Focus
BY JENNEE GRACE U. RUBRICO, Sub-Editor
Plantation Bay Resort and Spa:
Man-made Paradise
I waded into the water and laid on my back, looking at the cloudless
sky. Feeling the 11 o’clock sun burn my face as I floated, I closed my
eyes to enjoy a few minutes of silence. I felt enveloped in a
tranquility that comes only with being at the beach.
Only this wasn’t the beach. I was swimming in one of the man-made
lagoons of the Plantation Bay Resort and Spa in Mactan, Cebu. And
despite the flowing saltwater that was being pumped from the nearby sea
and the rough white sand that surrounded it, the lagoon, with its
cement floor and glassy surface, was simply a swimming pool made salty.
Plantation Bay is one of several resorts in Mactan, an island that is
30 to 45 minutes away from Cebu City. Known for its extensive swimming
facilities, the 11.4- hectare resort, which I visited with my family,
is also a sun worshipper’s paradise, with sufficient tanning areas by
the sea and pools, ample open spaces, and secluded corners for those
who want to burn in private.
The resort, which is 30 minutes from the airport, follows colonial
plantation architecture and showcases an interesting waterway — four
interconnected saltwater lagoons which are bound by rough sand and
dotted with man-made "islands," that double as resting areas complete
with trees and hammocks.
On one side of the lagoons is the freshwater Kilimanjaro pool, which
has flowing water, three jacuzzis, a giant slide, a pool bar, and
artificial caves. On the pool deck are reclining chairs and gazebos. In
another part of the resort is the Savannah Park pool, which features a
water-spouting volcano.
Tucked at the back of the resort is a coral beach. For a fee, guests can rent a jetski or a boat, or snorkel in the area.
Lap pools, meanwhile, are found in some of the clusters of villas,
assuring guests that no matter where they are billeted, water
facilities will always be just a few paces away.
A brochure from Plantation Bay shows that rooms are priced according
to how near they are to the water. Rooms for two guests at the lagoon
side are "five to 10 seconds from the water," and go for $158++ for the
off-peak and $208++ for peak seasons (Christmas/New Year, Easter
Holiday, and Japanese Obon). Rooms at "water’s edge," or those that are
"zero to two seconds from the water" are at $168++ per night for
non-peak and $218++ for peak seasons, while poolside rooms ("five to 10
seconds from the water") go for $118++ for non-peak and $168++ for
peak seasons.
For groups, Plantation Bay offers the club room, which sleeps four to
eight guests, at $118++ for off-peak and $168++ for peak seasons. The
room, however, only has bunk beds. For a group of four people, a more
comfortable alternative would be to rent a room for two, pay extra for
the additional guests, and share the queen-sized beds.
Plantation Bay also offers the Riverboat, a two-bedroom suite that is
built over rushing water, for $368++ per night for off-peak and $428++
for peak seasons. Meanwhile, those who don’t want to be seen can avail
of a private villa for $588++ per night for off-peak and $788++ for
peak seasons.
The hotel imposes a no-tipping policy and tacks on a 10% service
charge to the room rates — though the additional charge was worth it,
given the courtesy, friendliness and efficiency of the staff. Another
12% is added to cover value added tax. Rates include transfers to and
from the airport.
The resort has nurses on standby, though when I needed medical
attention after hitting my head on a rock in the middle of the lagoon,
it took medical personnel over 10 minutes to get to our room.
Food in the resort is expensive. Room service goes from P450 per
meal, excluding VAT and service charge. At the Savannah Park
restaurant, where guests claim their complimentary drinks, a hamburger
with fries costs P375, sans the VAT, service charge, and drinks.
Kilimanjaro Kafe serves less expensive food like batchoy but the breakfast buffet costs around P900.
The hotel provides complimentary bottles of water, but beverages
obtained from outside the room is also costly. At the pool bar, bottled
water — the cheapest item on the list — costs P120.
Souvenir items and other products are also priced on the high side.
Forgot your swimsuit? Visit the Jamaican Market and get ready to trade
P4,500 for an unbranded bikini.
As evidenced by the price points and the Japanese, Korean and
Spanish-speaking guests who were in the resort with us, Plantation Bay’s
primary market is obviously foreign tourists.
The resort uses one exchange rate for its room prices and another for
its food and products. During our visit, the hotel imposed a P50 to $1
exchange rate for the accommodations and a P48 to $1 exchange rate for
the food. Accommodations are priced in dollars, while food and other
services are priced in pesos, so to shell out the least money, it’s
best to pay for the accommodations in greenbacks and for the food and
services in the local currency.
The resort is not very accommodating to visitors who wish to explore
other parts of Cebu. Going out can be a hassle as management does not
allow taxicabs inside the sprawling complex unless they are dropping
off passengers. Guests who want to go out have three options: avail of
the hotel’s car services for P900 one way; ask a friend who is a local
to pick one up with a cab; or pray that someone in a cab gets off at
the hotel lobby. A fourth option, which would be for guests to walk all
the way to the entrance of the complex, is a tad impractical given the
distance between the lobby and the gate.
But if there is no urgent need to go out, there are enough things to
do in the resort to keep from being bored. Besides the water
facilities, the resort also has a game room with billiard tables which
can be used for free. Guests can also use the gym, play table tennis,
and have a football tournament for free. The game room also has
internet stations, the usage of which is free for the first 30 minutes.
Playstations, meanwhile, can be rented.
Guests who want to look around but don’t want to walk or take the
colorful golf carts that are available upon request can avail of the
one hour complimentary use of bicycles. A 30-minute bicycle ride would
bring guests around the complex three to four times, depending on how
fast they go. Target shooting, golf, and archery are also available to
those willing to shell out cash. Those who want to learn how to ride
the segway - a motorized scooter - can also take classes and rent the
vehicle.
Plantation Bay also offers activities for the kids, including fish feeding, art classes, and calesa and pony rides.
But perhaps the best facility in Plantation Bay is its spa, the
Mogambo Springs. The spa has three outdoor water facilities — a hot (30
to 40º C) freshwater pool shaped like a flower with submerged seats
and water jets on the side (for opening the pores), a cold saltwater
thalassic pool with jets spraying water from the floor (for
rejuvenating the body through a mineral bath); and a cold freshwater
pool with a waterfall and a needle shower nook (for a hydro-massage).
The Mogambo Springs also has a small sauna for sweating out the toxins, but this is not the spa’s best feature.
Visitors can use the spa’s facilities without getting a massage for
P300. For those who avail of a treatment, the facilities are free.
Treatments range from P600 for a 15-minute pool massage to P8,800 for
the Ultimate Mogambo Springs Experience, a six-hour treatment that
includes a pool massage, body scrub, foot therapy, facial treatment,
aroma-therapy oil massage, hot oil treatment, and nail care in one of
the private treatment rooms.
The best deal would be the P3,300 packages which give guests a pool
massage, a body wrap or body scrub, and a full body massage inside one
of the cabanas. I tried the Sweet Enchantment package, which included
the pool massage, a cool cucumber body wrap, and a Swedish massage.
For the pool massage, the attendant sat me in the hot pool and
massaged my head, shoulders, arms, and neck for 15 minutes. I was then
led to the massage room - a dimly-lit rustic hut which had its own
shower with a full-range of Body Shop products - where I had my cool
cucumber wrap treatment. As the attendant covered me with cucumber, I
couldn’t help but think how literal the name of the wrap was - it was
cold to the skin, it used both minced (for the body) and sliced (for
the face) cucumber, and I was wrap-ped. But the cooling effect sooth-ed
my skin, which had been fried by the sun.
 One of the "0-5 seconds to the water" villas — Photos by the author
After the treatment, I had a Swedish massage. The pressure was just
right, the massage was deliberate and deep. The attendant’s strokes
felt less like the numbered and sequenced pushing and kneading that
I’ve observed in the massages I’ve had in other spas.
Plantation Bay is best enjoyed when one is willing to spend, but the
resort also makes itself available to budget-conscious people. The
hotel offers day tours which range from P1,500 per head for groups of
20 and above and P2,000 per head for one to 19 persons. The rates
include use of the lagoons and the pools, use of bicycles for 30
minutes, use of the wall climbing facilities in the afternoon, use of
the game room from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., and the use of shower rooms. They
also include lunch and a round of drinks.
In its Web site, Plantation Bay invites guests to "decompress from
life’s pressures in the healing tranquility of an environment that
truly feels ’away from it all.’"
And for me, the resort lived up to its promise. I had to shell out
more than I would ordinarily pay for a mini-vacation, but being
isolated from the world, floating on a man-made sea and being
surrounded by charming architecture and friendly personnel made it all
worth it. |
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