7 Responses for "Costa Marina, Samal Island Garden"

1. Costa Marina Samal Island Garden The Philippine Travel Blog | Garden Benches May 13th, 2009 at 11:36 pm

   [...] Costa Marina Samal Island Garden The Philippine Travel Blog Posted by root 1 day 11 hours ago (http://www.yugatech.com) Asian spirit is now zest air wifi on air coming soon sbma housing sbma housing copyright 2007 the philippine travel blog is proudly powered by wordpress Discuss  |  Bury |  News | costa marina samal island garden the philippine travel blog [...]

2. Costa Marina Samal Island Garden The Philippine Travel Blog | Garden Benches May 19th, 2009 at 2:40 pm

   [...] Costa Marina Samal Island Garden The Philippine Travel Blog Posted by root 3 days ago (http://www.yugatech.com) Asian spirit is now zest air wifi on air coming soon sbma housing sbma housing copyright 2007 the philippine travel blog is proudly powered by wordpress Discuss  |  Bury |  News | costa marina samal island garden the philippine travel blog [...]

3. Cairns Hotels January 11th, 2010 at 11:22 pm

   Wow this is a beautiful paste, I will add Costa Marina, Samal Island Garden to my places to visit next year.

4. Lisa April 2nd, 2010 at 12:54 pm

   If you want something nice then dont go to this resort. They are ripping off customers big time which was something they didnt do before. I was really upset when I visited there this month cause they were having corkages for everything that you bring there like rice, meat, fish and fruits.

   Maybe in the future they’re going to have corkages for the clothes you bring and maybe let you pay per hour if you want to swim.

   They even asked boat fare for my 5 months old nephew who doesnt even occupy a seat. What the heck!!!!

   They should rename their resort “CORKAGES ISLAND RESORT” or “PAY FOR EVERYTHING YOU BRING ISLAND RESORT”

   The staff are NOT friendly, impolite, and not trained well to give customer satisfaction, all they do is ask for the money before they are going to serve you right.

   In short, this place needs a lot of improvements cause they SUCK BIG TIME!!!!

5. Jace October 4th, 2010 at 6:57 pm

   A friend and I stayed October 2 and it was a bit disappointing.

   Plus side – there were very few guests so it was quiet, compared to neighboring paradise.

   Down side –
   no flexibility / notion of customer service at all

   we made a last minute booking via their davao office and found out that their davao office didn’t give a heads up to the resort that we were coming over.

   we would only be allowed to check in early for P500. there was no guest ahead of us, the cottage was empty. we were given an outright 10% discount, but we weren’t allowed to check in early without charge.

   we forgot our goggles and asked if they had any to rent out. they did not. the neighboring resort, paradise island, might have goggles for sale and we requested that they ask. the supervisor we were speaking with, not only did not give us feedback but we never saw him again either!

   food was disappointing.
   they only had 2 choices for the fish although they listed like 4 on their menu. we ordered sinigang na bangus and received a very small fish. we asked if they can get a fisherman to procure fish for us and they’ll cook to our liking. hello it was an island, wouldn’t you know a fisherman or two. so they said they can procure fish for us, even if we make our own procurement they are not allowed to cook it for us, even if we are willing to pay extra.

   take note of their published rates above. they had to cable tv, their shower was not working and you had to pay more for a cottage that had hot and cold shower. in my experience with resorts in palawan and batangas, they had free flowing coffee, tea and water. this place had none.

6. brVince May 23rd, 2011 at 8:26 pm

   Hi Yugatech… just re-posting this FB note about this resort… If offensive, it can be deleted, salamat…

   https://www.facebook.com/notes/rudolph-ian-alama/the-case-of-the-p2000-photoshoot-fee/10150191535438806

   “The Maniniyot Community is a young group of photography hobbyists, enthusiasts and professionals in Davao City. We decided to hold our summer get-together in the Island Garden City of Samal and among the many resorts, we chose Costa Marina resort since it would be less crowded than its popular neighbor thereby conducive to holding our group activity which included a photoshoot.

   When we got there, our bags and items were frisked by the security guard which is SOP. When the guard opened one of my bags containing my light stands and tripod he asked us if we were going for a photoshoot and then told us about the resort policy of paying P2,000 for a photoshoot.

   We reasoned out that its not a professional photoshoot, we were just an amateur photography group holding our activity. And normally we would bring our gears. (I usually bring my light stands and tripod with me.) The attendant/receptionist then reiterated the policy- pay P2,000 for a photoshoot. They told us that since we brought the cameras, it is tantamount to a photoshoot .

   We asked for consideration, we decided to compromise by scrapping our photoshoot, instead we will just be taking pictures (picture-taking) to document the get-together, as normally we would do if we bring our cameras, we promised them that there will be no more model photoshoot. (we had brought a model and a make-up artist for the occasion). However the management was adamant, no photoshoots of whatsoever even taking of pictures unless we cough up P2,000.

   The group then protested that we were not informed by the marketing office when we called up to inquire about the resort. There was no prior information whatsoever that there will be a photoshoot fee, a f*cking P2,000 photoshoot fee. We then asked for another consideration. however they denied our request. Since we were 20 in the group we just decided to collect P100 from each member to raise the amount needed for the shoot and after paying we were able to conduct our activity and the photoshoot with very heavy hearts.

   I remember that I covered this Visit Samal program by the Department of Tourism and wrote stories about this tourism program for Samal and Talicud Island. but this stupid photoshoot fee or what I will call DSLR camera Corkage fee of Costa Marina (which is also said to be practiced by some resorts) will be a big blot to this tourism project.

   Although it is a private resort and it is the management prerogative, I couldn’t just understand why on earth would that resort charge us for taking pictures at an unreasonable fee of P2,000?? They should have informed us, they should have posted their rules and not when we are already lining up to pay for entrance fee. They should also define what a PHOTOSHOOT is since even a simple picture-taking is not allowed unless you pay P2,000.

   Why make money out of people taking pictures?? Dont these people know that picture takers/photographers are the best marketing people out there. A single picture could have the power of enticing a thousand visitors. Digital cameras particularly DSLRs are becoming common nowadays I just hope no DSLR toting tourist would stray into Costa Marina premises unaware of this picture-taking fee rule.

   I also hope the DOT and our tourism stakeholders could perhaps rein in some stupid policies such as this Costa Marina photoshoot fee or if not post this weird stupid policies in their Visit Samal booths so people (potential tourists) would be well- informed. “

7. costamarinashit May 28th, 2011 at 8:29 am

   stupid place alot of fees! even your camera has a corkage 2,000php every move you make there are limited and alot of fees! i hate this place because of there management with no education approach in short professionalism very bad place..if they see you bring beer or RHUM they will charge you again 450php…I will not recommend this one because even the owner has no consideration on the place! I will not back this place forever!