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I am Ulyssa Elaine - Travel, Food and Lifestyle Blogger


The Philippines is an island country of Southeast Asia. It is well-known for its beautiful white beaches and rich natural resources, attracting thousands of travelers everyday. 

For this mini travel guide, I will share you the two of the most visited islands in Visayas region, Cebu and Bohol.

Cebu City, the capital of Cebu province is the oldest city and the first capital of the Philippines before Metro Manila.

Bohol is the one of most picturesque province of the Philippines. Why? It has a rich and colorful geographical features such as mountains, rivers and islands. You can travel by land to see the famous Chocolate Hills, Loboc River and see the world's smallest primates, Philippine tarsiers. You can also travel by sea to get a tan at white sand beaches or see the breathtaking underwater diving spots such as Balicasag Island.

» When To Go? «

Summer season (March - May) is the best season (but peak season) for Cebu and Bohol. Tourists from different side of the world flock to this side of the country to warm up and soak the sun.

Cooler season (November - January) is also the best season to go there if you want to enjoy sunny days and cooler nights. It is also less humid time of the year. Opt to travel by January to witness the colorful Sinulog Festival.

On our case, we choose to travel March 30 to April 2. I considered this as one the best travel month because it's not yet crowded and tourists are just starting to flock.

» How To Get There? «

There are few airlines offering a direct flights from Manila to Cebu / Bohol such as Philippine Airlines, Cebu Pacific and AirAsia.

To travel from Cebu to Bohol or vice versa, you can choose to ride a fast ferry - OceanJet and SuperCat. The trip takes two hours (one way) with several departures daily.

I will share my experience riding on OceanJet on my next blog post.

» How Long To Stay? «

We stayed only a night in Cebu, which was a bit short for me because we failed to explore the whole province. However, we enjoyed Bohol more because we stayed there for 3 days.

If you have a week of spare time, I suggest to stay in Cebu for at least 4 days and to stay in Bohol at least 3 days.

» Where To Stay? «

It took time us time to choose the best hotel for our family trip. On our case, we checked-in at Happy Beach in Cebu. Here's the link of our Happy Beach trip. 

For our Bohol trip, we stayed in Panglao area:
  • Hotel Casa Teofista
  • Blue Ocean Bohol Beachfront Resort

» Things to Do «

Here are the activities we did on our 4 days / 3 nights trip:

  • Lunch at Rico's Lechon

  • Soaked the sun and overnight at Happy Beach Cebu


  • Witnessed the beauty of Cebu's bridges connecting Mactan Island and Cebu City: Osmeña Bridge and Marcelo Fernan Bridge.



  • Rode on a ferry boat from Cebu Port to Tagbilaran Port.


  • Spotted the smallest primates, Philippine Tarsier.


  • Observed the beauty of Chocolate Hills.


  • Discovered the dark-side of Bohol, Man-Made Forest.


  • Caught the glimpse of Loboc River.


  • Attended Sunday mass at Baclayon Church.

  • Enjoyed the dolphin-watching at Balicasag Island.


  • Relaxed in the spectacular sandbar of Virgin Island.


  • Tasted the famous creamy ice cream from Bohol Bee Farm.



  • Savored the night life in Panglao Island.



You can check my blog post about our Bohol countryside and island hopping tours here.


Note: There are no affiliate links on this post.

Have you been to Cebu and Bohol? Share your experience.

Sunday, June 02, 2019 No comments
As I said on my previous post, we only stayed in Cebu for a night. We travelled from Cebu to Bohol via fast ferry. 



There are two major ferries serving between the Cebu and Tagbilaran in Bohol. The ferries are OceanJet and SuperCat. We opt OceanJet because there are few schedules compared to the latter one. 

» OceanJet «

Ocean Fast Ferries Inc. or commonly known as OceanJet, a Filipino-owned corporation, operates high-speed ferry crafts serving Visayas region in the Philippines. It was founded in 1995 and now serving in 10 destinations:

  • Batangas (Batangas City)
  • Bohol (Tagbilaran)
  • Cebu (Camotes Island)
  • Cebu (Cebu City)
  • Iloilo (Iloilo City)
  • Leyte (Ormoc)
  • Negros Occidental (Bacolod)
  • Negros Oriental (Dumaguete)
  • Oriental Mindoro (Calapan)
  • Siquijor (Larena)

» How to Get There «

The Cebu City Pier is located in Pier 1. The travel time is 2 hours per way.

We booked via Grab app (Php 472) from Happy Beach Cebu. The price varies depending on your location and time.

» Booking Tickets «

I booked our ferry tickets online at the ferry's official website. The tourist class (air-conditioned area) and open-air class are both cost Php 500 while the business class cost Php 1000.

There's an additional fee of Php 20 per person for the online booking fee.

Take note that the port terminal fee is not included in the ticket price. For Cebu, it costs Php 25 and for Bohol, it costs Php 20. You will pay it at the terminal fee area near the pier's entrance.

OceanJet Cebu-Bohol (vice versa) Schedule (as of March 2019)
Route
ETD
ETA
















Cebu City to Tagbilaran
5:10 am
7:10 am
6:00 am
8:00 am
7:00 am
9:00 am
7:30 am
9:30 am
8:00 am
10:00 am
8:20 am
10:20 am
9:20 am
11:20 am
10:40 am
12:40 pm
11:40 am
1:40 pm
1:00 pm
3:00 pm
2:00 pm
4:00 pm
3:20 pm
5:20 pm
4:20 pm
6:20 pm
5:00 pm
7:00 pm
5:40 pm
7:40 pm
6:40 pm
8:40 pm













Tagbilaran to Cebu City
5:10 am
7:10 am
6:00 am
8:00 am
7:05 am
9:05 am
8:20 am
10:20 am
9:20 am
11:20 am
10:40 am
12:40 am
11:40 am
1:40 pm
1:00 pm
3:00 pm
2:00 pm
4:00 pm
2:40 pm
4:40 pm
3:20 pm
5:20 pm
4:00 pm
6:00 pm
4:20 pm
6:20 pm
5:00 pm
7:00 pm
5:40 pm
7:40 pm
6:30 pm
8:30 pm


» The Experience «

Online Booking. The website is very neat and user-friendly. You just need to provide your personal details. Then, you will receive the vouchers through email. Credit card is the only payment option for now.



Check-in. After paying for the terminal fee, we headed straight to the baggage scanner and then, check-in counter. The queue line was not long and the check-in process was smooth. We just gave the printed vouchers and they gave us the seat numbers. Unfortunately, you can't choose your desired seating number.

Passenger Terminal. We arrived early and there were few seats left near the boarding gate. The terminal is air-conditioned. There were arrays of food carts and a restaurant at the 2nd floor. We didn't roam much so we won't miss the ferry.



Inside the Cabin. It's air-conditioned and they also provide comfort rooms for men and woman. The also offer TV with movies. Unfortunately, they don't offer free WiFi connection but it's okay.



Travel Experience. Well, the travel experience isn't surprising. It's a good choice that we chose 11:40 am slot. The sea water was calm and travel was smooth. 




» Overall «

Overall, our experience was nice. I salute to the organized ferry terminal both sides. We never encountered any problems at all.

Note: This is not a sponsored post. I booked the tickets using my own money.


Have you been to these ports? Share it here.
Sunday, June 02, 2019 No comments
First week of March, my family started planning for our yearly out-of-town trip. After hours of debating on where to go, we decided to hit Cebu and Bohol for 4 days and 3 nights trip. By the way, I will share our family trip itinerary on my next blog posts. So stay tuned!

We all preferred to hit the beach and catch the sun-rays rather than to stay or roam the city. Upon days of searching for a nice beach-front hotel-resort in Cebu, we all decided to choose Happy Beach Cebu for an overnight stay. Why? We foresight that the kids and kids-at-heart will enjoy this brightly-colored summer vibes of Happy Beach. And yes! We did!



» Happy Beach Cebu «

Happy Beach Cebu, is a Bali-inspired boutique resort located in Mactan Island, Cebu, Philippines. Owned by the makers of The Dessert Museum Manila and Inflatable Island in Subic was recently opened last December 15, 2018.

There are so many nicknames for this resort such as The Millennials' Summer Capital, Instagrammable Beach, A Pastel Wonderland Resort, Happiest Beach in the Philippines and so on. You can see many hashtags of this resort in Instagram.

» Booking Procedure «

I booked through its website https://www.happybeach.ph/book-a-room. The hotel is also available on other third-party hotel booking websites such as Agoda.com, Booking.com, and Travelbook.ph.

Unfortunately, the website only accepts 1 room per booking (6 people max). It's pretty hassle to book only 1 room per transaction. We were 8 adults and 2 kids. (Take note that 1 kid per room is free unless stated otherwise.). I did 2 separate transactions for booking the 2 rooms. I suggest that they should revise their website to accommodate those people, who are booking with big groups like us. Nevertheless, the payment process was pretty fast.

Note: They only accept credit card transaction online. Check the website for more information.

» Rooms «

The hotel has 16 rooms to choose from. Because we're a family of 10, we booked two family rooms (4 adults and 1 kid per room).

There is only one room type:
  • Happy Room - 50 ft²/ 1 double-deck bed and 1 queen sized pull-out bed.

The room can accommodate up to 6 pax including the free kid. The room costs Php 5,999 (for 2 adults and 1 kid only <12 kids y.o and below>). There's an additional charge of Php 1,800 per head with breakfast (as of March 2019). You are also required to pay an amount of Php 2,000 as an incidental deposit upon check-in.

All rooms include:
  • Free Breakfast for 2 persons
  • Air-conditioned room
  • Complimentary High-speed WiFi / Internet
  • Complimentary bottles of mineral water and snacks
  • Telephone
  • LED TV
  • Hot / Cold Shower with bidet
  • Personal care set
  • Safety volt

More info: The Happy Room includes a whole day access to the Pink Pool and Beach Pass. They only have 20% discounted rates for inflatable and unicorn island.

Here's the preview of our Happy Room:








» Day Tour «


The property also offers day tour package from 7 am to 10 pm. You can book and choose dates from their website as well. They accept BPI/BDO bank deposit/transfer, LBC/Cebuana payment, Paypal or credit card transaction.

Reference: Happy Beach website
  • Happy Ticket - Includes a whooping whole day access to 7 attractions:
    • 🏊 Mactan Beach

      👙

      The Pink Pool

      ☂ 

      Pink Bali Lounge
      🐬Animal Cabanas

      🦄

      Floating Zoo

      💦

      Water Babies Show (2:30 pm and 7:00 pm)

      🔥

      Dancing Fire Show (7:00 pm)
    • Weekday (Monday - Friday except holidays) - Php 699 (online) and Php 799 (walk-ins)
    • Weekend (Saturday - Sunday and holidays) - Php 849 (online) and Php 899 (walk-ins).
  • Happy Ticket + Inflatable Island - Includes the whole day access to Happy Ticket attractions and play time on Inflatable + Unicorn Island.
    • Spray (Half-day access) - Php 998 (weekday) and Php 1,148 (weekend)
    • Soaked (All-day access) - Php 1,098 (weekday) and Php 1,248 (weekend)

Take note that the locker rental and hotel pick up and drop off are excluded. 

If you prefer to purchase a colorful Happy Jungle Day Beds, you still need to pay for the Happy Ticket. It includes 2 free towel rentals and Tampipi (assorted food) feast. Here are the price list:

  • Happy Jungle Day Beds - Php 1,500 (max of 4 pax)
  • All Access Spray + Happy Jungle Day Beds - Php 2,999 (2 pax) and Php 4,999 (4 pax)
  • All Access Soaked + Happy Jungle Day Beds - Php 3,499 (2 pax) and Php 5,999 (4 pax)

If you prefer also to book a day tour room, which they called Pink Cabana Day Room, it costs Php 3,500 good for up to 6 pax. It only gives you own private bathroom, private air-conditioned room, wifi and pink pool access from 8:00 am to 4:00 pm. It is the same as the Happy Room but not valid for overnight use.


» Amenities / Services «

The Pink Pool. until 10 pm only


Happy Jungle Lounge.



Bali Lounge. 


Mango Mama Restaurant. Opens at 6 am to 10 pm. Hotel guests are served with buffet breakfast.






Room Service Menu. 



Sunny Function Room. For occasions.



Locker Area. For day tours.


Happy Shop. Souvenir shop.


Water Activities. 


Water Babies Show & Dancing Fire Show.

Taken after the shows

» Info «

Website:                        https://www.happybeach.ph/
Address:                        Happy Beach Cebu, Tambuli Beach, Buyong Rd, Maribago, Lapu-Lapu City, Cebu
E-mail Address:             hello@happybeach.ph
Nearby:                         Mactan International Airport (25-35 minutes away from airport)
Private Vehicle:            Take a cab or pin location "Happy Beach" or "Tambuli Beach East"
Check-in from:              2:00 PM
Check-out until:            12:00 PM

Disclaimer: This is not a sponsored post. I booked our accommodation using my own money.

» Overall «

If you are looking for fun and experience the Balinese inspired resort, you may spend a day or overnight here. Although everything is a bit pricey, I think it's worth it. Frankly, an overnight stay is not enough. I prefer to stay here at least 2 nights because there are arrays of choices on what to do. We failed to explore the Inflatable and Unicorn Island. 😅



Have you been to Cebu? If yes, where did you stay? Share your experience.
Wednesday, May 29, 2019 No comments
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I'm Ulyssa Elaine, a skinny girl from the Pearl of the Orient Seas, Philippines.

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