Bear with me for this lengthy review and hope to provide you insight of what is in store for you.
On our first day, they lost our luggage while we were waiting for our room, apparently made it's way back to the main island with guests who left the resort. We only knew of the situation as we demanded for our room, and though it was already available, they were ashamed to inform us of our lost luggage. We got them hours later 5 and was not offered any thing for the inconvenience until we demanded mid day snack as ours were packed in the luggage that they lost.
Our room was mediocre - do not take a junior suite fronting the salt pool. The air conditioning never got colder than 21C, not good enough for NAs. Again, no compensation or anything. Someone came to check a couple of times and said it was fine.
We ended up asking to be move to a more expensive room. Had to fight for a discount after all the inconvenience we had gone thru. Must be the best thing that we did, moving to the best room in the resort - totally recommend the beach front. Bu then again, It did not go by without hitch as we had a rodent scratching thru the ceiling for almost an hour just before we hit the sack. Had to call for maintenance to deal with it, again nothing for the inconvenience.
Went for a private speed boat tour, pricey. The boat almost stalled on our way back, so the captain had to take it slow, not even half its usual speed. Had to wait an hour for someone to bring 6 liters of engine that the boat needed to get it back in shape. Again, one of the best thing you don't want to miss - kayaking in the big lagoon, priceless. Ask for Nino as a guide, he was all out assisting and making sure we get the best service and experience. Days after, we spoke to a family of four who went for the same boat tour and ended with food poisoning from the food prepared by the resort chef.
No doubt, the place is one nice island resort but needed a lot of work to upkeep the building and facilities. They say they take no more than 80 guests in total and there were between 20-30 guests during our stay - solitude.
Staff were mostly new and lack the right experience to doing their part in running an isolated island resort. The admin staff doesn't have any clue of what customer service especially when things are going sideways, except for greeting you with a smile and politeness. Someone offered the library/karaoke room to get relief from the heat as we waited for our room to be available. The aircon was turned off and it was better to have stayed outdoor. Asked a staff at the lobby what the gym facilities were, and she doesn't have any clue whatsoever.
The restaurant staff had better service but can still be improved. Ordered adobong manok and it was raw, oozing with blood as my wife cut thru it. Pizza was not any better than ones you get from Costco. Though most dishes were enough for a couple like us.
On our third night, the staff had a 15-minute program showing off native dances. Great effort from the staff. It was tied with a special bbq dinner costing about CAD$1000 for at least 2 people, what a rip off. I only saw no more than 3 tables order bbq out of possible 10 tables.
The return trip was a nightmare with the rough seas. The 15 min boat ride took 45 minutes struggling thru the waves. Not the resort's fault but something to consider booking an island resort. Finally, our flight was delayed for 3 hours, together with at least another 3-4 flights due to the weather. Airport was so crowded with limited to no food at all.
Overall experience: island resort, kayaking in the big lagoon, the snake island and private snorkling tour - one for the books. Not sure if I'll come back nor recommend the place without sharing our experience. We spent around CAD5,500 for the 4 nights, from the flight, resort and tour. read more