The “Sheridan”:http://www.sheridanbeachresort.com/ is a relatively new hotel on the Philippine Island of Palawan. It’s located in the sleepy village of Sabang, and a 90-minute drive on a hilly, winding road from Puerto Princesa. With 168 rooms, it was one of the larger hotels we stayed in.
We had the usual check in with welcome drink and cold flannel and were told our room, 202, was ready (hmm at 6pm). We had a deluxe garden view room which, in reality looked onto the rear of the kitchen. It was good size with two queen-size beds, decent hanging space and shelving and plenty of plug points. The décor was beige-bland and there was a mini-bar, safe, tea/coffee making facilities and a large, refillable glass bottle for water.
There was a good size bathroom and walk in shower with the loo facing the wrong way to our minds, but aesthetically not functionally. Robes and slippers were provided.
The balcony was long and narrow with two high chairs and high table which were not that comfortable. Although wifi was meant to be complimentary, I had huge problems with none of my emails getting through the hotel’s firewall and we were unable to download on to our Kindle.
The restaurant had lots of outdoor tables, but when the weather was bad, everyone was moved indoors into what can only be described as a serviceable restaurant with one area looking like a concrete garage annex.
Although there was a buffet, we chose from the extensive a la carte menu but found many of our choices weren’t available e.g. we ordered a mango, tomato and cucumber salad but were told, it wouldn’t have the cucumber which we said was fine and then we were told there was no mango. We ate a mixture of Western food and Filipino specialities like crispy pata: a huge plate of pork chunks with a crispy rind, served with a soy and vinegar dip. We fought to get the meat off the bone but won in the end. We decided to finish one meal with coffee and banana cake and ordered one portion so were surprised when five thick slices arrived with a cherry jam: we ate three and asked for a doggy bag. When the bottle of wine we chose at 1050 Peso/£17.50 was unavailable, we were offered a more expensive bottle for the same price. Dinner was accompanied by fire eaters and loud music (the fire eaters appeared to be following us around) and so we started eating later to avoid them.
The breakfast buffet had a great choice of dishes: hot and cold, Western and Filipino, although some of the dishes seemed a little odd at breakfast e.g. potato gratin and meat stews. One of my favourites was kidney beans in a tomato sauce, topped with melted cheese.
Most of the rooms were centred around a large rectangular pool, claimed to be the longest on Palawan, but the hotel was also right on a clean stretch of public beach. We enjoyed the surf but there was a strong undertow and after our first day, the red flag flew as Tropical Storm Basyang headed towards Palawan.
For me, I’ll always associate the Sheridan with bites. During the night I started itching and realised I was covered in bumps. The next morning, I asked for the bed linen to be changed and the room sprayed, whilst the nurse gave me plaster-sized sachet of calamine lotion and told me to apply it 3 to 4 times a day. Bearing in mind I had 57 bites, it didn’t cover them all on the first application!
This could have been an excellent beach stay but the impending Tropical Storm Basyang curtailed our sunbathing and meant our trip to the Underground River was cancelled. Together with my bites and a lack of internet, it seemed a long 3 nights.
