CLUB MED

[SBKS]

bebebub:

SBKS:

I bought income travel.

i arrived 12pm their time and gt the checkin at ferry terminal. I went on weekdays. Wkends I am not sure if you can do that as their wkends are normally FULL.

our ferry is at 2pm. we check out at 11am and had lunch and drinks there til our bus at 1pm. in your package, it mentioned that lunch is included on checkout day.

Thanks.

I'll be there on weekdays. Am thinking if it will be a good idea to take the first ferry so as to make full use of the day. After all already take leave to go. It's alrite if the room is unavailable, but am thinking to enjoy the facilities. Current plan is to take the 9am ferry there, and back on the 5pm. Kiasu me :oops: :oops:

Just notice the mention of lunch on departure day. Is that a subtle way of telling guests \"Time's up. Go home\"

Check-in is at ferry terminal? Then what about check-out?

U tink you kiasu? wait til u go club med. :rotflmao:

yes that statement on the voucher very small and at the end.
Check-out as per normal at reception. your check-in might varies from me as I am not sure is it a standard to check-in at ferry terminal. my first time there too.

my review coming up.

[SBKS]

My 2cents from my experience @ Club Med Bintan.

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D1
THE ARRIVAL
We arrived and everything went quite well. From the Ferry to the club and to our room. We were given the room keys at the ferry terminal. When we arrived at club med, Hafidz was our guide and he explained most of the things to us. He guide us to our room M1238. M for Meranti Block. The design of the room pleases me and I like the corner where the extra day
bed is. The room has lots of storage places and the cupboard is very big. Suitable for the stuff for a family of four. We managed to get an early check-in at 12pm.

THE ROOM
The only thing that I don't really like is the balcony view. So much for paying extra for a sea view when the tree is blocking my view and in front of the balcony. But the chairs are a good relaxing place to be. We can still see trapeze and beach chairs from our room.
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With the info sheet given, we can plan our activities for the stay. And the map given on the card holder, it is easy for GMs to be oriented. Alternatively, orientations are available at 1030am and 630pm. Some information are also available at the back of the card holder such as to open charge card account with credit card, enquire about the village, etc.
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Tv program channels are not really that important but when we tried, the Singapore channels are not really working. Mini bar (which is among the extra amount we paid for deluxe rooms) looks abit pathetic in my opinion. 2 cup noodles, 8 cans of drinks and 1 pack of prawn crackers. I have seen better than that. To clarify, the extra amount between deluxe and superior, is the difference between the day bed and the mini bar. Mini bar contents are free. But once they refilled the items and consumed thereafter, it is chargeable.

THE RESORT
The resort looks above average. Not WOW! Maybe due to my expectations of the club and also the price I paid. The occupants in the club is about 50%. This is considered average to them. When we started to check out the place, we saw food and drinks served at the poolside. Nice touch. There are 3 bars that operates daily and 1 bar that only opens based on their programmes. Panorama Bar at level 4 is the highest and at the reception. Santai Bar is at level 1 near the pool. Matahari Bar is at the beach. Bagus Bar is dependent on the programmes.

Every day there will be a theme at night after dinner. We had Glee theme, 88 Theme, Elegant Theme. Glee is dressed in black, 88 is tshirt number 88 from club med and elegant is elegant dress up with dinner at poolside. Its like a show for GMs by the GOs. The show will be at the Panggung Theatre.

Alcoholic drinks are free flow at the bars. We kept on trying their cocktails and mocktails that we forgot to drink the actual pure alcoholic drinks. Did not try their beer as it looked really diluted. They have a kids corner at Santai bar and kids menu with kids mocktails. Interesting. Finger food are served at Santai bar from 12pm to 1pm.
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Level 3 has a pavilion that allow you to relax and talk quietly without others disturbing you. Like a privacy corner and its windy there with great views all round the club.
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THE KIDS
There are 3 groups of clubs for kids. Petite club (2-3yo), Mini club (4-10yo) and Teens club (11-17yo). Petite and Mini clubs are beside each other and they have their own pool, slide pool and stage. Teens club are at level 3 with the convention centre level. Rooms at convention centre looked decent and seems big from the outside. They indicated wifi zone but I can't connect when I am in front of the sign.

THE FOOD
Food is so-so. But from the conversation I heard from other GMs who came here before, said it had improved since the last they came as the head chef had changed. But to me, it's so-so. Nothing bad or nothing good. Now, the timing for the food served, are planned carefully.

There are 2 restaurants. The main restaurant is Waterfall and the specialty restaurant is Terrace. The main restaurant serves 3 main meals and the specialty restaurant serves dinner and snacking periods. So all in all, food are served from 7am to 530pm and then 630pm to 9pm. The STARVATION HOUR (I coined it) would be from 530 to 630pm. But we believed it is meant for GMs to go back to their rooms and get ready for the dinner and their themes.

THE GOs
When we are having meals, GOs would be having theirs too but they will asked to join the GMs around. On our first meal there, the GOs chose us and sat down with us. Turn out that there are awkward silence as we don't intend to entertain anyone or the other way round when we are eating.
So to avoid them, here are my tips.
1) there are only 3 2-seater seats which are actually meant for single GMs but we still chose it to avoid the GOs.
2) Lay down all the napkins on the table to indicate you would not want anyone to join you.

THE SPA
Spa Massage is 1 of the better things in club med. There is a buy 2 get 1 free promo and buying the 3rd will get 15% off. So there we go and bought 3 massages and altogether we got 4 massages. Each of us gets to do 2. :D. Total price of the massage is about SGD380. Our first massage in Couple room 1 is ok. The view is obstructed by trees and not really able to see the South China Sea. Just like our room view.
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If you want the honeymoon suite, which have deck chairs and tables at a balcony, you would have to pay 100K rupiah extra which is about SGD15. That's cheap provided you have the time to stay there and enjoy the scenary and tea after the massage. They mentioned that if the place has been fully booked, then there wouldn't have time for GMs to stay there after the massage. That would be a waste of SGD15. But after all massages, you get to laze at their lounge area where there are plenty of seats and tea to sip about. Also plenty of lizards running about getting ready to pounce on you.

D2
THE ISSUE
What a bad night we had. Lizards are plenty when we are on the way back to our room before and after dinner. Throughout the night, wifey complains on lizards noise in the room and in the morning, I heard lizards at 3 different corners of the room and saw 1 frantically crawling across to hide behind the tv. And, that's not all, we saw ants creeping along the walls.
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They allowed us to change to a unit that is just beside the main building. A1201. A for Akasia. Maybe it's much nearer to the main building, that's why the lizards are not that many compared to M. We only found 1 lizard at the balcony. This unit have a better view at the balcony and we get to see the activities at the main building and the pool and garden. So much better. Thumbs up for the change. Thumbs down for the mini bar after changing. Only 1 can of drink and 1 cup noodle.
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After breakfast, we went for the dip in the pool which has various depth. 1.2m til 1.7m. Although no bubbling jacuzzi spots, there is an infinity-like pool that connects to the other smaller pool. After lunch, we check out the sports area where you can do basketball, tennis, badminton, archery, gym, squash etc. At the archery place, we saw 2 monkeys running about the archery place. So afraid that they will drop by and snatch away our things. Archery timings are kinda weird. They only allow family shooting with kids at a certain periods. If without kids, the shooting time is from 330pm to 530pm.
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For dinner, we made a reservation at Terrace during our breakfast at Waterfalls. The ambience is good, except for some insects. The food is so so as well. Nothing much to rave about. The dinner at Terrace is really not filling, so we went to the Waterfalls to have our 2nd round. Seems that a lot of other couples who ate at Terrace did the same as well.
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D3
THE ACTIVITIES
Activities that Club Med has requires sports shoes. 90% of them need sport shoes. So remember to bring them when you go. We will do that the next round. But weather seems to have turn gloomy after lunch. GOs need to clear the main pool for the evening poolside dinner setup. So they are deciding if they should go ahead since it may rain anytime. The chief village Mei is there on site to determine go or no go. So tempted to tell them about the chili and onion on a stick.

We went to the Terrace and check out how it looks like in the day and what it serves. Turns out the food here seems more like main meals than snacks such as nasi goreng, club sandwhich, etc.
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The chief village, Mei, is around and leading the night show. The head chef, Simon, got over to talk to the GMs at our table as he is walking around and checking out the food and getting reviews. He is the only asian head chef in all club meds according to him. After some eating and watching, we went back to the room before the performance ends.
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D4
THE BEACH
The beach activities houses sailing, kayaking, sail ride and beach volleyball. We asked about jet skiing and parasailing and was told by the GOs that they are all about nature and avoid getting motorised stuff. Mayang Sari wins them hands down for water sports.

On day 3, we received a info sheet that is slipped underneath our door. What's worse is that the checkout time stated 10am. My voucher and their website all stated 11am. So I went to reception to check and they said its either or and we can checkout by 11am. Discrepancies in information leads to confused guests and more load at reception. These are the simple things that shouldn't be a problem in the first place.

While waiting for lunch, we parked ourselves at Panorama Bar and I whacked whatever mocktails that we have not tried. In the end, Apple Pie is the best among mocktails, and Pink Paradise is the best in cocktails.
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After lunch, we sat ourselves at the lobby waiting for the bus to ferry terminal and Mei passed by and asked how's our stay. I said OK. She managed to sense something is wrong and decides to pursue further with us. Explained to her about the lizards and ants, and changed rooms. Told her about the discrepancies in the website and given info on the check-out time. She revealed to us she just took over the place for 3 weeks. She will get it rectify and gave us her name card for us to contact her again if we are going back again.


Question is, will she still be there like 2 years later? LOL.

Conclusion:
If you are going for peace, zen, no disturbance, no need activities, Club med is not the place to go. But if you are looking for activities to keep you occupied all day long, all night long, Club med is the place to go.
Then why I still go? Cause of the food. No worries about no food or where to get food.

Summary of our experience
Pros:
- Early \"check-in\" at ferry terminal
- Nice day bed corner for deluxe room.
- Nice chairs at balcony for deluxe room
- Nice pool design
- Good amount of deck chairs at beach
- Food easily available except for \"starvation hour\"
- Spa massage room view is good
- Nice ambience at Terrace in the evening
- Tons of activities

Cons:
- Bad view from M1238 balcony
- Lots of lizards and ants in M1238
- Singapore TV channels not working
- Tons of lizards at M block.
- Signs not lited to identify the blocks at night.
- Wifi is not available everywhere in the resort
- Lighting abit dark for the kerosene light dinner at the Terrace
- Discrepancies in information sheet
- Day before check-out have no house keeping
- No thorough check for the new room that we changed to such as mini bar not full/replenished, bathroom equipment broken.
- No shuttle bus to go other places like pasar oleh oleh. Only TAXIS.
- No room service

[bebebub]

SBKS,

Pls check your pm.

[SBKS]

bebebub:

SBKS,

Pls check your pm.

replied.

[nightlone]

i love club med holidays… in fact i’m going during the national day weekend.

[SBKS]

nightlone:

i love club med holidays... in fact i'm going during the national day weekend.

any special rate for that period?

[nightlone]

er… one adult travel free… one for one…

[SBKS]

nightlone:

er... one adult travel free... one for one....

I see. thanks for sharing.

[SBKS]

anyone can share what is the benefits that is not stated in the website about the silver and gold great member?


most of us who went once would become turquoise GM? then go a few more times and we will get "promoted".

Other than having a car to pick u up at the terminal for GOLD GM, what other tangible stuff do we get? does Gold GM get rooms with better views? Lesser lizards? etc etc?

any gold GM can share?

[nightlone]

just to share… i heard that the cherating resort is the nicest among the ones in SEA. because of logistics, that’s the one we haven’t visited… this august, i planned for cherating, but i hesitated for a day and it became fully booked. sad.