When I was still in college my mother used to have a buy and sell business and she was always trying to convince me to personally deliver her orders to Puerto Princesa Palawan—onboard a ship. But no matter hard she tried to convince (and even bribe me with a lucrative bonus) I would decline unless I was going to ride a plane.
Back then not everyone can afford airfares, so even domestic travel gave you some bragging rights if you travelled by air. It was also faster as our airport weren’t that congested and I would end up giving her a lecture on all the benefits of air travel, she’d end up delivering it herself. Besides I was also afraid of the water, and riding a ship just reminded me of Titanic, M/V Dona Paz and all those sea tragedies which were often on the news.
But even though I had so many “what-if” scenarios running on my mind, believe it or not, travel by sea (on board a cruise ship) was on top of my bucket list I made during senior year.
Fast forward to last month, I finally got to cross out (somewhat) that item on my bucket list, when we got an invite to Boracay via 2GO MV Saint Ignatius of Loyola.
I just figured it was time to finally face my fear. I wanted to experience the waves of the sea, gusto kong mahilo, to see the dolphins, to sleep in one of the cabins and to meet the captain of the ship.
It was a chance to cross this one out from my bucketlist. So I said yes right away after convincing Ed to go with me. He was hesitant at first and I thought I would be leaving alone. I never knew this would turn out to be one of the best experiences of my life.
DAY 1.
Our meet up was at the Luneta Park where a Pink Bus would take us to the Batangas Port. I didn’t expect Ed to show up since he never said yes. I took that as a no for an answer. But when I saw him at our meet up place with our luggage. I lighted up, I won him over. I knew right away that we were up for some adventure. We went straight to 2Go Hub in Luneta Park. We left Manila at around 545PM and arrived at Batangas at 855PM.
Security was tight there were guard dogs who checked (sniffed) each of our luggage. Unlike in the airports where you are limited to the bags you can carry on board, its a different story when you are riding a ship. You can bring a lot of luggage without the need of having to check them in. At 2GO you get to spend the entire trip with your bags so its really up to you to take care of them.
After the security check we boarded the ship and gathered at the lobby where we were assigned different rooms. If you are in a group of four, its best to reserve a cabin or even the stateroom to make your trip more enjoyable and secure. But if you are really up for an adventure, there are common bunks available and large air conditioned rooms which are a lot cheaper.
We were ushered to our cabin, with four bunk beds inside. I chose the top bed. It was dinner time so we headed to the Horizon Cafe and had a little drink afterwards at The Island Fiesta Bar upstairs. If you are feeling bored or want to meet new people I guess this would be the place to do it. But for us we went back to our cabins at 1030pm. I slept 6 hours and woke up 5am for our breakfast.
The tickets already include meals but if you forgot to include them you can buy from the Horizon Cafe, the prices are pretty much what you’d expect, but are not too expensive. There are several dishes you could choose from, chicken, pork, beef, fish and vegetables, soup, rice and some desserts. If you want something heavy I suggest you buy first before you board.
Sir Ish, our guide from 2GO, said you can book as early as a few months to reserve the rooms as there are just a few available.
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| Horizon Cafe |
Day 2.
We were at Caticlan at around 6am and disembarked from MV St Ignatius Loyola. We took photos of the dock with the beautiful sunrise as our backgrounds, rode a speed boat, and a van that took us to our hotel. We reached Boracay and went straight to Casa Pilar Beach Resort. But since we were too early we decided to have our second breakfast at Real Cafe where I had my fix of healthy yogurt with island fruits. Yummy!
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| Yoghurt with fruits |
This was my room for the day , Casa Pilar is from Station 2 and a stone's throw away from the beach.
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| My room for the night |
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| Sisig |
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| Beef steak |
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| Iced tea |
After lunch we dropped by Jonah's for their famous fruits shakes and ordered by favorite Lemon fruit shake. It was still quite hot so we decided to go back to the hotel first to take a nap before our afternoon itinerary which included a tour of the Oceanarium at Crown Regency.
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| Ocean Bar |
I’ve been to Boracay quite a few times but I never knew that Crown Regency had all those sea creatures, including a shark and even some mermaids!
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| Crown Regency |
There's my favorite Chatime at Station 2. I ordered Jasmine Green tea, no sugar with rainbow jelly!
We spent the remaining daylight at the beach for a swim. If you don’t like crowds, I’d suggest you head to Boracay during this lean months as there are fewer people and you could really enjoy the cleaner waters.
Crown Regency also hosted our dinner by the beachfront, which capped off a pretty fun day!
Day 3. We woke up at 6am to catch our ship back at Caticlan port by 9am. As soon as the ship left the port we all had a nap, woke up for lunch and caught a few more ZZZZs before our scheduled courtesy call with the ship captain at 3pm.
I recommend you to try and have a go at 2GO vessels. Its safe, relaxing and cheaper than air travel, plus you can sleep all you want for the rest of the day and reach Boracay all fresh and ready early in the morning . You can leave Batangas Port at night and be at Boracay as early as 6am.
Book your tickets now at http://travel.2go.com.ph/eTicket/
Capt. Bobby Montayre has been the commanding the MV St. Ignatius of Loyola for five years, he said despite the horror stories before, he says seafaring, or riding a ship much safer that an airplane. He also told us a lot of new safety precautions implemented by MARINA to ensure the safety of the riding public.
Unlike before he said, all ships are not allowed to sail if there’s a storm warning even if its just signal No. 1. He also debunked the perception of overloading as it is his responsibility to check the entire ship manifest to avoid and incident. “Wala nang chance passenger ngayon’ kasi all 2Go Travel passenger ships have a computerized ticketing system and strict security measures in place.
After the interview, we took pictures of the ship, the sea and watched the dolphins, before we knew it we were back in Batangas by 6pm and back in Manila by 10pm.
I recommend you to try and have a go at 2GO vessels. Its safe, relaxing and cheaper than airline fares plus you can sleep if you want to for the rest of the day and reach Boracay early in the morning . You can leave Batangas Port at night and be at Boracay as early as 6am.
Book your tickets now at http://travel.2go.com.ph/eTicket/
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