A few weeks back, my friends and I had a year-end gathering (a tradition we started about a decade ago), and we chose Samal Blu for the venue – a private by-the-beach resort in Brgy. Limao in Samal.
Here’s a map going to the resort.
We booked this place for an exclusive overnight stay for 17,000 pesos. And just like some places we booked in the past, it also had some things that did not meet my expectations. Such things may help you decide whether to book the place or not.
Let’s start with the things that I liked about the resort:
- It’s spacious; the common area, which included the dining and entertainment area, was quite huge; we had plenty of space to do for our Christmas program, including parlor games.
- It had plenty of cooking sets and kitchen items; you can prepare your food generously without worrying about kitchen equipment.
- The room was beyond expectations; it was good (at least the one we got).
- The beach was just a few steps away.
- We had the whole place exclusively.
Now, here are the things that I consider some of the drawbacks
- It’s far from the highway; we had to walk about 500 meters to the resort (if you bring your car, no problem).
- We experienced multiple power interruptions; thankfully, we had an engineer in our group who traced and solved the connection problem – who found out the electrical connection, which ran both the AC and water supply, was not installed properly, so it tripped off several times when we used AC and other appliances simultaneously).
- Only one person in the house to attend to our needs; when we arrived, he was still preparing what we needed – he had to do all the work.
- No free drinkable water (we had to buy on our own – good thing the staff helped us with the purchase; nearest store still far away)
VERDICT
The resort can be a great venue to host events – like family gatherings or getaways with friends. So, if you plan to book, consider the pros and cons I have shared above. If you think the advantages far outweigh the disadvantages, go!
As for my experience, it could have been more enjoyable if we hadn’t encountered multiple power cuts.
Here are some photos I took from our stay:
