soy

All there is at the end of the beach is a beach shack used by local fishermen (you see all their boats just off shore). If you want to go uber-local in your eating I guess it would hardly get more authentic. The water is filthy down there, I went over on the paddle board and it really helped me see how much effort the hotel has to make to keep their part clean.

soy

Crab House is good and is on par with what you would expect in any developed market. It is about half the cost of an equivalent in the US but the food is excellent, though its really only sea food.

Nemo and Cami are two other places that are more local (and cheaper) but I thought the food very good and enjoyed both. They are both located about half way between hotel and town. The shuttle can drop you off and get a taxi home. Ganesh an Indian place is supposed to be good too, but I did not eat there myself. All of these have plenty of reviews on Tripadvisor

AbelianGrape

Looking at the recent history of VN 1822, scheduled PQC 7:50am -> SGN 8:55am, https://flightaware.com/live/flight_...?ident=HVN1822, it appears to often leave the gate over 10 minutes before the scheduled departure time. (This is certainly not my experience in the US...) Is this really the case? If so, how long before the scheduled departure time does one need to check in (with luggage)?

olouie

Its a shame that the Chinese restaurant isn't open yet. Pretty limited food options for dinner. Funny that for the past week both Tempus and Red Rum have been pretty empty during dinner, but tonight Red Rum is fully booked and turning people away - it looks like Tempus may be closed (looked empty and dark when I walked by) so only Red Rum and room service.

estnet

Totally agree about the food choices (which I think are unispired), part of the reason RR is pretty booked tonight is a lot of us couldn't eat there last night due to sudden rain and wind (it is totally open and no plastic curtains to protect against weather) so they closed the grill and everyone had to leave - a lot then booked for tonight.

hockeyinsider

Are there (good) Western food choices?

olouie

Tempus has decent mix of everything. Red Rum has great seafood and some burgers (lunch only maybe?). Room service has a wide variety and no extra cost so it seems very popular.

TalkingPoint

Got denied at Red Rum tonight as well. Surprised as it didn't look busy. Was able to just order off the menu to my room.

TalkingPoint

I think the hotel is nice, but nothing special. The buildings all are beginning to feel very worn and not all the rooms are even finished yet, but that's a problem most places you go in Asia where they use low quality cement and you're constantly battling the elements. The ceiling of my suite has 50 touch up spots and new cracks and pieces continue to fall off. Also, the lotion in the rooms are all expired. We asked for new ones but every bottle was rancid and expired in April. The breakfast had a decent selection, but not as much as most of the nicer properties in Asia. That being said, the quality was good and I've enjoyed it. They have weird artwork and stories written on all the walls, riddled with typos and grammatical errors that kind of makes it feel cheesy. The water and beach is absolutely filthy with floating trash. They try to clean it up every morning but it's nearly impossible. I saw a syringe on the beach the other day and some of the other guests had talked about stepping on urchins and being stung by jellyfish so I have avoided the ocean. I've only been to the two large pools next to each other, and for whatever reason the larger one on the left is extremely murky water. Maybe around 4 feet visibility which is weird for a pool. For whatever reason, the small pool next to it on the right has no such problem. Overall, it's been a nice stay mostly because of the staff. They have been absolutely wonderful. Almost comparable to a four seasons feel. I really wish there were more dining options, since there is nothing nearby. The prices were reasonable, but nothing I ate was very memorable. There's a few good restaurants 30-45 minutes north and the taxi was around 400.000VND each way. I think this is a nice place to visit if you're in the area and have the points/certs. Otherwise, there are much better properties for the same price.

hockeyinsider

You should consider writing Marriott as obviously someone from corporate should know this:

Craig Smith, President and Managing Director, Asia Pacific
[email protected]

imverge

Received this today.... I'll be taking a taxi but thought I'd post the current transportation pricing from hotel...


Dear XXX,

Sincere greetings from Phu Quoc Pearl Island.

Thank you for having chosen JW Marriott Phu Quoc Emerald Bay for your upcoming trip to Vietnam’s Pearl Island between XXX/2017 and XXX/2017.

If you haven’t yet organised transport from Phu Quoc International Airport to JW Marriott Phu Quoc Emerald Bay, we would be happy to help you by arranging a private transfer:

7 Seat Fortuner 2016 900,000VND/1 Way (maximum 3 adults)
7 Seat Mercedes SUV 1,350,000VND/1 Way (maximum 3 adults)
16 Seat Ford Transit 2017 1,350,000VND/1 Way (maximum 8 adults)

Prices shown are before 10% tax and 5% service charge.

Vince Chan

The painting and construction quality of the hotel is indeed terrible and the worst I've seen, a lot of paintings inside the building, wall, roof is faded or not painting well（I took several pics for if anyone want to see pm me), ,Turquoise suite leaking water from AC everyday , it's such as waste for the marvelous design !

JimJamBonks

We are set for a 5 night stay in June of 2018. What is the opinion concerning snorkeling at the JW Marriott Phu Quoc Emerald Bay Resort? This is the only segment of our trip with the possibility of snorkeling, but if the consensus is negative we wont even bother bringing our snorkeling gear with us. Thanks!

soy

The hotel organizes a free snorkeling trip as one of the weekly activities. I did not do it (was already booked up), but would be skeptical about how good it could be. If you never snorkeled before then its probably fine, but I was not overly concerned when I could not do it. Depending on currents, the water can either be dirty or incredibly clear

soy

I would agree with your assessment.
I think they are in a vicious circle, the elaborate design means that it will cost so much more to maintain, so they need to sustain the cash rates in order to be able to pay for the inevitable repairs. If they slip, it will go into a downwards spiral real fast.