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Got Back from Bali yesterday. Have a few moments to start Just Back Report. Did lots this trip so it might come in a few posts.
Hotel First.
Flight over with Garuda was fantastic as usual. Even though they said they couldn't guarantee our seat preferences over the phone, upon check in we discovered that they had been reserved for us. Flight arrived 15 minutes ahead of schedule, and our mate Peter who lives in Bali was there waiting to pick us up. Our friends who had never been to Bali before had arranged transfers with the Travel Agent and arrived at Melasti Beach Resort just after us.
My first impression of Melasti Beach Resort was not that great. The staff that greeted me at reception were not friendly in the slightest. The reception area was dark and looked a bit run
down. I had previously phoned and requested that our room be near our friends and also requested the agent to do the same thing. When checking in I also asked if we were near each other and was told that we were only to discover that this was not the case at all. Our friends had the Ground Floor Suite (Block of 6) that looked onto the pool while we were further down facing towards the beach, as we had 5 children under the age of 7 between us, we knew it was going to be a nightmare with them running back and forth to each others rooms. Anyway, the suite rooms are very nice, extremely large, with beautiful decor, the Family Rooms at the Dynasty for example would fit into the main bedroom easily then you have another section before that which normally houses a lounge setting and coffee table, but we had our girls two single beds in there, they fit quite comfortably. The bathrooms were large and clean. Went for a swim after unpacking, pool is nice and quite large, swim up pool bar, plenty of sunchairs around the pool (in need of paint), only two Umbrellas provided, bit of a joke in an eighty room hotel. The towels provided should you be lucky enough to land one, were very old and fraying, husband actually tore one in two trying to dry his back, they wanted to charge us $20 USD for it, I just laughed at them, although there is sign above Pool Bar advising that should you lose one you will be charged $20 USD, personally I don't think that I seen one towel that would have been worth more than 20 Rupiah. This hotel has a big thing about charging people for things, one lady
slipped over on a wet floor in Reception while we were there and fell into and broke a glass coffee table, instead of checking if she was ok, they threatened to call the police if she didn't pay one million rupiah for the table, she was extremely upset as she was there by herself and had to be comforted by other guests. She didn't have to pay in the end (only after a long sleepless night for her) as a guest at the hotel who stays there every year for a couple of months intervened and spoke to management. The behaviour of the staff towards this lady was absolutely disgusting.
Breakfast is included in the Tariff and consists of a buffet from the
Restaurant which faces onto Legian Beach only separated by the new road, which is more like a dirt track and currently impassable by car due to sand blowing up from the beach in recent weeks. The buffet consists of either Bacon and Sausage or Ham and Sausage (alternate days) Fried Tomato's, either Noodles or Rice, a Potato Dish, varies depends on whether they overcooked the potatoes or not, and either banana fritters or french toast, you can also get two eggs cooked any style. Tea and Coffee, Juice, fresh pastries and fruit. I lost interest in the Breakfast after the first 4 days and usually gave it a miss after that. Went out last day for Brekky at Daddy's Cafe in Jalan Kartika, was definitely worth paying the $3AUD it cost.
After first night I decided to try my luck and see if we could move rooms to be closer to our friends, was told in reception that I could choose any of the other 3 rooms that was vacant in their block, I asked why we weren't put there originally and only received a shrug of the shoulders. They gave me the key to the new room and told me to move our bags, as we were first floor and so was the new room I asked if there was someone who could assist moving our bags up and down the stairs, again I received a shrug of the shoulders so I just gave up and did it myself. The new room ended up being probably one of the best in the hotel, directly above our friends and overlooked the pool, much easier with the kids. I even overlooked the ant problem, although the zillion ants in the room did get to me after 10 days.
Food at the hotel was nice, on par with anywhere else I have stayed, although my Mum did order room service twice that never came, I am sure it would have been lovely. Prices were fair eg. Pizza 20,000. Spaghetti 23,000 Hamburger and Chips 19500 Add 15% Service Tax to all of these prices. Cocktails were 25000 plus the 15%, Bintangs were around 8,000 plus tax.
Housekeeping were excellent and the rooms were cleaned extremely well every day. Massage by the pool 25000 for 40 minutes, no better than on the beach where it is cheaper. Manicure for Hand and Foot 25,000 was excellent, very good job. Hair Braiding on my Daughter was 50,000 expensive I know, but they did the best job I have every seen, took them over 2 hours as her hair is nearly to her bum, but they were the thinnest braids I have every seen, everyone commented on them when we went out, was a nightmare to remove though as they were so thin, and probably not worth the damage it did to her hair (sorry boys, guess this bit is a bit boring)
There was not that many children at the hotel but the kids didn't seem to mind to much making there own fun, jumping off the little bridge over the pool. My 5 year old unfortunately was pushed off this and smashed her mouth on the side, resulting in lots of blood and cut up lip and mouth. I think the whole of Bali heard her screams, she recovered well and was jumping off the same bridge the next day. All of the staff other than the reception staff were lovely and couldn't have helped us enough during our stay. Melasti is currently establishing a Kids Club at the hotel, should be up and running from May, it is right next to the pool, I would imagine that this Kids Club would cost a fee as they charge for most everything at this hotel, but would probably be reasonable. They did not mention what age it starts from. The massage ladies who are all lovely also babysit for 20,000 rupiah per hour, we used them once and were more than happy.
The general mood from the other guests was similar to mine, that the hotel was a little run down and they didn't seem to be as
conscious about providing service as other places. I personally would not stay there again, especially with children and fork out the extra few hundred for the Dynasty, but if you don't have young kids, and don't like the fluffy slippers and bathrobes like myself, I would give it a go.
More later.
PS. I did try to upgrade to Dynasty, but couldn't get a room. :o(
Did a couple of day trips thought might interest some
"Bali Hai Lembongan Island Beach Club Cruise"
Picked up by Bali Hai Driver in Air Con bus which comfortably seated all ten of us at approx 8am, transferred us to Bali Hai Wharf at Benoa Harbour, traffic was a bit of a nightmare hence the early pickup. Greeted by staff at Wharf who place coloured wristband on so then can decipher who is to stay on pontoon and who is to be transferred to beach club. Kids were all given colouring books and crayons to keep them busy on the boat. Little gift also there where you can buy items, priced to suit as expected. As you board the boat you have your photo taken with two beautiful balinese ladies in traditional costume which you can purchase on the way home for 30,000 rupiah. Once on boat there are three levels, you can seat yourself either indoors or outdoors, with 5 young kids running around you can imagine that we pretty much got to see most of the boat. There are complimentry fresh pastries, tea, coffee and juice. Boat departs at 9.15 and heads out to Pontoon about 300 or so metres off Lembongan. Water was really calm leaving Benoa but once out of the harbour was extremely rough, boat was swaying from side to side, unfortunatey some people were sick on the way over and this did upset there day. Trip takes about one hour, as you are nearing Lembongan it is hard not to notice the large amount of surfers catching some fantastic breaks out on the reef. Once arrive at pontoon the Beach Club Passengers are transferred to smaller boats which take you to the island. The beach club is lovely, beautiful pool and surrounds, sits up above the beach and the views are lovely. You can take a Village Tour, Banana Boat Rides, Glass Bottom Boat, Snorkling etc or just laze around in the sun. There are plenty of Deck Chairs for everyone and was well spaced out so you are not all on top of each other. The alcohol was 10,000 rupiah for small beer and 25,000 for cocktails which was very reasonable. Lunch was buffet style and opened from 12 until 2.15 so there is no mad rush. Constisted of 5 or 6 different salads, hot potatoes, satay sticks, chicken, fish, sausages, fresh fruit and probably more but I have forgotten. They have activities for children such as treasure hunts etc, kids had a great day. Depart the island back to pontoon at approximately 2.45 and arrive back in Benoa Harbour at 4.15. Trip home was extremely rough and although I didn't know it as I was sitting outside enjoying the band and a glass of wine, everyone inside the boat was throwing up due to motion sickness. They were all fine within half an hour of dry land. Cost of trip was $89 per adult and $49 per child, under 4 is free. I would do this trip again, just fo your info, spoke to other people who did the trip just after us and they said the water was really calm and noone was sick, guess we just got a bad day.
Waterbom Park -
This was our 3rd visit to Waterbom Park and was yet again really impressed, the park on whole is extremely clean and well run. Food is lovely, and alcohol and beverages prices are reasonable. The grounds are so green and lush you really feel like you are in a tropical oasis. Kids had an absolute ball and were all totally exhausted by the end of the day. You can hire towels for a mere 5000 rupiah for the day and lockers from 15000 which is also reasonable. Cost to enter is $15 USD plus the usual 10% service tax. Seems a lot of money when you are over there, but for the same service and standards you would pay a hell of a lot more in Aus. Children are half that and under 4 is free. A definite must if you have kids and well worth a visit at least once if you don't
Day Trip to Lovina -
Hired an Air Conditioned Bus for the day with Driver and Guide, the bus was a fourteen seater and there was 10 of us, so ample room for all. Cost for the day was 300,000 which is more than the norm but this was a large bus. We left around 8.30 and drove first to Taman Ayun Temple near Mengwi then on up the mountains to Bedugal, I have to mention that this trip was done two days before Nyepi so we seen so many Ogoh Ogoh lining the steets ready for the parade we lost count in the end. We stopped at the lake in Bedugal, the gardens are as beautiful as I remember from my last visit, while we were there we were lucky enough to see a Melasti Parade Ceremony, these ceremonies were happening everywhere leading up to Nyepi, by the end of this day we must have passed at least 10. Next stop was the Monkeys, the ladies selling the bananas were truly fierce and had no concept of the meaning of No, no matter how many times you said it or how loud they continued to shove bananas in your face, absolutely impossible to take photos, even after buying some they keep going. Left there and drove through Singaraja, the wider streets and cleanliness is remarkable, not a tourist to be seen though. Onto Lovina where we stopped at the Aditya Beach Bungalows for a buffet lunch, extremely clean restaurant overlooking Lovina Beach, had a look around the grounds of the hotel and they were very nice, would definitely stay there if I was going up to Lovina Overnight. After lunch we went onto Banjar to the hot water springs, it was a stinking hot day this day so going to the Hot Springs was probably not a great choice, we had been before but our friends hadn't so they enjoyed it. Obviously by this time it was around 3 pm to time to head home. Had a great day out, although long, seen so much, and was lovely to escape the hustle and bustle of Kuta for the day.
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