Travel plan idea blog

Plantation Bay club rooms vs. poolside rooms

I had an excellent little vacation in Cebu at Plantation Bay, but the review will take me a few more days to get together. For now I'll try to answer Paul's questions from my Plantation Bay entry a couple of days ago:

If you can, can you peek at the other rooms, specially the Club room (which ironically is the cheapest as per their website, which leaves me wondering why).

If you can, it'll also be nice to hear some reviews on the new Hilton Cebu Resort and Spa which should be right around the same island. A comment, even from a walk-in guest's point of view will be very intersting (like how well it is appointed, beachfront quality, etc)It's relatively new and not much reliable and objective info can be found on the web. These two hotels, along with the Shangri-la Mactan are the places to stay in Cebu. And like you said, Plantation Bay always has had mixed reviews, and the Hilton is still a question mark.

I was able to get a look at some club rooms but I've only seen pictures of the inside. At first I thought that the two drawbacks (no balcony and limited view) were pretty serious. Let's look at each one individually:

1. Club rooms have no balcony

We had a water's edge room and didn't use our balcony as much as I thought we would. During the day we were in the water, only hanging out on the balcony for a few seconds on our way into the water. At night we did spend a little time on the balcony chatting, but we had a much nicer time at night chatting on the beach, in lounge chairs, looking up at the stars. What we used our balcony for most was drying bathing suits or sandals or whathaveyou.

I really don't think you'll miss having a balcony much. Other than drying stuff, everything you can do on a balcony can be done better somewhere else on the resort.

2. Club rooms don't have great views

I liked looking out the window of my room, but it didn't make or break my stay at Plantation Bay. We had a view of the lagoon from our room - it was nice but the scenes I saw from my window don't rank among the most memorable from my time at Plantation Bay.

Once again, I see only a minor drawback.

What about poolside rooms?

When you consider that the poolside rooms are the same price if you're putting 4 people in each, you have to consider these rooms instead. If you're bringing 8 people, the club room will cost you an extra $80/night ($20 each for the 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th people) while a second poolside room is an extra $118/night (off peak). If you're bringing 6 people, the club room savings are more substantial.

I saw poolside rooms around Piazza Palermo, which has a shallow pool and an Italian restaurant (and a jewelry store which I found even more boring than most but at least smaller). The pool seemed popular with young kids during the day and older kids at night. In the evenings they had some live music there (keyboards, singer, and saxophone). The music was fine, but it could be a drawback for people in those rooms if they weren't in the mood. Then again, when you're in your room, you're not getting the most of your Plantation Bay experience so if the music got on your nerves and drove you out so you explores the rest of the resort, that would be a good thing.

The verdict

The room doesn't much matter. Your best memories of Plantation Bay will be had outside the room anyway (there is a possible exception with the suites - I saw at least one that has its own little pool). The club rooms seem fine to me and my wife and I even talked about the possibility of bringing the family and staying in a club room. If 8 people in a room seems too crazy then two poolside rooms is another possibility.

Hilton Cebu Resort and Spa or the Shangri-la Mactan?

I didn't see either of these resorts with my own eyes, so I can only pass on what I've heard. Just a few things really:

I was told that the Shangri-la has the best spa.

Both of these resorts are smaller than Plantation Bay but that doesn't necessarily mean fewer guests. I'm not saying that they are crowded (especially since I've never been to either), just that Plantation Bay is very big and really not crowded.

Shangri-la has the better beach and is the only true 5-star hotel in Cebu. I bet the beach part is true (the Plantation Bay beach is certainly not its main attraction). I'll discuss whether Plantation Bay deserves 5 stars or not in my upcoming review.

Also, this blog entry will seem too positive for those looking forward to a critical review of Plantation Bay. I suppose I should warn you now that while there are some things to criticize, my wife and I were very happy overall while at Plantation Bay.

Posted by James Trotta at April 23, 2007 2:42 PM | TrackBack