Sunday, April 27, 2014

Sun City’s Cagayan Holiday Leisure Resort: Five Star Amenities, Awful Guest Services.

Cagayan Holiday Leisure Resort 
Five Star Amenities, Awful Guest Services 
Stay, Stray, Play and Feast 
Tuguegrao, Cagayan Series 4


 We arrived after almost a three hour exhilarating
drive from Tuguegarao to Sta.Ana in Cagayan,


 …where we were booked for an overnight stay
in Sun City’s Cagayan Holiday Leisure Resort.


 Cagayan Holiday Leisure Resort is
a huge Taiwanese owned resort complex,


 …located in one of the northernmost point
of Luzon, the biggest island in the Philippines.


 It had a huge cavernous lobby located at the 
 main clubhouse and checking in was a breeze.


 We were given welcome drinks,



…and we were brought to our villa 
by an electric car since it was located
about a block away from the clubhouse.



 Stay

We were booked in a 2 bedroom villa,




 and we were delighted to see the beautiful
living room, a far cry from the solitary sofa 
that we have in Pulsar back  in Tuguegarao.


It had a full dining room,
 a small kitchen, with a refrigerator.


 The living room and kitchen
were tastefully designed.



 It had its own beautiful toilet and bath,




…and a rather outdated box type flat screen TV, 
but is was okay as the place was well maintained and
it did not bother us at all as it was working anyway.


 The main bedroom had a queen sized bed and
just like the living room it was well designed.


 It also had it’s own flat screen box type TV,


…and it’s own luxurious bathroom.




 The second bedroom had two double beds,



…and its own box type flat screen TV,


 …and just like the main bedroom
it was beautiful and well designed.


 The villa did not make us feel
that we are in a hotel at all-



 …it felt as if we were home that we 
 just wanted to laze around and didn’t 
want  to leave or do anything anymore.


We did not have a wi fi internet connection
and had a really nice working table 
that doubles as a vanity area, 


...equipped a broadband internet 
and the sole telephone unit in our villa.


Stray

 Even if we felt like we didn’t want to
leave our villa anymore there is still a lot 
of places to stray and visit in the resort.



One can walk leisurely or jog 
on the resorts well paved road,
while enjoying the scenery.


 Or maybe just laze on the main clubhouse
have a drink and enjoy the exclusive serenity.


 The resort is like a huge garden and guests
can enjoy Sta. Ana’s local flora and fauna 
on its impeccably landscaped backyard.


Guests may also laze on the 
resort’s pristine beachfront,


…and just sit on the seawall 
and watch the colorful sunset.



The resort has its own airport and offers 
flights to Batanes, Manila and even
direct flights to nearby Taiwan.



 Play

Within the complex, and across 
the private airport is a huge Casino 
which we never got to visit as we 
were never really interested to see it.


The resort is a kid’s paradise as they 
gave a gorgeous Infinity Pool,




…that had a sunken bar.


 I had a great time swimming
with the kids in this pool and 
they never want to leave anymore.


By the pool is a well 
equipped modern Gym,


…and a Spa where guests could 
be pampered to full relaxation.


The kids also had a great time 
swimming on the beach,





…and playing in the sand.




 There is not a minute that they will
get bored as various waters sports 
activities are also being offered.


We all  had a great time on the Jetski,




 …which is safe even for very young kids as a lifeguard
may accompany the guests during their ride.



 We also enjoyed the
ATV ride by the beach.



 Some of the villas had private pools
in their  backyard and we were almost
 tempted to upgrade our accommodation, 


….but we decided not to do so, since  we 
would  only be  staying overnight.


The kids may not want to leave the villa anymore,
and might not be able to utilize the other
fabulous amenities available in the hotel..

 Feast

Cagayan Holiday Leisure Resort had Five Star 
amenities and provided us with a perfect place to 
stay, stray and play for a relaxing family vacation,


 …and we intended to feast in between
and this is where the resort fails.


 We had not had any lunch upon arriving
and we hit the pool immediately as we 
intended to take a pool side lunch,


…but the poolside crew never showed up 
again after serving us canned orange soda.


We have totally forgotten about the late 
lunch until we transferred to the beach.



There was a seaside dining area and we 
ordered food as we intended to eat there
after we were through swimming.


 It was already dusk, our orders did
not arrive so we requested them just 
to bring the food to our room.



It took them forever to bring the food 
to our room and we were starving,
luckily we had a Cagayano Pizza 
that we brought along the way.



Our food finally arrived served 
in Styrofoam containers… 


…no plates, no utensils, 
no spoon no nothing.


We had to call the front desk 
to bring us some water to drink
and to give us spoon and fork.


 They apparently do not provide plates
and other utensils so we had to eat 
on the other half of the Styrofoam.


The  next day, our breakfast was served the 
same way - in plain Styrofoam containers, no
plate,  no spoon, no fork and we have to request 
for water and utensils from the front desk.


There is really nothing wrong with serving the food 
this way if we were in a budget  backpacker’s hotel.


But we were not backpacking. We are on a leisure 
travel as and were traveling as a family with two
young kids. Cagayan Holiday Leisure Resort is being 
promoted as a luxury hotel and serving  food  the way
they  do is far from being luxurious and derisory.


 They have one of the most delicious Chinese 
dishes that we have ever tasted though and it is
catered by the resort’s Chinese Restaurant 
located at the Casino area across the airstrip.

The tasty dishes at least compensated  for the poor 
 costumer service and that was enough to please us.


The resort also had a convenience store 
and were discovered tome tasty Taiwanese
snacks like the pre cooked mini hotdogs,



 …and honey filled mini pancakes that
looked like miniature hamburgers.




 Recommendations

 Despite the poor costumer service of this 
this hotel, my family tremendously enjoyed 
Sun City’s  Cagayan Holiday Leisure Resort.


 The rooms are luxurious and beautiful,



…the amenities are first rate,


 … the price was very budget friendly



...and they have a gorgeous beach.


Just bring a lots of disposable spoon, fork and even 
paper plates  when  you intend to dine by room service.


But should the guest decide to dine out 
in their Chinese Restaurant, that serves
delicious Oriental dishes, I don’t think 
one would have any problem then.