Island Hopping the Philippines - Boracay, Cebu, Palawan
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: East or West
Posts: 388
Island Hopping the Philippines - Boracay, Cebu, Palawan
This was my last pre-devAAluation booking, using 135K AA miles to book RT CX F (before the 10K miles rebate). I was lucky enough to score seats the day before the devaluation on dates that worked for me. It did take several calls to different AAgents to get them to ticket the flights I wanted as some agents weren’t able to pull the same inventory as BA for some reason, especially for the MH flights, and always gave the “different availability for different partners” line. I made a couple changes to try a couple things I’ve never tried before, namely flying MH and going to KUL and then flying RJ J on their 787.
The domestic flights we had to book with cash. Between the major airlines of Cebu Pacific or Philippines Air, I read various things good and bad about them, but ultimately for an economy experience they are both pretty similar. Pick the airline with more frequencies on the route you are flying in case of delays. For us, we flew a couple routes with only a once daily frequency, so that made the choice easy.
The reason for visiting these islands is that people have been raving about them for years, and these three islands have consistently been named among the top 10 islands to visit in the world. In fact, pretty close to the time of departure, Travel+Leisure released an updated list of the World’s Best Islands, naming Cebu #6 , Boracay #2 , and Palawan #1 .
I'll be uploading the report in parts here and there, but hopefully will cover the more interesting and less-reported-areas (like Palawan) in more detail than the more commonly covered reports (like CX F).
My itinerary:
CX F: LAX-HKG-MNL
PR Y: MNL-MPH
DG Y: MPH-CEB
5J Y: CEB-PPS
T6 Y: ENI-MNL
MH J: MNL-KUL-BKK
RJ J: BKK-HKG
CX F: HKG-LAX
LINKS TO EACH SECTION AS THEY ARE COMPLETED:
Part 1 - Departure (CX 883)
Part 2 - Hong Kong layover & flight to Manila (CX 935)
Part 3 - Boracay (PR 2043)
Part 4 - Cebu (DG 6281)
Part 5 - Whale Sharks & Canyoneering
Part 6 - Palawan - Puerto Princesa (5J 227)
Part 7 - Palawan - Apulit Island
Part 8 - Denouement: ENI-MNL (T6 149)
Part 9 - Manila Redux
Part 10 - Birthday Connections: MNL-KUL-BKK (MH 805, MH 774)
Part 11 - Flying Fifth Freedom: BKK-HKG (RJ 182)
Part 12 - I'm Coming Home: HKG-LAX (CX 880)
The domestic flights we had to book with cash. Between the major airlines of Cebu Pacific or Philippines Air, I read various things good and bad about them, but ultimately for an economy experience they are both pretty similar. Pick the airline with more frequencies on the route you are flying in case of delays. For us, we flew a couple routes with only a once daily frequency, so that made the choice easy.
The reason for visiting these islands is that people have been raving about them for years, and these three islands have consistently been named among the top 10 islands to visit in the world. In fact, pretty close to the time of departure, Travel+Leisure released an updated list of the World’s Best Islands, naming Cebu #6 , Boracay #2 , and Palawan #1 .
I'll be uploading the report in parts here and there, but hopefully will cover the more interesting and less-reported-areas (like Palawan) in more detail than the more commonly covered reports (like CX F).
My itinerary:
CX F: LAX-HKG-MNL
PR Y: MNL-MPH
DG Y: MPH-CEB
5J Y: CEB-PPS
T6 Y: ENI-MNL
MH J: MNL-KUL-BKK
RJ J: BKK-HKG
CX F: HKG-LAX
LINKS TO EACH SECTION AS THEY ARE COMPLETED:
Part 1 - Departure (CX 883)
Part 2 - Hong Kong layover & flight to Manila (CX 935)
Part 3 - Boracay (PR 2043)
Part 4 - Cebu (DG 6281)
Part 5 - Whale Sharks & Canyoneering
Part 6 - Palawan - Puerto Princesa (5J 227)
Part 7 - Palawan - Apulit Island
Part 8 - Denouement: ENI-MNL (T6 149)
Part 9 - Manila Redux
Part 10 - Birthday Connections: MNL-KUL-BKK (MH 805, MH 774)
Part 11 - Flying Fifth Freedom: BKK-HKG (RJ 182)
Part 12 - I'm Coming Home: HKG-LAX (CX 880)
Last edited by MahiMahi524; Mar 27, 2017 at 5:11 pm
#2
Original Poster
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: East or West
Posts: 388
Part 1 - Departure
This may be the last time I’m in the Qantas First lounge at LAX since AA has prohibitively priced F awards now, and I don’t anticipate ever getting OneWorld Emerald status. After hearing horror story upon horror story of guesting and power-tripping receptionists, we were let in very quickly, so that was quite a nice surprise. We what essentially amounted to a 3-hour dinner with drinks, with a very friendly and attentive waiter.
For some reason there was a 1.5 hour delay this night. They told us something about a change in flight plan which would take us straight over Hawaii and then on to Hong Kong rather than swinging around Alaska and Japan. This resulted in the crew having to remove cargo and add fuel, as well as waiting for the finalization of the new flight plan from Hong Kong. I’m not sure why they did this, but there was a storm over the Pacific Northwest and Canada, which is what I assumed as the reason for the change in flight plan, but when looking at other flights to Asia the same night, CX is the only airline to have re-routed their flights. Unfortunately, I had chosen 1K rather than my go-to 1A because I had hoped that there might be a small chance of seeing the Northern Lights, and so this dashed those hopes.
Anyway, waiting on the ground for an hour isn’t so bad when you can have unlimited Krug. After we took off, it was a pretty uneventful flight, and thankfully long, so that I could get a good night’s sleep in before landing in the morning in Hong Kong.
Menu:
Food:
Last edited by MahiMahi524; Mar 15, 2017 at 5:02 pm Reason: changing picture sizes
#3
Original Poster
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: East or West
Posts: 388
Part 2 - Hong Kong layover & flight to Manila
I was surprisingly impressed with the Plaza Premium Arrival Lounge, which is across from the Cathay Pacific arrival lounge. The space is far bigger, the food is essentially the same, and there are bathrooms inside the lounge, unlike the CX lounge. Also, it was far less crowded. The one advantage of the CX lounge is the availability of luggage storage, where I left my bags for a few hours for a quick trip into the city.
First stop was to get dim sum, which is now very convenient with a Tim Wo Han in Hong Kong station, a level up from the Airport Express. We arrived just after it opened, so there was a minimal line. By the time we left about 45 minutes later, there was already quite a line built up. The char siu bao are definitely the specialty here: tender, moist, tasty, and not at all breaddy as I often find other char siu bao. This is because their bun is very different from the typical dim sum place. Their other dim sum was also delicious, but similar in style and taste to dim sum elsewhere.
Afterwards, we decided to head up to Victoria Peak. I hadn’t been to Victoria Peak since I was in grade school, so was excited to go back up and take in a view of the city. From Hong Kong station, we took a cab to the base of Victoria Peak where we bought roundtrip train only tickets. Rather than pay extra to go up to the Sky garden, we walked the Lugard Road loop, which is where the money is at for views. About a 15-minute stroll takes you to a couple panoramic views of Hong Kong. There are a lot fewer people here than in the Sky Garden, where most tours take you. I don’t think we missed much by skipping that and doing this instead.
We then took the Star ferry to get a view of the skyline from the water, which is faster and also much much cheaper than taking a harbor cruise.
Getting back to HKG, we visited The Wing and then The Pier, which was closer to our gate. My overall thoughts are that I really like the decor of The Pier better, since it is much warmer and quieter, and thus more homey. It also has a day bed area which I find to be superior to the cabanas for napping. That being said, the cabanas are far superior for actually showering and changing. The restaurant area of The Pier also feels classier with the darkened wood decor and dim spotlights. The restaurant in The Wing has less food to order but more buffet choices, so it really depends on what you want. Also The Wing First is connected to the Business lounge so you could go to the noodle bar, unlike The Pier. Anyway, I do have to say the bartender on duty at The Pier made a pretty terrible Old Fashioned. There was way too much sugar in the cocktail; so much so you could see it swirling around. Also, rather than an orange peel, they had a slice of orange in the drink. I couldn’t drink it.
Finally, it was time to board the flight to Manila. This was a rare regional flight with F that did not get downgraded in the 10 months that I booked it. I feel like almost every other regional flight I’ve booked in F has had an equipment swap and subsequent downgrade.
Service was just as nice as on the long haul, but rather than Krug, we got Amour de Deutz, which is no lightweight itself. No kit and no caviar service, which is the norm for these short-haul flights. Despite it being a quick 2 hour hop over to Manila, we still got served a full dinner. Imagine a US carrier doing that?!
First stop was to get dim sum, which is now very convenient with a Tim Wo Han in Hong Kong station, a level up from the Airport Express. We arrived just after it opened, so there was a minimal line. By the time we left about 45 minutes later, there was already quite a line built up. The char siu bao are definitely the specialty here: tender, moist, tasty, and not at all breaddy as I often find other char siu bao. This is because their bun is very different from the typical dim sum place. Their other dim sum was also delicious, but similar in style and taste to dim sum elsewhere.
Afterwards, we decided to head up to Victoria Peak. I hadn’t been to Victoria Peak since I was in grade school, so was excited to go back up and take in a view of the city. From Hong Kong station, we took a cab to the base of Victoria Peak where we bought roundtrip train only tickets. Rather than pay extra to go up to the Sky garden, we walked the Lugard Road loop, which is where the money is at for views. About a 15-minute stroll takes you to a couple panoramic views of Hong Kong. There are a lot fewer people here than in the Sky Garden, where most tours take you. I don’t think we missed much by skipping that and doing this instead.
We then took the Star ferry to get a view of the skyline from the water, which is faster and also much much cheaper than taking a harbor cruise.
Getting back to HKG, we visited The Wing and then The Pier, which was closer to our gate. My overall thoughts are that I really like the decor of The Pier better, since it is much warmer and quieter, and thus more homey. It also has a day bed area which I find to be superior to the cabanas for napping. That being said, the cabanas are far superior for actually showering and changing. The restaurant area of The Pier also feels classier with the darkened wood decor and dim spotlights. The restaurant in The Wing has less food to order but more buffet choices, so it really depends on what you want. Also The Wing First is connected to the Business lounge so you could go to the noodle bar, unlike The Pier. Anyway, I do have to say the bartender on duty at The Pier made a pretty terrible Old Fashioned. There was way too much sugar in the cocktail; so much so you could see it swirling around. Also, rather than an orange peel, they had a slice of orange in the drink. I couldn’t drink it.
Finally, it was time to board the flight to Manila. This was a rare regional flight with F that did not get downgraded in the 10 months that I booked it. I feel like almost every other regional flight I’ve booked in F has had an equipment swap and subsequent downgrade.
Service was just as nice as on the long haul, but rather than Krug, we got Amour de Deutz, which is no lightweight itself. No kit and no caviar service, which is the norm for these short-haul flights. Despite it being a quick 2 hour hop over to Manila, we still got served a full dinner. Imagine a US carrier doing that?!
Last edited by MahiMahi524; Mar 15, 2017 at 4:58 pm Reason: changing picture sizes
#5
Original Poster
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: East or West
Posts: 388
Boracay
After a quick overnight in Manila, it was time to get to Boracay, and finally for my first economy flight of trip! MNL has 4 terminals, none of which are actually connected, and require a drive through the city to transfer between terminals. Buyer beware, PAL runs out of Terminal 2, but PAL Express operates from Terminal 3, and requires a 20 minute ride between the two. Recently, a inter-terminal bus was instituted, which still goes through the city and takes quite a while to go between terminals.
We got ripped off by a taxi with this very official-looking Taxi rate sheet... but we were running late and felt that getting ripped of $10 was better than arguing and possibly missing our flight.
After checking in, there was very little to do in the domestic area but wait. Luckily, our flight was on an A320, which is a recent change because the runway at MPH was only lengthened and opened to jets a couple months prior to our arrival. Before then, all flights to MPH had to be via turboprops.
An interesting thing happened here. When checking in our luggage, the agent reprinted our boarding passes, which I initially thought was a nice gesture. However, upon boarding, I realized that our seats had been reassigned! We had originally chosen exit row seats, which you have to pay extra for, and the online check in confirmed those seats with our printed boarding passes. However, when the check-in agent re-printed the passes, it gave us non-exit row middle seats. I didn’t even realize this could occur, and nobody said anything to us. I only noticed after boarding when the rows on our new boarding pass didn’t correspond to the exit row. After making a fuss about this to the flight attendants, they decided to op-up some Filipinos sitting in the exit row to business class so we could sit in the exit row. Unfortunately, our seats together originally reserved were now taken by others. Some of us ended up sitting next to random people in the exit row, while one of us sat in a regular seat the row behind us because the middle seat was now empty.
I tried to press my luck and asked if we couldn’t just be moved to business class so we could still sit together, but the flight attendants made a big deal about us having to remain in the economy cabin because that’s what’s on our tickets (fair enough) but that the Filipino couple was “old” so couldn’t sit in the exit row anyway so that’s why they can sit in business class. Seemed like they were just making things up as they went along, because they certainly didn’t have a problem with the Filipinos in the exit row while we were in the regular seats.
Overall, we were lucky this was just a short flight, because if this had occurred on a long haul, I’d be livid. Plus it was only about $5 per person unlike the $50+ the US carriers charge. Once the flight took off, it was uneventful, with a nice view of the ocean and islands.
Once we landed, we were bused from the plane to the terminal... through town. After we boarded the bus, the bus went through the airport gates and drove us through the surrounding town, got stuck in traffic for a bit, and finally went through another gate at the front entrance of the airport to get back airside and dropped us off at baggage claim. Given how small the airport was, you could basically see the workers loading the luggage from the buses onto the belt, after which we could pick them up immediately. Immediately outside the baggage claim will be lots of drivers picking up their fares, as well as drivers looking for fares to drive you to the ferry terminal. Our hotel had a shuttle for us, but we wanted to try walking since we had heard it was possible to do so. Indeed it was, and it took us less than 10 minutes to walk from the airport to the ferry terminal. That’s closer than between terminals at a lot of airports. Once there, you have to get in line to buy ferry tickets and pay the terminal fee, but everyone ends up at the same place. All those vans/shuttles/buses/trikes all dropped off in front of the ferry terminal. We were lucky in that it was relatively cool and overcast when we arrived, but it can reportedly get quite hot when the sun is out.
Taking a banka ferry on the way from the airport to the island of Boracay
Posted prices on landing at the ferry terminal on Boracay for transportation to the major areas of the island... but we negotiated lower rates!
Once you get to the ferry terminal on Boracay, you have to hire a trike to get you into town (or walk the several miles). There are sign posted rates… but we actually negotiated an even lower rate!
After dropping our luggage off at the hotel, The District Boracay, we walked around the beaches, ate lunch, and spent some time at Spider House, where you can do some cliff jumping from the restaurant directly into the ocean, and then climb back up.
Didn't take many (any) pictures of the hotel, but it was quite nice but small and surrounded by construction. Here is the view from the back of the hotel towards the main entrance with the pool on the right. The back of the hotel is where all the 2-story suites are. Our package gave us 2 one-hour massages, but the front desk said they only came with 30-minute massages until we showed them a printout of our confirmation. At that point they begrudgingly allowed us to get the full hour.
The rain wasn't actually very bad, only sporadically for a few minutes now and then between periods of sunshine
Hanging out at Spider House includes great views of the ocean, seeing a boat with a giant inflatable slide that I really wish we got to try, and an amazing sunset
Lots of dinner+show places along the beach... or just watch from the sidewalks
Guess they like our former (in the last days of his term at the time) president here
After just 1 night here, it was time to leave this party city for something a little quieter. Overall, if you love the vibe of Vegas, spring break, and Cancun, you’ll love it here. Plenty of drunk tourists everywhere. For us, it was a fun pit stop.
Getting back to the airport is the reverse of the journey to get to Boracay. It involves a vehicle driving from the hotel to the ferry, taking the ferry, and finally another vehicle taking you to the airport. After checking in, the terminal is very small with limited seating. Boarding is only through one gate to the same buses that we arrived on. I was dreading the possibility of having to drive these giant tour buses through the small towns again, but I was pleasantly surprised when we drove straight down the taxiway to board our next flight!
We got ripped off by a taxi with this very official-looking Taxi rate sheet... but we were running late and felt that getting ripped of $10 was better than arguing and possibly missing our flight.
After checking in, there was very little to do in the domestic area but wait. Luckily, our flight was on an A320, which is a recent change because the runway at MPH was only lengthened and opened to jets a couple months prior to our arrival. Before then, all flights to MPH had to be via turboprops.
An interesting thing happened here. When checking in our luggage, the agent reprinted our boarding passes, which I initially thought was a nice gesture. However, upon boarding, I realized that our seats had been reassigned! We had originally chosen exit row seats, which you have to pay extra for, and the online check in confirmed those seats with our printed boarding passes. However, when the check-in agent re-printed the passes, it gave us non-exit row middle seats. I didn’t even realize this could occur, and nobody said anything to us. I only noticed after boarding when the rows on our new boarding pass didn’t correspond to the exit row. After making a fuss about this to the flight attendants, they decided to op-up some Filipinos sitting in the exit row to business class so we could sit in the exit row. Unfortunately, our seats together originally reserved were now taken by others. Some of us ended up sitting next to random people in the exit row, while one of us sat in a regular seat the row behind us because the middle seat was now empty.
I tried to press my luck and asked if we couldn’t just be moved to business class so we could still sit together, but the flight attendants made a big deal about us having to remain in the economy cabin because that’s what’s on our tickets (fair enough) but that the Filipino couple was “old” so couldn’t sit in the exit row anyway so that’s why they can sit in business class. Seemed like they were just making things up as they went along, because they certainly didn’t have a problem with the Filipinos in the exit row while we were in the regular seats.
Overall, we were lucky this was just a short flight, because if this had occurred on a long haul, I’d be livid. Plus it was only about $5 per person unlike the $50+ the US carriers charge. Once the flight took off, it was uneventful, with a nice view of the ocean and islands.
Once we landed, we were bused from the plane to the terminal... through town. After we boarded the bus, the bus went through the airport gates and drove us through the surrounding town, got stuck in traffic for a bit, and finally went through another gate at the front entrance of the airport to get back airside and dropped us off at baggage claim. Given how small the airport was, you could basically see the workers loading the luggage from the buses onto the belt, after which we could pick them up immediately. Immediately outside the baggage claim will be lots of drivers picking up their fares, as well as drivers looking for fares to drive you to the ferry terminal. Our hotel had a shuttle for us, but we wanted to try walking since we had heard it was possible to do so. Indeed it was, and it took us less than 10 minutes to walk from the airport to the ferry terminal. That’s closer than between terminals at a lot of airports. Once there, you have to get in line to buy ferry tickets and pay the terminal fee, but everyone ends up at the same place. All those vans/shuttles/buses/trikes all dropped off in front of the ferry terminal. We were lucky in that it was relatively cool and overcast when we arrived, but it can reportedly get quite hot when the sun is out.
Taking a banka ferry on the way from the airport to the island of Boracay
Posted prices on landing at the ferry terminal on Boracay for transportation to the major areas of the island... but we negotiated lower rates!
Once you get to the ferry terminal on Boracay, you have to hire a trike to get you into town (or walk the several miles). There are sign posted rates… but we actually negotiated an even lower rate!
After dropping our luggage off at the hotel, The District Boracay, we walked around the beaches, ate lunch, and spent some time at Spider House, where you can do some cliff jumping from the restaurant directly into the ocean, and then climb back up.
Didn't take many (any) pictures of the hotel, but it was quite nice but small and surrounded by construction. Here is the view from the back of the hotel towards the main entrance with the pool on the right. The back of the hotel is where all the 2-story suites are. Our package gave us 2 one-hour massages, but the front desk said they only came with 30-minute massages until we showed them a printout of our confirmation. At that point they begrudgingly allowed us to get the full hour.
The rain wasn't actually very bad, only sporadically for a few minutes now and then between periods of sunshine
Hanging out at Spider House includes great views of the ocean, seeing a boat with a giant inflatable slide that I really wish we got to try, and an amazing sunset
Lots of dinner+show places along the beach... or just watch from the sidewalks
Guess they like our former (in the last days of his term at the time) president here
After just 1 night here, it was time to leave this party city for something a little quieter. Overall, if you love the vibe of Vegas, spring break, and Cancun, you’ll love it here. Plenty of drunk tourists everywhere. For us, it was a fun pit stop.
Getting back to the airport is the reverse of the journey to get to Boracay. It involves a vehicle driving from the hotel to the ferry, taking the ferry, and finally another vehicle taking you to the airport. After checking in, the terminal is very small with limited seating. Boarding is only through one gate to the same buses that we arrived on. I was dreading the possibility of having to drive these giant tour buses through the small towns again, but I was pleasantly surprised when we drove straight down the taxiway to board our next flight!
#9
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: New York, NY
Posts: 343
The A320s started landing there November 2016, when the new runway opened up. As much as Boracay is "falling apart", it still has some kitschy charm and the dampa/d'talipapa is great.
#10
Suspended
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: En Route
Programs: Many
Posts: 6,798
Haven't been there since (I think Jan. '16). I LOVE Boracay, but every time I go back there's so much new construction and more and more western chains. I don't want it to get rundown and lose all of its charm. It's a super fun place, and drinking at the bar at Nigi Nigi Nu in Station 2 is my happy place.
#11
Join Date: Jan 2011
Programs: BA Gold
Posts: 183
Great report OP!
#12
Original Poster
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: East or West
Posts: 388
Part 4 - Cebu
It’s our lucky day because the only non-stop flight between MPH and CEB runs on a Turboprop, just like we always wanted to try. It was an ATR-72, one of the most widely-flown turboprops in the world. I think it was the first experience flying on one of these for the others in our group.
On arriving at Cebu airport, I thought it was surprisingly well kept. I was particularly impressed with all the baggage carts lined up along the baggage claim for people to use. In the US, these would all be hidden out of the way where you would have to pay $5 and then push it across the entire terminal to where the baggage claim is. One less impressive thing was an advertisement for Grab (like Uber, but in SE Asia) which we thought would get us a free ride into town. Alas, we do not qualify for the promotion, despite never having used it before. I wonder why. Anyway, we were able to get a driver off Grab pretty quickly. We found that it works a lot faster than Uber in the Philippines, with a lot more drivers using it, and rates a little bit lower than Uber. Like Uber, you can also use it with just Wifi and location services without having to subscribe to a roaming phone plan.
It was a rainy day when we arrived, and apparently it had been raining all week. Not surprising given this is apparently rainy season in Cebu. The traffic was almost as bad as Manila, as we arrived around rush hour. After about 45 minutes, we got to our hotel, The Radisson Blu, which was really not very far away from the airport. This was almost like a convention hotel, since it has a cavernous lobby, but which is beautifully decorated and staffed. For the upcoming Chinese New Year, a tree with red envelopes served as the centerpiece of the lobby. There were also staff members dressed in traditional Filipino clothing opening the doors.
We arrived at an auspicious time, as the general manager, Laurent Boisdron, was there as well as head chef Marco Amarone (not pictured) and other members of the management team. They were lined up to welcome the arrival of a Chinese VIP, who hilariously turned down their offers of drinks and welcome sashes upon arrival by brushing them away and walking past them. (His entourage, on the other hand, accepted them gladly.)
We were upgraded to a Business Class room due to my Club Carlson Gold status, and got a corner room with expansive views of the city (though the view of the city itself isn’t impressive.) The room was very roomy though. We decided to try out the lounge, but were turned back by the lounge dragon enforcing a “closed toe shoe” policy, so had to go back to our room sheepishly to change into regular shoes. However, when we got back, lo and behind multiple guests with open toes. Guess there is selective enforcement.
Selective enforcement of shoe policy in the lounge. Guess they only care if some people wear closed shoes.
What was very impressive was the breakfast spread, as you can get the full buffet at the hotel restaurant, Feria. There is a huge assortment of local and international food, and multiple hot food stations. It reminded me almost of a mini-Vegas buffet given how large the space is that is used. There is even a separate dessert island with a full range of desserts, something that is typically not in breakfast buffets.
We spent a morning walking around town. There isn’t a whole lot we could do since we had very little time and energy after having a really full day the day before with canyoneering and swimming with whale sharks (post to follow). So we just first went to Fort San Pedro, which has a nominal admission fee, but really doesn’t have much worth seeing inside, just the walls of the fort itself. Then went to see Magellan’s Cross and finally walked around town a bit before heading back to the hotel and getting ready to head off to our next destination. One thing you will see a lot of in the Philippines are these extravagantly painted and colored public transport buses and jeepneys. Unfortunately we didn't have time to explore the various beaches and resorts around Cebu, especially around Mactan, or the nearby Bohol and all of its pristine beaches and famous chocolate hills... but at least it gives us a reason to come back.
It’s our lucky day because the only non-stop flight between MPH and CEB runs on a Turboprop, just like we always wanted to try. It was an ATR-72, one of the most widely-flown turboprops in the world. I think it was the first experience flying on one of these for the others in our group.
On arriving at Cebu airport, I thought it was surprisingly well kept. I was particularly impressed with all the baggage carts lined up along the baggage claim for people to use. In the US, these would all be hidden out of the way where you would have to pay $5 and then push it across the entire terminal to where the baggage claim is. One less impressive thing was an advertisement for Grab (like Uber, but in SE Asia) which we thought would get us a free ride into town. Alas, we do not qualify for the promotion, despite never having used it before. I wonder why. Anyway, we were able to get a driver off Grab pretty quickly. We found that it works a lot faster than Uber in the Philippines, with a lot more drivers using it, and rates a little bit lower than Uber. Like Uber, you can also use it with just Wifi and location services without having to subscribe to a roaming phone plan.
It was a rainy day when we arrived, and apparently it had been raining all week. Not surprising given this is apparently rainy season in Cebu. The traffic was almost as bad as Manila, as we arrived around rush hour. After about 45 minutes, we got to our hotel, The Radisson Blu, which was really not very far away from the airport. This was almost like a convention hotel, since it has a cavernous lobby, but which is beautifully decorated and staffed. For the upcoming Chinese New Year, a tree with red envelopes served as the centerpiece of the lobby. There were also staff members dressed in traditional Filipino clothing opening the doors.
We arrived at an auspicious time, as the general manager, Laurent Boisdron, was there as well as head chef Marco Amarone (not pictured) and other members of the management team. They were lined up to welcome the arrival of a Chinese VIP, who hilariously turned down their offers of drinks and welcome sashes upon arrival by brushing them away and walking past them. (His entourage, on the other hand, accepted them gladly.)
We were upgraded to a Business Class room due to my Club Carlson Gold status, and got a corner room with expansive views of the city (though the view of the city itself isn’t impressive.) The room was very roomy though. We decided to try out the lounge, but were turned back by the lounge dragon enforcing a “closed toe shoe” policy, so had to go back to our room sheepishly to change into regular shoes. However, when we got back, lo and behind multiple guests with open toes. Guess there is selective enforcement.
Selective enforcement of shoe policy in the lounge. Guess they only care if some people wear closed shoes.
What was very impressive was the breakfast spread, as you can get the full buffet at the hotel restaurant, Feria. There is a huge assortment of local and international food, and multiple hot food stations. It reminded me almost of a mini-Vegas buffet given how large the space is that is used. There is even a separate dessert island with a full range of desserts, something that is typically not in breakfast buffets.
We spent a morning walking around town. There isn’t a whole lot we could do since we had very little time and energy after having a really full day the day before with canyoneering and swimming with whale sharks (post to follow). So we just first went to Fort San Pedro, which has a nominal admission fee, but really doesn’t have much worth seeing inside, just the walls of the fort itself. Then went to see Magellan’s Cross and finally walked around town a bit before heading back to the hotel and getting ready to head off to our next destination. One thing you will see a lot of in the Philippines are these extravagantly painted and colored public transport buses and jeepneys. Unfortunately we didn't have time to explore the various beaches and resorts around Cebu, especially around Mactan, or the nearby Bohol and all of its pristine beaches and famous chocolate hills... but at least it gives us a reason to come back.