Yes i gave birth recently - 8/9/2013! A baby boy @ 2.5 kg and we name him Kefli. One month earlier than expected date , hence he is so tiny.
Still in my 2 months maternity leave , i decided to take an extra month by clearing my annual leave and taking some unpaid leave .So in total i'll have 3 months leave , yahoooo. Still this is uncomparable to other countries like Uk and Australia which allows up to 6 months maternity leave. Malaysia is also one of the country with the least maternity leave in comparision to some of her Asian counterparts.It's my only opportunity, once work commence i don't think i'll be able to just take off like that .
Coming to Kefli's 2nd month , i decided to take a short vacation . Kefli can't travel far or take the plane - i don't want to stress him out too much . Plus if he gets cranky , i'll be effected too ! Port dickson Avillion would be our first choice but we've been there many many times. thus we wanted to explore new places.
I googled and thought Sepang Gold Coast would be the perfect choice . I booked a 3D/2N stay at the Golden Palm Iconic Resort via Agoda (soon to be Avani due to change of management) despites various negative reviews we went ahead anyway.
Prior to arrival , i requested for a room closest to all facilities . We were granted the first room and the closest to the lobby ( room 001) . Hubby was concerned that our room is far from the buffet restaurant Bila Bila and the pool . It turned out that the location of our room is actually the best for us , cause it's walking distance from the lobby , near the beach and kids club. We recceed the pool , not only it was small and crowded but the water is dirty and murky too . So we are better off filling our time by the beach.
Super crowded pool . In this case Avillion PD and Hyatt Kuantan tops our list .
Ok here's what i like about the hotel
1. Room was spacious and tastefully decorated. Build on sea, thus you get that cooling breeze. My daughter loves chilling by the balkony and watch fishes swim by.
2. Bed - we loved the bed ! Huge and comfortable , all 4 of us slept soundly thru out the 2 nights we were there ( of course i have to wake up every 2 hours to breast feed Kefli ) .
Barely 2 months old Kefli is enjoying the cosy and comfy bed. 3. Bikes - there's bicyles for everyone to use . Nice and enjoyable , also because the buggy service is rather poor . During peak period , you might have to "berebut" the bikes with other guests, unfortunately.
4. Beach - the private beach belongs to the resort is well maintained and filled with kids and adults activities such as beach soccer, batik painting, drawing, kite flying, swimming, bouncing castle and etc. I found these most exciting especially for family with young children like us.
Bouncing castle by the beach. 5. Kids club - the best so far for us compared to many other hotels we've been to. Spacious and located in the resort beautiful land scaped garden.
Plenty to do at kid's club. What i don't like about the resort
1. Service - poor , extremely poor . May be it's because of the high occupancy and staffs can't manage the over whelming demand . It took them almost 6 hours to bring our extra blanket and our kettle ( the room's kettle was missing , so we asked for one to be send to us).
2. Distance - it's a long walk from all facilities especially if your room is located at the end of the palm. We were lucky that we get room 001. Tips - get room 001 - 008 to be near to the lobby and the beach . But if you want a better view and don't mind walking then get the rooms further down.
3. Buggy service - really slow , management should increase the amount of buggy. There's a waiting time of at least 15 mins. There are also times where there's no buggy at all. So you won't have a choice but to walk or take the bike ( not elderly friendly).
4. Food - the breakfast buffet is nothing to be shout about , for a resort such as these the quality of food is 1 star. The best buffet breakfast for us is from Golden Sands Penang . Even Avillion PD is better.
5. Lalat - flies Omg, this is such a turn off. During our breakfast buffet we were accompanied by ga zillions of lalat. We decided to skip breakfast on our second day . I cooked magee curry in the room instead. At least we know that our food isn't contaminated.
6. Parking - we got lucky and parked in the hotel compound. But many people complained that they had to walk very far to park.
Ok on average , it was a pleasant stay. We had a wonderful time. Bare in mind that this review is written from the point of view of a mommy and it's targeted towards family with young children.
I brought my 55 days old son and for those of you who are superstitious, this resort is absolutely all right , nothing spooky happened to us. Kefli did cry but that's because he is hungry and not because he sees .......muaha ha ha , just kidding.
Posted via DraftCraft app
