Mactan Island, Cebu 2016 Day 1 – Arrival in JPark Island Resort and Waterpark

Woke up at the same time as a normal working day on Saturday to prepare for the trip to Cebu. Just some more follow up packing such as bottles, milk powder dispenser and toddler’s home cooked food, electrical stuff like bottle warmers, electric chargers and extension cables, daily necessities like shavers.

Baby K really slept till the 11th hour and I had to gently wake him up with some Pororo music before rushing him to change out without getting him frustrated.

We arrived at T2 for the SilkAir flight and was surprised by the lack of counters as all had bag drops only and there were automatic stations to do check ins. However we skipped those and proceeded straight to the counter since there wasn’t really a queue and was checked in quickly. Had a quick brekkie at the Arrival hall and packet some bread for baby K to munch on before going thru immigrations.

Changed his diapers at the convenient nursing room and proceeded to the gates, baby K was terribly excited to see the planes along the way, as he became aware of aeroplanes and how they would fly in the skies.

The flight to Cebu was long, with a technical stop of 45mins at Kalibo, only arriving at Mactan Island at 300pm, on a 10am flight. It was a small plane and therefore didn’t had screens per passenger and relied on passengers’ own electronic devices for entertainment content. Our seats were booked on ones just behind the bassinet ones as those were fully booked out and it was not very comfortable with a hyper toddler on our laps and with the aisle seat taken up by a huge Caucasian. Baby K napped only an hour and we managed to keep him happy with books and toys and him moving about and food till we arrived, thankfully earlier than expected.

Islands, from the view enroute.
Islands, the view enroute.

At the arrivals we had to submit a handful of forms – a health declaration, the usual immigration form and finally a customs form at 3 different stations. But the line moved quickly before we picked up the luggage already on the belt and exited the small airport. Walking out, a representative from JPark resort was waiting and confirmed our names before a medium size bus came and picked us up, the only customers.

So many forms to fill up.
So many forms to fill up.
Inside the airport.
Inside the airport.
Welcome to Cebu!
Welcome to Cebu!
JPark airport shuttle.
JPark airport shuttle.

It was about a 20mins ride to the resort with slow traffic on a single line road. Again baby K was walking around on the bus when it stopped and just messing around with the curtains all the way. Nothing much on the roads interest him, he couldn’t see the difference yet between Cebu’s developing towns compared to the modern Singapore that we came from.

A barber shop.
A barber shop.
Modern looking new town, so different from the rest.
Modern looking new town, so different from the rest of the area.

As we arrived and got off the bus, our luggage was taken care by the bellboy and we just went to the very busy check in counter. As mommy did the check in, I brought baby K for a walk. The weather was as warm and humid and baby K seemed excited to see the pool.

We were given a spa room, which meant a room that had additional 2 beds within the shower room that had a non working jacuzzi and a separate shower and a toilet. The room was big with a separate space for sofa and daybed and a pantry. The pantry had adequate space for food preparations, and also came with a microwave.

Crowded check in.
Crowded check in.
Room with balcony.
Room with balcony.
Living room with sofa.
Living room with sofa.
Spa room with the shower and tub.
Spa room with the shower and tub.
Toilet.
Toilet.
Pantry with enough space for food preparations.
Pantry with enough space for food preparations.

On first thought, it seemed like an upgrade but the arrangements of the only sink in the pantry meant that all the washing of hands and brushing of teeth had to be done in the pantry.

Gave baby K a bath where he pooped into the tub and got him ready for nap time as it was almost 530pm. However, the lack of a sarong, loud music from the outside and probably the excitement of overseas trip made him unable to do so. We brought him out instead as we wanted to buy fish for his meal.

We walked to the main street not too far from the resort and went to the Metro supermarket, in a Korean “biased” Shangs Island Town center mall (this island/resort was especially popular with Koreans, literally thought I was in Jeju). There was no fish there and so we decided to walk down the street where baby K dozed off. 15mins of walking in the super congested street, we arrived at Savemore supermarket, a much bigger one.

Shangs mall opposite the entrance of the resort.
Shangs mall opposite the entrance of the resort.
Inside Metro supermarket.
Inside Metro supermarket.
Crazy crowded single lane street.
Single lane street.
Savemore supermarket.
Savemore supermarket.
Inside Savemore supermarket.
Inside Savemore supermarket.

We looked around but there weren’t much fish for sale, ended up buying pork. As we exited the place, we were approached to take a ride on a small motortricycle back to the resort. The quote was 40 per head which was 80 total so we got on. The tout was a different person from the rider and he followed us on the trip. Along the way, we stopped by a roast pork stall to buy some Lechon as it was recommended to try by my colleague. However the last bit was “reserved” and so we went on to another stall. It was not stated specifically and we thought it was just roast pork and so we bought it. However, the tout had asked the stall seller to give us 2 portions instead of 1 and my wife not knowing had to fork out 600 pesos for them. I thought we had overpaid as we saw 150pesos written on the front of the stall though. The stall was also just in front of our hotel entrance and so we just paid 200pesos to the rider and the tout as tips and left for the hotel, now the sky had already turned dark.

Mr. Liempo roast meat stall.
Mr. Liempo roast meat stall.
Motor tricycle that we took to return back.
Motor tricycle that we took to return back.

Back at the room, my wife started cooking for baby K who had woken up from his nap at the pork store and I gave him a quick bath. Then we spent the rest of the night on TV and eating the roast pork and feeding baby K, occasionally looking out of the window with the fireworks up the in skies, though we don’t know what’s the celebration about. There were some music blasting below with some dancing going on but that didn’t last very late.

After his meal, I brought baby K out to check out what’s around. There was a kids club that included a indoor playground and games arcade beside it where baby K spent some tokens riding the static rides. There were some shops available for shopping but we weren’t interested.

Stores for shopping within the resort.
Stores for shopping within the resort.
Kids club.
Kids club.
Price list at the games arcade.
Price list at the games arcade.
Tokens for rides and games.
Tokens for rides and games.
Some arcade games for kids.
Some arcade games for kids.

On the ground floor out in the open, there was a main pool with a center pool bar. As we walked around, we also saw a mini golf and other pools. It was already 10plus at night so everything was closed. We went back to the room.

JPark signage.
JPark signage.
Night view of the resort interior.
Night view of the resort interior.

The day was concluded with washing of all the utensils and boiling some hot water to store in the flask for baby K’s middle of the night feeding and then lights out. Knocked out easily with so much being done for the day.

Escape Plan to Mactan Island, Cebu May 2016

A brief summary on the itinerary

Escape Plan to Mactan Island, Cebu 2016:

Total duration 4D3N
Singapore is in the same time zone as Cebu.
Flight time is 4.5hrs on Silkair from Singapore to Kalibo with 45mins technical stop before another 30mins flight to Cebu. Return is just 3.5hrs on Silkair direct from Cebu to Singapore.

Morning flight on 21st May at 10am and arrival in Mactan Island at 3:30pm.
Return flight is on the 24th May at 4:15pm and arrival in Singapore at 7:40pm.

Day 1 Arrival at Mactan Island
Day 2 JParks waterpark and beach
Day 3 JParks waterpark and night entertainment
Day 4 Home Sweet Home

This escape plan was planned as a short escape to a beach resort nearby with a toddler during the long weekend (Vesak Day on a Saturday). Though Cebu was more well known for the water activities such as diving and jet skiing, etc, we didn’t do all those. We spent the entire time just in the resort in the waterparks so that the toddler could enjoy the facilities within.

Budget nature: Relatively cheap.

The resort accommodation was not cheap but it wasn’t over the top like other 5 stars hotels. We didn’t spend a lot due to the fact that we weren’t doing a lot in the first place. Prices of food in the restaurant were within expectations, we brought SGD$400 and spent it all and probably overspent by SGD$70 with a spa included.

Complexity: Easy

Especially when the only travel we did was from the airport and back, using the airport transfer. There were other places to go to, such as in Cebu city and the natural attractions but we didn’t.