Carefree Resort & Conference Center

Civana is an amazing experience. The activities are plentiful and diverse enough so that people with different desires have plenty to do

I enjoyed Civana so much during my two previous visits (both in 2024) that I eagerly booked a third for Thanksgiving week. This most recent stay surpassed the high bar set on my previous visits. The classes and activities kept me busy: a great, group hike in the Sonoran Desert on my first morning, a pickleball class with Jair—who was kind enough to spend quality time with me to give me pointers—and though I'm not a yoga guy, I managed to take a pair of myofascial release classes as well as a restorative flow session. And, yes, I even found time to treat myself to a spa session. (Thank you, Trish!) Of course, there's the great pool with what looked like new chaise lounges since my previous visits. And those sunsets! The size of the guest rooms are extremely generous and the king size bed is super comfortable. Everyone I encountered—the instructors, the front desk staff, bartenders, baristas at Seed, housekeeping, and those I spoke to on the phone—were incredibly friendly and accommodating. I rented a car from PHX so I went out to dinner each night, enjoying a great steak at Keeler's a few minutes away in the heart of Carefree's shopping area, and a return trip to Tonto Bar & Grill, another fine dining option in nearby Cave Creek. And, yes, I'll be back in 2026.

We planned a day pass for our Christmas gifts to each other. We booked on line and wanted to talk to someone about booking our treatments that we got with our day pass. Our reservations were for Thur Dec 11. We started calling at 7:29am and proceeded to call 9x waiting for someone to pick up (I have the record of all the calls we made) from 5 minutes up to 10 minutes, on hold. We tried every one of the options, trying to find anyone to pick up the phone. Finally at 8:10 Katelyn answered the phone. I had also sent 3 emails trying to find if their phones were working or not. When she finally answered she honestly ignored the fact that we said several times that we had been calling repeatedly and no one was picking up. Her response was short and basically curt, “what can I do for you?” No explanation or apology as to why it took almost 40 minutes for someone to answer. Even a minimal apology would have gone a long way. So our expensive holiday gift started off on the wrong foot. She booked our treatments for the day. On Thursday when we arrived we were ready to put it behind us and enjoy our day. Until we found out that our way expensive treatments also had $53 tips attached to them. 22% service charge for mediocre treatments and a very small amount of options for a spa. We were literally told we could tell the provider we wanted to reduce the service fee/tip! Who would ever feel comfortable doing that?? Put us in a terrible position so we left the exorbinant We enjoyed the pool. Classes were booked we would have liked to take—I can’t do many offered because they were too high intensity, so we accepted that. Lunch was wayyyy overpriced, undercooked and very little flavor/taste. $70 for a burger and a wrap. No drinks. $700 could have been spent at several other local spas with much better quality Disappointed doesn’t even come close

There is a big design disconnect between the hotel rooms and the spa. The rooms were built in the 1970s and the spa was completed in 2018. While the property is gorgeous, the basic rooms are painted white with very little aesthetic appeal. Cheap looking furniture and the bed was very hard. My room had chips of paint missing on the ceiling. It was very bland and the hallways were grey and drab. It was the saddest hotel I have ever paid a luxury price for. The spa was definitely better looking but the treatments I had ( 2 massages & a facial) were just ok. These were not world class treatments although the prices are as expensive as other luxury resort spas. And they surprise you with a 22% fee at checkout. Not the surprise and delight I was looking for. At checkout I noticed there was an error on the bill, but the front desk was not equipped to assist at that time. I wrote an email later that day thinking it would be easy to fix. Unfortunately it snowballed into multiple incorrect folios and additional charges to my credit card. I have never seen so many mistakes on a simple hotel bill. I had to open a dispute with my credit card company. So far 2 out of the 3 disputed charges has been refunded. Before the billing issues I would have said this was an okay experience. Definitely not a luxury resort. The landscaping is beautiful! But the billing is such a red flag I would never recommend this place.

This resort and spa is magical. I came with 7 friends from Michigan and we had an amazing experience. I had had a challenging year, and the tranquility and relaxation were exactly what I needed. Hotel - 5 stars - lobby is lovely and resort grounds are beautiful. It is very peaceful and the main pool was warm and relaxing. The resort is quite compact and easy to navigate. Free parking was appreciated. The service was wonderful and the staff was so nice. Michael in reservations was particularly helpful with our group. Rooms - 5 stars - very comfortable beds and excellent shower and bath with separate toilet area. The pour over coffee was delicious and the storage space was terrific. Loved the toiletries and robes. Classes - 5 stars - what an amazing variety! I did yoga, aerial stretch, mala making, Aquafit, numerology, feng shui, sound healing - they were all incredible. Veronica, John, and Patty were especially excellent, but truly all instructors were wonderful. The Quartz hike 15 minutes away was terrific! Spa - 5 stars - my massage was excellent and the pool and facilities were beautiful. The cold plunge was fun to try - once! A few suggestions: food service at the pool before 11:30 would be nice; nuts and dried fruit in spa waiting areas would be great; hairbrushes in locker room. Dining - 4 stars - we loved happy hour and Eric at the bar was terrific. The food was very tasty, and the variety was good. However, our service at dinner at Terras was incredibly slow. Our reservation started at 6:15 and we didn’t finish until almost 9:00. And the restaurant was empty. Seed was very convenient with great coffees. A few granola bars and hummus would be a nice addition for quick snacks. I loved the gift water bottle and water stations! Overall, we had an incredible stay and I will definitely return. Thank you!