We posted snippets of our Samal trip last Friday in Twitter and Plurk, and now comes the mother account of what happened in our Bluejaz visit.
Of course, a lot of you may have heard about Bluejaz before since it has been featured twice (not once, but twice!) in TV Patrol World. Given this special media attention, we expected a lot from the resort. After all, entrance costs P90 and that does not include the unlimited rides to the Big Slide, which will cost another P90.
It was a holiday right after payday and before a weekend (May 1, Friday) and so, as expected, people flocked to Samal. We arrived at the Sasa port at 8:30 AM and the queue of vehicles was so long that we were able to get my brother’s car into the barge at 10:30 AM! 😕
The Food — Rating: 4/10
Upon arriving at Bluejaz, we reserved a table and ordered lunch. It was 11:00 AM. Of the 7 viands we ordered, 3 arrived at 1:30 PM and the other 3 by 3:00 PM! My brother decided to have the 7th one cancelled when it didn’t arrive with the 3 PM batch. 😯
The food was not exactly delicious, but it was enough to fill a hungry stomach.
The Facilities — Rating: 6/10
Let’s start with the Big Slide. It was big alright, but not really amazing. It looks a lot better on TV. And the pool was small.
Their zipline was also not very interesting, but I would have to excuse them on this; it would be really too difficult to be fascinated with small ziplines after seeing Outland Adventure, Eden Nature Park and Camp Sabros, Kapatagan. Besides, it was not a main attraction.
The pool fronting the beach was also small. Put 20 people in there and you won’t be able to swim around.
Probably the only one happy with the facilities was my 4-year-old nephew, who stayed in the Kids’ Water Slides from the time we arrived until we’re ready to leave at 4:00 PM.
The place has a lot of promise, though. I think that it was just not ready for the attention it is now getting. The place is not yet ready to be a top tourist destination, but given the time (to complete all the unfinished construction work and to train their staff on crowd management), it can probably transform itself to one of the top destinations in the South. Probably.
The Staff — Rating: 8/10
If not for the resort’s staff, I would not even consider going back to Bluejaz ever (we probably will, but definitely not soon). Since we arrived late, the table we got was far from the beach and near the parking space. We asked if we can put a table near the pool fronting the beach, and they gladly accommodated our request.
Although the food arrived late, the male attendant was friendly and helpful. He later informed us that he was an on-call staff, asked to assist in cases where there are a lot of expected guests. I guess the resort’s management did not anticipate well enough as it was obvious that they lacked the necessary manpower last Friday.
Overall Rating: 6/10
It was good, but not quite good enough to earn a visit soon.
BlueJazz is disappointing. I brought a group of manila friends here last summer. We ended up renting a boat to go island hopping and spent most of the time at Talikud Island instead. Walang magawa. The pool was very small. The “beach”, if you may call it one, is very dirty.