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The good: Its very homey, the place is quite big. You can laze around. They have their own pool and beach front. Tita Pines - the main caretaker/resort Manager is very accommodating. They serve locally home-cooked food. We stayed in the non-airconditioned cottage. Comfort level is ok. Good for backpackers Don't expect 3-star accommodation experience.
I loved the idea that its the "bahay-kubo" the filipino-style hut. Yet is has the amenities of tiled CR and hot water. The cottages are quite big it can accommodate at least 4 people in one room.
The down-side and what you need to take note of: There are a lot of gnats insects (nik-nik). Have insect repellent on-hand wherever you go around Polillo province. Make sure you that you use mosquito net in the evening inside your huts. Its quite common around the area since the gnats came from the mangroves.
There are no intercom/telephone connection nor internet access. Coordinating and calling for assistance needs to be done of foot. wherein huts/lodgings has some distance to the main area.
The beach resort is recommend for people who wants to stay there. Not for adventurers who just need an overnight stay. Since the beach resort is quite far (30 mins) from the town.
When we went there it was holy week. They are full. They are quite undermanned. So patience in room service and requirements is needed.
You can read more of my Polilio Island, Quezon adventure in my blog http://ladyoutdoor.blogspot.com/search/label/Polilio%20Island
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Date of stay: April 2011
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Trip type: Traveled with friends
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
We waited for 6 hours for the boat. "Doc", owner of the resort", said the boat will arrive at 11AM, then 3PM, then 6 PM. We got sunburned because of waiting in the fish port. After 2 hours of night boat ride, we arrived at the house of Doc. We even have to wait for 1 and a half hour for the van. Upon the arrival in the resort, no apologies were given, not even a free dinner for their inconvenience. We arrived at 10PM(Mar29). and the owner doesn't even gave us discount for late check-in even if it's their fault why we came late. We ordered beer to stress out, but the resort don't have ice, so we ended up sleeping early and tried convincing ourselves that the beach is beautiful. When we got up in the morning, we were very disappointed because the beach is not worth seeing considering how long the travel was. We ended up checking-out at 12PM(Mar30). Advice: Stay away from this resort.
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Date of stay: March 2013
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Trip type: Traveled as a couple
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
1. Before the trip - Berne/Paye (nephew of the owner) offered the shuttle service of the resort - both van and boat. This should have been my first clue: when I asked what time the boat would leave Quezon, Berne/Paye just said they will wait for us. He said after some prodding that the boad would leave at 7am. We would be picked up at 3am, and with a 3-hour trip, that would be just right.
2. The land trip - The van picked us up on time (from Taguig City) but the the driver drove recklessly on the zigzag road. There were 10 passengers in the van - including two kids!
3. The sea trip - we boarded the resort's boat around 9am (as the van 'killed time' at the town and even stayed at the hospital - where the owner's sister is a doctor - for an hour!). Approximately 70 more passengers boarded in a span of 3 hours and there were no signs of the boat leaving yet. Finally, the sister-in-law of the doctor arrived at almost 12nn and the sea travel began! This woman - whom around 70 guests of the resort waited for hours to arrive - did not even care to apologize. On top of that, she even made an insensitive remark when the boat conked out approx 30 minutes away from our destination, to which I retorted. Berne/Paye announced to the passengers that a free lunch would be served because of the inconvenience and delay.
4. Arrival at the resort - the free lunch turned out to be a buffet of rice, pancit, and a minute serving of tinola! This was supposed to appease those who travelled 13 hours unneccessarily, and for the inconvenience??? We ordered chicken (turned out to be fried instead of barbeque as indicated in their menu) for our group. It turned out that the staff were so unprepared and not trained at all our order was not listed. And, because, we could not identify who took our order (of course, we did not know anybody in the resort!) we ended up not paying for it.
5. Our room - the room was dirty and unmade when we checked in. The bathroom was dirty and the floor had soil marks. We even had to ask for the beddings to be changed. Oh, by the way, the resort did not have any clothes hanger to lend us! When we asked one of the staff, they said they were undermanned.
6. The kitchen and menu - the guests waited for 2 hours for the food order to arrive. This I must not forget: there were only 5 dishes in the menu - 2 preparations for sugpo (shrimp), chopseuy, pakbet, and chicken (pick your choice: on one day it was barbeque, the next day it was buttered chicken). There was no fish (except for daing na bangus for breakfast) nor seafood that vacationers are wont to order in beach resorts. A cup of hot water cost us 4.00! A piece of ripe mango - 40.00!, a 250ml bottled water - 20.00!. In Filipino language 'sobrang harang!'.
7. The pool - the water was not clear and it's ideal for kids only. The caretaker admitted they did not have budget to buy chlorine!
8. The broken promises - (a) Berne/Paye said the market is accessible: Truth: the resort is around 10k from the town and tricycle cost is 250/one way. (b) Berne/Paye said we can buy fish from fishermen who would pass by the beach. Truth: there is no way for a fisherman to come near the beachfront as there was a sort of boundary/wall made of stones. (c) The staff would say it would only be a short waiting time (ie for food to arrive, for the shuttle to arrive, etc). Truth: you need tons of patience and be prepared to wait for hours on end!
The result: four groups of guests, including us, checked out of this resort the following day. We cut short our stay (instead of the original plan of 4 days)...and also our negative experience!
My advise: Stay as far away from this resort if you want a relaxing, pleasant, and hassle-free vacation.
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Date of stay: April 2012
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Trip type: Traveled with friends
Room Tip:Â Check in at the Seahorse Hotel or any other inns at the town.
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
I booked this review based on strong reviews from bloggers. Before I venture into the off beaten path, I research the place so that my family would have a grand time. I booked last January through Tita Pines and everything went okay. We booked for 4D3N from April 5 to April 9 with van and boat transfers to the resort. We also informed Tita Pines that we would like to go island hopping to Burdeos and she said that it can be arranged once we are there. 2 weeks before our scheduled booking, Bernie called my wife and asked for confirmation. Since Bernie was not mentioned anywhere in the blogs I read, I asked my wife to call Tita Pines to confirm if Bernie works for the resort. This is where all the bad things started
1.) Bernie informed us that their van would pick us up at 2AM, would bring us to Dinahican port in Infanta and ride their boat to the resort at 7AM. Everything was on schedule. 2.) They picked us up at 2AM and they had to pick another group at 3:30AM. No worries on our part since it is still a long ways to go before 7AM. We arrived at Infanta at 6:30AM but instead of taking us to the port, the driver took us to the hospital to meet the lady doctor and wait for the shrimps and crabs. No shrimps and crabs and we were able to board the boat at 9:30AM. Further, we had to wait for another 3 hours until all their guests arrived. We were stuck at Infanta for 5 hours with no provisions provided by the resort for the delay. Needless to say, my two kids were hungry and feeling the heat waiting for the other guests to arrive. Further, my kids have been awake for almost 11 hours when the boat headed to the resort. No apologies from the driver, the lady doctor or anybody from the resort 3.) The resort had the balls not to apologize for the delay. The lady in red (I think Grace was her name) had the audacity to smile while their guests had to languish for 5 hours waiting for them to arrive. To compensate, Grace said we would be having free lunch (shrimps and crabs) upon arrival. That did not happen. The free lunch was pancit bihon and rice 4.) About 30 mins from Polillo port, the boat encountered engine failure which added to the exasperation. We had to wait for a public boat from Real to pull the resort boat to the port 5.) We arrived at the resort at past 4PM or to put it mildy, 14 hours after they picked us up. Upon arrival, no apologies from the resort owners, Bernie, the lady doctor and the resort staff. We were treated to a hearty feast of pancit bihon and rice 6.) Guests who were very angry of the treatment we received from the resort checked out the next day. We would have checked out as well if not for the kids 7.) As a way of apologizing, the lady doctor informed us that they would be taking us to Agta Beach at no cost to us. We were having second thoughts because of the way this resort has lied to us. We called Bernie and he said that after Agta Beach there would be island hopping. As usual, Bernie lied. There was no island hopping after Agta Beach 8.) My wife had to organize an island hopping tour to Burdeos so that we would not be confined to the resort. She talked to the other families and was able to get confirmation from all of them. 9.) Not going into details, the island hopping was a disaster. It took us 6 hours to get back from Anilon Island to the resort because we got lost and the captain does not have clue how to navigate the ship. They had to find a local fisherman to guide us in going back to resort 10.) The resort promised us a lot of things but they delivered none. This is the worst vacation we had as a family. Whats so sad is that, Polillo is just 5 hours away from Manila and it could be a great destination for island hopping. The resort would be the jump off point for the adventure. Unfortunately, the resort had no idea how to treat their guests 11.) During our 4D3N stay, we did not taste the much hyped Tinumok. They said that they could not find seafoods in the island 11.) In conclusion, terrible service, terrible coordination, terrible people
Do not, as in do not for the love of God, deal with Bernie or Payee. They are liars and would not commit to their word. They overcommit and cannot deliver. Also, do not deal with all the inlaws present at the resort. They do not know anything yet they the balls to shout at us when we were airing our side. Doc's bodyguard is an arrogant piece of crap. He was telling us that the driver should not have picked us up at 2AM because the boat would arrive at 10AM. I told him, with my finger pointing at his disgusting face, that he shut up because he is not from the resort and he was not the one who was dealing with us.
The reviews from bloggers are really excellent but I guess this resort has been run to the ground by the owners relatives. The once central figure on all the blogs about this resort is Tita Pines. Unfortunately, she has been eased out in dealing with customers. It is really too bad because she is very friendly and heart warming. She visits our kubo everyday to check the kids. Let Tita Pines manage the resort.
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Date of stay: April 2012
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Trip type: Traveled with family
Room Tip:Â *** Rooms were okay for 1.5k pesos per night. Mattresses are a bit hard and linens obviously...
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
The whole resort is quite spacious and well maintained on the outside. The room was a disaster, furniture quite old and got a lot of insect bites. The manager organized trips trough the island to keep the guest entertained. It definitely does not justify a high price.
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Date of stay: February 2016
Value
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Service
Trip type: Traveled as a couple
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
This is best resort for its value. I can compare this to Boracay and Palawan resorts.
The food is excellent. All the fish (bangus) you could eat.
Dr. Ner Azuala even hired a "live" band to entertain his guests and relatives.
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Date of stay: October 2014
Location
Service
Sleep Quality
Trip type: Traveled with family
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
resort in Polillo features many modern amenities the cottages built with locally grown materials bamboo, coconut tree, mangrove tress and exotic gardens that parallel the beauty of the natural settings of the relax in our lovely cottages.
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Date of stay: December 2015
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Trip type: Traveled with friends
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
We took out 650 Kawasaki on the ferry they loaded an unloaded it for 200 Pasco each time. Drove to location on Google map an it was the wrong way so just ask the locals. The stay was very nice they have a really well keep pool. The place only needs someone to paint it an bleach the water mold out food was good local all the way. We're going to go back in the peak season.
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Date of stay: August 2016Trip type: Traveled as a couple
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
"*** Rooms were okay for 1.5k pesos per night. Mattresses are a bit hard and linens obviously haven't been changed for quite some time
*** Just bring lots of off lotion because of the itchy nik nik
*** Everything here has a charge. Hot water would cost you 5 pesos. Bucket of ice would cost you 20 pesos. Wouldn't mind paying if their service is excellent; but their service is very terrible. I understand they are fully booked because of the Holy Week break but they should have foreseen that"
There are more places to choose from in the Polillo Island area.
LOCATION
PhilippinesLuzonCalabarzon RegionQuezon ProvincePolillo Island
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