Mabul Water Bungalows

Had a really good stay here!!! From the boat transfer from Semporna Jetty to the resort, the staff were very attentive and helpful. Upon arrival at the Water Bungalow, I was welcomed with a welcome drink and a brief introduction and orientation of the facilities and the amenities was given by Jasni. Loved the spacious room and the stay was very comfortable. Sea nomads come by daily and offer coconuts and fresh seafood. If you are willing to buy they will be very happy; if you are not keen, just decline politely and they will leave you alone. Meals here were great, there was a variety of mains, fruits and desserts available. The compound is also very beautiful and the view is breathtaking at every corner. Indeed more expensive, but you are paying for the resort being in one of the best locations. They also provide diving and snorkelling services. The Water Bungalow Housereef is a divers heaven and it has many interesting pelagic animals to see. Truly loved my stay here and I believe I will be back.

Amazing location , beautiful setting , wonderful staff, great snorkelling, delicious food. We stayed in the bougain villa it was spacious and luxurious. We loved spotting turtles and other marine life from our balcony..we were well looked after also on our snorkeling trip- so much to see! Booking the trip through trip.com was great also, excelkent communication- thank you

Beautiful villa, we stayed in the bougainvillea it was luxurious, spacious and so beautiful watching fish through the glass tiles on the floor in our room and seeing sea turtles swimming from our balcony each. Morning. We stayed for two nights, would have loved to have stayed longer! We snorkled, the coral and sea life was amazing! We felt very looked after and safe. The food was brilliant and the staff so friendly and helpful. We also enjoyed walking around the island

Overall experience I would personally rate 3.5 out of 5 🌟. To make it simple if you are looking for services you may go for it hence if you are looking for relaxing it’s a big no no. Ambiance: 200% Cleanliness : average Hospitality: 200% Friendly: 200% Basic supplies : very basic (Nil room sleepers, toilet is not even Up to the standard which comes with shower and slow water supply) Food: average (Will be better with the menu display as some of us may not be a meat eater/ vegetarian so instead of asking the staff each and every time we could pick and go) Personal advice : just pay and visit never worth the stay with that amount. Positive side : you will enjoy the sea creature such as starfish’s , turtles and others.

Had a really good stay here. From the boat transfer from Semporna Jetty to the hotel, the staff were very attentive and helpful. Upon arrival at the Water Bungalow, I was welcomed with a welcome drink and a brief introduction and orientation of the facilities and the amenities was given by Jasni. Loved the spacious room and the stay was very comfortable. Sea nomads come by daily and offer coconuts and fresh seafood, if you are willing to buy they will be very happy. If you are not keen, just decline politely and they will leave you alone. Meals here were great, there was a variety of mains, fruits and desserts available. The compound is also very beautiful and the view is breathtaking at every corner. Indeed more expensive, but you are paying for the location being in one of the best locations. They also provide diving and snorkelling services. The Water Bungalow Housereef is a divers heaven and it has many interesting pelagic animals to see. Truly loved my stay here and I believe I will be back.

We stay at this beautiful resorts for 2 nights under a tour package. The water bungalows are not cheap. The room is beautful and we love the balcony where we can watch the sea turles swimming at night. The kids will paddle their boats up to your balcony to sell their coconuts, 5.00 each. I wish I had brough enough goodies for them. When I drop the hotel coffee packs, sugar, toothbrush in a recycle bag for them, they instantly open the sugar pack n swallow all up, wish I bring lots of sweets for them. Do bring to cheer those poor kids if you do come. The breakfast, lunch n dinner are very good, more than enough for hotel guests. If you are going for snorkelling trips, they can provide the gears at a rental fee of 21.00 if you didnt have. The room is very comfort, they have a bucket in case you need to rinse your dirty clothings n a wooden hanger at the balcony where you can dry your wet clothing, very useful

Mabul Water Bungalows is advertised as a “luxury resort” however, it was the worst resort experience of our lives! We paid over RM6,000 for 3 nights. In our opinion the resort is price gouging massively. This resort does not provide value for money! The resort is advertised as “exclusively luxurious” which we feel is misleading considering that the resort is open to day trip tourists taking photos and making a lot of noises. Reviews on the website appear to be cherrypicked and were definitely not representative of the actual experience that we had. Upon arrival at the Semporna jetty, the boat that took us to the resort was packed with mattresses, making it difficult for us to enter and exit the boat. Kyna greeted us upon arrival and took us through the orientation for the resort. We were told “not to interrupt” her until her speech was complete. She acted as if she was talking to children with a condescending tone and laughed when we asked reasonable questions about the resort. In general, all the resort staff appeared to lack any type of training in customer service. Many were busybodies, asking inappropriate questions and had a lack of basic etiquette. The general attitude of the staff was unaccommodating and there was limited flexibility provided. It was as if we were the ones that needed to accommodate the resort staff. For example, we were informed that during dinner each day the staff would need to talk to us about the next day’s activities. This interrupted our dining experience. One night one of the staff rudely knocked on our door many times to see why we had not yet come for dinner. Random people that were not staying at the resort were hanging around, smoking, shouting, riding bikes and gawking at us which made us feel so uncomfortable. Some were spitting and throwing rubbish into the seawater. The food provided was buffet style and very basic. It was not what you would expect of a “luxury resort” and did not match the price that we paid. One night we were shocked to discover that a man standing in the water below our room was staring at us through the glass floor. There was no way to cover the glass floor to prevent this. This was particularly concerning and scary for us. Every time we walked around the resort and when we used our balcony we were harassed to buy things from people in wooden boats that were not from the resort. We were taken via boat for snorkeling around the resort. Unfortunately, the seawater at the locations we were taken to was filthy with floating rubbish (including nappies, sanitary pads and, masks). We were close to the water villages where sewage contaminates the seawater and many people were spitting into the seawater including the boat operators from the resort. We therefore decided not to snorkel around the resort. Other issues noted include: • There was no telephone in the room so we were told that we would need to walk to the public relations office for any assistance. This was not convenient at all.

It's definitely not a 5star resort, but 4stars is fine. The bungalows & plants/flowers is nice set up, very beautiful. Staff is nice. 80% of the people who come here are Chinese and mostly for taking pictures. If you reserved a bungalow (and not the luxury vilas in front) you have to walk 10min to the restaurant or free buggy shuttle available. Food is very good. Alcohol is expensive and not included. Dissapointed about the loud noise from the generators close to the bungalows (they are working on it day and night). Also there is a SMALL beach (you can't swim really, because of the low tide). Perfect for chilling, but owner and staff....come on, PLEASE CLEAN THE BEACH FROM PLASTIC! We saw the local people throwing all kinds of plastic in the water... Location very close to Sipadan, worth it for snorkling or diving. Okay to stay just a few days for relaxing and snorkling.

5 star pricing but 1 star service level. A total of 11pax of us staying at the resort, with some in water bungalow and some in the villa. Once we arrive, they serve us drinks and towel, and gave briefing on the resort. However it went downhill during lunch. The lunch menu was limited (probably, 2 carbo and 2 meat and 1 vege and soup with fruits and cakes), which we didnt mind, however the food was insufficient. We have to 'fight' for food, and everything in the buffet line was clean up very quickly but the refills were super slow. Even thought lunch is from 12pm to 2pm, at 1pm, there is hardly any food left, unless you are ok with just rice. Also, their culteries are also limited, so you might just eat with your hands. Similarly, during dinner, which is from 7-9pm, at 8pm food were finish. A tour member left her handbag at the toilet and later, when she recovered her handbag, all the money in her wallet was missing. Reported the incident to the management but they gave a no care attitude and nothing was done to ensure that these incidents to be minimised in future. So those who is visiting there, please please be mindful of your belongings. Rooms are spacious and comes with a separate veranda, which is very instagramable. However, toilets does not justify the room and price. The shower for water bungalow are unsightly. The toilet bowl flushing is not working well. Water pressures are not consistent, sometimes big sometimes small. Another issue is when the glass table in the villa, suddenly broke when we put hot water on the table. It is a safety hazard and one of my friend was injured by the glass. When we made a report to the management, again the no care attitude. They sent someone to have a look and didnt even apologize nor ask about the well being of my friend. They also never mention about any penalty for the broken glass table. When we checked out, they charged us a penalty for the broken table. There were also renovations works carried out next to the villa. While there were notice stating that the reno work were from 9am to 4pm, at 8pm when my friend wanted to use the room jacuzzi, reno work next door were still ongoing. As my friends are ladies, they are worried about their safety so they are not able to enjoy the outdoor jacuzzi in their room. Overall, an overpriced resort with no or limited hospitality training. Apart from the clear waterwhich you are able to experience when you take any island hopping excursion amd some instagrammable spot, nothing much is praisable. Your money might be better spent doing a day excursion instead of staying in the resort.