You could have done this just as easily in the original game, using an owl statue in the exact same way. Although in the original you would have the added benefit of being able to save anywhere, anytime using the song of time without having to even warp to a statue. The new system has no benefit the original didn't other than adding extra statues.
I like the new saving ability, but I would like to end the sessions with the song of time. Saving at a statue right afterward isn't the same thing. It was the action of playing the song and seeing the cycle restart, knowing that your progress was being saved, that made it satisfying. I tried saving at the start of each new cycle and it just didn't have the same impact. You can condescend and say that I'm nitpicking if you want, but that's how I enjoyed the game.
I wouldn't expect you to have a problem if you didn't know what you were missing. You'll probably feel like you're superpowered if you play Great Bay in the original.
Part of the problem is that Great Bay is a boring space when slow swimming. It was fun and memorable because of the action that took place there- the swimming- not the environment itself. It was designed as a wide expanse to serve as a sort of playground for the fast swimming mechanic. That space is a lot more tedious to get across without the mechanic it was designed around.
Chateau Romani unbalances the difficulty by giving you unlimited magic everywhere, which I don't want when I'm not underwater. It also doesn't change the fact that the electric shield gets really annoying when swimming long distances.
It also requires you to have romani's mask, to wait until a substantial portion of the 3 day cycle is over, and spend 200 rupees every single time you start a new cycle in Great Bay. The amount of time you'd spend doing all this outweighs the amount of time you'd save by fast swimming, and it'd put a dent in your savings for the banker heart piece.
I understand that some people want to defend this remake no matter what, but this was a stupid change. There was a need to make the swimming more flexible indoors, but it didn't require wrecking what seem to be the only good swimming controls in the history of gaming.
They just had to toggle the speeds. That's it. There would be no problem with the new swimming at all if they had done this.