Private Puerto Princesa Luli, starfish, cowrie island excursion

We were 50 pax and arriving Palawan International Airport, 5 vans were waiting each with a tour master that took us straight to Honda Bay. Our luggage was on its way to our hotel in a separate van so we wouldn’t waste the adventure time. 1st hop, Starfish island where lunch was served then swimming the clear waters and started looking for star fish, too bad we didn’t get to find the 4 & 6 leg star fish. Next stop, Luli Island, of course, swimming & beer relaxation. Last stop was Cowrie Island where we met a lot of foreigners playing volleyball and the non-stop swimming of course, others continued their drinking spree. Going back to shore and the hotel to rest before the dinner in Palawan boulevard, a wow place to be. Day 2 was UNESCO Subterranean River adventure aka underground river tour, it was FANTASTIC! You can imagine it but seeing it in reality, the beauty and how serene the cave is, one experience you’ll never ever forget, unless you have amnesia. Then lunch in one of the organic restaurants and to beat the heat, a large Guyabano Shake for me. Day 3 was the City tour where our 1st stop was the Immaculate Conception Cathedral. After saying a prayer, off to the Wildlife Rescue and Preservation better known as Crocodile farm, Mitra Ranch, Baker’s Hill and Authentic South Sea Pearls Souvenir shop. Packed our bags, hotel check-out & lunch at Isla Fiesta before heading to the airport for our going home flight.

Jake was a great guide. He is very intelligent and has a wonderful personality. We thoroughly enjoyed our day with him.

We had a private tour due to few registrations, this was very great as the guide was very much based on us and we had no time pressure. All the islands we visited were very nice and the snorkeling was worth it. The guide was also totally nice but very quiet compared to other guides and told little, this we unfortunately found a bit of a shame. Nevertheless, we were happy and could see a lot. However, price/performance were not really satisfactory.

Our tour guide Ana was awesome! She kept us informed on everything during the two hours trip. The only thing I should probably directly communicate with her are the pictures she took when we were snorkeling. I would love to have those pictures if she can just send them through my email but overall she’s great!

The guide Ana was fantastic and our driver Joel was exceptional and the three islands we went to were amazing. So why the 3 star rating? This was a private tour which we paid double the price of a group tour and it was worth it, until they served our lunch. It looked like someone cleaned out the leftovers from their refrigerator and that was our lunch. The owner of the company was too cheap to provide us a decent lunch or even pay for a really inexpensive lunch being served on one of the islands. We took an island hopping trip like this one a few years ago and they beached the boat at a secluded beach and barbecued fish, pork and chicken and even set up a table with a linen tablecloth. It was amazing, we still talk about that special lunch and I guess we will talk about this lunch too, for entirely different reasons.

- Booked a private tour with my friend as the start time of the tour was more convenient for us. Highly recommend booking a private tour as it was quite enjoyable (e.g. boat to ourselves, etc). Detailed feedback is below: - The guide, Anna was lovely, and very chatty, and arrived to pick up earlier than expected (but she happy to wait for us until our specified pick up time) - We went to 2 islands (Luli & Starfish) but not Cowrie - we went to "Floatie" instead - Captain of our private boat was very accommodating and helped us a lot with the snorkelling - pointed out things at the bottom of the ocean like starfish and clams, he swam and dragged my friend on a donut/lifeguard ring), showing us how to get the fish's attention with bread. He even found us starfish to take photos with. - Felt a bit rushed when we were dropped off to a gear rental shop and was bombarded to get gear, food and water. It would have been nice if itinerary suggested to bring/wear water sport shoes - we had flip flops and were told they were not good enough at the shop and were made to rent these shoes, when my friend had the same shoes in her luggage at the hotel (our previous snorkelling experiences did not require water sport shoes). Also we felt pressured to buy drinking water. The guide was with us so she should have told us that they supply bottled drinking water for us on the tour. - Lunch was a lot of food (both variety and volume) which was lovely. Would like to suggest to bring own toilet paper as some of the toilets did not have TP available to us (luckily we had tissues).

Terrific experience. We had sp much fun swimming and snorkeling. The beach was so clear and clean. Pur guide Jake was an absolute master of local activities. He kept us safe and sound.

Of course, there are masses of tourists on the individual islands. But the tour was very well organized, our guide was very foresighted and the boat trip to and between the islands was simply wonderful. The food was delicious and typical of the country.

Great experience, beautiful beaches. We (couple) upgraded to a private tour and I’m glad we did as our bangkero was able to focus on us as we snorkel as we didn’t know how to swim.

Due to the looming typhoon in the Philippines our ship did not port here due to dangerous conditions and safety of the passengers. To date I have not received a refund after requesting one twice.