"We just returned home from Crimson Resort and Spa Mactan. It was our first time in Cebu. It was a short but great trip.
The highlights:
Accommodations: We chose Crimson because we frequent high-rise hotels when traveling and decided this time we wanted a villa/bungalow type of room. No hallways and no elevators. Crimson checked those boxes. They also accommodated our requests for a king bed and first floor room.
Activities and amenities: Our daughter loved Crimzone and the children’s pool. It was hard to get her to leave. The Saturday foam party was fun and the pool staff were engaging. My wife and I both availed the spa and wow, we can see why they won an award for Best Value in Asia. The price was affordable while the quality of service was top-notch.
Food: The buffet breakfast was good and had a lot of variety. My favorite item was the fruit and veggie smoothies. Who knew bakchoy and mango blend well together? But it was the attentive staff that really made breakfast a great experience. We tried the 24-hour room service and I swear the chicken club sandwich was one of the best I’ve had in my entire life 5/5!
The lowlights:
Here are some reasons why we are not giving Crimson an excellent review.
1. Overpriced/low quality food in Saffron during ala carte dinner. Our first night we arrived in the evening and were hungry. For two people (our daughter is a toddler) we paid over 5000php for an appetizer, 3 entrees, one beer and one bottle of water. Honestly, the price would be ok for this amount of food if the quality was better. I would suggest Aka or Enye for higher quality food although we didn’t try either. Saffron was empty that night and we found out why.
2. Distance to places/sites. Crimson is quite far for shopping or eating at other restaurants. We hired a private car for 3 hours and was only able to visit two sites and one pasalubong store. Luckily it was only moderate traffic on that Saturday. 2500php for a sedan for 3 hours was reasonable.
3. The gift shop is waaaay overpriced. 950php for a small tube of sunblock seemed very high even at a resort. We also wanted some souvenirs, but there wasn’t much variety at all.
4. Our room needed some TLC. The paint in the nice tub was chipping, the caulking in the showers could use a refresh and there was a huge ipis (roach) in the closet. Luckily we spent most of the time outside the room.
5. No floaties or life vests for toddlers to use, even for rental. Despite having almost everything else, this would have been a nice touch.
6. We came to Cebu for mangoes and lechon, but Crimson didn’t offer these items and again, because of distance, it would have been nice to have some at the hotel.
The bottom line:
We enjoyed our stay and would definitely recommend it to others, however we would give them our full review so they are aware of the pros and cons.
Thank you to the wonderful staff that made up for the minor issues we encountered!"
"We love Nustar so much! This is probably our 5th time here! Stayed here from Nov 5 to 7 as it’s Mine and my bros bday and it was after Typhoon Tino. As always they are very accomodating, friendly and helpful and gave me a piece of cake and fruit bowl but this time I ask for a happy birthday note on the monitor for background pic for me & entire family as celebration but they keep telling me they will send someone up but no one really came from the IT department . I did expect a happy birthday greeting on the monitor it would have been very special, but I understand as maybe they are so busy and under staff because of the typhoon and instead of 2 pm check and we were able to check in very late like 5:30 pm because they’re probably under staffs but all of these did not ruin our overall stay as new star staffs are all very welcoming. We had birthday dinner in the good luck hotpot which is just inside Nustar as well. Thank you Nustar for being very welcoming , friendly and hand on chest when Greeting guest is such a Nustar trademark  please trade me a guest feel welcome and at home"
"Kandaya resort is definitely very beautiful and clean. It offers many activities from ARV, horseback rides, archery, island hopping and many more. The breakfast is delicious and has a variety of, especially Philippine cuisine. The kayaking was our personal favorite. It’s just a long drive away from Cebu city. However, should we find ourselves that side of the world again, we will choose this resort anytime. Lastly, the room was so stylish and modern..it was just amazing. Bed is super comfortable."
"We booked 2 nights In the Business class suite it was my bday & after typhoon tino . I’ve been staying in Radisson since 2010 & there service never change. Still very accommodating, friendly & helpful.. except for this one staff in the business class lounge . I arrived 2 min early in the lounge and I start to put food on my plate and he stopped me and literally told me U CANT eat yet As it’s not 5pm sharp!! And he literally pass by me and served water on all the guests glass except me!! The next morning my family went before 7am and all staffs are nice and He wasn’t there and snack time they went early again and he was so nice to them and served them water and coffee.. at evening I went with my whole family and he smiled at me and ddnt serve us water again!! Hes a lil chubby and Chinese eyes wearing black uniform . The reception guy blue uniform is very nice & he was so friendly and accommodating to all of us. My mom is a 71yr old senior & sometimes she needs help but this reception guy was really helpful except for that one rude staff"