SHLTP

The turquoise suites are stunning. The villas though nice have no ocean views. I would not want them and chose against them actually when offered

lrbenko

Agreed, The Turquoise Suite was the by far one of the top best rooms I've enjoyed. You'll love it!

rowdypfeifer

Xmas Holiday 2019 bookings at JW Marriott Phu Quoc are now available!

JHake10

Sounds good! I'm looking forward to the Turquoise suite.

margarita girl

I'm at the hotel for a 7 night stay which was booked last Feb when it was still 25K pts/night, so was able to pay for it with one of my Cat 1-4 Travel Package certs. I was upgraded to a Turquoise Suite at the far end of the property which has a fabulous unobstructed view of the ocean and complete privacy (unlike a lot of the ground floor rooms where there are huge windows looking right into the bedroom). The suite is gorgeous. I counted that the living room seats 9, the bedroom seats 7 (not incl the bed) and the balcony seats 7 as well! I'm guessing the posts on my 4 poster bed are 10 ft tall! There is a platter of tropical fruit in my room that seems to get bigger every day. There was also a bottle of Cab Sauvignon delivered on my first night.

At check-in, I was offered a RESORT CASH CREDIT CHECK-IN DEAL. You can commit to spending a certain amount and you get increasing bonuses depending on how much you spend. The amounts available (in VND) are:

Amt Purch ------- Bonus ----- Total amt
5,000,000 -------- 10% ------- 5,500,000
10,000,000 ------- 15% ------ 11,500,000
15,000,000 ------- 20% ------ 18,000,000
20,000,000 ------- 25% ------ 25,000,000

Apparently, you can keep increasing your amount until 2 days before check out.

I had to choose between 1000 pts welcome amenity or buffet breakfast for 7 days, so that was a no-brainer.

The hotel is whimsical and themed throughout. It reminds me of the little villages that you find at ski resorts like Whistler and Mont Tremblant. The staff is top notch and super attentive. My first day at the breakfast restaurant, the manager Seven, offered to show me around. To shorten the tour, I told him I was a vegetarian (so we could bypass all the meat stations). He said "Oh, you're in room XXXX". (They had asked about dietary restrictions in my pre-arrival email.) Most Vietnamese food is made with fish sauce, so he had me pick out a few dishes I wanted to try, and they brought me the vegetarian versions. The food is amazing.

I've been enjoying Happy Hour in the Dept of Chemistry Bar almost every day (5-7 pm) and drinks are BOGO free. Hotel is very green. The mojitos are served with grass straws! (Not the kind on your lawn, but more like a very thin, hollow reed.) On top of that, there were 2 bamboo straws in my room with a coupon inviting me to redeem them in the Dept of Chemistry Bar for two specially crafted cocktails. (Make sure you check out the bar washrooms. Very cool!)

As has been mentioned many times, there is a lot of trash that washes up on the shore here. The hotel probably has 2 dozen employees whose sole job is to keep cleaning up the beach. Very sad what we have done to our oceans. The water is warm for swimming and the beach is very nice to walk on.

What did surprise me, was the number of plastic water bottles in my room and the fact that there was nowhere to refill the bottles. Usually, I just go to the gym to refill my bottles from a 5 gal jug, but in this case, all I found in the gym were more plastic bottles. I mentioned it to Varun, the F&B manager, and he told me that they have some water dispensers on order, so hopefully there will be an option for people who are trying to do their part at reducing plastic waste. In the meantime, he suggested I could have my empty bottles refilled in the restaurant.

I received a personalized invitation for a "VIP cocktail with the resort management team" for tomorrow evening where they will be serving drinks and canapes.

Edit: Forgot to mention the spa. The spa is great with an Alice in Wonderland kind of theme. I found the prices to be rather high given that we are in SE Asia, but they had a Spa Buffet package which was quite attractive (but not eligible for the Plat 20% discount).

VND 3,000,000 ++/couple/60mins treatment
VND 3,500,000++/couple/90 mins treatment
VND 4,500,000++/couple/120 mins treatment

I purchased the 2nd package and am treating myself to 3 hrs of spa treatments spread out over 4 days (2X30 min sessions and 2X60 min sessions). Whoever came up with package # 3 is weak on math.

Overall, a great vacation, and I wouldn't hesitate to come back.

ankomonkey

Aah, the mighty Seven. Look out for Bao working the main pool towel desk - good guy.

Pseudo Nim

Bao is legit. Also Anh in the restaurant/beach. Only one who remembered that we had a coconut water, a Pepsi and a beer every day mid day at the beach.

ankomonkey

It was fairly quiet when we stayed in August and we found ourselves chatting to Bao most days when we went to/around the pool. Genuinely nice guy based on those experiences. My 6 year-old son also fell in love with one of the waitresses at Red Rum, but she was returning to HCMC permanently soon after we left.

Pseudo Nim

For all the negatives that I have for the property (and there aren't many, but there are some) "overcrowding" is really not one. We were there over Xmas and besides not having a mandatory Xmas dinner, which was very appreciated, the hotel was totally packed - and yet, there was just not a feeling of a massive number of people being there. Major plus of this property.

margarita girl

ftrichard

You've all convinced me to put this on my list either later this year or early 2020. Given that it's difficult to get to (one flight to HCMC and another to the island, right?) so will take a day each way... what's an ideal amount of time there? There's nothing around it, right? Three nights? Four?

margarita girl

I guess it depends on what you want. I decided to make full use of my 7 night travel certificate (for a change) and I'm enjoying being a couch/beach potato. All I need is a chair on the beach, a drink and a book (or my iPad) and I'm happy. I swim in the ocean every day and I made full use of the spa while I was here. I also hang out in the Dept of Chemistry Bar with Sunny for Happy Hour every evening. She just made me a very tasty lemongrass mojito.

The hotel has a list of activities that they offer every day (beer yoga, Japanese gastronomy class, mixology, marine biology, hat painting, surf yoga, to name a few). They also have bicycles, kayaks and paddle boards you can rent. There are a number of tours you can book from the hotel (cable car trip, north island tour, food safari, island hopping, fishing, snorkeling, etc). I know a lot of people also go into the nearby village. I chose not to as I have no room in my carry on to bring anything home (I'm on a 3 week trip BKK, KUL, SIN, PQC, SGN) and I really don't want to eat in a restaurant that might not understand my dietary restrictions. (I'm actually more concerned about not having enough to do on my 5 night trip to Al Maha coming up in March as there is no ocean in the desert!)

As far as getting here, I was at the SIN do beforehand, and I traveled on Air Asia SIN-KUL-PQC. To go back, I want to spend a couple of days in SGN since I didn't like it when I was there 7-8 yrs ago, and I want to give it another chance. I will then fly SGN-SIN-AMD on SQ award ticket with an immediate turn before flying AMD-SIN-EWR (the longest flight in the world) to get back to NA.

When I was planning my annual January SE Asia trip last Feb, I made speculative bookings at both the Marriott Hua Hin and the JW Emerald Bay. I hummed and hawed as I heard negative things about both properties, but finally settled on this one since I had it locked in at cat 4 before it became a 5 whereas the Hua Hin stayed a 4. My expectations were fully in check, and maybe that's why I was so pleasantly surprised. The hotel in itself is a destination because it is so interesting. Now that I've gone on and on about how great this place is, I hope the next person isn't disappointed! LOL

ftrichard

Great trip. Hope you're at LeM in SGN.

I didn't think of flying from KL. I could combine two weekends in KL with the intervening Mon-Fri at the JW in Phu Quoc. That would be great. I was looking at Bali (again) later this year for some fun and sun but this itinerary is probably better. Thinks. Thinks.

ankomonkey

Glad you're enjoying your trip!

ankomonkey

We flew to BKK and the BKK-Phu Quoc on Bangkok Airways. With 2 kids under 10 who loved the ocean and paddle boards, we had no problem filling 7 days between a snorkelling trip, beach, pool and taking some of the classes (we have our lanterns, painted hats and more at home).