This is a lovely, basic resort with a beautiful, well kept beach and quaint, clean chalets - sparse but fine. Much like camping - cold water showers, which I did not mind, and fans - no air con needed. The mossies are vicious so the mosquito nets were well appreciated.

There is a kids' club with friendly staff that keep the kids entertained from 9:30-12:30. We did a few dive trips, which were great, and noticed lots of families playing games - we did a treasure hunt for our kids - but there are frisbees, cricket, boules, all sorts of games for groups of families. The ocean is not rough, so great for kids to swim in.

There were a few notable downsides though- one is that the meals were pretty ridiculous to the point where I would be quite cross about the food. It was buffet style, but they would run out of food very quickly and you would have to wait a long time to get eggs, or if you were 5 mins late to breakfast, no muffins. One lunch I had rice and sauce because they had run out of everything else. I think people stockpile food when they are hungry and they know they are only getting one trip..

There was no water or juice on the table during meals, and you had to hope someone was manning the bar to get a bottle of water first thing in the morning. Water was extra so we had to load up at night or not have any, potentially til 9am the next day. That can make a body cranky.

There were only 2 people serving about 60 ppl so the wait staff was flustered trying to clear away plates - one bottle of ketchup for 60+, no glasses, no juice.. man that was annoying. Lunch was basic - egg rolls and fried rice. Dinner was MUCH nicer, a big BBG and we ate our body weight, easily.

The most off-putting part of the trip, I have to say, was the bartender, who we nicknamed "Mr Personality" because he completely lacked one. He did not smile, did not speak, just chained smoked cigarettes and went about his business. Aside from him, the rest of the staff was lovely - really friendly, nice to the kids, and helpful..

When we got the bill, holy cow! Sticker shock! Everything added up quickly and it turned out to be QUITE expensive for a rustic getaway. I rated the breakfast and lunch a 2 out of 10, while I gave the dinner at 8. I would have drunk myself stupid at the bar if I could have gotten more drinks, but there you go. I think what makes this a good holiday, if you have your kids with you, is that it is nice place to play with your kids - but if you were backpacking or traveling without family and you wanted to save money, there are other places that are better value -

Incidentally, the diving there was really great and the guys in the dive shop were friendly and helpful. We went to a dive site with this beautiful cavern and just loved it. Two thumbs up for Joel and Darren for a wonderful dive experience.

I did not have any big expectations for quick getaway from Singapore to Sea Gypsy Village but it did not start very promising when I was left out from bus transfer (that included in package) even though I was at meeting point 15 minutes early... so bus left at least 20 minutes before scheduled time so especially if you are solo traveller it is better be aware that you are not very high priority traveller so better to have all phone numbers in hand. I did catch bus at border so no big problem after all...

Bus trip to Tanjong Leman is reasonably short and boat transfer takes less than 30 minutes so location of Sibu is perfect for travellers from Singapore. Island itself is small but pretty and Sea Gypsy Village is nicely hidden amongst trees close to beautiful beach. Beach is perfect for kids but did not provide much entertainment to snorkelling fan like me... there is a reef in the corner of the bay but during my stay sea was bit rough to go there alone as current was quite strong. Rimba is supposedly better for "beach snorkeling".

Rental of snorkeling gear was cheap and there was daily boat trip (not included in package) to nearby islets where sea was very clear and some nice coral and fish... especially location near Pulau Tinggi was really beautiful so probably one day I could do a trip directly to Tinggi.

Sea Gypsy Village itself is nice and clean and basic chalets Ok and I did not miss warm water or aircon at all. Food was also fine although not spectacular but again that was not even expected... service was good and friendly so overall not bad experience at all although I got bit bored as most other visitors were expat families with lots of kids and frankly I did not feel to have much common with them so besides soaking at sea I spent my time mostly sleeping and reading.

For families with kids I would recommend this place in instant - for solo travellers not really as places with less kids and more activities would be probably better

We stayed one night in their backpacker's A-frame hut. It's a very simple hut with a small bathroom and it's clean. We paid RM90 for the 2 of us, which was fair. The huts are a 10mtr away from the beach and it's a really nice sandy beach.

The restaurant serves good food, but we do not recommend you sign up for the BBQ or join the buffet breakfast or lunch. The BBQ cost RM70 per person and is way too expensive for what you get. The breakfast buffet cost RM27,50 per person. It's a lot cheaper to just order what you want to eat straight from the menu. It will save you about 50%. Quality of the food is ok.
The place is very friendly and there's a relaxed atmosphere. They seem very good with kids, since they looked like they loved the place. There's music the whole day and evening, which adds up to the laid-back atmosphere.
Unfortunately, we cannot comment on snorkling, since it was raining when we wanted to go :-(

What a wonderful place. We spent CNY 09 in a Family Chalet. It accommodated all of us very comfortably. We were lucky with the weather. Spent time on the beach, playing games, swimming, some walking and some quality quiet time. Our kids had a fantastic time and as soon as we got home they asked when are we going again? The friendly helpful staff were great. Our room was cleaned on a regular basis. The family chalets are great. The setting of this resort is just wonderful. Things that could improve would be a bit more entertainment for the adults of an evening. Even a game of cricket/beach vollyball to get everyone involved. Triva Night, bingo would be good. We were very happy with this resort and will be back again. Oh... if you do travel in CNY, be guaranteed that you will get wet while being transferred over by boat. Even though we got very wet it was great fun..... Hope this is helpful for any other family with either young children or with children up to the age of 15 yrs.