From the point in time in January to an actual trip was a long five months in-between. But with our decision to visit Cebu rather than Bali made and a broad itinerary worked out, we next went about contacting various tour operators to get inputs on our proposed places and also costings. This was one of those occasions where we’d like to get our itinerary out of the way so that we don’t have to think further on it! We’d had to be mindful to avoid arrangements though where full payment would be required, since anything can still happen from now till June.
Comparing with our trips to Japan, planning for a Cebu holiday has been comparatively easy. Specifically, while the island is several times larger than Singapore, most visitors gravitate towards about seven places. Basically:
- Simala Shrine
- Osmena Peak
- Oslob Whale Watching
- Pescador Island
- Canyoneering at Kawasan Falls
- Malapascua Island
- Bohol
Most travelers from this part of the world though seem to mostly visit Cebu for under a week, and many seem to sign up for 3D2N tour packages that take them to the first five places in the list. Our travel period was a lengthy 11 days though, which meant we had plenty of time to work with. We didn’t want to try navigating the transportation system on our own in Cebu either, so from the onset, resolved to find a tour operator who could bring us for a customised 7 day tour that would cover all seven places and including Bohol, a large island near Cebu with its own charm and sites. Our basic itinerary would look like this:
Day 1: Arrival into Cebu and exploration on our own
Days 2 to 8: 7D6N private tour for #1 to #7 above
Days 9 to 11: Exploring Cebu on our own and return home
Our early research quickly showed that there is no shortage of tour operators who offer packages between 1 to 4 days covering the six places, or Bohol: but there were none that we found that had ready-made itineraries for 7 days. So, we reached out/emailed/messaged etc. to ten different operators who seemed to accept requests for customised and private tours. Of the ten, only four replied and of these, three engaged in my requests for tweaks and sent us finalised quotations for a private 7D6N tour. The specific requests we had included that:
- We wanted time of our own to chill on specific islands (specifically, Malapascua, and also Bohol)
- We wanted to visit the rice terraces in Bohol. Basically, for me to do drone videography.
Of the three operators who finally sent along final quotations, the third and last to come in was significantly more expensive – by more than a thousand USD more. So, nope.The first two seemed reliable operators and the quotations were in the same ballpark about USD2,000. Moreover, one of our neighbors had engaged one of the two in her own family trip to Cebu last December for a 3D2N package. However, that operator wanted a 50% upfront deposit to what looked like a personal bank account. I’m pretty sure this operator was legit, but the risk exposure was a bit much for me to accept. The second operator requested (only) a 20% deposit to confirm the reservation, and the bank transfer was going to what was a business bank account. So, we decided to go with the second operator, and confirmed the reservation in early March.
