Thursday, April 23, 2009

Un-holy Week in Boracay (Part 2)

Black Saturday

All parties and special events resumed on Black Saturday. The beach, no matter how big, seemed cramped on this day. Havaianas all flip-flop was throwing free bottomless alcoholic drinks for those wearing their orig brand from 5pm onwards and I got to get a few drinks of course! I wonder how they could distinguish the fake from the orig ones by just looking at them.

My parents were leaving the next day at 445am so we retired earlier but unfortunately, a stage had been setup right in front of our hotel and the party never stopped til 5am. Our building was literally shaking and I could feel the bass vibrating the whole room so I only had 3 hours of sleep. My dad was up at 3am then. My parents left Boracay Island at exactly 430am. My honb would be on his way in 7 hours anyways so I just slept then.

I can say that my parents weren't that satisfied with their stay at Gran Prix Bora Hideaway since the resort we had stayed at last year (which was Seabird) had a better customer service than theirs. They promised that they would check us in at 1230pm but they kept on delaying what was promised since there were guests occupying our room.
When we were finally brought to our 3rd-floor room 2 hours after, I was instantly satisfied. It was spacious and modern, just as described on their website. They prohibit bringing in food inside the room but not strictly hehe. They have a verrrrry huge balcony which I was able to do my jumping rope sessions on. This is very near the restaurants like Manana and Hawaiian BBQ and right beside Yellow Cab! They even have a water dispenser which you could use to refill your humongous empty mineral water bottles 24/7. What more can you ask for?! All in all, I can say that I was pleasantly satisfied with what we paid for. I would stay in this hotel again if given a chance but never again on a peak season since noise is everywhere.



Pros:
> Very spacious and modern room
> almost beachfront
> split-type aircon which is a plus for me
> free water anytime, anyday
> room intercom
> the cheapest 24 hr. massage on the island! where else can you find a room service massage for 300 pesos but here. 1am onwards they only charge 350, this is a steal!
> huge private balcony
> they have a toilet seat bidet yey!
> since they have just opened this hotel, they could improve their service eventually

Cons:
> breakfast is served later than what's been agreed on
> small serving and pricey(though it's inclusive of the promo)
> small dining area so no separate room for smokers so non-smokers, like my dad, will be pissed hehe
> no resto
> thin curtains
> floor is shaken by every small movement(though their bldg. is made of concrete)
> a videoke place is behind the building which can be noisy at times

As I said, if it weren't for the promo, I wouldn't have chosen this hotel and would have chosen intead, Milflores, which was my home and my bf's for the next overnight stay.

Welcome to Milflores




Based from the photos above, it looks like the 2 are similar but no- Milflores, though not a beachfront, resort is way better in terms of everything - service(approved!), room(wowowee!), breakfast(huge servings with fruits), etc. Milflores is just behind Gran Prix Boracay Hideaway Resort so it's not beachfront and just by the roadside. It's surprisingly not noisy here or maybe because the parties were over by the time we got here. I can't say any negative things about this resort. I loved everything about it and my hond really liked it here so we plan to stay here next year. We only stayed here overnight and we were off the next day to Sur Resort and off to meet our friends, Ken&Jayson.



Holy Week vacation in Bora ended with an Easter mass, which HonB and I attended in the late afternoon.

Next stop for the next 7 days..Sur Resort

My Best Friend's wedding


Congratulations to Amphy and Archie! At last! The final wait is over =)



Here are more photos by the way & look at what Boracay did to my skin.








That's all!

Monday, April 20, 2009

Un-holy Week in Boracay (Part 1)

Day 1 - Maundy Thursday

Sunday to Wednesday nights were spent on packing so I only had a few hours of sleep prior to our 1st day in Boracay. My Rambo boarded Makati Dog and Cat hospital on Wednesday night and it became his home for the next 4 nights. I, my mum and papc left the house at around 515am and arrived at the Domestic Airport in 10 minutes. Yes I was excited since it looked like that we were the first ones to have our luggages checked-in but too bad the flight was moved (from 7)to 8am so we had to wait 3 hours for boarding. (Sigh)

Anyway, it was my first time to fly zestair and luckily, we arrived Boracay safely. We checked in at a newly-built, almost beachfront hotel, namely Gran Prix, owned by Vicory Liner, which opened its doors to the public on February. The entrance is beachfront, right beside Yellow Cab, but the building itself is covered by Yellow Cab's 2nd floor so we couldn't really see the seaview though each room has its own balcony. We got a promo price of 2300/head for 3d/2n plus 1k for every pax for extra night and plus 900 for the Suite Room upgrade..nice! If it weren't for the promo, we could have spent 30,300 in this hotel.

While my parents were taking a nap in the afternoon, I met with my cousin, Che and her hubby which were already in Boracay that day. Here's a collection of our 1st day snapshots.























Day 2 - Good Friday







Boracay is known for being a party place, particularly during Holy Week but this year, the government has implemented a new law to ban partying or any loud music in bars on this day. Since I was with my parents on this day, I wasn't that affected by the news since I don't usually go out on a Good Friday night to party. There were even 'stations of the cross' set on the beach for those who want to do the this kind of activity during holy week. Well, well, well, what else did we do but swim! swim! swim! At the end of the day, my mom and I had a relaxing room service massage, which I forgot to take pictures of. Good Friday was indeed good enough!