Bad experience in Philippine

We had been Atlantis Resort Hotel of Dumaguete of Philippine on Sept 28- Oct 3,2002. We search the resort from web and the first image of it was clean, private, good facility. After arrived there, we found that it was a private resort, far away from downtown, no others diving shops and resorts in same area.
Due to no competition in same area, all kind of charge was high, such as meal, drinks, diving, accommodation, transportation¡_ They also charged customer the 10% tax of total expensice; this was the first time for us (we had dived in Philippine over 10 times before). The most incredible thing was that we had a quick lunch in boat between dive, they charge us 10USD and without any advance information. But we had no choice! As the result, the charge of this trip was 30% more than Cebu , Moalboal and Puerto Galera.
Philippine is a beautiful place with a lot of excellent diving site, the people on there are kindly, and the expenses are cheap. But this trip make us disappointed and charge our impress. Although we don¡¯t know where can we complain, we can share our bad experience to the friends who¡¯s love diving and Philippine!

Good information. You might want to pass it along to Undercurrent.
Rick

Wow. Sorry to hear about your bad experience, hk_diver. Your info is very timely for me as I am considering a dive trip to the Philippines in February. Atlantis Dumaguete was on my "possible" list along with Bohol or Malapascua. From your info. it sounds like I should scratch Atlantis Dumaguete from my list. BTW, did you get to dive the Apo Island and Pescador dive sites, as Atlantis advertises on their web-site ? I hear they are both excellent dive sites !

I was also talking about just today about going to Atlantis Dumaguete. HK post will make me ask more questions before confirming.

However I have just returned from Atlantis Puerto Galera and have only good things to say about them.

I do not ever go out of country to a resort without a personal recommendation from someone I know, or from several people I don't know (such as on this forum). Talk about a crap shoot.

But you have to be careful in countries like the Philippines. I once was referred to a dive guide in the PP and he was absolutely bad. He left me alone and took me to bad sites in Mactan Bay. No coral!

Even some of the big scuba shops there I would stay away from.

Get a few opinions first and then go. Because there is some very good diving there. BTW, if you want to see whale sharks then in the early part of the year Donsol is the place to go.

Thanks for all the friends reply my message !
I just want to say it is real . You can check the information on their web site : http://www.atlantishotel.com. You will find their charge is higher than the diving shop in Bohol or Moalboal, and the price which not in list will more higher( such as meal and drinks..)
Diving sites arround there :
1. Apo Island : Clam and good visibility, coral garden and marine santury.
Bohol to Apo 1 hour
Moalboal to Apo 3.5 hour
Dumaguete to Apo 0.5 hour
2.Pascado : clam and good visibility, drop off , and i had met the Whale Shark last year there.
Moalboal to Pascado 15 Min
If you don't choice Apo, I highly recommen you to Moalboal, there are a lot of Resortsand diving shops in beach. Charge is cheaper.
Many diving site arround there. I had been there 4 times. You can find more information in Web.

Hi, all.

I'm a dive professional working in the Philippines and am also connected with several of the operations throughout the country.

Sorry to hear about your bad experiences, but sad to say, there are some sub-par (in different aspects) operations here.

The diving here is excellent, though, and it would be a shame to miss out on it due to crappy resorts or service or treatment. If any of you are headed this way, feel free to drop me a line, I'll see what information I can provide you with. Hopefully you'll have a good time here, and see what it is that keeps us diving every single weekend.

Take care, all.

Thanks for your help, monster .
I will ask your advise before I plan the dive in Philippine next time.

Cheers

hk_diver once bubbled...
We had been Atlantis Resort Hotel of Dumaguete of Philippine on Sept 28- Oct 3,2002. We search the resort from web and the first image of it was clean, private, good facility. After arrived there, we found that it was a private resort, far away from downtown, no others diving shops and resorts in same area.
Due to no competition in same area, all kind of charge was high, such as meal, drinks, diving, accommodation, transportation¡_ They also charged customer the 10% tax of total expensice; this was the first time for us (we had dived in Philippine over 10 times before). The most incredible thing was that we had a quick lunch in boat between dive, they charge us 10USD and without any advance information. But we had no choice! As the result, the charge of this trip was 30% more than Cebu , Moalboal and Puerto Galera.
Philippine is a beautiful place with a lot of excellent diving site, the people on there are kindly, and the expenses are cheap. But this trip make us disappointed and charge our impress. Although we don¡¯t know where can we complain, we can share our bad experience to the friends who¡¯s love diving and Philippine!

Click to expand...

Just got you reply, hk_divers and I think everybody in the diving community should know that you have no point here. I enjoyed my diving and my stay in Atlantis and cannot complain about rates which I think are damn cheap.
Again, I am not the Georg who runs the Atlantis.
Thanks a lot, your apologies taken in advance for wrong accusations :doctor: