Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Atmosphere Resort in Dauin, Dumaguete

My family and I stayed in Atmosphere Resort last May of this year. We were a group of 9 people, 6 adults and 3 kids. It was a much needed break for everyone and at the same time, we were celebrating since my sister was visiting from the States. We drove to the resort from Bacolod. Since we had grandparents and kids with us, it took us around 5 hours to drive to Dumaguete with short breaks in between. Looking for the resort can be quite tricky since the signage is so small but my father knew how to get there since he travels to Dumaguete frequently.


When we entered the vicinity of the resort, I heard alot of "ohhhs" and "ahhhs" from my family. The garden and landscape of Atmosphere is very nice and well maintained. Much to the delight of my kids and niece, they even discovered birds nests in the trees of the resort.


This is the view from the entrance of the resort. Rooms are to the right while the spa, souvenir  shop, diving preparation area, reception area, and dining are to the left. This was the only picture taken from the entrance so please don't mind me and my sis =)


The garden and the rooms of the resort from another angle. As you can see from the picture, each room had a hammock and bench to do some much needed R and R but unfortunately, our hammock was infested with insects so the staff had to remove it since the bug spray was not working.
The reception where they served us our welcome drinks. This is also the dive center of the resort. If you walk further down (to the right of the picture), you will reach the dining area.

We were greeted warmly by the staff with a nice and cool iced tea. They also helped us unload our luggage from the cars into our rooms. The rooms were lovely. It was all very clean and modern yet with a hint of Filipiniana theme. 



Our room, the lighting fixtures near the head of our bed are made from capiz.
Our room at night. The staff placed a different local delicacy every night on the bed. Behind the head board of the bed is the desk.

The pathway to the right leads the to kids' favorite place in the resort - the pool. and adults' playground - the bar.


Here's another angle of the pool and bar.

And another picture of the pool and bar. This is a nice setup for parents because while the kids are splashing about, the parents can relax by the chairs and easily order from the bar. 


Closeup picture of the pool.


The glass doors on the left side of the picture is the souvenir shop. If you see the pathway, that's actually the walkway from the pool. The path on the right will take you to the reception and dining area.


And here's the dining area.


The beach in front of the resort. The sand on the beach is not kid friendly. It's mostly rocks so we stayed by the pool most of the time. 


I did try to swim and snorkel because we were informed by the staff that there's a marine sanctuary nearby but the current and waves were so strong. After swimming for 30 minutes and seeing that we were not getting anywhere, we decided to head back. But for the divers, this resort offers a very nice and equipped diving facility. Actually, I'm not much of a diver but I made this conclusion from what I observed. I saw that their diving schedule was very well-organized and arranged as they dedicated one whole wall just to cater to the daily diving schedule of the guests. I also saw a briefing room and all sorts of pamphlets for the avid diver. And at one time, while the kids were swimming in the pool, I witnessed the diving instructor teaching someone. I must say, she was very attentive and articulate about the whole diving experience. I'm also very particular about cleanliness and I saw how all the diving equipment were arranged neatly and yes, the things were all sparkly clean. But of course, if you want excellent service, expect to pay up as well.



As for the food, it was all very well presented and service was good but it did take a while for each dish to come out. I did not have the chance to take pictures since we were all famished and hungry and the food was devoured quickly. The free breakfast that came with the room was nice. We had a choice between 3 main courses (scrambled eggs and toast, french toast / pancakes, and bacon and eggs) and aside from that, they also had a buffet setup with cereals, fruits, milk, juice, cheese, and some cold cuts. The choices were rather limited but they made up for it with the quality of the food that they offered to the guests (for example, there were only 3 kinds of cheese but the brie was really yummy). The coffee was a little watery though.



There are two things I did not particularly like about the hotel. First, the shower in our room was actually outside and I felt exposed.  To top it off, I saw a man looking at me from the top of the coconut tree since the resort is located beside a lot full of coconut trees.


The door leads to the outdoor shower area. The door on the right leads to the toilet bowl.






This is the outdoor shower area. It's located outside the room with it's own small little garden and tub.


I took this picture while standing in the shower area.  As you can see, the trees and the shower area are visible to one another.

The tub in the bathing area of our room. To access it, you have to go outside though. Even though it's private, I did not feel secure. =(

It seems like the tub is not used much.
Another thing that I did not like was that the staff always had to consult the upper management whenever we had a question (for example, we asked the staff about our free yoga session or if we could have our free breakfast to go on one of the mornings since we had to leave early for our dolphin watching). But where they lacked in knowledge, they made up for it in service. From the beginning, they always addressed our concerns, even when I was inquiring through email. Although there were times we had to wait since they were consulting with the big boss. They were always eager to help just like the problem with my hammock and in my father's room, the aircon was broken so they were moved to an even bigger room. The owners of the resort even approached us and introduced themselves to us and always greeted us warmly. Overall, we enjoyed our stay and got our much needed rest and relaxation.


The pool at night. 




Atmosphere Resorts
Dauin 6217, Dumaguete, Philippines
Email: enquiries@atmosphereresorts.com 
Telephone: +63 35 400 6940
Mobile: +63 917 700 2048 / +63 917 722 1042
Website:  http://www.atmosphereresorts.com/

5 comments:

Unknown said...

whaaaa I miss Dumaguete, very simple lang ang life... di maxado crowded, traffic... people are very friendly...

your banner photo, is it manguyod sand bar in bais?

can we exchange links...

Dess said...

sure lets exchange links =)

yup it's in manjuyod sand bar

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