My wife and I just had one of the best if not the best moment of our married life in Miniloc Island Resort.

The natural setting is unparalleled by anywhere else I have been to and it would be virtually tough to beat the location of this resort. El Nido truly took our breaths away. It has got to be the most scenic place in the entire country. One has to see it in person to totally appreciate it.

The resort itself, including the room we stayed in is very good. It's clean, and considering how old the resort is, I can say that is very well kept. We stayed in a deluxe sea view room, which is one of the newer rooms the resort has, and I believe that this is the best choice if one is still debating over which room to book for. It's nicely decorated and the location within the resort is the best in my opinion. Not to mention that the view that you will be waking up to every morning or whenever is simply mind blowing.

Lastly and this is what truly made this resort remarkable for us was the world renowned Filipino service that the people in the resort gladly extends out to their guests. I can't stress enough how overwhelmingly pleasant all the guys we ran into were. Everybody seemed to be enjoying what they are doing. Everybody made us both feel that we are some sort of celebrities and that we are special enough to deserve the most flattering kind of service that we've ever had in our lives. From the welcoming comittee (especially Oliver), the guys at the clubhouse (Jhun and the rest), the activity coordinator - Janice, my main man Bong - an activity guide extraordinaire who at the same time is a truly good human being, the head chef Mike who I promised to take care of if he ever finds his way to Alberta Canada, all the way up to the Resident Manager Noel who is absolutely pushing all the right buttons to make this place what it is.

We are already planning for our return.

My bestfriend and i went there to relax and unwind, we ended up playing princesses! Special thanks to our guide, Vladimir for treating us like spoiled brats. Oh and yeah, the scenic view was just fantastic! our sweet cottage was always clean. Food was awesome, however it would have been nicer if it was left a bit more hot and steamy .
This is definitely a place for honeymooners, but im so glad i got to experience it with my bestie!

So our second week in the area was like night and day after leaving Lagen (see Lagen review).

First off I applaud this resort for the quality of its management and staff. Not only are they friendly and efficient but they actually work hard at a personal level to make your stay unique, and this it was.

First off the location is beautiful and they have toiled endlessly to respect the nature by building cabins and all facilities that fit into the nature environment, little to no cement here. They have built a small breakwater out of rocks that allows water and species to enter and leave by two openings that fully respects nature. They are serious about protecting their nature and tell you about but more importantly show you from their knowledge of the area, plants, species, etc.

Second, the food is excellent. Nothing to say here. Their buffet, à la carte and off site (picnic) is top of the line and inline with what it should be for a resort of this nature. The chef trained and worked at the Mandarin Oriental as did the head waiter and one can see immediately the different proper training and management makes instantly upon arrival (again see Lagen).

Third, after a very full day of play and exploration the quality of sleep is top notch. We would fall asleep every night at 9 and wake with the sun feeling refreshed, happy and ready to meet the day. Our 18 month baby the same way.

My recommendation is that you can't go wrong with a stay here although it looks expensive it is great value for money given that all the kayaking, snorkelling, private boat excursions to neighbouring islands etc are included in the price.... Indeed, there is so much to do that we were really sad to leave for we felt there was so much more exploring to do.

Sad also to leave for we really enjoyed the company of the staff as well.

One last comment, thank you Noël and all of your staff for a truly excellent stay.

My husband and I stayed in one of the water huts which were rustic and charming. On our last day, our flight back to Manila got canceled due to a technical malfunction. The airline paid for us to stay an extra night (NICE!). We got to stay in a deluxe sea view room which has a very modern feel and is very cool. I enjoyed both rooms for different reasons.

Food is great. I was born in the Philippines and moved when I was a small child. So it was really great to eat at the buffet where they had foods I recognized but I had no idea what they were called. My husband got to try a lot of new things. And if a meal got too overwhelmingly foreign to him, he could always get a burger at the grill.

I would say the only negative for us was when my uncle wanted to take us out on his sailboat. I'm sure it was because of security issues, but the staff was uncomfortably pushy in repeatedly asking us information. We told one person and we thought that would be it. But apparently we had to tell different staff members the same information because they kept on approaching us at dinner or calling us in our rooms multiple times - a few times when we were already asleep.

Other than that, we had a great time. Massages are inexpensive so we had one every day. We had an amazing intro scuba class where we dove into the house reef that has a school of fish. We really look forward to returning especially when we get our scuba licenses.