IAD-ICN-DPS-SIN-MFM-HKG-EWR (First/Biz/LCC) Lux hotels and even a ferry & train ride!
Aug 29, 2014, 11:57 pm
#17
Original Poster
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: BWI
Posts: 1,782
First Class Lounge Visit and Business class flight from ICN-DPS
Once we exited the plane we were met by a nice lady from Korean Air. She escorted us from our gate to the lounge. I seem to remember it was pretty easy, with just one part that I’m not sure I would have realized without asking. I didn’t plot it out ahead of time and didn’t really pay much attention to where we going. Once we got to the lounge she pointed to where we needed to go to get our flight. Not needing any more handholding, we entered the lounge.
Some pics of our lounge visit:
Truth be told, I'm not a huge drinker and they say alcohol isn't so good for you when you fly. They don't mention anything wrong with eating ice cream do they?
Did you know that Haagen Dazs was created by a Jewish couple in New York? See the wikipedia reference.
And one point, you probably thought it was some European brand. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reuben_and_Rose_Mattus
Would you believe there are more than a few Korean Air planes in Korea?
Just a few of them.
Here is a quick pic of part of the lounge. This lounge was fine, but nothing to aspire to. We didn't have much time here and that was fine with us.
Here are our carry-ons. My roll aboard is a newish Eagle Creek Morphus 22". I got it from LuggagePros. They had it on sale and you could buy a giftcard from their online store and they gave you extra bonus credit. I think I bought a $200 gift card and they gave me $250 worth. This bag is a legit 22" and actually unzips into a backpack and a suitcase. Pretty cool. The only thing that was sorta bad was that it could get top heavy and fall over. Oh well.
Just a few shots of some of the food. I didn't want to be that guy in the lounge taking pics of every last thing. Besides, our connection wasn't that long...
It was time to leave the lounge and we made our way to the gate. Just a few pics from our short walk.
I think it eventually scrolled to English
Was this the kid's section of the airport? Looks fun for little kids. Maybe they'll get tired and fall asleep on the flight
I think I'll take the door to the left.
Some more pictures of the food and my seat.
Everyone please pay attention to the next picture. You will see where I stored my brand new Kindle Paperwhite and had it smushed by the seat.
So I went to recline the seat and the Kindle somehow got caught in the seat and the pressure of the seat bent my kindle. Crap. Thankfully, I had my younger daughter's Kindle Fire with me. Please don't let anyone repeat my mistake.
The flight was fine. The crew was nice about my Kindle incident and they said they would write something up. I keep meaning to follow up. The seat was pretty comfortable (sorry for not getting more pictures) and the food good. We had flown over 14 hours previously, so we were pretty anxious to get where we were going.
One thing to note is that once we flew CX home from HKG-EWR it confirmed that not all biz class service is created equal. The Korean was nice, the Cathay excellent.
I'm really glad we used the extra points on the first leg to fly First class. The incremental amount of points was small and the quality was absolutely worth it.
I got some sleep and even finished a movie that I had started on the first flight. IFE was fine and there was a nice selection of movies.
Coming up next is our arrival in Bali and our stays at GHM Legian and Four Seasons Sayan.
Thanks for following along.
Once we exited the plane we were met by a nice lady from Korean Air. She escorted us from our gate to the lounge. I seem to remember it was pretty easy, with just one part that I’m not sure I would have realized without asking. I didn’t plot it out ahead of time and didn’t really pay much attention to where we going. Once we got to the lounge she pointed to where we needed to go to get our flight. Not needing any more handholding, we entered the lounge.
Some pics of our lounge visit:
Truth be told, I'm not a huge drinker and they say alcohol isn't so good for you when you fly. They don't mention anything wrong with eating ice cream do they?
Did you know that Haagen Dazs was created by a Jewish couple in New York? See the wikipedia reference.
And one point, you probably thought it was some European brand. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reuben_and_Rose_Mattus
Would you believe there are more than a few Korean Air planes in Korea?
Just a few of them.
Here is a quick pic of part of the lounge. This lounge was fine, but nothing to aspire to. We didn't have much time here and that was fine with us.
Here are our carry-ons. My roll aboard is a newish Eagle Creek Morphus 22". I got it from LuggagePros. They had it on sale and you could buy a giftcard from their online store and they gave you extra bonus credit. I think I bought a $200 gift card and they gave me $250 worth. This bag is a legit 22" and actually unzips into a backpack and a suitcase. Pretty cool. The only thing that was sorta bad was that it could get top heavy and fall over. Oh well.
Just a few shots of some of the food. I didn't want to be that guy in the lounge taking pics of every last thing. Besides, our connection wasn't that long...
It was time to leave the lounge and we made our way to the gate. Just a few pics from our short walk.
I think it eventually scrolled to English
Was this the kid's section of the airport? Looks fun for little kids. Maybe they'll get tired and fall asleep on the flight
I think I'll take the door to the left.
Some more pictures of the food and my seat.
Everyone please pay attention to the next picture. You will see where I stored my brand new Kindle Paperwhite and had it smushed by the seat.
So I went to recline the seat and the Kindle somehow got caught in the seat and the pressure of the seat bent my kindle. Crap. Thankfully, I had my younger daughter's Kindle Fire with me. Please don't let anyone repeat my mistake.
The flight was fine. The crew was nice about my Kindle incident and they said they would write something up. I keep meaning to follow up. The seat was pretty comfortable (sorry for not getting more pictures) and the food good. We had flown over 14 hours previously, so we were pretty anxious to get where we were going.
One thing to note is that once we flew CX home from HKG-EWR it confirmed that not all biz class service is created equal. The Korean was nice, the Cathay excellent.
I'm really glad we used the extra points on the first leg to fly First class. The incremental amount of points was small and the quality was absolutely worth it.
I got some sleep and even finished a movie that I had started on the first flight. IFE was fine and there was a nice selection of movies.
Coming up next is our arrival in Bali and our stays at GHM Legian and Four Seasons Sayan.
Thanks for following along.
.
.
Sep 1, 2014, 3:01 am
#21
Join Date: Dec 2001
Posts: 3,181
How did you get your flight on Korean?
Using DELTA miles?
Is that Korean dish better than a steak? On JAL F, 35 years ago I stupidly picked the Japanese meal and I thought it was awful. I was too shy to switch. As I am more mature today I would have.
Is it really worth visiting Macao? I went in 1977 and it was a waste of time.
I realise now they have these casinos but I can see them in Las Vegas.
Using DELTA miles?
Is that Korean dish better than a steak? On JAL F, 35 years ago I stupidly picked the Japanese meal and I thought it was awful. I was too shy to switch. As I am more mature today I would have.
Is it really worth visiting Macao? I went in 1977 and it was a waste of time.
I realise now they have these casinos but I can see them in Las Vegas.
Sep 1, 2014, 7:17 am
#22
Original Poster
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: BWI
Posts: 1,782
How did you get your flight on Korean?
Using DELTA miles?
Is that Korean dish better than a steak? On JAL F, 35 years ago I stupidly picked the Japanese meal and I thought it was awful. I was too shy to switch. As I am more mature today I would have.
Is it really worth visiting Macao? I went in 1977 and it was a waste of time.
I realise now they have these casinos but I can see them in Las Vegas.
Using DELTA miles?
Is that Korean dish better than a steak? On JAL F, 35 years ago I stupidly picked the Japanese meal and I thought it was awful. I was too shy to switch. As I am more mature today I would have.
Is it really worth visiting Macao? I went in 1977 and it was a waste of time.
I realise now they have these casinos but I can see them in Las Vegas.
Also, we got to fly directly into Macau, so there's that
UptownEastside- thanks. It's my first long trip report and I'm trying to figure out the best way to lay it out etc. Glad you're enjoying it.
Sep 3, 2014, 10:54 pm
#23
Original Poster
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: BWI
Posts: 1,782
I’m going to limit this post to my review of our first hotel in Bali, the GHM Legian in Seminyak. It has been a few days since my last post, but I’ve had computer problems and tonight was my older daughter’s back to school night. If I had to do a larger post, I am not sure it would be done in a timely manner. Also, The League season 5 just started up on Amazon Prime...
We had arranged through the hotel VIP arrival assistance, where they are supposed to meet us and help fast track us through immigration etc. Just two days before our departure, we received an email from the hotel saying that they were unable to offer this service as there was an inspection at the airport and that all VIP services were being suspended.
We exited the plane and paid the arrival tax. I’m not sure why this is paid in cash and not included in the airfare. Maybe it is easier for the government people to steal? Or they think it lowers the price of the ticket and people won’t notice when they compare vacation destinations? The line to pay the tax was about one hour and should have moved much faster.
We met the driver from the hotel once we had our stuff and proceeded to his car. I think the drive to the hotel took about thirty minutes and we got there pretty late. The car had cold towels, water bottles and I think wifi.
Following are pictures of the hotel building and grounds, as well as some of the foods I enjoyed.
The hotel is very attractive and the grounds are very well kept. There are a lot of nice touches throughout.
Some pictures of the front of the hotel property.
Entertainment in the lobby
Following are some pictures of the pool and beach.
It was great to follow the Orioles from Bali. The games were finished by the time breakfast was finished. Thank god for hotel wifi
The hotel doesn't want you to have sandy feet, so they provide this nice water thingy with a ladle to pour water on your feet.
Look how close the pool is to the beach. This pool was built in the last few years. There were three pools on different tiers. There were only eighty some suites and plenty of chairs/lounging areas for everyone. Children were there, but they were not bothering anyone really.
There were two places to eat at either end of the pool. They had different names, but we couldn't tell the difference. We could have had our lunch lying by the pool, but decided to get a change of scenery and walk ten feet to the restaurant. Yummy food was had by all.
Some food shots:
Awesome breakfasts. They had a pretty good spread, but it didn't change day to day. Everything was awesome.
Some lunch food and a dessert from dinner?
The satay and club sandwich were awesome.
I believe that's a Coke Float and no recollection of what the other thing is.
Room versus Villa
We initially booked six nights in a suite and months later I noticed that they were having a special for the fourth night free if you booked a villa. The price for four nights averaged out to the same as the nightly rate of a suite. We rebooked the first two nights in the suite and then would move to the villa for the final four nights.
As I said previously, we arrived very late at night and we went directly to our suite. It wasn't until the following day that we went to check out the villa. The villa was outside the main property and down a sketchy looking alley. Once in the villa area, it was if you were in your own world. They had their own large pool (common to everyone) and bar/restaurant area. We took a tour of the villa we would get. It was really awesome and private. Outside bathtub, dipping pool and nice areas to sit. However, we decided not to switch to the villas. My wife didn't want to go down the alley to get to the beach. They had golf carts to take you, but the attendant said that mostly everyone in the villas spent the day at the beach.
Luckily, the awesome GM of the hotel was able to get us a room on the third (top) floor of the main building and we "downgraded" to the suite. I don't have any pictures of the villa, but following are pictures of our suite. Most of the pictures are from the first suite we had, even though it was only for the first night. The size was similar, just laid out a little differently.
The powder room was appreciated!
Maybe the best shot for last?
This hotel was awesome! We thought the service was fantastic, the hard product great, the food excellent and a nice location. If you're looking for a first class spot, this is it. If it were closer, we'd go back in a second. I was so impressed and it made me want to try out one of GHM's hotels elsewhere.
Next up I'll share what we did in Bali while based in Seminyak. This includes shopping in town, visiting the W hotel for their Sunday brunch and the temple in Uluwatu.
Thanks for putting up with the large post and following along.
We had arranged through the hotel VIP arrival assistance, where they are supposed to meet us and help fast track us through immigration etc. Just two days before our departure, we received an email from the hotel saying that they were unable to offer this service as there was an inspection at the airport and that all VIP services were being suspended.
We exited the plane and paid the arrival tax. I’m not sure why this is paid in cash and not included in the airfare. Maybe it is easier for the government people to steal? Or they think it lowers the price of the ticket and people won’t notice when they compare vacation destinations? The line to pay the tax was about one hour and should have moved much faster.
We met the driver from the hotel once we had our stuff and proceeded to his car. I think the drive to the hotel took about thirty minutes and we got there pretty late. The car had cold towels, water bottles and I think wifi.
Following are pictures of the hotel building and grounds, as well as some of the foods I enjoyed.
The hotel is very attractive and the grounds are very well kept. There are a lot of nice touches throughout.
Some pictures of the front of the hotel property.
Entertainment in the lobby
Following are some pictures of the pool and beach.
It was great to follow the Orioles from Bali. The games were finished by the time breakfast was finished. Thank god for hotel wifi
The hotel doesn't want you to have sandy feet, so they provide this nice water thingy with a ladle to pour water on your feet.
Look how close the pool is to the beach. This pool was built in the last few years. There were three pools on different tiers. There were only eighty some suites and plenty of chairs/lounging areas for everyone. Children were there, but they were not bothering anyone really.
There were two places to eat at either end of the pool. They had different names, but we couldn't tell the difference. We could have had our lunch lying by the pool, but decided to get a change of scenery and walk ten feet to the restaurant. Yummy food was had by all.
Some food shots:
Awesome breakfasts. They had a pretty good spread, but it didn't change day to day. Everything was awesome.
Some lunch food and a dessert from dinner?
The satay and club sandwich were awesome.
I believe that's a Coke Float and no recollection of what the other thing is.
Room versus Villa
We initially booked six nights in a suite and months later I noticed that they were having a special for the fourth night free if you booked a villa. The price for four nights averaged out to the same as the nightly rate of a suite. We rebooked the first two nights in the suite and then would move to the villa for the final four nights.
As I said previously, we arrived very late at night and we went directly to our suite. It wasn't until the following day that we went to check out the villa. The villa was outside the main property and down a sketchy looking alley. Once in the villa area, it was if you were in your own world. They had their own large pool (common to everyone) and bar/restaurant area. We took a tour of the villa we would get. It was really awesome and private. Outside bathtub, dipping pool and nice areas to sit. However, we decided not to switch to the villas. My wife didn't want to go down the alley to get to the beach. They had golf carts to take you, but the attendant said that mostly everyone in the villas spent the day at the beach.
Luckily, the awesome GM of the hotel was able to get us a room on the third (top) floor of the main building and we "downgraded" to the suite. I don't have any pictures of the villa, but following are pictures of our suite. Most of the pictures are from the first suite we had, even though it was only for the first night. The size was similar, just laid out a little differently.
The powder room was appreciated!
Maybe the best shot for last?
This hotel was awesome! We thought the service was fantastic, the hard product great, the food excellent and a nice location. If you're looking for a first class spot, this is it. If it were closer, we'd go back in a second. I was so impressed and it made me want to try out one of GHM's hotels elsewhere.
Next up I'll share what we did in Bali while based in Seminyak. This includes shopping in town, visiting the W hotel for their Sunday brunch and the temple in Uluwatu.
Thanks for putting up with the large post and following along.
Sep 5, 2014, 8:11 pm
#26
Join Date: Jun 2011
Location: IAH
Programs: UA-1k, AA-EP, HH-D, Marriott-G,HPass-PL, Avis-Pres, Hertz-Pres
Posts: 95
Farbster thank you for taking the time to post the report. Great work as your third and you have given me reason to post my first before the end of the weekend. Subscribed and looking forward to the rest.
Sep 5, 2014, 10:42 pm
#27
Original Poster
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: BWI
Posts: 1,782
Activities Outside GHM Legian
Tonight's post will be on the activities outside GHM Legian. We went walking in Seminyak a bit to shop, ate a few meals off property and also went to Uluwatu.
After a few days of sitting by the pool I decided enough was enough. We gotta get off our butts and see something. Otherwise, what's the point of going all that way if we just sat by the pool. We could have done that in Ocean City, MD if we wanted to do that.
Walk into town
Here are just a few shots from our walk. There are mostly shops with surfer stuff and swimwear and resort wear and what not.
You leave the hotel property and walk down a small street/alley towards Seminyak Square.
Gotta watch out for these offerings. They're all over the place!
We didn't buy much, I think I got one t-shirt. It was fun to walk around a bit and see what was going on.
Meals off property
I think we ate four meals off property. We had dinner at La Lucciola and Ku De Ta. We got the restaurants from someone over at Tripadisor and they were good tips. Not that they were any secret, as they were crowded each night. The concierge made the reservations for us and they were a brief walk/ride. The third meal was at the W Hotel and we also at dinner at the Four Seasons Jimbaran Bay.
La Lucciola was directly on the beach. It reminded me of a kids dollhouse. The restaurant was very open and you had great views of the water. I believe we had the hotel's car drop us off and pick us up.
Sorry for the poor picture quality, but these were at night with my phone.
Ku De Ta was pretty hip. We're not big drinkers and this was definitely a more lively atmosphere compared to La Lucciola. Again, apologies for the poor pictures, but it was dark and with my cell phone. We walked to this restaurant by exciting the hotel and walking on the street for about 5 minutes.
Our wildest meal off property was at the W Hotel. We went for a Sunday brunch. Having been to three different W Hotels, I have to say, I'm not a huge fan. Previous visits have been to NYC (Times Squaare) and Vieques Island. They're too funky, wild and odd. I'll take a St. Regis or GHM or Four Seasons any day. I'm more of a guy that likes to chill instead of party.
I don't personally know the Kardashians family, but the W Hotel and the brunch were how I imagine a Las Vegas pool party hosted by one of the Kardashians. We walked around a bit and kept saying "Oh my god, look at that. Isn't that crazy?" I'm not saying we're fuddy duddies, but it was so different than the Legian. Not a quiet place to relax and I don't believe that the pool had good views of the beach and ocean. The art around the hotel was wild and very interesting to look at.
The hotel had two brunches and we went for the less expensive one. I can't exactly remember what the difference was...I think the one we didn't pick had some more carving down stuff...
Some food pics for your enjoyment. They had some guys cooking outside like the hawker stands. I had a great time eating all the different food.
But seriously, the hotel wasn't that bad. Just not the relaxing vibe/atmosphere of the Legian.
We took a day trip to see the temple at Uluwatu. Every day, the people at the hotel said the traffic was so bad because of the end of Ramadan. It seemed like for a few days in a row, everyone said Ramadan ended the next day. Maybe they had no idea?
We had a driver take us to Uluwatu and then we planned to go to the Rock Bar for a drink and then to the Four Season Jimbaran Bay for dinner. Following are some pictures of our drive there.
The Pizza Hut wasn't a surprise, but the Ace Hardware store was!
Seemed like there were a bunch of Farrah's carpets in Bali.
It's really hard to see, but the scooter in front of us had an attachment on the left that he could mount his surfboard on. Kowabunga dude!
Ok, about those scooters. They're everywhere! People are zipping along, sometimes the whole family on one. The dad will be in front driving and there may be a kid in front of him and another kid sitting behind him, but in front of the mom. What's crazy is that the dad might have a helmet on, but not the kids.
The Temple and the views...
This is the ticket queue. Good thing I had cash, as no credit cards are accepted.
We never made it to the Rock Bar for the sunset, but this was pretty awesome...
Monkeys and the Tory Burch Incident...
Ok, there are lots of wild monkeys here. I really wanted to go to the Monkey Forest in Ubud, but we were told by the concierge at the Four Seasons not to go because the monkeys were acting very aggressive.
During our entire time in Bali, most of the Americans we saw lived in the Middle East, mostly Abu Dhabi and Dubai. I think we only saw one couple from New York at our hotel. We were chatting with some folks and had noticed that they were carrying a large stick, almost a small branch. Several other people had such a stick.
Anyway, the monkey looked at my wife and she looked at the monkey. All of a sudden, the monkey ran over to her and tried to grab her Tory Burch flip flop off her foot. Luckily, the monkey was pulling in the wrong direction. If it had pulled properly, the monkey would have ripped it off her foot and my wife would have been hopping back on one foot. Now I know why people had those sticks. They weren't for walking on uneven ground, they were for beating off the monkeys! Thankfully, the gentleman we were speaking to gave the monkey a few whacks and he ran off.
As the traffic was terrible, we watched the sunset at Uluwatu and therefore skipped the Rock Bar. The drive took a while, but we finally made it to the Four Seasons Jimbaran Bay. The dinner was pretty good. I was not that impressed by the hotel. The view by the water wasn't that great, it seemed that it looked across the bay to some other buildings and there were construction cranes. We didn't get to see the pool. Now we were tired from our long drives, so I wasn't paying strict attention to this hotel.
To compare to other hotels, we also went to visit the Oberoi. That hotel is located very near Ku De Ta. What a disaster. It looked old and there were no good views of the water and the pool area wasn't nice. The restaurant we saw didn't really have views of the water. I mean you're in Bali, why bother to look at the water right?
Well, that's it for this posting. Sorry if it was too many pictures...
I'll try to post tomorrow on our stay at the Four Seasons Sayan and our time in Ubud.
Thanks for following along.
After a few days of sitting by the pool I decided enough was enough. We gotta get off our butts and see something. Otherwise, what's the point of going all that way if we just sat by the pool. We could have done that in Ocean City, MD if we wanted to do that.
Walk into town
Here are just a few shots from our walk. There are mostly shops with surfer stuff and swimwear and resort wear and what not.
You leave the hotel property and walk down a small street/alley towards Seminyak Square.
Gotta watch out for these offerings. They're all over the place!
We didn't buy much, I think I got one t-shirt. It was fun to walk around a bit and see what was going on.
Meals off property
I think we ate four meals off property. We had dinner at La Lucciola and Ku De Ta. We got the restaurants from someone over at Tripadisor and they were good tips. Not that they were any secret, as they were crowded each night. The concierge made the reservations for us and they were a brief walk/ride. The third meal was at the W Hotel and we also at dinner at the Four Seasons Jimbaran Bay.
La Lucciola was directly on the beach. It reminded me of a kids dollhouse. The restaurant was very open and you had great views of the water. I believe we had the hotel's car drop us off and pick us up.
Sorry for the poor picture quality, but these were at night with my phone.
Ku De Ta was pretty hip. We're not big drinkers and this was definitely a more lively atmosphere compared to La Lucciola. Again, apologies for the poor pictures, but it was dark and with my cell phone. We walked to this restaurant by exciting the hotel and walking on the street for about 5 minutes.
Our wildest meal off property was at the W Hotel. We went for a Sunday brunch. Having been to three different W Hotels, I have to say, I'm not a huge fan. Previous visits have been to NYC (Times Squaare) and Vieques Island. They're too funky, wild and odd. I'll take a St. Regis or GHM or Four Seasons any day. I'm more of a guy that likes to chill instead of party.
I don't personally know the Kardashians family, but the W Hotel and the brunch were how I imagine a Las Vegas pool party hosted by one of the Kardashians. We walked around a bit and kept saying "Oh my god, look at that. Isn't that crazy?" I'm not saying we're fuddy duddies, but it was so different than the Legian. Not a quiet place to relax and I don't believe that the pool had good views of the beach and ocean. The art around the hotel was wild and very interesting to look at.
The hotel had two brunches and we went for the less expensive one. I can't exactly remember what the difference was...I think the one we didn't pick had some more carving down stuff...
Some food pics for your enjoyment. They had some guys cooking outside like the hawker stands. I had a great time eating all the different food.
But seriously, the hotel wasn't that bad. Just not the relaxing vibe/atmosphere of the Legian.
We took a day trip to see the temple at Uluwatu. Every day, the people at the hotel said the traffic was so bad because of the end of Ramadan. It seemed like for a few days in a row, everyone said Ramadan ended the next day. Maybe they had no idea?
We had a driver take us to Uluwatu and then we planned to go to the Rock Bar for a drink and then to the Four Season Jimbaran Bay for dinner. Following are some pictures of our drive there.
The Pizza Hut wasn't a surprise, but the Ace Hardware store was!
Seemed like there were a bunch of Farrah's carpets in Bali.
It's really hard to see, but the scooter in front of us had an attachment on the left that he could mount his surfboard on. Kowabunga dude!
Ok, about those scooters. They're everywhere! People are zipping along, sometimes the whole family on one. The dad will be in front driving and there may be a kid in front of him and another kid sitting behind him, but in front of the mom. What's crazy is that the dad might have a helmet on, but not the kids.
The Temple and the views...
This is the ticket queue. Good thing I had cash, as no credit cards are accepted.
We never made it to the Rock Bar for the sunset, but this was pretty awesome...
Monkeys and the Tory Burch Incident...
Ok, there are lots of wild monkeys here. I really wanted to go to the Monkey Forest in Ubud, but we were told by the concierge at the Four Seasons not to go because the monkeys were acting very aggressive.
During our entire time in Bali, most of the Americans we saw lived in the Middle East, mostly Abu Dhabi and Dubai. I think we only saw one couple from New York at our hotel. We were chatting with some folks and had noticed that they were carrying a large stick, almost a small branch. Several other people had such a stick.
Anyway, the monkey looked at my wife and she looked at the monkey. All of a sudden, the monkey ran over to her and tried to grab her Tory Burch flip flop off her foot. Luckily, the monkey was pulling in the wrong direction. If it had pulled properly, the monkey would have ripped it off her foot and my wife would have been hopping back on one foot. Now I know why people had those sticks. They weren't for walking on uneven ground, they were for beating off the monkeys! Thankfully, the gentleman we were speaking to gave the monkey a few whacks and he ran off.
As the traffic was terrible, we watched the sunset at Uluwatu and therefore skipped the Rock Bar. The drive took a while, but we finally made it to the Four Seasons Jimbaran Bay. The dinner was pretty good. I was not that impressed by the hotel. The view by the water wasn't that great, it seemed that it looked across the bay to some other buildings and there were construction cranes. We didn't get to see the pool. Now we were tired from our long drives, so I wasn't paying strict attention to this hotel.
To compare to other hotels, we also went to visit the Oberoi. That hotel is located very near Ku De Ta. What a disaster. It looked old and there were no good views of the water and the pool area wasn't nice. The restaurant we saw didn't really have views of the water. I mean you're in Bali, why bother to look at the water right?
Well, that's it for this posting. Sorry if it was too many pictures...
I'll try to post tomorrow on our stay at the Four Seasons Sayan and our time in Ubud.
Thanks for following along.
Sep 17, 2014, 9:14 pm
#28
Original Poster
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: BWI
Posts: 1,782
Four Seasons Sayan
This segment will mostly cover the Four Seasons Sayan. I’m going to race through this a bit as I’ll never finish if I try to really organize this better. Sorry about that...
We had high expectations for this hotel and quite frankly we were disappointed. We’ve been to Four Seasons hotels in Hawaii, Lisbon and Amman and we’re big fans. In fact, every night we sleep on their mattress at home.
About one month prior to our arrival I was reading a thread on FT that asked if people rechecked their rates at luxury hotels. That made me think about my reservations and I fired up the computer. Indeed there was a special for the nights we would be there. We could either spend a little more and get a villa or save a bit on the same room we reserved. We ended up keeping the room we had, but lowered our rate. I’m not sure if we had upgraded to the villa if that would have changed our perception of the hotel.
What we liked: the property is interesting. I’ve read comments that it’s somewhat like a spaceship that was dropped down and that’s pretty valid. The workers were friendly and our room was nice. The room was convenient to the lobby and we liked that there was a powder room. The pool was small and you could look down on the river. In fact, we were sitting by the pool and a group of people on a white water rapid trip went by. The spa was terrific and we got a massage together. We very rarely get massages, but this was nice. We used our Virtuoso credit towards the massages.
What we didn’t like: this is the troublesome part. It wasn’t that we disliked anything, but we didn’t come away with a “wow” feeling. While the workers were friendly, barely anyone bothered to learn our name. I’m not a snob that expects that people should bow down to me, but the staff at the Legian and in Hualalai made a point to learn our names. Our room had a sofa in the upstairs along with a mini-fridge and tv. We purchased some sodas at a 7-11 in town and stashed them in the fridge. We just had a hard time getting glasses upstairs in the evening and had to get them from downstairs at night. Trivial, but why couldn’t they have more glassware?
The other thing we really didn’t like was the disorganization of the hotel shuttle into Ubud. A hotel of this class should have something better than a minivan with a sign on the dashboard. The bus was late and the cabbies were telling us that they came and went, trying to get us to go in their cab. We figured they were running late and would be there soon. This was correct, but we had to squish in with a bunch of Japanese tourists. We basically confirmed with them that we were standing at the right spot for the pickup. I think the hotel should have a larger bus and also have an agent there in town to make sure you know that the bus is running late. When we went on our Silversea cruises, they always had someone at the tender area (if we didn’t dock at a port). Given the cost of labor in Bali, this should be a no-brainer.
Below are some pictures of the hotel. I’m going to save the food shots for the next post. We also saw the "dance show" they put on at the hotel.
I forgot my camera and phone during our massage, so I had the guy take me in the buggy prior to checkout. These were the pictures I could get of the spa area, as I didn't get to go inside the treatment rooms plus a few more of the grounds.
A few weeks after our return I sent an email to our travel agent saying that we were disappointed in our stay. I wasn’t blaming her, but wanted her to have some feedback. She said that she told us not to stay there. Maybe we ignored her, thinking that the Four Seasons would still be excellent. Frankly, we didn’t want to spend Aman prices. If we had known how nice Legian was, we would have booked the GHM property near Ubud without any hesitation.
I also was conversing with a luxury travel guru on twitter and she said she’d never send anyone to the Four Seasons in Bali. I have to agree with her. There are too many good choices. The disappointment of our stay in Bali almost makes me dismiss the entire chain. They’ll have to really do a great job next time. When will that next time be? No idea, maybe we’re taking a break from luxury trips for a bit…
Do yourself a favor, skip both of the Four Seasons in Bali and try out the GHM properties. The Oberoi in Seminyak looked awful. Really not nice at all. I only mention that because I’m not sure if I said that before.
Thanks for following along. The next post will include our activites near Ubud, including the Elephant Park in Taro, the John Hardy factory and Ubud itself.
We had high expectations for this hotel and quite frankly we were disappointed. We’ve been to Four Seasons hotels in Hawaii, Lisbon and Amman and we’re big fans. In fact, every night we sleep on their mattress at home.
About one month prior to our arrival I was reading a thread on FT that asked if people rechecked their rates at luxury hotels. That made me think about my reservations and I fired up the computer. Indeed there was a special for the nights we would be there. We could either spend a little more and get a villa or save a bit on the same room we reserved. We ended up keeping the room we had, but lowered our rate. I’m not sure if we had upgraded to the villa if that would have changed our perception of the hotel.
What we liked: the property is interesting. I’ve read comments that it’s somewhat like a spaceship that was dropped down and that’s pretty valid. The workers were friendly and our room was nice. The room was convenient to the lobby and we liked that there was a powder room. The pool was small and you could look down on the river. In fact, we were sitting by the pool and a group of people on a white water rapid trip went by. The spa was terrific and we got a massage together. We very rarely get massages, but this was nice. We used our Virtuoso credit towards the massages.
What we didn’t like: this is the troublesome part. It wasn’t that we disliked anything, but we didn’t come away with a “wow” feeling. While the workers were friendly, barely anyone bothered to learn our name. I’m not a snob that expects that people should bow down to me, but the staff at the Legian and in Hualalai made a point to learn our names. Our room had a sofa in the upstairs along with a mini-fridge and tv. We purchased some sodas at a 7-11 in town and stashed them in the fridge. We just had a hard time getting glasses upstairs in the evening and had to get them from downstairs at night. Trivial, but why couldn’t they have more glassware?
The other thing we really didn’t like was the disorganization of the hotel shuttle into Ubud. A hotel of this class should have something better than a minivan with a sign on the dashboard. The bus was late and the cabbies were telling us that they came and went, trying to get us to go in their cab. We figured they were running late and would be there soon. This was correct, but we had to squish in with a bunch of Japanese tourists. We basically confirmed with them that we were standing at the right spot for the pickup. I think the hotel should have a larger bus and also have an agent there in town to make sure you know that the bus is running late. When we went on our Silversea cruises, they always had someone at the tender area (if we didn’t dock at a port). Given the cost of labor in Bali, this should be a no-brainer.
Below are some pictures of the hotel. I’m going to save the food shots for the next post. We also saw the "dance show" they put on at the hotel.
I forgot my camera and phone during our massage, so I had the guy take me in the buggy prior to checkout. These were the pictures I could get of the spa area, as I didn't get to go inside the treatment rooms plus a few more of the grounds.
A few weeks after our return I sent an email to our travel agent saying that we were disappointed in our stay. I wasn’t blaming her, but wanted her to have some feedback. She said that she told us not to stay there. Maybe we ignored her, thinking that the Four Seasons would still be excellent. Frankly, we didn’t want to spend Aman prices. If we had known how nice Legian was, we would have booked the GHM property near Ubud without any hesitation.
I also was conversing with a luxury travel guru on twitter and she said she’d never send anyone to the Four Seasons in Bali. I have to agree with her. There are too many good choices. The disappointment of our stay in Bali almost makes me dismiss the entire chain. They’ll have to really do a great job next time. When will that next time be? No idea, maybe we’re taking a break from luxury trips for a bit…
Do yourself a favor, skip both of the Four Seasons in Bali and try out the GHM properties. The Oberoi in Seminyak looked awful. Really not nice at all. I only mention that because I’m not sure if I said that before.
Thanks for following along. The next post will include our activites near Ubud, including the Elephant Park in Taro, the John Hardy factory and Ubud itself.
