Sari Pacifica Resort & Spa Sibu Island

The location and the beach is awesome, most other things need some serious effort and improvement. Despite all of them genuinely friendly, the staff is a very basic crew without proper training and the manager was absent on a big Easter weekend. The villas - First time I was here, was when it was abandoned 7-8 years ago, stood empty for years always looked good with high ambitions. The partial renovation they did since is lackluster. Poor paint job over derelict buildings. Wood work still needs replacement, toilets half loose. In general fine, just lacking any finish. Many villas still abandoned. Hiring two crew to rotate around the premise would take a season to get things in proper order. In general ok though, not perfectly clean but would not expect more. Furniture very basic. The grounds - great grass lawn and beach front seatings. The beach is great and relatively clean. The other grounds leave more to wish for. Pool side could have been great but pool is turbid and no one uses it. Wooden decks full of nails protruding, sun chairs derelict and many areas that used to be decked are just green painted concrete. Gym has one dusty gadget, dive centre is a wreck, there is a table tennis table too. Water features are either dry or some standing water without being used. The food - food is quite good if you like Malaysian food every day. Do not expect to find anything interesting on the à la carte. Staff is very friendly. There is a bar but not staffed and takes ages to order. The activities - the dive centre is in shambles despite being highlighted on the website, They organise snorkeling and that is it. Could have been nice grounds for kids activities, music, local culture, village trekking, expedition to other resorts etc. but no such planning. The service - overall alright for a local MY resort. However, no credit card option for foreigners and, on the busiest weekend, the manager was not present. Staff is very friendly and helpful though, but it is a very basic crew. Overall, this could have been so much better. It is run by a company with three resorts who surely have resources. However, they take a place that has stood abandoned for many years, do a mediocre refurbishment, put a junior crew in and expect guests to get a great experience.... not going to work. But again, the beach and the venue is great.