Sugarsea Inn & Dive Shop

When I was looking for accommodation for my diving trip, I noticed this homestay with exceptional ratings, ranging from very good to very bad! Curiosity drove me to choose it! I really enjoyed SugarSea and will definitely be coming back! First, the location is far away from the downtown, which is what I wanted, and second, the food is great and the value is good! Diving is very interesting, let me know diving is not only see big fish, the ocean still hides a lot of small creatures, feel the charm of macro! The most important thing is that the staff is very friendly and enthusiastic, although the English is not special standard, but I like it! I'm pretty sure the Owner is paying attention! Finally, I would like to say that I think this hotel meets all my needs and I will recommending!

Only got to stay here for a night, but it was exactly what we needed. We stayed in the pool view room, and it was the perfect size for two couples (or maybe a family). All the lights and music speaker are atmosphere . Wifi works well and the showers are very nice! Had the best time just lounging, drinking coffee, going for swims, and hanging out in the public area! They service the speed boat free pick up when high tide,and no need to deal with the dirt roads that can become challenging after it rains. And if you're a scuba diver,resort is right on the famous dive site “marigondon cave “ & “ blue hole” so easy to reach .

Everybody already said about the location...hard to access and the floating garbage at the sea and the road. For you to be able to surely come and go to/from the hotel, book their recommended drivers IN ADVANCE because they also have other tours and bookings! They are not only there for you so plan a day ahead! But if one is not available, they will call their friends whom they know can drive this "special road" to this small hotel. The owners are chinese and seemed nice and friendly. The hotel staffs are very friendly too. Food there is okey, nothing spectacular. Rooms are small and needs renovation specially the bathroom. I was expecting an upper room with a seaview but we were given 2nd floor room with a not a nice view but we were too tired to complain. We just needed a place to sleep after a long flight and before our next trip. Cleanliness , well the photos from others here says it all. The staffs tries but I believe the hotel also needs a lot of renovation which is important on tropic places otherwise the hotel will fall apart. The really thing that disturbs me is one can only pay cash. That means the hotel management is not paying the proper taxes to the government. They can always manipulate their sales to pay lower taxes or not at all. I don't like that. It happens everywhere, not only in this hotel or country. We booked an island tour with them. It was great but one can see everywhere that floating plastic and other garbage are everywhere. If Cebu will not do something about it, they will ruin their own existence. It is sad but we have seen the same thing when we were in Bali. Anyways, our boatman was so kind to come looking for me because I was swept away by the current while I was snorkeling. I was so excited taking videos of the fishes and enjoying their company that I did not noticed that I was already way too far from our boat! My husband was worried like hell when he did not see me and our boatman readily saw where I could be judging from the current. Thank you!

The good was the staff were friendly and helpful. The pool was excellent. The dive guide was knowledgeable and service oriented. The bento box lunch served on the 2 tank island dive day was outstanding. Needs improvement is the rooms and infrastructure. First the hot water wasn’t turned on. Then the hot water and on demand system was broken completely. The WiFi was poor at best and caused us to pay extra and use the hotel’s transportation rather than the cheaper Grab rides. We couldn’t do bank verification due to internet dropping. The restaurant was affordable, but the orders weren’t always delivered as ordered. They advertised dishes that were not available. The breakfast coffee was nothing more than a tan colored hot water drink. I think it is bad so guests order the extra cost coffee drinks. The staff were always understanding and always had excuses for the hiccups but when we couldn’t take showers before checking out and no compensation was offered I came to the conclusion that the high cost of staying and diving here was not worth it.

This is a dive school, so the room and food are really so so, small and smelly room without windows. Air con didn't always work well. Only 2-3 rooms have ocean view. The dive class was expensive, didn't worth it. The teacher didn't talk much, especially for the theory part. He said nothing basically. The diving facilities were really old, often broken. We changed 3 bcds during the 2 day class, all because they were broken. Not to say the shoes and wet suits, holes were everywhere. The Phillipino guides were kind, friendly, but they touched underwater creatures. They even catched a fish for tourists to take photos!!?? That's not tolerable as divers. We should protect the ocean!!! And they teached nothing about environmental protection during the class. PADI does a lot better than them in the field. I would never recommend this place.

Don’t be fooled by the lovely photos of a pretty Asian women in a bath overlooking a patio window watching the sunset. They had one room and that was not available to us. Instead we got a mouse box, where you couldn’t even open the bathroom door fully. No TV in the room (come on never been in a hotel anywhere around the world that doesn’t have a TV in the room). The room had water pipes all around (on the outside not inside the walls!!) which at night made noise that made me want to get up and pee. The food was not good enough for us and it is located a long way from “civilisation” that even Grab taxis didn’t want to go there. To get into Cebu we had to get the hotel boat to a public beach, then a tuk-tuk to a shopping mall to finally get a Grab taxis into town. We will not return as The Shangri-La it isn’t but .. The staff were nice and kind, and if you are a Korean Diver or learning to dive then a good place to stay…