Uhh... no, it was not. It was quite fun and challenging, for me at least. Actually, I consider it the most challenging 3D Mario ever made. The tropical setting might be a little repetitive, but it was a refreshing installment. It had very tight controls. The secret levels were my favorite. I don't get all the hate surrounding this game. The only think I hate about it are those annoying blue coins. It felt like a bit rushed (it was) but definetly is was NOT garbage.
The controls were broken, the level design is horrible. The tropical setting as you said, was dumb. The god awful camera system. Just the entire game was and is the black sheep of the franchise. Even Miyamoto said that it's definitely not that good and he regrets shipping it the way it was.