Bohol Recommendation Please: Plantation Bay vs Bohol Beach Club

Looking for a nice 2 night 3 day vacation for wife's b-day, haven't been to a Bohol resort or Cebu Plantation Bay, can I please get a recommendation? Thanks

 

PatO

Can't speak for Bohol, we do want to visit there on our next trip, but we stayed at Plantation Bay in April on the way back to the states and thoroughly enjoyed it. (Asawa and I were celebrating out 25th wedding anniversary a month early, so we splurged a little after spending about 2 weeks in Bayawan - hopefully will get around to posting some pix soon

Very relaxed and laid back place, and the staff very courteous and accommodating. We had originally booked a "lagoon side" room which turned out to be a little further from the water than I wanted, and they were able to upgrade us to "water's edge" (at our expense, but they let us do it at the lower Internet rate since that's how we had originally booked). I thought this was well worth the added expense for a balcony with a ladder right down into the lagoon.

There's only a very basic/small beach area since the main water attractions are the man-made lagoons, which we thought were great, we spent a good part of every day in the water. There's limited night-life in the resort itself, but they have a themed dinner show every night. We only went to one, the Hawaiian lua, and both show and food were good. Other nights we just sat on our balcony and listened to the show across the water for free. Food in the restuarants was fair to good, and tended to be pricey. We ate out about every other night, and can recommend the Maribago Grill and also Magellan's Pub for lunch or happy hour - COLD SM on tap

The resort is in a more remote area than some of the others on Mactan, but I didn't consider it excessively so. The hotel does let outside taxis pick up passengers so you don't have to use the more expensive hotel service, but you have to walk a little bit past the reception area to where the taxis are allowed to wait (still inside the main gate). Sometimes a taxi was there, but we never had to wait more than 5-10 minutes. We mostly stayed on Mactan other than a day tour we took around Cebu by hiring an outside taxi driver.

Clientele was mainly Asian, seemed to be Korean, Japanese, a few Filipinos and a sprinking of westerners. Very family-oriented and kid friendly, but still IMHO OK for couples who want quiet relaxation.

 

Plantation Bay Resort & Spa Mactan Cebu is a man made resort and belong to one of the top resort spa to some reviews in the magazines .So peaceful, calm, secured....ideal for honeymoon or wanna be alone. I remember it was compared to that similar man made resort in Vegas and Dubai. They also got good foods and peaceful scenery. Its world class. For western dishes , its being cook by a western national chef and to their Japanese restaurant its also cook by a Japanese chef nothing more to say but so perfect.

 

of course it is man made, Resorts very rarely grow on trees (other than in Dubai) or walk out of a microwave... (maybe it is a pinoy term I am not aware of) I would be familiar with man made Islands.

... they don't have a Japanese restaurant ... unless you mean the Fiji, that is general asian cuisine with a bit japanese on the menu.

If you want to have a nice resort but not much around or to do Plantation is the way to go.

I think the buffet food for 1500+ with a bit a show is overpriced, but ok for one evening like redhorse mentioned.

I recall an older post where PatO said he likes "Erikas" so "Skimpy loin cloths on sexy male performers."(quote from their Brochure about the hawaii show) might sound tempting. (SORRRRRYYYY, Pat, I could not resist....)

The mainly Asian clientele can bring your romantic days as neighbors with 2 kids to a full stop during high season. During week in low season you will have a really relaxing quiet time to enjoy all amenities of the resort.

Standard and service at Plantation Bay is very high, but that should be expected for that price.

Bohol Beach Club's days are a kind of over, if they don't renovate some of the pretty old rooms...

Bohol has tons of resorts of each level and there is always something to do. Some upscale resorts on Bohol, but not really like Plantation Bay.

I stood once at Linaw Resort a bit north of Alona, that was very private and nice. They organized a private trip to virgin Island with BBQ there, really great. The Jacuzzi-room in lost Horizon is also nice. A big selection in Bohol.

for 3 days "special", I agree with the 2 posters before and recommend Mactan, for 5 days (2 romantic travel days with cuddling on OceanJet, 3 doing something) Bohol.

 

Does my wife have to be 18 yr old to get into the Plantation?

 

Redhorse, congrats on being married 25+ yrs, nice, and thanks for the input, you too Newbie.

Rhoody, Erica somehow knew that we are friends and friends and she sent lots of xoxoxo.

 

PatO, thanks for the anniversary wishes! Here's the blurb about the show Rhoody mentioned. Asawa's girlfriends got a kick out of this! This was the only dinner show we went to (I agree with Rhoody, kind of pricey), but both the food and show were enjoyable.

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With some of the cast after the show:

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I will post some more pictures in the photo album section of the forum.

 

Redhorse, did you enjoy your time at Plantation bay or the two weeks in Bayawan the most? Just joking, my wife is from Santa Catalina and I dread when I have to go there and stay at a pension house in Bayawan, nothing there but a little more than Santa.
I see you are from Pennsylvania, are you a Penn State fan? A sad problem with the Pedophile Sandusky case.

We will go to the Plantation Bay and hope no typhoons pass at that time in August, sort of a gamble but what can you do. Thanks all.

 

PatO, LOL about Bayawan We probably stayed at the same pension house last time we were here in 2009, definitely nothing to write home about. But just wanted to let you know there's an alternative now that I can highly recommend. C&L Topview (same outfit has a hotel in Duma, although I've never stayed there) has a hotel in Bayawan now, I think it opened right we left in 2009. This trip we stayed there the entire two weeks and triked out every day to where most of the relatives live in Pagatban, on the far side of Bayawan.

Hotel's five stories, I believe the tallest in Bayawan, right in the center of town by the park and city hall. Our room, on the 4th floor, was very clean and felt pretty secure (no elevator, though). There's a nice open air rooftop restaurant w. a small bar and great views of the area. I saw a westerner and/or expat up there just about every evening. Food's pretty good too, your general all-round Filipino/Chinese menu. For barbecue I still like the Chicken Ati-Atihan better though. As I recall, the hotel prices were competitive with the old pension house. All in all, I have to say it made the in-town Bayawan experience much more enjoyable. One other place I liked is an open air place along the ocean boulevard called "Talipapa". We attended a wedding reception there. It's nothing fancy, just a nice place to have a beer and watch the waves. Same owner as Chicken Ati-Atihan (who I believe is also a partner in Philsouth/formerly Lotiff construction, so there's a big poster for the Valencia zipline out in front!) I'll definitely get some pix posted in the album section shortly.

Moved to PA five years ago from NJ, so I didn't grow up as a diehard Penn State fan, but agree what a shame, and what a hit the university's going to take to both their reputation and bankbook for not doing the right thing. I'm honestly still confused about Joe Paterno's actions (or inaction), really don't know what to make of it, and unfortunately he's not around to explain.

Good luck on your trip, I hope you have a great time - and BTW, assuming "PatO" is for Patrick, me too!

 

I have stayed at Plantation Bay, and Bohol. I left Plantation Bay after one night. The rooms I was in was noisy because of the construction on the building. It has the amenities of a resort...white sand beaches, etc. but I thought they were not that well executed for the prices they were charging. Being from South California we have lots of man made environments but they seem real. I thought Plantation Bay had the right concept but the construction of pools etc was a little lacking. I would not go to Plantation Bay again.

I went to Bohol, got off the boat and went the to hotel resort close to the dock, you can see the resort from the dock. There were posters on the wall at the terminal. The resort was very nice, with pools, and other areas, and nice viewing docks extending over the water. I went on the eco-tour the next day using a booking from hotel in a taxi. It was one of the greatest adventures of my life.... but I am sure I could have saved about 1000 p if I booked my own from a local taxi. That was one of the greatest vacation adventures I have had, along with a guided tour through Mexico City with my children. So for me I would definitely chose Bohol. If you like nature, animals etc, that are not man made then Bohol is the better choice for me. I would definitely do it again, and will as soon as I find the special lady to do it with.

Congratulations on your new child and your anniversary. I hope this post is not too late for you. I was in CdO for the past week...don't even consider going there for a vacation.