Atlantis Azores

Everything was amazing. Diving food and lodging. I want to come back. The spa was wonderful too. Daryl was a great dive master.

Atlantis is the Best! This was my second visit to Atlantis Dumaguete - our group first visited in 2023. We loved the experience so much - we booked it for a second time. Love the tropical atmosphere of the resort itself, the rooms are spacious and comfortable. I can't say enough for the staff and service! We had a member of our travel group need a doctor for an ear infection - the front desk staff called a doctor for an in person visit at the resort. She was very pleased with the house call. Dive operations are top notch - I love the mix of muck, structure and reef diving offered at Dumaguete. Food was wonderful and I certainly enjoyed my massages at the spa during the week. I love how everything is handled - not a single worry during our stay!

Best of the best of the best. Can we come back tomorrow? This was our fourth and probably favorite trip back to Atlantis - it just keeps getting better each time we return (that has everything to do with the team - the service is top notch and this time around they outdid themselves). From the meet and greet at the airport, to the restaurant/bar staff, the front desk staff, the behind the scenes crew, the spa, the dive crew, management - everyone was so helpful, pleasant, kind, responsive and went over the top to give the six of us an amazing experience.
I’m going to get the one ‘not so great but totally didn’t spoil the trip’ out of the way. Also, please understand we are VERY grateful for the upgrade, it was still the BEST trip to Atlantis we’ve had, this may just be an personal issue for me and others might think it’s not a big deal (and truly, it’s NOT that big of a deal) and we are 100% coming back we just won’t get this room type again. We were lucky enough to get an upgrade to an ocean view room (in previous trips we’ve always stayed in a garden suite, which we’ve loved.) We’ve always wished desperately for some type of dresser in the Atlantis rooms - just not enough shelves in the past stays but we made it work. The ocean front view has a beautiful view for sure, and the sound of the ocean is serene, but it has even less space. The bathroom was half the size of the garden suite baths, and the sleeping area was probably a little less than 2/3 the size of the garden suites. One of my biggest pet peeves when traveling is having to live out of a suitcase I want to unpack and organize everything on shelves/closet/dresser and there was no choice but to live out of a suitcase in this room - basically kept all the clothes outside of a few things we hung in the closet in our scuba roller bag that we then rolled out from under the bed when we needed it. And we aren’t heavy packers - we travel enough that we don’t bring any excess clothing or shoes or anything. We bring the scuba gear and few sets of clothes and swimwear that we’ll need and we use it all. While I loved the ambience of the ocean view, and the breeze definitely helped things dry a little faster on the balcony, I will definitely not request that room again.
Ok, now back to the glowing amazingness that is Atlantis.
Restaurant/bar
Every single meal and every single staff member was phenomenal. Anticipating our drink orders, anticipating our preferences, explaining things, so fast with delivering our bread/drinks/starters and all with the nicest attitude. Albert, Tim, Annie, Allietta, Liza, Rachel (I sincerely hope I haven’t missed anyone and if I did, it’s pure accident) were so so great every meal. The food was delicious and the Chef Varry outdid himself with some special Filipino dishes for us (one of our party was born in the Philippines and had some favorite traditional Filipino foods, and he made a point of working them into the menu). Those special menu items really added to our experience, thank you Chef! Max and King at the bar were rockstars. King always had our special tea ready for us after the first dive of the day, special art on the coffees and was just a pleasure to talk to. We were glad he was able to join us on a dive since he recently got certified, and he found us a blue ring octopus! Max made us some yummy cocktails (calamansi and vodka - yum!) and was super fun to hang out with at the bar. We rarely even made it a few steps into the restaurant before we were being greeted by name and asked what we wanted to drink. More on Albert below. :)
Spa
Cute, Gail and Wilma delivered some amazingly relaxing experiences. I had prebooked a massage with Gail our day of arrival and it was so great after the long travel from the US. AT the end of the trip I booked a hair treatment and massage with Cute to cap off the amazing trip and it was SO relaxing. Highly recommend - doing a back to back hair treatment and massage meant I had 2.5 hours of absolutely NOTHING but relaxing and enjoying the treatments.
Management - Albert
He was the highlight staff member of our stay I think. Because the resort wasn’t super busy, he was able to spend a little more time chatting with us and it was a hoot. We so enjoyed our chats. Of course, his service was top notch too. But he made a point of working with the chef and kitchen to make our stay memorable (including asking for a special ice cream flavor just for us, a cake for a birthday we were celebrating, and a special lunchtime dessert *wink wink*, etc). We came for the diving, but the staff and Albert made for a very fun topside experience too. Thank you Albert and I hope your puppies are doing well!
Management - Cedric
Asst resort manager and he was ON TOP of things. Constantly checking in (without being a bother) to make sure everything was going well.
Management - Junnar
Dive shop manager - best in the biz. We knew we didn’t have to worry about a thing, he was around quite often overseeing things, the schedule, etc. Such a sweet guy.
Management - Owners Gordon and Andy
Both were on site for part of our trip. We had met Andy before on two previous trips, but this was a first to meet Gordon. It was great to see them working in the dining area obviously very hands on owners who care a lot. Andy dove with us a few afternoons which was fun. Thank you to both of you for creating such a sanctuary that is Atlantis.
Reservations - Emily
Emily did a phenomenal job with our special requests prior to arriving making sure our extra luggage was taken care of, pre-booked appointments were done, and then made sure we had all the info for arriving and departing in one succinct memo (which I absolutely adore so helpful for organizing things). We couldn’t have asked for easier step by step instructions and we appreciated her checking in prior to us leaving to make sure we were comfortable navigating between the Manila airport and Belmont Hotel. No detail was overlooked.
Dive staff
Oh my, I could write an absolute novel on how well this dive team works together and treats their customers to concierge diving. We knew several of the staff and after this trip feel like family. I hope they realize how wonderful each and every one of them are and how much we truly appreciate them. Side note, I love how they all tease each other it certainly looks like they all enjoy their jobs and their teammates.
As our ‘dive team’ that worked with us our entire stay, Jason, Genie and Mark were so much fun. Divemasters Jason and Genie worked hard to find the cool critters, helped us find our own critters to work on our ‘spotting’, having fun with us on the boat (a lot of teasing was going on :) ), and just overall was a perfect dive experience. They work so hard with our gear, it’s fantastic to not have to clean our own gear each day. the dive shop is set up with every amenity in mind.
The rest of the team, from the boat captains, to the guys who schlep the tanks to and from the boats to the dive shop, to the fill station workers, and all the other dive staff who we interacted with in between dives, you are all simply so wonderful. Thank you for the little surprise at the end of our trip and for having so much fun with us.
PS. WHAAAARFFFFFIIIII! AAAAAANNNNNGGGGIIIEEEEE! :) )
Side note, we got to see the dive team jump into action with a small medical emergency and they were so fast, so quick to respond. All was resolved quickly, but while it was hard to see us have an emergency, it felt really good to know they were so fast to respond.
Lastly, we had two minor health issues that required a doctor visit to the resort - so so easy and reasonable cost wise two. Thank you to the Dr. for working us in so fast to relieve our issues!
Excursions
We tried out the twin waterfalls tour on our last day before flying out, and it did not disappoint. Was a relaxing scenic van ride, the waterfalls were beautiful, and of course we had to swim in them! Hit the hot springs after that for a quick dip and some snacks, then to the WW2 museum (very cool) and a souvenir shop. We really enjoyed the excursion.
All in all, it just keeps getting better and better each trip we make to Atlantis. Next time we’re gonna do a half and half trip and spend a few days in Puerto Galera since we haven’t yet. We’re already looking at calendars so we can get our fifth trip booked.
We love you all and send prayers for you for all the good things until we meet again! (And again, if I missed naming ANYONE, it’s purely by accident. I tried very hard to learn all of your names just like you learn ours!)