Marvelous planning and execution
Philippines
|
Sep 29 - Oct 20, 2026
From the first discussions with Sarah through the actual trip, the interactions with everyone were pleasant and professional. The trip was well planned and well conducted. The drivers showed up when they were supposed to, the guides were ready for us when we arrived, and all ticketing and other arrangements were handled. It was a most stress-free experience. The little things mattered, such as identifying ahead of time that one of our ferry schedules had changed, so they booked a flight for us at no extra cost. The extra nights booking in Bohol was a nice touch because of a late flight.
Special mentions to Ed, our driver in Luzon for several days, our guides Bridget. Paula, and Aladdin in Luzon were amazing. Our boat guide in Coron was also wonderful but his name escapes me. Our local contacts were always ready to help when needed.
Hotel Reviews
Lovely rooms and an amazing breakfast buffet.
We had a balcony room overlooking the rice terraces. The view was breathtaking. Our room was spacious, we'll appointed, and kept spotlessly clean and made up every day.
Quite interesting concept and intriguing design and construction. We found the rooms to be a bit small for our liking, but we're American, so there's that.
Nice hotel. Nice pools. Great bar. Nice restaurant. Nice room.
Loved the ambience. We were in a bungalow a short walk from the beach and more importantly the beach bar. Great service at the bar, reception was excellent, or rooms were quite nice. Good was great and there were a number of other great restaurants just a short walk down the beach. Loved it here.
Excellent location right on the beach. The service staff is very engaging and ready to serve. The bar and restaurant are excellent and the band played different genres every night we were there, all excellently played.
Activity Reviews
Interesting history and fascinating detail. Could have been a bit shorter. I think our guide drug it out a bit.
Amazing views, history, and village. Ride to and from was an adventure and we got to rides a Jeepney.
Lovely day on the water. Food was excellent. We snorkeled the prettiest coral we've ever seen and saw fish that were completely new to us.
Meh. We saw much of it already the day before going into town for our excursion.
There was a misunderstanding. All our tours on this trip were private except this one. For what we ver reason we were booked with a boatload of "joiners". That wasn't going to fly for us, so we spent an extra 10,000 PHP to book a private boat. The local tour company promptly set it up and got us on our way.
The opportunity to swim with a whale shark has been on my list for a long time and it was amazing. We rented a GoPro and one of the boat guides to some amazing videos of us. It was a great experience. Stars are deducted for a couple of reasons. First we were told pickup would be a 5:00 am and then the Sardine run would be at 2:00 pm. The pickup time changed to 4:00 am and then on the way to Oslob our driver hit and killed a dog, an event that was completely avoidable. Breakfast and lunch were served within an hour or so of rack other. And then after 4+ hours on the road, we were taken to the Sardine run adventure. By this time we were ready for a break and thought we'd have some time between activities, but that's not what our driver indicated.
Interesting tour with lots of memorable sights. I wish we would have known about the ATV activity, we would have dressed differently in preparation for a muddy ride.
Coordination of the guide and the timing was a complete sh$t show. First we were to meet at 5am at McDonalds (strange but whatever). Then the time was changed to 7 am. We got there 10 min early and waited until 7:30. Nobody showed up. WHATSAPPed or contact, got an out of office house reply. Gave up and went back to our room. Then got a phone call to meet our guide at the drop-off point. Went back there and stood around for too long, and once again gave up and headed back. A guide came running up the beach and told us our boat was ready at the complete other end of the beach. So we went. The guide overall seemed less than engaged in the trip. The boat guy (helper/mate?) was very helpful and kind.
Amazing trip through the rice terraces and Paula was every so informative. engaging, and helpful. My wife was having some balance issues that day, but Paula took care to make sure she stayed safe.
