PG: Mabuhay dive resort

[pakman]

leisurely walk i'd say 20 minutes.

but it involves a steep walk over a hill that separates Big and Small Lalaguna.

[jonix]

but it involves a steep walk over a hill that separates Big and Small Lalaguna.

and that too

[travelem]

yes. Club Mabuhay has two resorts in PG. 1 in Sabang back off the beach near the jeepney corner and one on Small Lalaguna.

Is it that Club Mabuhay is under Korean management and Mabuhay Dive Resort is under Danish management?

[Wisnu]

We (myself + wife + 2 daughters) stayed at Portofino resort last week. Every night we walk pass Club Mabuhay for diner at Big Apple and Tamarind. No safety issue, except bring torch as the area near El Galeon jetty can be no lighting.
If we have a chance to visit PG, we'll consider Club mabuhay - seem more suitable for family (or single asian female) than the other resorts.
We did snorkeling at big lalaguna and must regret with the coral condition, lot of rubish. The beach in front of Portofino is better than big lalaguna for snorkeling.

[CODMAN]

The beach in front of Portofino is better than big lalaguna for snorkeling.

Huh??? You are serious? There is tons of boat traffic in front of portofino...

[Wisnu]

Huh??? You are serious? There is tons of boat traffic in front of portofino...

Indeed, but much less in the afternoon.
At big lalaguna even worse -- canoes, banana boats, jet sky ect.

[CODMAN]

Indeed, but much less in the afternoon.
At big lalaguna even worse -- canoes, banana boats, jet sky ect.

Well to be honnest I didn't snorkel at Big La laguna... I did dive off the point (on my way to dry dock) and found the coral quite nice, although at 15 feet it's beyond the limit of most novice snorkelers...

But I did find the beach much nicer. Maybe the shallow corals were not as nice? I sure wasn't impressed by the snorkeling in Sabang or small la Laguna... Too much traffic there...

[zorayah]

snorklers are normally taken to the Coral Gardens but then you have to hire a boat for that.

[dg808c]

Dive shop at mabuhay (abwonderdive) is perfect. Food in Mabuhay is so so. Go for El gallion og take the walk to big lalaguna (10 min) and it is quite safe. But stay and dive at mabuhay and ABwonderdive.

kim bjoern

[chip104]

so I tried Club Mabuhay. The facilities do look great but it stops there. Still can't comment on the dive shop but it looks well run.


PG: Club Mabuhay vs. Portofino

I have to second this about club mabuhay after having to stay there for 4 days this past weekend. The service was TERRIBLE. As Iris said, I've never received such HORRID service in Puerto Galera.

It's really a shame because the resort is very aesthetically pleasing (including the rooms) but it stops there. I stayed in the family suite and the cleaning job was horrid. Not only, it was THE WORSE resort management (not to mention LAZY and SHADY) I have ever experienced in the PI...this is a powerful statement since I've done a fair bit of travelling around the Philippines. Let's see, some things I remember: dog crap right at our steps not being cleaned up for the entire weekend, the bar to our bathroom was broken and not fixed when asked repeatedly to do so, trying to kick us out of our table because "the divers usually sat" there (screw you we were there first how dare you try to kick us out, boy they got an earful from me for that one), the toilette bowl smelling - and I cringe to say this - like HOT CROTCH when we got there AND continuing to smell like HOT CROTCH after telling them to *******king clean the *******king thing over and over again, pre-ordering breakfast the night before and telling them we wanted it at 7am sharp only to wake up and find out that the cook forgot to leave the keys to the kitchen (where the **** is the extra set of keys that management is supposed to have for moments like this?!?!?), the restaurant screwing up our order for the Nth time plus taking too long (even if we're the only ones there), ....the list goes on.

I complained about our accomodations to all my contacts I've made in PG and they all said the same thing about the resort - too laid back for their own good with a "just give me my salary" attitude. I think a lot of it had to do with the fact that when you pay a certain amount of money for accomodations, you expect a certain level of service. Club Mabuhay certainly did not live up to its expectations. Save yourself the grievance and just book a room for the same price at El Galleon, Out of the Blue, Atlantis, or even Portofino. At least there you'll get the service you're paying for.

It's certainly not the first place I have received poor service in the PI, and I don't like writing bad reviews, however, Club Mabuhay really left a sour taste in my mouth.

Thankfully all the fun activities in PG still made it a great weekend. But I feel bad for the FSL boatman who was helping me up the gang plank because I took out my frustrations on him ("putang ena, sabi ko iyaw patulong mo ako!" <-- I know my tagalog is unrefined so feel free to laugh).

Now let's try to write something good....The pool is nice and very refreshing. The dive shop on both sides of the resort looked very well run. There's a sari sari store in the resort in case you need some water or what not.

But seriously. There are way better places to stay in Puerto Galera.