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Amanpulo, Philippines (Consolidated/review thread)

Old Oct 12, 2018, 12:37 pm
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Amanpulo, Philippines (Consolidated/review thread)

Old May 20, 2019, 6:55 am
  #631  
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Originally Posted by EfficientTraveller
Thank you all for the recommendations. Are the 2 bedroom villas on the Beach Club side of the island? Our last visit was c. 7 years ago but I remember that side as having the gorgeous beach and calm water whereas the other side was much more windy with coarser sand and lots of driftwood / seaweed on the beach? Our 3 year old loves to play in the sand so having him able to play outside of our villa is a top priority.
There is at least one 2BR villa on the beach club side (I know since we stayed in it). Also one 1 BR. Not sure about the rest.
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Old May 29, 2019, 4:11 pm
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We just returned from a 5 night stay at Amanpulo in a Beach Casita after a couple of nights in Singapore at the Fullerton Bay Hotel (it was great finally meeting you, @FlyerEC!). Long story short, this is one of the few, if only resorts that I would actively seek to revisit despite the number of other places on my bucket list. It was just that good.

Instead of a TR, here is a very long list of random thoughts:
  • The island is as beautiful as I had anticipated. The beach is fantastic. The water is pristine. I can go on and on. Walking over to the sandbar at the end of the island was a lot of fun, as was swimming with turtles, rays, and other sealife.
  • The sun is stronger than anywhere I've ever been, including the Maldives. I burned quite easily. It was also hotter than I was expecting. No breeze in May made for some very hot, stale air that made it tough to be outside during peak daylight hours. Note for May travelers - it downpoured one morning from 9am-12pm, but otherwise had no rain other than overnight (though this can obviously change with a typhoon). It was sunny everyday, though with a lot of clouds (see pictures).
  • I wish the casitas had a better place to relax outside. A sala would be great - the back porch is essentially useless until sunset because it's just too hot without shade. A table for dining would be even better. Who wants to order room service to eat it inside?
  • I was bitten quite a bit by what I presume were sandflies, despite spraying myself with the provided bug repellent. Not horrible but worth noting.
  • The food is fantastic. The best food we've had at any Aman. I wasn't expecting this at all but found the variety and quality to be really great. We enjoyed all three dining venues for dinner and had the picnic grove twice for lunch. Nama in particular was superb. We had not a single bad dish for all five nights. We can't stand overly salted and oily food which is often found as an excuse for flavor and this was not the case here at all.
  • Dishes that stood out include the Filipino breakfast bowl, muesli, pancakes, pomelo salad, pizza from the Picnic Grove, the cheesecake at Nama, coconut sorbet (!!) and ube ice cream, pad thai, Filipino BBQ chicken, gado gado salad, the flank steak, caccio e pepe pasta, and the tuna tartare. Note how long that list is. We ended up liking the Beach Club the most for breakfast, while dinner was great everywhere (depending on cuisine desire). The only dish we had that was a real miss over all 5 nights was the truffle + beef carpaccio, which somehow managed to lack any flavor whatsoever.
  • Service was Aman-level. Great management presence. Most of the management team are new but they all seem to 'get it'. I found the GM to be very helpful and caring. The new F&B manager also left a great impression. F&B service was especially good as a whole. Housekeeping was good, though we did run into them 2-3 times during the stay.
  • The golf carts are convenient and fun, but the roads are dusty, so whenever you drive far, you end up feeling like you're covered in dirt. On that note, the island is way bigger than I had imagined. Staying in a casita that isn't near the Clubhouse/Beach Club would get very annoying quickly.
  • Despite reports to the contrary, this was the most crowded Aman we've ever been to besides Amangiri. They were only running at 50% occupancy but it felt higher. I mean this as a compliment. We were never the only table at a restaurant, which I found to be refreshing. The Beach Club was especially busy. This never hurt service but rather gave the place a sense of liveliness. I loved it. Of course, our beach was extremely private, and when driving/exploring around the island you felt like the whole place was yours. It was a great balance and I hope that there is a similar feel during our next visit.
  • Barry, the Experiences Manager, was awesome, and really went out of his way to make sure we were having a great time.
  • There was a snafu where I had requested casita 21 months in advance, which was confirmed, but I got casita 12 on arrival. They offered to move us after one night but we didn't want to re-pack. The service recovery offered was generous and I was happy with it. Also, casita 12 was plenty private for our needs and I don't know how much better 21 would have really been.
  • The Kawayan Bar was a ton of fun and really unique. It sounded cheesey but we loved it,and it was well worth the price (which is a steal, by the way).
  • The private beach dinner was the best private dining experience we've had at Aman (Satay on the Hills at Amankila is a close #2 ). We didn't do the BBQ as we are just 2 people and we eat very light, so we ordered off the private dining menu instead. This didn't impede our enjoyment at all, but if we were a bigger group would have loved to do the lechon. The setup was beautiful, the guitar serenade was extremely romantic, and we had such a good time. Again, this sounded cheesey but was executed so, so well.
  • Swimming with turtles right off of the Beach Club was a highlight of our trip that we won't forget.
  • We played tennis a couple of times. They include one free hour-long session with a hitting partner which was a nice little coaching session for the both of us. The courts get HOT during the day but are available for night use as well.
  • The aircon (@bhrubin) is strong as hell. We had it set to 23 degrees but it felt like 20 and we never tried to get it to go lower as we tend to run warm. Even with it 90+ degrees outside our room remained an icebox.
  • We did a couples massage at the spa and enjoyed it. Wasn't a mindblowing treatment but nothing bad to say either. We did love reserving the steam room/cold plunge pool room for an hour prior to our massage. This was not advertised as a feature but they agreed to block it off when we asked.
  • We did the Island Escape half-board package which probably went wasted on us as we didn't always order 2x app/entree/dessert, but was nice to not think about money. Everything was included with the exception of a couple of live seafood dishes and the ribeye steak. The inclusions seemed very reasonable to me. Having the minibar included was also very nice. While the package says that Nama is not included, in practice they offered us $70 per person to use towards our Nama bill.
  • We did look at the 1-bedroom Villa which would have been wasted on us as we like to be in the common areas of the hotel and not cooped up in our room. The outdoor common spaces of the villa are gorgeous and with a couple of kids might be perfect, but otherwise I think is a waste. Personal preference. We also looked at the hilltop casita with private pool which we liked quite a bit, and would consider for our next stay. Note that the sun directly hits the pool and outdoor lounging area, so at least in May it would likely be uncomfortable to sit outside for long periods of time since there is no shade.
The majority of our complaints have to do with functional outdoor lounging/dining areas which seem like such an easy fix (e.g. putting a small table outside, having a small covered area for shade) that I wonder why it hasn't been done. Perhaps the weather isn't normally as hot as it was during our stay, but between 12 and 4pm our outdoor area was useless and even laying on the beach was tough, as the umbrella would not cover both chairs. This may be a 'me problem' but it is worth flagging. When we return we will likely go in a different season to get a breeze and lower temperatures.

I wanted to like Amankila more (as its half the price...), but this is a superior resort in nearly every single way. This place really feels like paradise and I had such a good time. I can't recommend it enough and already want to return. I don't think I've ever actually considered returning to the same place twice, given that we are young and our bucket lists are long, but we're really considering a return trip here next year - that is the biggest compliment I can give.

I'm attaching a few pictures from our stay. Apologies for not including more food pictures, but we were too busy enjoying!






























Last edited by callmedtop; May 29, 2019 at 5:50 pm
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Old May 29, 2019, 7:06 pm
  #633  
 
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The guy you had singing at your BBQ - cant remember his name unfortunately - is amazing! He was a highlight of our trip.
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Old May 29, 2019, 7:15 pm
  #634  
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...and the mangoes!!!
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Old May 29, 2019, 7:27 pm
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Originally Posted by MapleLeafss
The guy you had singing at your BBQ - cant remember his name unfortunately - is amazing! He was a highlight of our trip.
He was phenomenal and really made the BBQ something we won't ever forget. I highly adding a serenade to a BBQ - it is a very small surcharge but made all the difference.

Originally Posted by BESVISOR
...and the mangoes!!!
Don't get me started on the mangoes! On our last day they ran out of them on the whole island, probably because I had one with every meal .

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Old May 29, 2019, 9:04 pm
  #636  
 
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Great write up. I liked your random thoughts approach to it. You had some really nice pics too. After all the negativity that has been written about Amanpulo on FT this is certainly quite encouraging to hear that you had such a wonderful experience, especially since we are booked here for a February stay! Thanks for the write up. I am very glad to hear the food was wonderful as welI. I do love some mangoes, looking forward to trying theirs!
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Old May 30, 2019, 3:01 am
  #637  
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Thanks for your wonderful review. I want to go back as well!
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Old May 30, 2019, 3:35 am
  #638  
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The Philippines is famous for their mangoes. The small yellow variety known as honey or champagne. Heaven!
Did you try the calamansi juice (lime-aid)?
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Old May 30, 2019, 3:47 am
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Absolutely loved this report and brought back many wonderful memories. Really good to hear Pulo is back on track! Thanks for reporting back.
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Old May 30, 2019, 11:52 am
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Originally Posted by Ericka
The Philippines is famous for their mangoes. The small yellow variety known as honey or champagne. Heaven!
Good to know! We have never been to the Philippines.

The genesis of this trip to Amanpulo for us happened after staying at Amanpuri. This is our only Aman stay so far. That was about a year and a half ago (many thanks to FlyerEC for her efforts in arranging that stay/move as I was in the midst of a medical ememergy and staying in the middle of the Andaman Sea at the time). Being in a foreign country and medically going downhill fast was pretty scary.

So after experiencing Amanpuri we were determined to find another beachfront Aman despite the price tag. Our experience there was just that good. Normally the highest end places we ever stay at are St Regis. We have grown quite fond of that brand and gotten to stay at several over the years. Normally we never would have even considered something as expensive an Aman but due to me having to move to be closer to a hospital and having a staff that could help intervene should i have gotten worse we had no choice but to move to Puri. I found out that they are experienced in dealing with people needing medical attention so this was very comforting. That stay turned out to be a real eye opener as to what a lux property can be.

We did get some good Champagne mango in Thailand (which are indeed awesome and one of favorite fruits) but my ALL TIME favorite fruit are Mangosteins (which may sound similar to those, but are in fact no way related to the mango family at all). I am hoping to score some of those as well. I could eat my weight in these! Side note on getting fruit we will have 5 days in HKG before heading to Amanpulo. What's the tropical fruit situation like there in early February? Staying at the IC there to start this trip. Then at the tailend of the trip will be at the new GH MNL. Where we live we just can't get the good stuff.

I am really hoping to hear more good TR's from people staying at Pulo in the coming months! We were a little worried with all the negative talk about dropping standards but hopefully they have turned it around. This TR is very encouraging and the pictures look amazing
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Old May 30, 2019, 12:00 pm
  #641  
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Originally Posted by Ericka
The Philippines is famous for their mangoes. The small yellow variety known as honey or champagne. Heaven!
Did you try the calamansi juice (lime-aid)?
I'm an addict for mangoes. So once I was there, I don't remember eating much else
I ordered about 3 servings of it every breakfast. Then about 4 or 5 more throughout the day. They did run out during our stay as well.

Another reason I love visiting cities in SE Asia. Whenever I'm in Hong Kong, I stop by smoothie shops everyday to get mango goodies!
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Old May 30, 2019, 12:01 pm
  #642  
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Originally Posted by 1readyset2go
Good to know! We have never been to the Philippines.

The genesis of this trip to Amanpulo for us happened after staying at Amanpuri. This is our only Aman stay so far. That was about a year and a half ago (many thanks to FlyerEC for her efforts in arranging that stay/move as I was in the midst of a medical ememergy and staying in the middle of the Andaman Sea at the time). Being in a foreign country and medically going downhill fast was pretty scary.

So after experiencing Amanpuri we were determined to find another beachfront Aman despite the price tag. Our experience there was just that good. Normally the highest end places we ever stay at are St Regis. We have grown quite fond of that brand and gotten to stay at several over the years. Normally we never would have even considered something as expensive an Aman but due to me having to move to be closer to a hospital and having a staff that could help intervene should i have gotten worse we had no choice but to move to Puri. I found out that they are experienced in dealing with people needing medical attention so this was very comforting. That stay turned out to be a real eye opener as to what a lux property can be.

We did get some good Champagne mango in Thailand (which are indeed awesome and one of favorite fruits) but my ALL TIME favorite fruit are Mangosteins (which may sound similar to those, but are in fact no way related to the mango family at all). I am hoping to score some of those as well. I could eat my weight in these! Side note on getting fruit we will have 5 days in HKG before heading to Amanpulo. What's the tropical fruit situation like there in early February? Staying at the IC there to start this trip. Then at the tailend of the trip will be at the new GH MNL. Where we live we just can't get the good stuff.

I am really hoping to hear more good TR's from people staying at Pulo in the coming months! We were a little worried with all the negative talk about dropping standards but hopefully they have turned it around. This TR is very encouraging and the pictures look amazing
Think you'll really like Pulo over Puri
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Old May 30, 2019, 12:06 pm
  #643  
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Originally Posted by BESVISOR
I'm an addict for mangoes. So once I was there, I don't remember eating much else
Problem is that its not such easy to eat mangoes at home as they mostly taste so "different", you could also say immature.
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Old May 30, 2019, 12:13 pm
  #644  
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Originally Posted by offerendum
Problem is that its not such easy to eat mangoes at home as they mostly taste so "different", you could also say immature.
100% agree with you! My grocery store never sell fruits that has actually ripen. I think they take the meaning of "Fresh Produce" to the extreme. lol!

Just to tie it back to Pulo before I get in trouble...I did enjoy having dinners at the beach club much more than by the pool restaurant.
As much as I love Pulo, I can't get over how uninspiring the casitas are and why the pool is where it is. Just wish the pool was by the beach.
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Old May 30, 2019, 12:15 pm
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Originally Posted by BESVISOR
Think you'll really like Pulo over Puri
I think you are going to be right.

I love, love, love an incredible true white sand beach. All the reports and pics of how stunning theirs is was the main factor in choosing Pulo over other Amans or other properties in general. We thought about Amanoi which looks quite nice, but the beach does not appear to be anywhere near the same league as Pulo. The architecture and design looks amazing there though. Give us a truly gorgeous beach and great food and we will be very happy. If Aman service is there too then we will be over the moon. Geez I can't wait!
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