General Information

[Amadeuss]

Remember these are not 5 star luxury etc so will have some TLC needs maybe etc.

Thanks -- sadly the fact that the room rates of hotels on Mactan are double then in downtown. Comparing the same room quality. Many backpacker lodges, charging 1500 Peso for really mediocre rooms.

I found this one: thechambrehotelph.com . Looks good on paper. Anyone did stay there?

[Wicked Roger]

I want to spend 2 or 3 nights on LapuLapu for meeting some dating girls from the factory area.

The Appleton looks nice. But 3000+ for the room is above my budget.

Any recommendation on LapuLapu for a decent hotel below 2000 Peso (similar to Pillows near Mango)?

Many are above your range Amadeuss.

But you can try Centro Mactan Suites, Days Inn, Island Stays Mactan (close to airport and a Starbucks but small like a Tune in some respects), some serviced apartments in the area but price varies with some around PHP2000, Bellevista (bit maybe more than PHP2000 depends when you visit).

I have stayed at these before and are OK for 1-3 days max. Island Stays was clean and small but beds are comfy. Sometimes booking direct is cheaper.

Remember these are not 5 star luxury etc so will have some TLC needs maybe etc.

[Amadeuss]

Always girls in Mactan but I never mix Mactan and Ayala as while not that far in kms is super long in time taken due to poor infrastructure and traffic. If not our choice best make the best of it. Hit the web sites and look at Mactan girls only or Lapu Lapu.

http://appletonhotel.strikingly.com/
.

I want to spend 2 or 3 nights on LapuLapu for meeting some dating girls from the factory area.

The Appleton looks nice. But 3000+ for the room is above my budget.

Any recommendation on LapuLapu for a decent hotel below 2000 Peso (similar to Pillows near Mango)?

[Python75]

Firstly let me give my shout and appreciate the inputs by WR, Goffering and others.

My 2 cents from my mongering at Cebu.

Last week, I was two days in and out of Cebu City.

I had a chance to go FR a semi pro and a full time hooker. Being a new bie, my experience with the semi pro was much better compared to the hooker.

The semi pro was okay with almost everything with no time watch, making me very comfortable. She was okay to try things and also go in for shower sex as well.

However the hooker had a shitty attitude. She was quite irritated in the second round and was almost no FR everything.

Is this the general case in Cebu or maybe I had a bad experince.

Would be great if you could share your thoughts on the same.

Two days is not long enough to make an evaluative judgement. Your experience in Cebu could have happened anywhere and is not the general case. You had a bad experience. Personally Cebu is my destination of choice in the Philippines.

[InterTravel224]

Firstly let me give my shout and appreciate the inputs by WR, Goffering and others.

My 2 cents from my mongering at Cebu.

Last week, I was two days in and out of Cebu City.

I had a chance to go FR a semi pro and a full time hooker. Being a new bie, my experience with the semi pro was much better compared to the hooker.

The semi pro was okay with almost everything with no time watch, making me very comfortable. She was okay to try things and also go in for shower sex as well.

However the hooker had a shitty attitude. She was quite irritated in the second round and was almost no FR everything.

Is this the general case in Cebu or maybe I had a bad experince.

Would be great if you could share your thoughts on the same.

[Bushes]

I was a boy scout for far too long. I typically keep at least two to four weeks local cash supply on hand. That is in addition to my USD run money, enough to get almost anywhere where my plastic will work again or to bribe my way out of a Philippine jail and on an aircraft headed out of here.

OH. Let me buy you a beer at a nice seedy area of town! LOL.

Does that mean ATMs were off line as well?

Here's my take on Sinulog festival in Cebu City in terms of mongering.

- Local authorities ordered all cell / mobile services cutoff for the majority of Saturday + Sunday. Why? For "security reasons".

I never had total cell service cut off. I have had blackouts where all lines, including cell, were down. If landlines are up, ATM and credit cards should be up. Ask the vendor to do a manual authorization by calling in your credit card.

To be more specific, I used CP website, booked on 15 Dec, my girl had an email on 3rd Jan but didn't pay attention, I had the refund yesterday.

You are lucky. I had to argue with several major US carriers for refunds that too months.

I my case, some US credit card companies are just very risk adverse and will reject charges even if you are on the phone with them and they will not give you a straight answer as to why charges were rejected for online charges. Those same card companies are better if the card was physically presented for purchases worldwide. Figure out which ones in your US collection works which way. Amex used to be my backup because they would make problems overseas vanish and give you time to resolve the problem when you get back to home base. That changed about 10-15 years ago and I find they are not really much better. Before, I would just take their card and had the local rep office save me many times.

There are now online wallets that some of the girls have that can solve some issues. They are good for Philippines and Indonesia.

[Kabul Guy]

Does that mean ATMs were off line as well?

It's a bit rough if you can't get new girls or pay current ones. 😁.

I was a boy scout for far too long. I typically keep at least two to four weeks local cash supply on hand. That is in addition to my USD run money, enough to get almost anywhere where my plastic will work again or to bribe my way out of a Philippine jail and on an aircraft headed out of here.

When my reserve gets to two weeks or so I will typically withdraw another two weeks cash. I have multiple hiding places and safe storage for the cash.

Once in prehistoric days before ATMs, I was caught short of cash and it ended up costing me much more than double plus a lost day of my time. While not a really interesting story in itself, it did drive home the need to never run out of ready cash and to always make sure you had sufficient for just about anything.

[Wicked Roger]

Anyone know the Appleton Hotel in Cebu? Located on Mactan Island - 6 km from airport. Supposed to be across the street from a Mall but I see none on Maps. Can anyone describe the neighborhood? I see it is a distance from Mango Square - 10 km. Are there girls out and around that area? Not my choice to stay so far.

Always girls in Mactan but I never mix Mactan and Ayala as while not that far in kms is super long in time taken due to poor infrastructure and traffic. If not our choice best make the best of it. Hit the web sites and look at Mactan girls only or Lapu Lapu.

http://appletonhotel.strikingly.com/

What we call a mall is merely a shopping centre that is small and basic.

[Goferring]

- Almost no establishment took credit cards because cell service is cutoff.

Does that mean ATMs were off line as well?

It's a bit rough if you can't get new girls or pay current ones. 😁.

[Mr More]

Anyone know the Appleton Hotel in Cebu? Located on Mactan Island - 6 km from airport. Supposed to be across the street from a Mall but I see none on Maps. Can anyone describe the neighborhood? I see it is a distance from Mango Square - 10 km. Are there girls out and around that area? Not my choice to stay so far.

[Mango King]

Here's my take on Sinulog festival in Cebu City in terms of mongering.

I've been to cebu many times but never for Sinulog. For this trip I didn't plan to be here for Sinulog. It just happened to be when I booked my trip. I arrived 5 days before the main Sinulog weekend though there was a buildup each day with more people and more events.

PROS.

- Every hot girl for a hundred miles comes to Cebu for Sinulog. Sitting at The Social bar at Ayala Saturday night in particular was a never ending stream of hotties.

- Big party atmosphere with lots of locals and foreigners.

- Tons of music and events.

CONS.

- Every non-hot girl and their brother, mother, father, and 100 k other people come to cebu. It's crazy crowded and traffic just stops.

- Local authorities ordered all cell / mobile services cutoff for the majority of Saturday + Sunday. Why? For "security reasons".

- You can't reach any girls online because the cell service is cutoff.

- Almost no establishment took credit cards because cell service is cutoff.

- Hotels and airbnb are hard to find and extra pricey.

I will definitely avoid Sinulog next time.

[Albert9989]

Thanks, but the only reason I can see is that the passenger name was Phil, the email receiving confirmation of the booking and payment was Phil, the credit card was foreign. I think that their filter detect here a possible fraud so they ask for a Phil payment with proof of identity of card owner or cash.

Lesson: give your email when booking for someone else so the email and the card will be related as both foreign, I guess the filter will not react.

[Dg8787]

FYI. I just booked flights with Air Asia and Cebu Pacific without any problems using an USA credit card.

BTW, I am in PH doing the booking if that makes a difference.

[Albert9989]

To be more specific, I used CP website, booked on 15 Dec, my girl had an email on 3rd Jan but didn't pay attention, I had the refund yesterday.

Copy of email is attached.

May be they couldn't link the mail given with the card used. Filipino email and foreign card. Could be that they suspected she used a stolen card, may be I should have put my email.

[Wicked Roger]

I have had flight bookings trigger my banks' fraud detection algorithms. I'd suggest giving your banks call..

That could be the issue as in the past when the CC transaction was declined my bank said it had triggered fraud issues so all I did was call the bank and put them straight, made the call centre person hang on until I did the transaction again and bingo all was fine.