Pools and lagoons are the things that make this resort in Mactan a stand-out from other resorts in the island. It was an impromptu visit to Plantation Bay Resort and Spa when my friends from Manila decided to book an overnight stay in the plush resort. It was a hard time giving my final decision to join them because from work, it will take me around 45 minutes to go to the resort located in Mactan.
So at wee hours of the morning, I hailed a cab from Cebu IT Park to Mactan Island to join them in their Plantation Bay experience. Counters were already closed during my arrival but a staff on the check-out lane accommodated me. The front-desk officer called a resort staff to transport me to Piazza Palermo, where my friends were housed. A refreshing breeze coming from the sea, and from the lagoons maybe, welcomed me inside the resort.
A few moments later, I was inside a vivid, roomy, and elegantly furnished room. I love how the simple wall paints make the entire room chic together with the warm lights from the lampshades on the side of the beds. They offered me some of the dried mangoes and candies on the basket of Philippines delicacies they received upon arrival. Aside from that, they also received a complimentary one time free drink at any restaurant or bar of the resort.
Book your stay at Plantation Bay Resort and Spa via AGODA to avail room discounts.
Rooms at Piazza Palermo are poolside rooms with two queen beds that can accommodate up to four adults. In-room amenities include the coffee and tea making facility, IDD/NDD telephone, cable television, and air-conditioning unit. Bathroom is equipped with hot and cold shower; has complete toiletries and bath tub. Hair dryers are upon request but slippers are not complimentary. Everyone was also given a free 1L bottled mineral water.
Coffee and tea making facility and shower amenities.
Stay inside the room for the bathtub or enjoy the outdoors by doing some archery.
Booking a room will also enable you to enjoy butler service, use of the gym and game room, wall climbing and archery facilities, daily use of bicycle for an hour, access to all the saltwater and freshwater lagoons, and free scheduled shuttle to SM Cebu and Ayala Center Cebu.
Plantation Bay Resort and Spa is also the home of five restaurant/bars: Kilimanjaro Kafe, surrounded by the lagoons and specializes in International and Filipino cuisines that served the breakfast buffet, Alien Abduction a sci-fi inspired lounge that serves as an ice cream parlor and cocktail lounge with cute aliens around. Another one is Fiji Restaurant, located at the resort’s beachfront that offers seafood, Japanese, Korean and other cuisines. Last are Palermo Café Bar famous for Spanish tapas and Italian pastas, and Savanah Grill for fastfood favorites.
We planned to get up at 5:30AM to have a morning swim but we were hindered by the comfy beds and woke up around 8AM. We immediately plunge into the West Saltwater swimming lagoon and borrowed a volleyball when we claimed the beach towels. We continued swimming at Kilimanjaro Freshwater pool before heading to the gameroom situated near the reception.
Lagoons and pools are everywhere!
Gym and gameroom offers facilities that usually are not available on some resorts in Mactan. Gym facilities include treadmills, weights, stationary bicycle, inversion tables, cross trainer, and range of motion machines. The gameroom, on the other hand, has billiards, table tennis, foosball, and X-Box Kinect all for free and big buck safari, blazing angels, supercars, play station 3, and Nintendo Wii for some credits.
Mogambo Springs is the in-house spa and above it is Mogambo Falls having two gigantic slides that hard to miss. I was able to try the slide one time and it was an exhilarating ride as the speed was too fast descending the curves and immediately plunging into the swimming lagoon.
Visit to Plantation Bay Resort and Spa, since courtesy of my friends, was unplanned so it was also a swift stay. An overnight stay is too short to enjoy every spot of the resort that covers 11 hectares, everyone is amenable. There are too much to do yet too short time for us to explore the entire resort, definitely a reason to go back.
PLANTATION BAY RESORT AND SPA
Marigondon, Mactan Island, Cebu
Contact No.: +6332-505-9800
Email: inquiry@plantationbay.com
Website: http://plantationbay.com/
