Alex and I have decided to spend our April break on the famous white sands of Boracay, the Philippines.
Unfortunately, it’s been a bit confusing trying to book our holiday. We’re pretty used to the free-for-all that is travel in Southeast Asia, but I think this one takes the prize.
We successfully booked nice, cheap flights into Manila on Cebu Pacific Air. Now we’re trying to book flights on SEAir direct from Manila to Caticlan, which is the closest airport to the island of Boracay (thus avoiding a 5-hour flight to a 4-hour connection wait to a 1-hour flight to a 2-hour bus ride to a 10-minute boat ride day from transportation hell).
I spent about an hour on the phone with the happy Filippina ladies last night trying to sort out the best option for us. You know that special tone of voice phone support personnel use when dealing with the witless public? It was not pretty. In the end we were informed that the only way we could pay by credit card (as opposed to international bank transfer) was to book online.
Sadly, the SEAir website is not what I would consider up to international standards. We tried about 5 times last night but the flight times on the final confirmation page always show up wrong, so I’m reluctant to click “buy.” I’m sure it would all turn out OK, but I did note the disclaimer that all tickets purchased on the site are non-refundable, and unfortunately, SEAir is not quite a budget airline so we’re not quite ready to risk it. After all, the 45 -minute internal flight costs more than the 5-hour international flight from KL…
So, does anyone have any travel advice for Boracay? Info about SEAir? Hotels? Connection time between terminals at Manila?
UPDATE: We are complete idiots. We were trying to book the flight with SEAir using Firefox on a Mac. As soon as we used IE on Windows we were able to book just fine. Though I’m not sure if that makes us idiots or SEAir. No one likes IE anymore, right? Let’s go SEAir – it’s time for the Fox!
So, we are now happily booked on a 10am flight from Manila to Caticlan, thus giving us 5 hours to navigate Manila airport. I’m hoping that’ll be enough…
Next up: hotels.
Image: http://www.chikatayo.com/gallery/data/media/1/boracay.jpg
Good luck with all THAT! This one is going to be a doozy. I can’t wait to hear how this one turns out. It looks beautiful though.
Try Asian Spirit. It also lands on Caticlan. http://www.asianspirit.com/
Since you’ll be taking Cebu Pacific, it’ll land at the NAIA which is really near the domestic airport.
I’ll do something for you Kim. Email me. Write down ALL your questions. Since I’m still in Manila right now, I can make some calls for you.
It’ll be no trouble at all. i’ve always wanted to start up a travel agency of mine so this wouldn’t feel like such a task
Besides, i want to make sure you don’t have a hard time booking it and just enjoy it to the fullest. I may have left the Philippines, but I still got a lot of love and pride for it 
For hotels, go to Lakbay.net website. They’ve got Boracay listings. Find it under Boracay, Aklan or Kalibo.
Sometimes I prefer a travel agency (specialist on the destination) than standard bookings on Internet. Even if it might come out with a higher price (in fact, not allways).
Wish you good luck (It seems you can have lot’s of help from Nina).
=^.^=
BTW. I tried to give a feedback to your comment on lastweeks Photohunt, but in vain. I have posted the story on my blog.
Instead of flying to Manila, why not consider landing at the Cebu (Mactan) International Airport instead? It’s a lot closer to Bora than Manila is. Just a thought.
I hope you have a good time in Boracay. It’s a very pretty beach. You can also hop to other nearby islands.
I hope you’ll have a wonderful vacation at Boracay. I was there last year on Valentine’s Day.
Hope we could go back there this summer. We took advantage of Cebu Pacific’s local promo rates last year.
I wonder if it’s your first time there. It’s really beautiful and a wonderful place to have a vacation.
Like what Nina mentioned above, Lakbay.net is a good site to visit. You may also try http://www.wowphilippines.com.ph/
Hope everything goes well with your trip.
Nina,
You are AWESOME! Thank you so much for all of your help!
TorAa,
Yes, a travel agent probably would have been a good idea… I think we’re pretty much sorted now, though. Next time!
Lizza,
We thought about flying to Cebu, but the cost from KL to Cebu was over double what we paid to fly to Manilla, so then we were able to get the nice fancy flight straight into Caticlan. Hopefully it will all work out in the end. I’m a little nervous about the flights being delayed and having to get around the airport in Manila. Connecting flights on budget airlines are never a good idea…
Rach,
Yes, it will be our first time to the Philippines. We’re very excited because we have so many Filipino friends – I just wish they could be coming with us to show us the personal side… Thanks for the links!
Accomodation site which is helpful is:
http://www.boracaytrip.com/boracayresorts/
Great places are Nigi Nigi Nunu’s, BANS (more budget but cool), Sand Castles, Red Coconut……make sure you stay in the middle of the action as that is way more fun! You must go and do shots at Cocomunga’s, try the authentic Greek restaurant at D’Mall and don’t rule out the awesome Mexican place beach front. Great food, great frozen margarita’s. For good Indian, eat at ‘True Food’ – that is the restaurant where I first met Dave. Go island hopping. Hire a parau (traditional boat/catamaran/banca), lie in the nets and enjoy the water. Do the banana boat. Go for happy hour cocktails at Friday’s – trust me, it’s worth it. Sit with a smoothie or a cocktail on the beach and enjoy live music. Boracay rocks!!
[...] I’ve heard you have to wade in the water to get from the ferry to the island). Thanks to all the wonderful help from my new friends (especially Nina!), I’m sure this trip will be fantastic! Pictures and [...]
I’ve had some funny experience using MAC browsers such as Safari etc but found that firefox for the MAC fixed problems. I expect the web-site of SEAir needs some work but so don’t give up on Firefox just yet superkimbo.
It sounds like you’ve got yourself destination, i’d never heard of Boracay before I found this blog. Oh I so need a holiday. Have fun.
i’ve had the same experiences as well, but i found that google chrome is the best so far. i also always use this site whenever i book for boracay accommodations, and the staff never fails to help when it comes to personalizing your boracay vacation. http://boracay.travel