Sipadan Water Village Mabul Island Semporna

The recent reviews say it all. The resort is rundown and in need of serious refurbishment. Bath towels need replacing, bathroom shower stalls have to be replaced. Rooms could do with a facelift. If feels like we went back in time. There is no beach to swim at - we did not realise this till we arrived. A village is located on the only small beach, where open burning of trash takes place in the mornings. Plastic pollution in the waters around the resort is a sad situation. Hoping urgent action is taken sooner, rather than later, by the authorities. The venomous sea snakes are real. We saw many in the mornings and evenings. Very risky with children around. The staff are pretty relaxed about it. Plus points - amazing service by the ladies where we had our meals (Diana, Ida, Baya - thank you) and we had pretty decent food and fruit (certainly there was room for improvement, but it is an island, so we did not mind). The dive / snorkel guides were super helpful (Saber, Mohamad, Mar, Manny, Bulan). Refillable drinking water in the rooms meant less single use plastic bottles. Perhaps start having refillable shower gel/shampoo too. Being on an island, this would certainly be appreciated. Essentially, there is a lot of room for improvement.

We recently visited this "resort" with a group of friends (8 of us in total). We were very excited ot visit this place from the photos we had seen on the official website. However upon arrival our excitement quickly dissapeared and we slowly reaslised that what we had seen online was not a true reflection of what we were seeing in person. The resort was completely run down with many of the burrees delapitated and empty as they were in such poor condition that they were falling apart. It is in urgent need of repair before someone gets hurt. Rooms were clean however the bathrooms had water leaking from the bottom of the toilets and showers temperature was unable to be controlled easily. The rooms were not secure and some rooms had no lock on the shutters for security. Upon arrival we found multiple large sea snakes around hiding in air conditioning systems and very close to the reception area. These snakes are highly venomous and should not be able to be in such close proximity to guests. One of our friends had an incident where she lent on one of the balconies and a piece of wood from the balcony fell off. There was no private beach access where we could swim and we were not even able to swim off our burrees into the water. There was basically next to nothing to do except do a 4 hour (half day) trip to Mabul island. It was also very confronting to see the local people lviing diectly behind the resort, who would come on their boats around our rooms and ask for food or try to sell us things. We spent alot of money to stay here and in my opinion it was not worth it at all. $600 AUD a night is too much and i would urge anyone who is wanting to visit here to reconsider. In saying this the staff at the resort were very friendly and kind and the food was not bad. The management team who are not located onsite are however out fo tune with thier clients and the needs of the resort and should consider a further review of the proerty and make commitments to restoring and updating it.

Stayed there for 6D on 23-Jun-2023 and below are my GOOD and BAD experiences. Overall NOT RECOMMENDED. BAD Experiences: 1. A/C Not Cold - The room is big with huge louver sliding doors and windows. Due to that the A/C cannot keep up. So, as good as NO A/C. 2. Salty Water - Fresh water from tap is salty. Just imagine brushing your teeth with it. 3. Every Room Provided with ONLY Two (2) Jugs of Water Per Day - This is the first resort that I had stayed in that has this ruling. So ended up buying my own drinking water throughout my 6-days stay. 4. Creaking Walkways - The entire resort is built on stilts. Most of the planks that line the walkways are loose, thus creaks a lot. Feel unsafe. 5. Food Spread is Limited - 2 types of veg and 2 types of meat and some side dishes. 6. Food Quantity is Insufficient - Food always runs out and have to wait to get it refill. Serves only a small bowl of lettuce (for salad, I think) which is good for one person. 7. Condiments - Serve porridge with ONLY salted eggs. Normally, most hotels serve with soya sauce, spring onions, fish with black beans, fried onions and pickled lettuce. In this hotel only porridge with salted eggs. 8. Ants crawling all over sugar on the buffet bar. 9. Moldy Bathroom GOOD Experience: 1. Room size is huge but UNFORTUNATELY as good as NO A/C 2. Diving is Sipadan is the greatest. 3. Staff are friendly.