I had never spent the night in Antipolo and we hadn't gone out for summer yet so I thought, why don't we combine our annual pilgrimage, our summer vacation and Mother's Day in one trip?
We rented a van from a family friend and got my Tita Lita and Tita Ester as well as my sister and her family to come along.
Unfortunately, all the cheaper hotels were already fully-booked 2 weeks before Mother's Day. We had no choice but to reserve 2 family rooms at Cristina Villas. My officemate from Antipolo recommended this place and said that its not so near the city so it's more peaceful. The weird thing is, they do not maintain their facebook page and they don't have an active website, so all your queries about room rates and rules have to be directed to their landline phone number.
Another weird thing is that the standard rooms cost P3,500/night with breakfast for 2. But their family room costs P4,500/night with breakfast for 2 people only. You have to add P600 for every additional person in the family room! How weird, right? Breakfast is included as well as towels, soaps and shampoo. Bring your own toothbrush and toothpaste.
The weirdest thing of all is that after I had paid the 50% deposit though BDO and sent my receipt via email, when I checked in on Saturday after lunch, they asked me how much did the person i talked to say the rooms were... what? Does it mean you can haggle for a lower price than the published rate?
Anyway, they did allow us to check-in earlier than 2PM. What I really regret is not asking them if we could bring food inside the hotel. Because the answer is a resounding YES! Most hotels don't allow this, but Cristina Villas has a very relaxed attitude about food in their rooms and in their resort.
In fairness, our family rooms wer spacious and looked very clean and new. But they were undergoing renovation (during the peak season?) and we had the bad luck of being on the third floor and there was an unpleasant, rusty odor on that flor that permeated the rooms. Fortunately, my parents and aunts were on the 2nd floor and didn't have to endure the smell, though we got used to it.
Nope, this isn't part of our room. This is the common area verandah of the 2nd floor.
The beds have pull out beds underneath. Another piece of advice, they will charge you a refundable fee of P1,000 for the remote control.
The place is huge with lots of pools to choose from. But if you're looking for peace and quiet, look elsewhere. The resort offrs day tours and night tours at P150/person so the place is always full on weekends!
Also note that the way to the pools require lots of climbing up steps or steep paths, which is very tiring for senior citizens.
They also close most of the pools from 4-6pm, which is also around the time their day tour guest have to leave. This can be a bit frustrating for the hotel guests like my dad, who had to keep on transferring to another pool as the lifeguards kept telling him the pool was closing down for cleaning.
The do have impressive bathrooms/changing rooms for the day tour guests.
View of the sun as it sets over Manila
But their restaurant is disappointing. The menu is limited and not all that varied. Mostly fried stuff that tasted bland and uninspired. I think it's because they expect people would bring their own food to save money.
It's just too bad our driver had to go back to Manila so we had no choice but to eat there. All the restos were just too far away, or too expensive like Viex Chalet.
I did like their selection of books and magazines
They also have cakes, coffee and chicken pies
On Fridays and Saturdays, they have movie night on the viewing deck. But it's really just a projector with a whiteboard as the screen.
Our free breakfast choices were wither lonnganisa, tocino or bangus, plus coffee or iced tea. Tapa wasn't available.
While waiting, you can try feeding the fish jist outside the resto.
The viewing deck early in the morning.
Their topmost pool has a man-made waterfall that spills down to a small infinity pool.
View from above.
Further up you can see a treehouse and a bridge made to look like it's made of branches.
Crisitna Villas is just ok. Their rooms are new and clean but their staff needs more training. They have a great view and their pools are nice, but next time, I'll try the Eugenio Lopez Center for a few pesos more.
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| Day tour rates and published cottage rates |
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