Avillion Admiral Cove
Still on the lookout for a comfortable family weekend getaway around Malaysia within 2hrs drive. Previously we tried Thistle which according to Internet ratings, has quickly risen to be the No.1 resort in Port Dickson. At around RM500/night net, it's also rather on the expensive side for regular weekend trips.
This time, we gave Avilion Admiral Cove a try. It's quite new, and much cheaper than it's sister resort Avilion, Port Dickson. Net rates for weekends is only RM250 net (cheaper with promotions) and around RM280 for seaside view.
Rooms
The cheapest superior rooms are very spacious, new and clean. The only negative for some, is that the bathrooms do not have baths, just shower. More than enough space for a family of 4 with two small children. Also a nice sofa as in Thistle for you to lie down and read a book or afternoon nap. Even with the rooms without a view of the sea, you can still see it from your balcony. It's only a little bit more (RM20) for a better view, so I would recommend this upgrade. For a business trip or conference though, it would be even better. One of the few hotels, in which the desk actually is a proper working space with proper adjustable chair. It also has free unlimited Internet, which I didn't try out (hey.. it's a weekend getaway). It passed my moldy dust allergy test and I had a good nights sleep. TV with usual limited selection of Astro channels and all important Disney channel. Unlike other hotels, each room has it's own air-conditioner. Not sure how efficient this is, but it does allow you to control the temperature or even turn it off unlike most hotels in Malaysia which are freezing cold
The other room facilities are all there, electric kettle, fridge, hair dryer etc. The things missing that matter to me, was a lack of indoor slippers (apparently available upon request) and some sort of mechanism for hanging wet swimmers.
Facilities
I didn't get to try out all the facilities, there is gym, tennis and pool. Pool is the important one for the kids. It's not a huge pool, but it has two kid pools and the main pool isn't too deep. It also wasn't very crowded at all, so it seems the others were interested in doing other things, which is good for us. It would be good to have a water slide, but it was fun enough just to be in the pool for my daughter.
Beach is much better than Thistle. It's a 5 minute walk to a private beach, and it looks to be the same stretch of the main beach of Port Dickson. Clean with fine sand to make sand castles and such.
It's a marina too, so there are charter boats for fishing and cruises, if you don't have your luxury yacht berthed there.
Breakfast buffet is included. For the price, it was as expected and there is enough variety of local and continental dishes.
Getting There
Very easy, it's basically 5 minutes on the right after the end of the Port Dickson highway. You can get there in around an hour and half or less from Kuala Lumpur once you're on the North South Highway.
Summary
Definitely recommended for family weekend getaway, and possibly for a business retreat. The price is also affordable enough for a family to come back again more often.
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