Mabul Paradise Lodge

It's a family owned place and everyone is so friendly and helpful. We felt welcomed from the beginning and everything was arranged very well, from airport pick up, boat transfer to the check-in. You can go for dive or snorkeling three times a day. On high tide (usually evening) you can jump to the water from your room (there is no stairs to come back) or the deck. You also can walk to other places in neighborhood that can be interesting. Also you can buy fresh seafood from gypsies and ask the kitchen to cook it for you for a small fee. Meals are included however the variety is not the best.

Everyone was extremely friendly and made me feel really welcome (especially as I was travelling alone over Christmas). The food was great (if you like the local cuisine) and there was more than enough so I never felt hungry throughout the day. The activities were great, my favourite being the Discover Diving experience (I actually went twice in the same day). The instructor was extremely knowledgeable and friendly whilst remaining professional throughout. I was a bit sceptical when I first booked this trip (as I knew I'd be alone on an island for Christmas) however by the end of the first day I was having a great time and felt at home and I actually didnt want to leave at the end of it. Thank you to everyone there.

The food was nice (if you buy the food from the local fishermen), the location is stunning and the price is also good for what you get. I also liked the owner of the place, there are no words to describe the half Malaysian half Chinese man, what a legend. The staff in general was super kind and helpful. You can get a paddleboard for free and go around the island. Disliked · The bathroom smelled really bad, so much I didn't take a s#!t for 3 days. At the time of my staying they were building a new area of the resort so there was noise from early in the morning. Also the guests are mostly Chinese, me and my girlfriend were the only non-chinese persons, I don't mind about it but maybe it's not your cup of tea.

I will start with the good stuff first. We stayed for 2 nights there, priced at RM210/pax which translated to RM420/room on 1st night and RM630/room on 2nd night (3 friends went back first). Quite expensive actually, but we booked late and all other places were full. The room looked physically clean (wait until the last part of this review) with functioning aircond and bathroom. I actually prefer my first room (C something, back row) instead of B room despite the smaller size, because that room had more comfortable mattress (the B room had worn out mattress, you can feel the spring poking your spines at night), flushable toilet, and balcony/ropes to hang our wet clothes. Both rooms are very basic, no toiletries provided, just bedding. They provided 3 meals/day and it’s good enough, the fish was nice and fresh. But I hate that they had to call out and knocked our door multiple times for every meal time. We went for dive trip with them at RM300/day (3 dives) including equipment. The dives were enjoyable, however, 1 of our friends didn’t have OW license so she paid for discover diving at RM280. She shared our divemaster, which I think is not appropriate, at that price she should have her own separate DM, so that we can explore deeper without troubling her. Then, the next dive, we didn’t clarify and we thought she could just follow us since the DM just said OK. Ended up she had to pay RM280/dive. Our fault, yes, for not clarifying. Right after the dive, the lady (probably owner) bugged us to settle our fees. At this point only we found out about the RM280/dive and we didn’t bring enough cash. We told that lady we will transfer later (before we checked out the next day). However, the connection there was terrible so until after dinner, we were still struggling to use online banking. That lady was apparently not happy and kept on knocking our door demanding for money and forced my friend to go out to the dining area and used her phone to pay that night. So my friend did, and returned to our room afterwards. Just when we thought everything has settled, bamm again she came knocking, asking why the money was not in her account yet. It was interbank transfer over the weekend (my friend chose GIRO) so my friend explained that, snapping the screenshot online receipt AGAIN and ensured her to wait until Monday. She then left. To be honest, we were quite happy initially staying there, they have nice platform to jump straight into the clear sea and nice swings over the sea, but that lady with gungho ceti manner really ruined it, not to mention the meal time “roll call” and the sharing divemaster thing. Owh, to add salt, the next morning we gave the key to check out before 8, and while waiting for the boat, my friend requested for the key again to use the toilet. (Toilet outside was dark). When she opened our room again, she noticed their staff were having sex on the unmade bed. I doubt how clean their beds are when they prepare for the guests.. Conclusion: I don’t recommend this resort.

The sea view room, tower, swings

Not really clean