WELCOME HOME!
Ok, I'm going to cheat. I just copy/pasted an old blog I wrote about Discovery Shores. I hope it entertains and lets you know I LOOOOOVE this place.
June 4, 2009
I'm currently sitting poolside at Discovery Shores in Boracay. The sun is shining brightly and we just finished riding the tall waves on the beach. It was so much fun! the waves were high enough to body-ride even without boards. Now, my nieces are frolicking in the pool and I'm hiding from the sun on one of the loungers nearby.
I swear, I loooooove this place! Every single detail is taken care of.
Check this out:
From the airport, we were met with an airconditioned water shuttle that took us from Caticlan to the island of Boracay. Inside, we were given cold bottled water and cold cloths to refresh us as we made the 20minute voyage to Discovery Shores. Upon arrival on the island, a van met us, again, nice and cool, with piped in ambience music and 'tour guide' voice overs. **I was sitting in front next to the driver so I had fun looking back at the other passenger mouthing the words being spoken over the speakers "On your left are various resorts, restaurants and the internationally reknowned Mandala Spa..."
Upon reaching Discovery Shores a short 10 mins later, we were greeted with warm smiles and complimentary Lychee Shakes (which I kept ordering our entire stay here-- I've yet to order COKE! Beat that!). It was raining a bit when we arrived but we all had our DS umbrellas to cover us as we made our way to our room. (I swear, every attendant here's sooo friendly.)
Now our room...our room! Well... it was awesome! There was a platter of desserts with the words "Welcome to Boracay", a carafe of Pandan water (which I got addicted to), complimentary VMV sunblock and minty body mist in each room, Discovery Suites flipflops, bag, and personalized letters telling us WELCOME and giving us a rundown of things we can do in the resort and on the island. The room itself was a WOW. Way better even (for me) than the hotel rooms back in Manila. My bed was so nice, fluffy and comfy--- the sheets were pure cotton...probably 500thread count (which explains the $100 fine if you get henna stains on it from your tattoos). At night, they turn down the bed for you, place a robe on the bed, bedroom slippers placed at an angle on a floor mat that says "GOOD NIGHT". My nieces and I love our room!!!
Each room has an iPod dock, CD player and a DVD player and flat screen plasma TV which delighted us since we all came equipped with ipods, cds and dvds. (You can borrow DVD movies from the front desk but we brought our own) (I wanted to intro the kids to Sister Act 1 & 2 and Annie). We hurriedly plunked in a Hannah Montana CD and danced wildly around the room as we all claimed our beds and corners. And there's WIFI everywhere. Super fast too! Hence me writing this poolside.
(we took over two suites so we had all the room we wanted).
The resort itself was 200% excellent service. There were nicely rolled freshly laundered "toasty" towels at pool and beach side, attendants everywhere who pick up everything you drop. As soon as you take your shirt off, someone's right there to fold it for you. The guys even have those nice pocket square thingies for wiping off sunglasses if they get sand or oil on them. There's cookies and a selection of drinks by the pool and the beach if you get thirsty or wanted something to nibble on and oh! One of the little details... there's a bubble machine constantly blowing bubbles over the pool! A kiddie room that has toys and stuff for the little ones with an activity every 4pm and a Manadal Spa sattelite upstairs (which I looooooooooove). (I was so relaxed after my massage that I sleepily bumped into the wall on my way out) (yeah, I'm naturally klutzy but then again, I was like pure and happy jello walking on two legs last night).
AND here's the thing... last night, when we entered our rooms, I heard my sister yell...we were shocked to see two cake platters with our company logo (our EXACT company logo) written on a cookie. How'd they know??? We never said we're from Tips 'n Toes but there it was. A welcoming cake platter. WOW. Did I mention that Randy-- I think he's the head guy here knows every guest by name and room number?
And well... this barely touches the surface here. This place really has excellent service and facilities. Which only explains WHY we're extending our stay. This morning my sister asked us if we wanted to stay for another day. "Yes", "yes", "yes". This coming from each kid. My answer? " I don't wanna go home".
There. So if you're going to Bora..consider staying at Discovery Shores. It's the BEST!!! (and this is coming from someone who's been going to Bora yearly-- sometimes 2x a year since 1989).
June 27, 2009
We went back! Less than three weeks passed and we're back in Boracay and back in Discovery Shores. We love this place sooo much!
Basically, same thing happened, but this time, when the shuttle van went up the driveway of Discovery Shores, we all yelled "We're home!" and this was done with NO practice, no preempting... spontaneous yelling from all three kids and adults. We eagerly ran up the stairs, anticipating the cold cloths to refresh us and salivating for the welcome Lychee Shakes. We were not disappointed. :)
The kids and I were hoping we'd get the same rooms as before... we didn't. We got better rooms! (Yeehah!) When we entered our rooms, there were "WELCOME HOME" banners (See?! See?!?! And you guys wonder how come I love this place so much) and little cute cupcakes with the kids names on candied hearts. (Now how cool is that?). My sisters room had a loft this time, AND (you cannot believe this)... a rooftop jacuzzi overlooking the sea and sky... (aaaahhh!!!!). I'll post more pics so you could see.
And they remembered us! They remembered how we loved their Pandan water and they kept supplying our rooms with ice cold pitchers of them! :D I love their attention to detail.
Our stay this time around was filled with fun and adventure. When we're at the resort, we stayed mostly in water-- either in the pool which this time around, had tons of beach balls just calling our names.. (we had PLENTY of water battles with those balls), the beach with the calm and clear waters, and the jacuzzi upstairs. And in between, we'd go on adventures and maximized our stay in Bora.
Where before we stayed mostly at the resort, rarely venturing out, this time around we went parasailing, raced the waves on speedboats, went snorkeling, sampled the native yummy food of talipapa and went paraw sailing at sunset. Had massages every night, and feasts during breakfast, lunch and dinner... man, this was the life!
So many things were happening on our second visit to Discovery Shores! At night there were fireworks... turns out Discovery Shores were in cahoots with a guy proposing marriage to his girlfriend, now fiance. And as soon as she said yes, the fireworks were set off... from a boat anchored at a distance from the beach. It was an "Awwww" moment-- and we got to share in it. Wasn't it so sweet of the guy and so great of the DS crew to do this for them? They planned it together... from the lone table in a secluded corner, perfect romantic ambience and fireworks... awwww..... :) (I think I forgot to mention that on our first stay here, there was a wedding one evening....now this time, there was a proposal).
There was also an outdoor bar set up on the beach for those who wanted to drink and mingle whilst watching the sunset and the stars come out and even a volleyball net set up on the side for those who wanted to play... I captured as much as I can on camera so I can share it with you guys. There's not much I can add to my first initial blog... hmm... did I forget to mention, that again, our 4 day trip extended to five days...then went on to 6 days? We kept finding any and every excuse to extend. In fact, my brother in law went home 2 days early whilst us girls refused to budge. We didn't want to leave. We kept telling the staff of DS "Bye! We're going home tomorrow morning" only to tell them the next day "We're extending!" Finally, we really HAD to say goodbye. Told the staff "See you soon". Coz we plan on going back...as soon as we can. :) And said "Bye room! Bye pool! Bye beach! Bye Pandan Water! Bye nice- clean laundry-smelling-path!" "Bye bed!". My twin nieces even cried... we're going to MISS this place. That's what happens when you're so happy in one place-- you wouldn't ever want to leave. Oh well... we hope to be back soon.
Anyway, you guys should try it... you'll never settle for any other resort again. :D
I'm serious! :D
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