Gem Island Resort and Spa

Wonderful small private island with only one resort. If you dont like crowded,full of tourist beach this is the place to go. But if you want to party on the beach then this is not the place. Love the water villas, we saw sharks right on our balcony. We even saw a turtle laying eggs on the beach! (Please do not disturb the turtles) very lucky us! The staffs were very friendly and helpful. Food was nice. It was a lovely stay.

Was at this resort for 2 nights on 6 Sept (Tues) to 8 Sept (Thurs) and my review is as follows:||||1) Parking at Marang Jetty||It is public parking, chargeable at RM6 per night. It is open air and not far from the jetty. Nothing happened to our vehicle so we assume it is safe and secure.||||2) Boat Transfer from Marang Jetty to the Resort||This is provided by Suria Link Boat Services. The boat is new and safe. Boatman is friendly too. However, they did not help with our luggages. We have to carry ourself to the boat. Boat ride is about 15 minutes from Marang Jetty to the Resort.||||3) Resort Surrounding and Check In||This is a private resort on a private island. During our stay, they was only 3 other rooms occupied. So, it does felt very quite and relaxing. View from the resort restaurant/check in area is lovely and scenic. Check in was fast. We were attended by Irene. She was quite friendly. However, please note that the resort will not provide any assistance on luggages/bags during arrival or depature. We did not received any. We had to carry all on our own. So, do travel light.||||4) Water Villa 22 and 23||Most Villa will have super nice balcony overlooking the sea, so does our villa. Mattress and pillow are ok, if the duvet is thicker will be better. Fan and air conditioning system works well during our stay. Bathroom size is ok but a bit dirty. There was some dirt underneath the empty bucket. Water pressure is also weak. Our balcony roof has 3 missing tiles. As a result, during heavy rain, water will enter from the balcony to our room floor. We had to use the beach toilet to prevent water from flowing into our room. Next day, when we inform the resort, they mentioned that most rooms are of the same condition, so the guy just provided us with extra towels just in case there is heavy rain again. Overall, the villa has super nice view but the room quality is just okok. Maybe it is time to do some refurbishment.||||5) Meals||We took the full board package with all meals included. All we can say is that the meals quality keep getting more simple and cheaper as the day goes by. It does feel like the resort is cutting cost and our meals does look like budget meal. On our final departure day lunch, we were only served with a plate of nasi goreng cina with 2 tiny pieces of ayam goreng with 2 slices of cucumber and tomatoes. At RM940 per person for 2 nights, we do expect better food selection especially since we are on holiday and this is supposely a 3 star resort. Food taste is also average at most. If the resort is reading this, please improve your food offering as guests coming to your resort are not budget travellers (looking at your resort price).||||6) Beach Quality and Snorkelling Experience||The sea water is very clear, so the snorkelling experience surrounding the resort is good. We are able to see nemo fishes, giant clams, sea urchin etc. For those opting for a swimming beach, please note that the sandy area of this island is quite limited. They have 3 beaches, but i think the best beach is near the resort jetty area as the other 2 beaches are full with rocks and dead corals, may not be very feet friendly.||||7) Small Swimming Pool||The pool does look like an infinity pool from far but the peeling paint does make the pool look dirty and uninviting. Hope the resort can do something about this as the pool can be a very nice spot to chill and relax.||||8) Internet and Mobile Network||Maxis and Digi have very good 4G and network in this island. I think the resort does not provide any free wifi.||||9) Electricity Cut Daily||There will not be any electricity from 230pm to 530pm daily.||||10) Water Quality||The drinking water or hot water provided by the resort has the salty after effect taste (this is normal for many island resort in Terengganu).||||Overall||During our stay on a weekday, the resort is very quiet, peaceful and secluded. It is a very good spot to relax especially since the view from the resort restaurant and room balcony is great. If the resort can improve on the food and room, this resort has a lot of potential to compete with Laguna Redang, Sari Pacifica Redang or Summer Bay Lang Tengah.

Was looking forward to the trip after the lock down, and finally a long due family getaway. The place is nice, clean and definitely fresh air. But it is too near to the main land hence no nice corals at the beach front. I was told that you'll have to rent for a boat to go to the back of the island, and that's where you'll see nice corals. The back of the island is facing the South China sea. Not much beach activities on the offer... You'll find the usual kayaking, diving and snorkeling. No activities for the kiddos. It is a bad time to go in August as it is the season of Jelly fish. You can't do much swimming when the tide is high as the Jelly fish is everywhere, and when the tide is low, there are too many big corals for the kids to really swim and have fun in the water. Well, my kids still loving the trip as it was their first island trip. The Water villa that we were in is small for a family, plus the TV doesn't work well during our trip.||||The best part of the trip? I had 3 meals and I am hungry every time when it is the meal time. The chef cooking is simply too good, be it Chinese, Westerns or Malay cooking.... Simply awesome. You'll be looking forward to enjoy every meals. The kitchen is only available at certain time and they have electricity break time in the afternoon for 3 hours.||||Also, do bring more of your own water. Somehow the water provided in the resort is kind of salty. They do provide free mineral water in the bottle, but that's only 500ml per person for the whole day.||||The staff is very attentive and friendly to welcome you throughout your stay.

Lovely place. Private resort very quiet and service is personalized! Only thing is the place is run down. It’s 20 years old so don’t expect nice rooms etc. they plan to renovate soon. But the sealife is terrific! We saw lots of lots of sea life just snorkeling nearby. The water is clear, sand is beautiful. The food portion was a bit small for us but after feedback they increased the portion and it was very good.

The best private island there is. The room was cosy enough for us. Clean beach and crystal clear waters. Lots of coral just by the beach. Sharp edge rocks here. Food was nice and on time. The kitchen got our request for time and menu. Super helpful guys here. Still closed now but they have a care taker here

The perfect 2-3 day desert island getaway. Good price for a lovely room ON the water where you can see fish and coral. Great beds and AC, and surprisingly good food in the (only) restaurant. Good friendly service. Snorkeling, diving, and kayaking. Bring your own drinks although they have Tiger and a sort of bar.|I might even return!

Gem island is a low key resort on a small private island on the East Coast opposite Pulau Kapas, a 20 minute boat transfer from Marang||We returned to Gem after a fifteen year absence with very fond memories. We were not disappointed and had another fantastic stay although visitor expectations do need to be managed.||Gem island resort has expanded since our last visit and now has 4 premium villas, 39 standard villas overlooking the channel between Pulau Gem and Kapas and a seperate 6 villas adjacent to Gemias small private beach. ||This number of rooms would be an issue in peak season given the facilities eg the small private beach has only about 16 beach beds & 5 hammocks with little room for any more. ||Maintenance is also a major issue with much of the wooden beach and veranda furniture in danger of collapse (& guest injury) and showing several years worth of wear and tear, not just one season. Many of the beach beds equally needed to be fixed, the small pool needs a clean and generally basic ongoing maintainance is desperately needed throughout.....||Rooms (especially the new premier villas) are functional and comfortable with air con and fan although it is important to know electricity is switched off from 230 to 530, the hottest part of the day. The standout of our stay was the food or at least it was until guest numbers grew and buffet becomes the default. Whilst the buffet was very average, the other meals served including the set breakfast were beautifully presented and very tasty. Zam who has been chef there for 7 years has done an amazing job.||Staff as mentioned in other reviews were very friendly and willing although not at all proactive in either approaching guests or indeed ongoing cleaning / maintainance eg cigarette butts were not regularly cleared from the outdoor ashtray although the majority of smokers were the staff! It was evident however that staff lifted their game when the manager Irene was in residence.||One of the gems of the resort is its location overlooking Pulau Kapas. It has a number of snorkel options directly off the island and within the Marine Park including some good coral to the left of the pier and some interesting rock snorkelling (and larger fish, shark) off the back beach. In both cases access is easiest at high tide as the access becomes quite rocky in low tide. There are options to hire snorkels, canoes, snorkel guide or snorkel boat to access locations around Pulau Kapas but these are not cheap so it is strongly suggested you bring your own equipment. ||Many guests have mentioned cost and it could be an issue depending on the experience you get eg quiet/relaxed vs busy/noisy large group.||In summary we thoroughly enjoyed our stay but the resort has a real Jekyll and Hyde character. When quiet eg 10/16 guests it is a hidden gem and peaceful, relaxed with great views, snorkelling and food which all justify its relatively high pricing position and enable you to fully relax and overlook it’s (very) run down infrastructure. However when it fills up it transforms to an over priced destination where the buffet is average, the facilities can’t cope with the numbers and the electricity cuts / noise / maintenance problems become much more challenging. The range of trip adviser 1 star/4 star experiences im sure reflect these very different experiences.||In addition when busy Gem is very poor VFM particularly when compared with a best in class customer & staff experience you experience at a YTL resort..... ||Nevertheless we hope to return for another low guest number, (mostly) quiet, destressing, & relaxing experience! |

Gem Island Resort & Spa was the third island of an island-hopping fortnight down the East coast of West Malaysia. We stopped for three nights and the cost per night was the highest on our trip we had no regrets paying as the rooms were of a good size with a balcony looking across the water to Kapas Island. Breakfast was included good but limited, we purchased dinner each night which were very good but we did not purchase any alcohol which was very expensive. As we found with other Island Resorts the beach chairs were limited and not in a very good state of repair also why charge for the use of any equipment on their small beach? We would go back again as the water was so clear making snorkelling fantastic.