Guest reviews Pangkor Laut Resort

by SarasJB Johor Bahru, Malaysia

Vacation

We had an unexpected awesome holiday at Pangkor Laut Resort. All the staff from the time of arrival to departure was friendly and helpful, particularly Mr Vije at Uncle Lim's, Mr Mages at Royal Club, Mr Dev at Chapman Bar and Mr Sharma at Feast Village. These places served excellent food and good hospitality. Also special thanks to Ms Darshini for arranging a nice room at Sea Villa for both of us. We will surely come back again!

by zappingb

Different Point of View

Often hear travelers say best place but have different view. Probably expectation is different. Overall Staff - Superb. All staff are friendly and willing to go extra mile to get things done. 5 star rating Facilities - If you are beach person then is good. Otherwise limited facilities. When we were there SPA was closed. Room - Normal just like any other rooms that you expect in other parts of the world. Seen worst and seen better ones. Value - Private island, What you expect ?.. of course is expensive. Food - Dont go during this restricted period / lockdown period. Really limited choice. You get basic 4 choices for bfast, limited choice lunch and limited choice dinner. Suggest wait till lockdown period is over and when buffer is open up. Will i go again ..... most likely no...unless there is real good promo . Also dont go now........during lockdown. Wait till everything is cleared.

by ValMohan Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Poor value for money spent. Disappointing stay.

We were in Pangkor Laut from 20-24 June 2020. Firstly let me just say that the resort is beautiful, the staff are very friendly and the conservation efforts are awesome but it lets itself down in too many ways for the price that is paid. 1) No welcome drink and cold towel upon arrival. Standard practice even in much lower classes of hotels as the cost is minimal. Really surprised at the absence and poor first impression. 2) Mold in wine glass in fridge. Again such a poor first impression and completely unnecessary. 3) No warning about sea lice. Not at all the hotel's fault but with a warning we could have brought a wet suit. Really annoying and we were unable to enjoy the sea at all. 4) We were kindly offered the option to dine in room for dinner on our last night as I had a work call. We picked up our food at 8pm and our cutlery and plates only arrived 45 minutes later (after calling a few times to follow up) by which time the food was cold. 5)My biggest complaint is that the food was unbelievably poor. Starting with breakfast which was honestly awful. 4 choices all of which they should be ashamed of. Plain Nasi lemak - could at least have some rendang or curry - all that was served was rice, peanuts, anchovies and cucumber. Noodles were tasteless. Roti canai was plain. Mediocre would be a compliment to the Western breakfast. As a Malaysian I feel that they have done a major disservice to touris impressions of Malaysian food. And their coffee would not be out of place in a hospital cafeteria. So many lovely Malaysian fruits and they picked the very cheapest. The cost per person could not have exceeded RM 10 which is frankly disgraceful. Surely not difficult to inject a bit of luxury, thought and care into meals. The dinner set at the main restaurant was pleasant but not remarkable and Uncle Lim's would not be on anyone's list if it was anywhere else in Malaysia. The only thing we can say that stood out in our entire stay was the jungle walk guide who was passionate, knowledgeable and kind. The work they are doing with the conservation of hornbills and pangolins is wonderful. The views of course were spectacular. I think at the heart of it is that PL's reputation precedes it. I have wanted to visit for years. The MCO not allowing foreign travel made PL our top choice for a much anticipated first holiday in months. It was in no way a terrible holiday. There was however just absolutely no value for the money we spent . Thus based on our experience, sadly we were very disappointed and do not think we would ever recommend it to others.

by BdrlHshm

Good but can be better

We have been here twice before and once for our honeymoon back in 2016. Loved it every single time. We decided to come back after the MCO was lifted and we think that the resort is not ready to be opened. We just checked in and we found the toilet leaking and there were lizard droppings. On top of that the air-cond was not working despite the maintenance tried to fix it. The response has been slow as well. This is our first day here and already thinking about going back. There's a higher level of service, class and standard we've come to expect with PLR but maybe it is not ready to be opened yet. Update: The service improved during our stay but it was not at a standard that we come to expect from PLR. I hope it will get back to that level soon.

by herngene Petaling Jaya, Malaysia

Private and Quiet, Close to Nature

Stayed at a hill villa (top floor). Let's start from the very beginning. Parked the car in the open but covered car park (RM10 a day or RM20 a day for VIP) and reported to the Marina Island Pangkor Laut Resort lounge. Here you pay your security deposit and get a hotel briefing (if there is time) while waiting for the speedboat in an air-conditioned lounge. Speedboat ride was fun and short, about 10 mins or so. You get a lovely view of the island with its lush rainforest hills and coconut trees as you arrive at the private jetty. A short walk takes you to the lobby. The ambience of the hotel is as you would expect for an island resort, lots of wood, high ceilings, pebble stone floors. The landscaping is charming. Throughout the resort, you will see lots of flowers, coconut trees and tropical rainforest trees as well as frangipanis. We saw the famous hornbills several times during the day hopping between trees and hanging out on the garden villa rooftops. Stayed in the hill villas which was perched high on the hills with a great view of the hotel facilities and the sea. The forest is right behind the villas so you will be greeted by monkeys in the morning and the sound of forest insects (louder and sharper than i expected, especially from morning till about noon). Upper hill villas have an uncovered balcony with sunbeds which we like to use during sunset as it looks out to the sea (the sun sets behind you in the island at the private beach, so no direct sunlight). It also comes with a covered bath. Lower hill villas have a covered terrace with outdoor seating, so this is a good option for those who like to read outdoors in the day or enjoy conversations with friends. Lower hill villas get an outdoor bath. Hill villas involve plenty of steps so it is not pram or elderly friendly. The private beach (Emerald Bay) is accessible by shuttle van or a 35 minute trek (however the roads are really steep so this is not recommended). The van comes in no time and was wiped down and sanitised properly after every trip before the next change of passengers. The beach itself was not the best I've seen, but it was small and private, with sufficient loungers for guests when we were there. While shaded by the trees for the most part, due to the direction of sunset, you would at some point have the sun straight in your eyes if you were on the lounger so you might want to have your hat and sunglasses with you. Chapman's Bar is right next to the beach and offers more outdoor seating and drinks. This resort, being a small and private one, seemed especially convenient for those with young children or who prefer a low density holiday. The staff were friendly throughout. Other than to say that the nasi lemak at breakfast was especially good in my view, I will leave the food comment to others. My complaint for the trip was that during check in they initially put us in a hill villa next to refurbishment works of the wooden staircases. I did not understand why the hotel would think that this was OK as the workers were sawing and hammering and could look right into the villa. After requesting for a room change we were given another one 2 hours later as the alternate room had to be cleaned. Overall, I would recommend this resort if you want a private and quiet getaway.