Roaming Imperial Palace Hotel Facilities

Again, I was not in Tokyo. We are just talking about this big resort / hotel over at Mactan Island. Complete name? Imperial Palace Waterpark Resort & Spa, Cebu Philippines! Haba ‘no?! If you haven’t noticed yet, most resorts in Cebu and elsewhere in the country have inserted or are still trying to insert the word “spa” in their names because that is the fad nowadays. Anyway, I had to roam around the building as it was just a little past 11AM – too early for me to dive into lunch and too late to be going around the waterpark only to come back to the building soon for lunch. So, roam around I did, and I liked it!

Delmar Lobby Lounge. Naturally, this is the first that I saw and the first that anyone sees when entering the hotel/resort. This is that coffee-shop, restaurant or lounge that forms part of the lobby. Well yes, at both ends are the tables mentioned in the earlier blog entry. The inner portion of this lounge that you can also call an outer portion – depending on your point of view – is like an open-air verandah with grand views at the gardens, villas and other internal structures of the resort. This lounge is a nice place to hang around, meet with friends or visitors or just while away time tapping on your laptop or reading a book. At the time of my visit, it teemed with many people, and yes, Filipinos were a minority, save for me and the waitresses.

While there are usually a bustling number of patrons in this area, it is never noisy. Probably because the ceiling is so high up, the lobby is so wide, the side is an open area or… probably even all of those factors, such that sounds from boisterous bantering K kids and/or loudly discussing businessmen just go up and fizzle in the air. Its breezy in this place, which is (also) a smoking area, yey! And as said above, quite a nice view overlooking the gardens, the pool areas, the villas and the adjacent building. Don’t be too quick imagining that picture on the side, I was not in any swimming pool or waterpark yet. That is just my glass-top table reflecting the adjacent building. Nice view, aight?!

To the left (if you were facing the lobby and the lobby lounge), yep, that is just behind the duty manager’s table and the elevator banks, are specialty and souvenir shops of the hotel. Further in there is a play area for younger kids. Ah I peeped and saw a lot of tots having quite a ball in there – am sure as their parents also enjoyed themselves elsewhere in the resort. Also behind some kind of a decorative divider from the lobby lounge are more sofas and lounge chairs. A quiet place to rest or recover from gawking at the mind-boggling tag prizes in those shops or while waiting for someone to emerge from the elevators. And beside it is a wooden staircase circling leading down to lower ground. But let’s go there later, aight?

I crossed via the lobby lounge towards the other side of this enormous lobby, just to see really, what else might be there in this big hotel which opened with no less then that infamous tiny woman called ex-president as guest of honor. Voila! So there is the front desk! Wow ha?! Separated from the main lobby by that wall just behind the customer service desk/podium/lectern/whatever is the long desk of the front office that I was wondering earlier if at all existent. It is! It has its own spacious lobby and lounge areas. And it does not end there!

Still onwards is another lobby, now peppered with no sofas or lounge chairs but more on coffee tables and those kingly big chairs we earlier saw over at the duty manager’s and the daytour registration tables. Ah this lobby is already at the corner of the building fronting some offices, a travel agency and the main entrance to their grand ballroom called Dubhe. It then elongates far down the adjoining wing that is actually the other and bigger building where there are more function rooms and what they call “Spa Caracalla”. Big really, this hotel/resort. I think I’ve read somewhere they have something like almost 600 rooms in all. And I can’t believe they’d all be fully occupied any peak season these days. Reason probably why I saw a “condo desk” earlier, right? Yep, part of the numerous rooms are considered ’condotel’.

Alright, I went down to lower ground level just to see the other facilities. Ah yes, and I was getting nearer to the lunch area hehe. There is the Café Amiga, a bright cozy yet elegant restaurant just next door to the Familia Buffet Restaurant and over at the other side, also beside Familia is Karaoke Belami, its big place for a music bar and there are private rooms on the side for those who want to croak in private. Over at the far end of the building nearer the pools are a Chinese and a Korean specialty restaurant but all I did was peep in from their doors. Nice places to be am sure – that is if you have a thick and deep pocket hehe.

Then I thought I have had enough roaming this building, so I went to lunch… that’s my next topic!