Kristal Joy Dela Cruz Slaney
Mixed stay — beautiful resort, but real issues
The resort itself is lovely: clean, well-kept, with plenty of pools and nice facilities. I didn’t get to use the pools since I was under the weather, but they looked great. The spa was lovely too.
My biggest problem was the WiFi. It’s aptly named “escapecompletely” — unfortunately that also meant I couldn’t reliably escape to my work. The connection dropped constantly, on and off all day. I work nights on American time, so stable internet was essential for me, and this was the main letdown of the stay.
The internet trouble led to a frustrating night. Looking for a stable connection, I had to step out around 1 am — but the gate was closed and my key card had reset (since it rolled over to my next check-in day). I couldn’t get back to my room. I tried calling from outside but no one answered, so I had to walk all the way to the front desk carrying my laptop and everything. A real hassle.
The staff were generally nice. The front desk team were lovely — one small note: I look Filipina but grew up mostly in the States and prefer English, and they kept addressing me in Tagalog. The gentleman at the restaurant was the standout — friendly and accommodating, and when he noticed I was getting bitten by mosquitoes in the waiting area, he offered me citronella. (I got quite a few bites and got a little anxious given the recent news about high dengue cases in Palawan.) The restaurant also doesn’t open until 10 am, which was late for my schedule. The one exception was the gym attendant, who was unpleasant and not accommodating.
The room looked great at first, but a few things didn’t hold up: the hot shower in the bathtub didn’t work properly, one faucet was completely broken, and there was no comb — I had to ask for one.
The gym was clean and pleasant, though several machines were out of order.
