Malapascua Exotic Island Dive Resort — Hotel in Malapascua

Stayed at the resort for 9 days. The premium room was smaller than I imagined. Had I known, I would have sprung the extra couple thousand for a larger room. The room was clean, but honestly, considering Exotic is considered one of the more expensive resorts on the island, I was surprised by how run down the room looked. Another issue that I (and many other guests had) was the hot water in the shower not working; however, they did fix it quickly and the water was a bit more "hot-ish." The water is slightly salty, so the bar of soap they give you won't lather up, so it's better to bring your own liquid soap. The last thing didn't bother me as much since we were on a pretty remote island, and you can't expect extravagant amenities.

The staff at Exotic are amazing—from the servers, receptionists, dive staff, to the security guard; they take their jobs seriously and this certainly make up for the so-so amenities. The cleaning lady would get our room done by the time we finished breakfast.

The dive staff was very professional. Damien (Dutch) and Wil (Filipino) were excellent Dive Masters. Randy was a great boat captain.

The restaurant was clean and the service friendly and prompt. However, I found myself gravitating towards Ocean Vida for lunch and dinner (probably the best restaurant on the island).

One last thing, and this surprised me: the resort charges a 3.5% surcharge if you use a credit card. This, as most businesses in the Philippines know, is illegal. Any fees for credit card use is between the bank and the business and should not include the user. This is nothing new but many business owners try to pass this on to the customer despite getting more business by accepting credit cards. This is the law:

"Department Administrative Order No. 10 Series of 2006 reiterated the rules on price tags and provided prohibition against the imposition of a surcharge and extra or additional charge in the use of credit, automated teller machine (ATM), or debit cards for payment of purchases of consumer products and services. Under which, credit, ATM and debit card holders must be protected from sellers or retailers who impose surcharges or additional amount over and above the price tag on the goods and services. Any person who violates the provisions for the first time shall be subjected to a fine of P200 to P5,000 or by imprisonment of six months to one year depending on the discretion of the court. A second conviction shall carry with it the penalty of revocation of business permit and license."

All in all I would recommend the resort because of the location and the excellent staff. But if you want a nicer room, spring for something other than the Premium room if you...

My family and I stayed here for a week so I could dive with the thresher sharks. The company has a nice dive boat that made getting to/from sights 45 min away extremely comfortable. I dove w/ Jerbie who, as well as the others on the boat, was attentive before, after and during the dives. The one thing that was odd was that the dive company didn’t provide snacks between dives. Luckily I had brought my own snacks for in between dives.|I stayed in a bungalow separate from the main building. The privacy was nice but kind of bit us in the butt: After a storm late one night, we lost electricity. Everyone else in my family had electricity since they were in the main building and after a few minutes, I had to force (yes, force!) a security guy to wake up someone who could fix the issue. We also randomly had our AC replaced with a larger unit. It was great afterwards but the 3 hours we could not go to our room during the installation was a little inconvenient and they could have done a better job covering the opening from the old unit. I would have called the reception desk but the office hours are irregular (I went there 30 min before ‘closing’ only to find the gates down) and we had no phone in our bungalow. The toiletries provided are spa quality, especially the hair conditioner.|The resort has its own beach area where we would sit and relax in the afternoons with our mango shakes. Shout out to the bartender who would customize our shakes (coconut milk, sugar substitute, etc) as well as fill up our water containers with ice! |Got a 2 hour Thai massage from Wilma (for less than 1500P) that was amazing. Don’t underestimate her strength!|The resort dining area has a lot of food options but we mostly ate the pizza cooked in the stone pizza oven because it was sooooo good. Just be prepared to wait because it can take 45 min - 60 min to get your order even during the slower times. We pre-ordered our breakfast a few times but it still took 20 min to get our meals. Jackie waited on us several times and is AMAZING!! |Despite a few of the issues, we walked the island and this really is the nicest resort on the island w/ the nicest dive boats. FYI This resort is far from the port but transportation can be made w/ them to get between the port to the resort directly. Unfortunately this wasn't offered and we found out the hard way =( but were able to arrange for transportation back to the port AND back to Cebu airport at the end...

First, the diving center. I have 11 dives with them. Three out of these 11 dives their crew made error. Twice the crew forgot to put my weight into the weight pocket. The first time I was caught off guard. The second time I caught it and put them in before jumping into the water. Then last night, they only fill my tank 4/5 full. I found out just before I got into water.

Second, room. The seaview rooms was next to some real loud air conditioning or who knows what device that turns on and off every few minutes for about 30 seconds. Extremely loud and really affecting sleep.

Third, their dive center staff was NOT honest. They told me that it was a busy season and they were fully booked and wanted advanced payment, for which I did. Then they told me that PayPal did not send them the full amount, which was not what said in PayPal' email to me. Anyway, I was still charged with the differences, for which I paid them. But the annoying part was that they were not full at all and they were taking walking in guests even when I was staying there. There was one dive that I was the only diver.

Last, about their service: My last day I had a morning dive, some guest showed up late for the dive so when I returned, I was 10 minutes passed their 12 noon check out time. So I was not allow to have shower in my room but was redirect to public shower which only has cold water and no shampoo or soap.

The only nice person was my private dive guide who tipped well. But I secretly wish he quit this nasty place.

Plus I cut my finger on their sharp bamboo board of their bed. Not a high quality bed I say.

Definitely not recommended.

But malapascua dive sitess are beautiful and well worth the trip. Highly...