers/ bathrooms at the last resort marina (more expensive) we were at. They are 10 minutes for $2.00. As a marina it has been great, but the suites part of the property looks quite run down.

D E.

Stayed here for four days. The staff was friendly and helpful but that's about it for the positives. The price of this place was high, 168 + per night for a small room.

There was no hot water in my room on the 4th floor, and the water that did come out of the taps was questionable in quality and coloration. There is no breakfast or free water available here either.

Not to mention, there were multiple cockraoches in the unit. While the location of the hotel itself is quite good, the building itself has clearly not been thoroughly renovated in what seems like nearly 2 decades, and it shows. This building is like time traveling to a budget motel in a 1980's crime movie.

There is a kitchenette, a half working microwave and a fridge in the unit, but these devices essentially become useless upon the discovery of cockroaches. It's hard to maintain an appetite there, to be honest.

The Marina is the main selling point for this property, and the hotel is an afterthought. Would highly recommend against staying here unless you have no better option.

George B.

This review only pertains to the marina operations. We have stayed at this marina every time we pass through Nanaimo(2 x's per year). We have always been treated fairly and had good service.
In our most recent trip on 7-15-2024 our experience was very different. We called 1 day ahead to make a reservation. We were told that we had a reservation and call back with credit card information. We called later that day with attendant telling us he was busy and would call back. We did not receive a call. This went on for some time without resolution. On our last call on the day of arrival we were told they had no documentation of a reservation. We should have given up at this point but we persisted in making contact and seeking clarification.
In the end we received email confirmation. Upon arrival we called marina on VHF. They stated they were busy and would call us back. No callback!
Yikes! The lack of communication was like no other experience we have ever had. We politely informed the management that this would be our last stay at Waterfront Marina.

Jordan R.

I strongly recommend not staying here when visiting Nanaimo. We were charged 25% more than we were initially told when we reserved, and the staff were very unhelpful when we arrived and were trying to get to our slip.

We called a week ahead of time and reserved ahead of time and confirmed $2.00 per foot for our 30 foot sailboat. On arrival, staff were unable to meaningfully describe which slip we were in, other than “the second one on the right” and they were also unable to advise us whether we needed fenders on the port or starboard side, attempts to use port/starboard and north/south were very unsuccessful. Unlike some other reviewers, we were lucky that there were no underwater obstructions in our slip. Without any obvious letters or numbers approaching from the water, we took a chance and happened to get into the right slip, but the poor communication was only the first half of our troubles.

After our arrival we went to the office to check in and were informed that despite previous communication/reservation, they “only had a 36’ slip” available for us, meaning that we needed to pay 25% more than we had initially agreed. This left a very sour taste in our mouth and we ended up leaving halfway through our stay as soon as we found moorage elsewhere in Nanaimo, almost 20% cheaper than waterfront suites.

If you manage to get good information about where your slip is, and get in writing how much you’re going to be charged, this could possibly be a good place to stay, but trying to obtain those two things from the staff is deceptively hard.

As for the rest of the amenities, please read through the other reviews as they are accurate and descriptive. The docks are nice, the bathroom and shower (that must be paid for in advance before entering the bathroom) are a single stall for the whole marina, and the washer and dryer are ok but nothing fancy. Despite the nice description of the amenities online, they did not live up to the expectations that were set. All that to say, I would strongly recommend not staying here.

MASH000001

The shower could not be used because a piece of the fitting was missing, I got a glass out of the cupboard and it was stuck to the shelf, not sure when it was last cleaned for it to be sticking. We could not turn the TV off because the remote was rubbish so had to pull the plug out of the wall. Hole in the bed sheet and all night long we could hear the internal plumbing. The hall way has recently been painted but they should have spent the money on the rooms first. Had a guy come to our room at 8.30 in the evening asking if we needed any toiletries, all very odd. Staff on reception helpful enough.

Rod B.

We moored at Waterfront Marina July 6th. Very nice place. Docks were clean and well lit, and quite, with good security at night. The washroom and shower, were clean and spacious. The staff were very friendly and helpful. If I was to have any complaints it would be that the marina's name is not displayed from waterside. Took me a few minutes to figure out where it was. I plan on returning when using a marina in Nanaimo again.

D D.

Try to avoid unless you're on a budget, not that it is cheap. The location is good, the room was large and had a balcony to enjoy the view. Unfortunately the positive things were overshadowed by the negative. When I first got in the room I opened the fridge to put my cold drinks in and to my surprise there was a takeout container of half eaten food left by a previous guest. So right away I'm nervous about the room not being cleaned. I was kind of surprised the clerk did not offer any compensation for the poorly cleaned room. The hallway was definitely dirty (not stained) and it was not wiped or swept in the 2 nights and 3 days of my stay. The hallway definitely needed cleaning because it had a bad smell. I went down the back stairs and it was filthy, and was also not cleaned. The front stairwell was better, only stained, only a little dirty. There were cobwebs all over the room. The towels were quite old, definitely time for new ones. Behind the door in the bathroom had not been swept at all, there was quite a bit of loose dirt there. We could not get internet access in our room at all. It tried to connect but could not on 3 different devices. Not sure why but the light on the balcony stayed on all the time, which wouldn't be a big deal but there were no blackout curtains, even though there were two sets of curtains. So there was a light shining in the room all night. The TV kept turning off automatically every 15 or 20 min. The front lobby was definitely older, sometimes locked and nobody there. The 2nd day the door would not lock, I went to the front desk but no one was there. When I got back up it was working, thankfully but I was nervous about leaving. When I returned later neither key card would work, nor the 2nd set the clerk tried. The 3rd did, finally. The parking lot was fairly dirty and full of junk, had to pay even though it was never full. It does look like they are trying to renovate but it is being done poorly. This could be a nice place but they'll have to try a lot harder in every aspect.

Peyton G.

Room was never serviced during our week stay. Balcony is on the cusp of collapsing and is a hazard. Rotting meat left in hallway for the entire duration of our stay. Asked for more toilet paper and soap and they were surprised our room hadn’t received service. Just shows how ignorant the staff are. Overall the view is nice and the redone rooms aren’t bad but wouldn’t recommend.
-sept 1st, 2022