Mabul Water Bungalows

Had a really good stay here!!! From the boat transfer from Semporna Jetty to the resort, the staff were very attentive and helpful. Upon arrival at the Water Bungalow, I was welcomed with a welcome drink and a brief introduction and orientation of the facilities and the amenities was given by Jasni. Loved the spacious room and the stay was very comfortable. Sea nomads come by daily and offer coconuts and fresh seafood. If you are willing to buy they will be very happy; if you are not keen, just decline politely and they will leave you alone. Meals here were great, there was a variety of mains, fruits and desserts available. The compound is also very beautiful and the view is breathtaking at every corner. Indeed more expensive, but you are paying for the resort being in one of the best locations. They also provide diving and snorkelling services. The Water Bungalow Housereef is a divers heaven and it has many interesting pelagic animals to see. Truly loved my stay here and I believe I will be back.

Amazing location , beautiful setting , wonderful staff, great snorkelling, delicious food. We stayed in the bougain villa it was spacious and luxurious. We loved spotting turtles and other marine life from our balcony..we were well looked after also on our snorkeling trip- so much to see! Booking the trip through trip.com was great also, excelkent communication- thank you

Mabul water bungalows is a beautiful setting for pictures. The water bungalows are clean with big balconies to relax on. The toilets in the rooms barely have a flushing system & the toilets around the water bungalows are mostly squat toilets. The snorkel areas on the island & on the nearby islands that the boat & dive guides take you to, are below average. Extremely poor visibility in the water & the area that the dive guides took us to was full of jellyfish. No warning was given that this area was full of jellyfish & we were stung multiple times. The dive masters were not the slightest bit concerned that we were stung by jellyfish, & instead laughed at our concern about the vast amount of jellyfish in the area that we were swimming in. The guide who took us to the snorel area was fantastic and he made us feel safe & looked after, unfortunately I didn’t get his name. If you are going here for snorkeling, take your own snorkel mask. My friend intended to hire the snorkel mask & it was so disgusting, all chewed & not disinfected. When we asked if the masks were cleaned after use, the two ladies in the shop laughed at us & told us to wash it ourselves. The resort is overcrowded with Chinese people with horrendous eating habits. At meal time it is a fight among them to see who can pile their plate the highest with all the food. The food is aimed at a Chinese palette only. There’s no Malay, American or Western style food. The only positive is that we lost weight during our stay here. The food has no variety whatsoever & you have no hope if you are vegetarian. There is no where to eat outside of the restaurant & no where to order food if you feel hungry out-with meal times. There is no option for room service. On a leaflet for the island it states there is a fresh bakery for pastries & fresh pizzas, that is a complete lie, there is none of that. We felt ripped off as this accommodation is not good value for money at all, the price point is way too high for what it is. They also expect you to tip everyone when really the owner who is making all this money from the high price for the stay, should be paying their staff accordingly. Most of the staff are lovely & are working hard, but the service is not that of a luxury resort. The spa was great & we had some really good massages there, the staff at the spa are amazing & we really enjoyed our time there. The transfer from the airport on arrival & then again on departure was seamless & timely. This resort has huge potential.

It’s about 45 minutes by boat from Semporna. The units are built on stilts on shallow clear water. Beautiful flowers were everywhere and it gave the impression of a wonderland. On arrival we were briefed by a person in charge and he gave us a detailed description of the amenities in the resort. He also took us to all the areas and facilities available. The water bungalows are connected by bridges and it was a pleasure to walk around. The water was crystal clear and we could see fishes, star fishes and turtles. Rooms were clean and equipped with all basic necessities. The housekeepers and workers were helpful and friendly. We do not expect the food to be like 5 star hotels but it was well prepared and adequate with plenty of seafood. There were trainers to help those who wished to dive or snorkel. There was a long and beautifully decorated Lover’s Bridge and it was a beautiful experience walking along. It’s a wonderful place and we loved it

We had a great time diving Mabul, Kapalai, and Sipadan Islands. The bungalows are located on Mabul, so each boat ride to dive sites is five minutes or so. Kapalai is a 10-minute boat ride. Sipadan is a 30- to 45-minute ride and requires a permit, so be sure to book your dives there in advance. And since you'll only do two dives at Sipadan per day, consider getting a permit for two days and let your dive guide know that you want to visit different dive sites. Our guide -- Neneng -- was very good at showing us marine life and getting us to the least-populated dive sites. Keep in mind, however, that there are MANY divers visiting these islands (through overnight accommodations and day-trippers), so expect to see lots of divers even when you're trying to avoid them. The setup for divers is pretty good. Nitrox is available. The dive shop has storage space for each diver's gear and plenty of space for hanging gear to dry. They have a dedicated rinse tank for cameras. They have post-dive showers and towels. The boats were comfortable and provided shade, all more than enough for the relatively short boat rides. Three things keep us from giving five stars to MWB. The first thing is that the location is an attraction for throngs of day-trippers who walk around the facility and pose for photographs; it was quiet at night. We stayed there for a week, and every day we had HUNDREDS of visitors all over the paths creating scenes for taking photographs. Lots of "influencers" making Tik-Tok videos. Many groups walking around with selfie sticks and recording themselves, oblivious to the rest of us trying to get from our rooms to the dive shop or dining room. We even had people more than once posing at the front door to our room and, when we tried to enter or get out, acted rather offended that we were interrupting their sessions. It was truly bizarre, but in the end it was not really an imposition on us. It was just odd being around so many people posing and photographing/recording themselves. It made Disneyland seem rather banal. The second thing is that the food had a heavy Asian emphasis (not surprising given that you're in Asia), even when the kitchen is trying to accommodate American/European palates. For example, staff made custom omelettes for breakfast but the cooking oil (probably palm) did not sit well with most of the people in our group after a day or two; sauteed vegetables presented a similar issue; the margarine, peanut butter, and baked goods tasted like they too were made with palm oil. In addition, the protein options for those who don't eat red meat or seafood were limited and, at several dinners, non-existent. There was plenty of food, but not always enough in the categories that everyone would have liked or without the palm-oil taste and stomach effects. The third thing is that we are experienced divers who've been to many great destinations. Except on days when we went to Sipadan, our first dive each day was on Kapalai.