I have been to Boracay at least 5 times in the past 5 years, but this trip was a whole new adventure. I have never experienced such luxury even after staying in Papaetee Tahiti. Your amazing stay starts with the speed boat ride from the Shangri-La's private lounge at the port directly to the resort. The exhilarating ride provides a beautiful view of White Beach. Their lobby greets you with the beauty you can expect throughout the resort. My room facing the private beach gave me so many options to relax. I couldn't decide whether to enjoy my first hot shower since I moved to the Philippines under the special rain shower head, or take my first bubble bath since my move. Then I thought I should take a nap, but should it be on my plush king size bed or out on the veranda on one of the two twin size loungers. I could even invite a friend over to stay on the pull out couch! At night I fell asleep to the sound of the waves crashing on the beach below me. During my stay I could either jog up the pathway to my room or enjoy the convenience of their golf cart buggies to drive me throughout the expansive resort. I didn't get to enjoy a spa treatment, but their gym was inviting enough to make me want to wake up an hour early to utilize their equipment, sauna, and jacuzzi before breakfast. As for breakfast, every morning was a buffet feast. Lunch buffet was nothing much to rave about, but still a large feast. As for the 2 private beaches, the sand near the beautiful pool was soft, but there was a quick drop in the water. The beach by my building had rougher sand, but calmer waters. It was complete luxury, beauty, and grandeur! The privileges didn't stop until you arrived in Shangri-La's private airport lounge inside Caticlan airport. The staff was international, but my favorite was the buggy driver Tristan. He took me around the resort to take some amazing pictures of the view.

Especially with the family, 3 kids in range 4 to 7, having a villa Balani made the difference. The villa is very spacious (165 m2) with a wonderful garden and private pool. We compared our stay here with Amanpulo and must say that the villa offers by far more value for money as the beach casita on Amunpulo. The villa Balani has a garden exit to the resort gardens, swimming pool and a lovely beach. Granted that Amanpulo is a lot more private than this place and the beaches are nicer in Amanpulo. So probably Amanpulo is more special compared to this resort, but for our family the stay in the villa and the overall setting of this resort came out better.
The Rima Restaurant has excellent Italian food and also the sea food restaurant is recommended. If I have to choose I would go for Rima. The breakfast is very extensive and also a reminder that you are in a larger resort than what you think if you stay in the villa area as it can get a bit busy there..
The gym has an excellent choice of equipment. We haven't tried the Chi Spa facilities but they surely will be lovely as well. The service is outstanding with only one glitch during the whole stay. After the family left I stayed for another few nights for business and used a sea view room. Although the room is very nice it does make it clear that after all this place is a (luxury) hotel. It ones more drive the message to go for a villa to get the "special" feeling of this resort. One thing I did not appreciate was the rather loud beach party for a company on-site. It did end at 9pm but I still would have preferred and expected that this would not be done at all. One of the main selling points of this resort is the quiteness in the hectic that Boracay offers today and I hope management will keep that in mind. As said by many the entry by boat is a nice way to start and finish your stay. Thanks to the staff of Shangri-La and Airphil Express I made it door to door from the resort to Makati in less than 3 hours.

We stayed there for 10 days, everything was great, from the Shangri-la speed boat to reach Boracay, to the beach, the nice and smiling staff.
The main negative point is we all ended up eating too much at breakfast !
My five year old didn't want to leave.

We had a wonderful time at the Shangri La Boracay Resort. It was everything we thought it might be and then some. The service was superb. Highly recommend the seafood restaurant. But do not fly Air Phil Express to Caticlan. Their customer service was - and remains - horrible. They are running a scam whereby they suggest to customers that 1.5 hours will be enough time between arriving at the international airport in Manila and departing from the domestic airport. You need AT LEAST 2 hours, 3 hours to be safe. When you discover that you don't have enough time to transit between terminals, they charge you a penalty fee for changing your ticket. They will NOT refund this penalty even though THEY mislead the customer. The concierge at the Shangri La was very helpful in negotiating with Air Phil, but still they were unsuccessful. Do not let Air Phil ruin your vacation. Several couples we met with during our time suggested Cebu Pacific.

The Shangri La Boracay is great for kids. Every restaurant was child-friendly, and it helped that kids were everywhere. The entertainment center for kids was great for 3~5 year olds. I'm not sure older kids would have as much fun, but it was perfect for our daughter.