Quiet comfortable resort away from all the noise of White Beach and Sabang yet within easy travel distance to both. Staff is helpful. The food is fair, but everything on their menu is not always available. Descent pool and fair beach. Big draw back is the 190 steps from street level to the main part of the resort the constant brown outs and lack of good internet service.
If you have a strong heart and are in good shape, then go ahead and take your chances at this resort. It’s located at a cliff face, and you will need to go down more than a hundred steps to get to the main resort and to the beach. Naturally you will need to go up the stairs again to get anywhere.
The room was, well, just a place to sleep in. That’s it. The bathroom had a funky smell, and the toilet’s flush was so weak that it took several flushes just to clear the toilet.
The restaurant has a good view of the ocean. Great place to hang out. But beware. Food is nothing out of the ordinary. On our first night, we ordered the stuffed squid. Both orders were as salty as the sea it came out of. On the second night, we took a late afternoon nap and woke up at 9pm. Lo and behold, the kitchen was already closed, so we had to go to bed hungry. There was no sign anywhere that the kitchen was only open till 8:30pm. For a resort located in an isolated cove, with no other places to eat nearby, that speaks volumes about how the resort takes care of its customers.
The final straw was our trip home. We arrived on the 7th of April. As early as then, I asked the staff about getting me a ticket home from Muelle Port. They said they will take care of it. The following morning, I again asked Sheryl, then Malou, to take care of getting tickets back to Batangas for the morning of the 9th. They said it shouldn’t be a problem. I reminded them that it was a holiday weekend and that there will likely be lots of people going back home. Again both said that it wouldn’t be a problem. On the morning of iur departure, I asked about it again. Again, the response was that it shouldn’t be a problem, and that we should easily be able to get a ticket to Batangas.
Here I am, at Muelle Port, writing this review, because I have more than 4 hours to kill because all morning and early afternoon trips to Batangas have already been booked. So much for capping what was supposed to be a restful weekend.
Never again, Dolphin Bay. And never again, Puerto Galera.
DBR is a gorgeous, quiet, secluded spot close to Puerto Galera but away from the town and away from the freak show of Sabang.
My room was big and clean with a balcony that had a view of the bay through the trees, and a powerful A/C unit.
There's a nice restaurant/bar are to lounge around in through the day and night. The food is great even though it's at resort prices, and the drinks are good too.
Scooters are available to rent, which is recommended for going over to White Beach (the tourist beach with all that has to offer), to Sabang (girlie bars, girls, and dive shops but some good restaurants), or just down into town to the shop for sunscreen, snacks and amenities.
The staff was great with arranging a boat for a snorkelling trip and for a ride down to the pier when I needed to leave.
As mentioned, it's quiet. There are some kids around sometimes but they go to bed early. The view of the bay is gorgeous and at night every star is out. The beach is narrow but it's fine for sunbathing. It's good for swimming as well but it's shallow and there are patches of sea grass below.
WiFi was good in the lounge but didn't entirely reach into my room. The hot water was gone for a day or two but came back on.
The stairs need to be mentioned. There are a LOT of stairs and DBR is at the bottom. A scooter will cut most of them off but when arriving and leaving you'll have to deal with them.
All in all, I was very happy with DBR.
Stayed here for two weeks. and had an extremely quiet relaxing time. I recommend for people looking for a retreat. Meals are reasonable priced, and are geared for Filipino and Europeans alike. Staff are extremely obliging and helpful, and display Pinoy hospitality. Never saw the Owner/Manager once. The hotel has a small beach and good pool facilities. wonderful outlook. It looks to be running at very low occupancy, perhaps due to the difficult access. There were frequent power failures.
Hmm, what can I say? Me and my wife stayed here for just a night, Oct. 7- Oct. 8 2017 to escape the noise and stressful environment of the city, So I guess I can't say too many things about it. but for the benefit of the readers and for those who are planning to to visit Puerto Galera let me share you our experience at dolhpinbay.
1st the location, it's a bit far from the white beach, meaning to say, the place is quiet, relaxing. But on the other hand, because of the fact that it's far from the white beach, it also means you will have to take tricycle ride to visit the souvenir shops or watch the fire dancers or to experience the water activities that is in the white beach.
2nd is the resort itself, it's pretty huge, with lots of rooms, with one adult pool and a kiddie pool and also a jaccuzi, perfect for relaxing specially when you're already tired from swimming in the beach, the staffs are nice, they even arranged a free shuttle for us from Muelle Port to the resort and also a shuttle going back to Muelle, which allowed us to save money as well. The beach is ok, it just needs to be cleaned a little bit. Food!! wow! I love the sisig, I'm a critic when it comes to sisig, I always have a lot to say about sisig, because it's my favorite so, I'm really strict when it comes to the taste of sisig, aside from that my wife ordered prawns I don't know what kind dish is it because I don't eat prawns, but my wife said it tastes great, the breakfast is also heavy. now let's go ahead with the rooms, originally we actually booked a standard room, but when we arrived there we were offered to upgrade the room for just an additional 200 pesos since the standard rooms are far from the beach and you will have to go up the stairs which I thinks is more than 150 steps, so they offered us the Deluxe room right in front of the pool and near to the resto, the room is pretty huge, the bathroom is ok the t.v is ok and we had a good sleep too. Lastly the guests during our stay are also very cool, they greet everybody they talk to everybody, so overall, it's really a great stay.
If you're going to ask me if we will be coming back here, well of course! :)
