luxury resort review for family travel: crimson resort in cebu philippines

When travelling with family, and especially if going solo with kids the places where you stay can make or break the holiday. When there is no-one else to look after the kids it is good to look for resorts with kids pools, playgrounds, and even kids clubs.

And that is exactly what I did when I took our three little ones to Philippines – I picked three child-friendly resorts, which made the holidays a great experience to all of us. The first stop on our journey was the island of Cebu, and there in Mactan area the Crimson Resort & Spa.

The resort is not huge and at the time of the travel, late January, it wasn’t yet full, so it was pleasant experience with fast restaurant service and lots of space in the kids club. Everything worked well from the transportation to and from the airport to the room service with cute folded animal towels to the kids (like I always say it’s the little things that make the difference).

In terms of amenities the hotel had a large pool with a shallow section separated for the children, a lovely sandy beach with plenty of children’s toys on offer, an outdoor play area as well as kids club, where one could leave children with advance booking also, or just drop in and supervise them playing.

The rooms were spacious and decorated with local style, which includes dark wood and muted tones with gold and orange. There are also coffee making facilities and a fridge in the room, with plenty of bottled water provided free of charge. I booked a deluxe room, but the resort also offer lovely villas perched on the cliff-top with beautiful seaside views.

The resort staff was very helpful – I managed to fall ill during the trip and the resort sent a nurse free of charge to diagnose and bring medicines as many time as I needed. And when we went on an excursion and couldn’t join the breakfast they also prepared packed meals to go.

Despite the weather being cloudy at times we had a great time and managed to enjoy beautiful sunsets every night at dinner time – the sky turning from pink to purple before the darkness settled around us. As the resort area is lush with palm trees and tropical flowers, there is lovely sent lingering around and birds chirping, and even though I was travelling just with our children, the place had a magical and romantic feel, so I would definitely recommend it.

My tip for travelling to Philippines would be to check for the best rates in each place you want to stay – I found the hotel site itself to have best deal, with breakfast included, than any of the travel engines. And it also appears to be the case that when you book the room directly with the hotel, you are more likely to get a better room i n terms of size and locations than thought the discount engines…