Lounge Shower Review: Apricot Lounge at SGN

after a long day going around the South Vietnam countryside, i needed a shower before my red-eye to Tokyo.

first up, the Apricot Lounge, which i got access to via Priority Pass.

ease of access and location:  in the men’s bathroom at the end of the lounge. there are two shower stalls, one on each side after the toilets. there’s not much room at all, no shelf for your carry-on luggage.

the goods: two slightly dingy-looking bath towels, no amenity kit, no liquid soap/shampoo dispensers in the stall. you just got two bottles of stuff outside of the shower. i had to guess which was which (and luckily was correct thanks to the long hair in one of the pictures). no hair dryer either (if you’re the type who uses one).

shower: the water pressure was amazing and the hot water hot and constantly so. however, the shower curtain was very short, stopping a good 6″ from the floor, so my stupidly-placed carry-on now has a moist bottom. as stated earlier, there are no shelves in the shower for anything so i had to keep reaching around the shower curtain for soap or shampoo. i suppose i could have just placed them on the floor of the shower, but i was/am too exhausted to be smart.

cleanliness and state of facilities: the shower itself seemed clean enough, but i think the small dish of urinal fresheners (ladies, those are the little pink and yellow things that smell like mothballs) should have been a clue. the towels not only looked a bit dingy, but they smelled of body odor as well (with a bit of detergent), so as i dried myself, i could smell BO being smeared all over me. luckily now (maybe 40 minutes after the fact) i only smell of soap, but ugh, it was highly unpleasant. They obviously needed a bit more odor eliminating products in their facilities.

note the interesting holly & ivy motif.

overall rating: 1 out of 5. between the nasty-ass towels, the lack of space, the too-short shower curtain (=wet luggage, again, not too bright of me to leave it next to the shower), and the permeating mothball smell, i cannot in good conscience recommend this shower for anyone unless you are feeling especially grungy. well, i guess i certainly did, so i suppose i’m better off post-nasty-shower than not having taken one at all, but barely so.

note: remember above how i said “first up”? that’s because i planned on showering again at the (Star Alliance-related) Rose Lounge, but when i came in i asked and apparently they no longer have showers here (despite what it says on the Star Alliance Lounge Finder). meaning i’m stuck with the lingering shudder-inducing memory of the Apricot Lounge.