SQ Y Singapore to Jakarta and the Mulia Hotel ...
You could also say: Died for nothing....
Jun 13, 2016, 5:59 am
#20
Original Poster
Join Date: Dec 2012
Posts: 1,674
Trip Report: Jakarta – Singapore on Singapore Airlines SQ963 May 2016
Since I was staying at the Mulia Senayan (you can find the review I wrote on my stay here) it was just a matter of hopping in a taxi to the airport. But when to leave?! This was a Sunday so would the traffic be bad or terrible? Since I don’t have lounge access I didn’t really want to leave the Mulia too early — after all, lounging in the Mulia sounds certainly much more appealing than trying to find somewhere to sit at the airport. At the same time, I didn’t want to miss my flight entirely. Rather than risk it, I thought leaving slightly earlier would make more sense, and that I would get to the airport at least 2 hours before my flight.
In the meantime I went to Senayan City to get some late lunch. I had already had a late breakfast so getting lunch a bit later made sense. Unfortunately I seem to have forgotten how much I had eaten for breakfast and probably had eyes bigger than my belly…. but when you are presented with such a wide variety of delicious looking food, I couldn’t restrain myself
As a newbie with this kind of layout, the main lady was kind enough to point me at the food I was looking for. I had tempe, chicken liver satay, kang kong and kerop. I thought it was all pretty good. I could barely eat the satay though — the liver was so rich. After having a buffet breakfast it was just too much for me!
After spending a couple of hours wandering around Senayan City I headed back to the hotel for an hour. The traffic seemed reasonably clear so I thought I would relax in the reception which has some nice chairs… and of course I fell asleep … yes .. that’s right. In. The. Reception!
And by the time I woke up it was time to head to the airport.
... the rest is still to come
You can catch other travels on the globetrekka blog
In the meantime I went to Senayan City to get some late lunch. I had already had a late breakfast so getting lunch a bit later made sense. Unfortunately I seem to have forgotten how much I had eaten for breakfast and probably had eyes bigger than my belly…. but when you are presented with such a wide variety of delicious looking food, I couldn’t restrain myself
As a newbie with this kind of layout, the main lady was kind enough to point me at the food I was looking for. I had tempe, chicken liver satay, kang kong and kerop. I thought it was all pretty good. I could barely eat the satay though — the liver was so rich. After having a buffet breakfast it was just too much for me!
After spending a couple of hours wandering around Senayan City I headed back to the hotel for an hour. The traffic seemed reasonably clear so I thought I would relax in the reception which has some nice chairs… and of course I fell asleep … yes .. that’s right. In. The. Reception!
And by the time I woke up it was time to head to the airport.
... the rest is still to come
You can catch other travels on the globetrekka blog
Jun 13, 2016, 7:20 am
#21
Join Date: Jan 2014
Location: Denver, Colorado
Programs: IHG Spire, Hilton Honors Gold, Marriott Titanium, Mileage Plus Gold
Posts: 1,736
Gym
Given my propensity to go crazy with food, I have decided that if I go away for more than a couple of days I must make every effort to go to do some exercise. The Mulia has a recently refurbished gym which you can see from the below is pretty decent.
I realise I made a mistake. Having packed light, I didn’t have space to add my gym shoes, so I had to ask them if they lent out shoes. Now, I was thinking maybe a couple of bucks. But no. 150,000IDR which translates into about US$10! I was like, that’s the easiest money that a hotel can earn.
Don’t get me wrong, I think we should probably have to pay to borrow shoes, but US$10 a time? Really?! I mean, you can see the shoes below, but is it really worth 150,000 IDR? I think not! If I was staying there for three days and went to the gym all three days, I could probably go out and buy a decent pair by myself.
Anyway, second rant over. I’ve done a quick compilation of the facilities are available. I didn’t take a picture inside the changing room as there were people using it at the time but there is a sauna and steam room (which was undergoing repairs at the time).
As it’s a new facility, all the machines were brand new and it really great working condition. They provide plastic glasses (not the small cups but big glasses) which you can fill with fruit infused water. Not entirely sure the logic behind this as it’s easy to knock these over when you are working out.
Now, if you take a close look at the bottom left picture you will see at the far end, a tennis court. Yes that’s right a tennis court. In fact there are a couple. You can borrow tennis rackets and balls there.
Opening Times: 6am – 11pm
You can also find the Mulia review on my blog here
Given my propensity to go crazy with food, I have decided that if I go away for more than a couple of days I must make every effort to go to do some exercise. The Mulia has a recently refurbished gym which you can see from the below is pretty decent.
I realise I made a mistake. Having packed light, I didn’t have space to add my gym shoes, so I had to ask them if they lent out shoes. Now, I was thinking maybe a couple of bucks. But no. 150,000IDR which translates into about US$10! I was like, that’s the easiest money that a hotel can earn.
Don’t get me wrong, I think we should probably have to pay to borrow shoes, but US$10 a time? Really?! I mean, you can see the shoes below, but is it really worth 150,000 IDR? I think not! If I was staying there for three days and went to the gym all three days, I could probably go out and buy a decent pair by myself.
Anyway, second rant over. I’ve done a quick compilation of the facilities are available. I didn’t take a picture inside the changing room as there were people using it at the time but there is a sauna and steam room (which was undergoing repairs at the time).
As it’s a new facility, all the machines were brand new and it really great working condition. They provide plastic glasses (not the small cups but big glasses) which you can fill with fruit infused water. Not entirely sure the logic behind this as it’s easy to knock these over when you are working out.
Now, if you take a close look at the bottom left picture you will see at the far end, a tennis court. Yes that’s right a tennis court. In fact there are a couple. You can borrow tennis rackets and balls there.
Opening Times: 6am – 11pm
You can also find the Mulia review on my blog here
DSC06780 by B H, on Flickr
Jun 16, 2016, 5:25 am
#22
Original Poster
Join Date: Dec 2012
Posts: 1,674
Wow! That makes me jealous!!! I hate that the Mulia charged so much for it!
Jun 16, 2016, 5:33 am
#23
Original Poster
Join Date: Dec 2012
Posts: 1,674
As I mentioned earlier, I had already established that there were three reasonably reliable taxi operators, and since I was pretty sure I could cope with the journey back to the airport without the hotel car service. So instead I took the SilverBird option. The Silver Birds are Mercedes and from what I remember, pretty reasonably priced. The main difference between the BlueBird and SilverBird is that the Mulia has the SilverBirds on call 24/7. So if you need to get somewhere, you just ask for a SilverBird and within a minute or two one will make it’s way to the reception. However, you have to pay for that privilege, which is a minimum fee of IDR50k (about US$3.75) – which is nothing really. If cost really is an issue, and you still want to take a cab, you can choose the BlueBird which is the cheaper cousin of the SilverBird, and sit under the BlueBird umbrella.
Of course you have to pay for the tolls on the way to the airport, but again the cost is very very low for visitors.
On my way into the airport, I got to see these three birds – SQ, EK and QR. The Singapore Airlines plane looks like a B777 which was the prior flight (let me know if I am wrong).
You will need Gate 1 for Singapore Airlines
As soon as you get through the entrance you will need to go through an initial security screen.
Here they check your ticket and scan your luggage. This was nice and quick, but I can imagine if it were a week day and there were a lot more people, that this would definitely become a choke point and lead to massive queues.
And when you are through you make your way to the left hand side to where the Singapore Airlines check in desks are situated. Interestingly (for geeks), there are some “normal” desks with a conveyor for checked in luggage and to the far left there are SQ desks but without conveyors — yes geeky but I thought it weird that SQ would put up with that, when there were more desks available which had conveyors, being a premium airline and all.
When I got to the desk it turned out that the incoming flight was running pretty late so they were still trying to check in people for that flight.
Then, rather annoyingly immigration is at the other end of the airport. So you have to make a bit of trip to get all the way over. Fortunately when I got there, there wasn’t a huge queue and actually no one at the APEC lane, including a immigration officer. The officer was standing in another booth and came over as soon as he saw me join the queue. Unfortunately I think he had just come on duty and hadn’t brought any of his stamps and needed to go the office. As he walked past me I looked behind and saw a queue now forming at the APEC line. Ironic that I think the normal immigration queues were much faster!!! Anyway, once he got back it was a matter of a few quick chops of the stamp and I was on my way and on my way to find some small souvenirs from the shops.
Speaking of shops. There are quite a number of shops but they are basically all variations on a theme. Really really poor offering.
I still had my lounge access from my Citibank card — Priority Pass. But did I want to use it up here? I decided that I would reserve it for my flights later this year. As I didn’t have lounge access, I made my way to the gate after going to the shops and saw the Esplanade Lounge that is used by SQ at Jakarta airport.
Since I didn’t have lounge access and I’m not a good blagger, I didn’t try to get in and take photos.
After taking this and having people staring at this weirdo taking a photo and then not going in, I made my way to the gate – which was D2.
Bear in mind that the gate doesn’t necessarily mean that you need to follow the signs quite closely. There is a travelator on the right hand side but that will take you beyond D2! Fortunately I worked that out before I stepped on, as I saw a family who got on and then have to walk all the way back round.
There is a security check at this stage, but there were a number of xray machines (if I remember correctly) and it only took a minute or two.
Also for information there are no shops to speak of once you go through this xray so do your shopping beforehand. What limited shopping there is!
The actual waiting lounges are actually two the left once you make it through security, jutting out, almost like little islands for each gate.
Sorry the picture isn’t very clear. Sometimes panoramas come out blurry, maybe it’s the speed I am taking it. Any suggestions?
The advantage of having these island like promontories meant you can get a decent view of the tarmac. Right next door was an Emirates (I’m assuming a 777 but please feel free to correct me)
Unfortunately I couldn’t get a full body shot of the a350 like one can do at most Changi gates. Here the jet bridge really got in the way. How annoying. And when I got to Singapore it was too dark to take a photo. Darn!
Here is the nose and back end of the A350, but I did manage to get a good picture of the winglet. I am astounded that such a simple piece of technology is able to save them so much — apparently reducing fuel burn by up to 4%!
What is interesting is that I mentioned in my outbound trip report that I was very excited about the A350 ULR, and it appears that "SIA To Expand US Operations With Non-Stop San Francisco Flights And Second Daily Los Angeles Service" using the A350-900.
I won't be going for that trip for sure, but awaiting the 2018 ULR!!!
The rest of the report is coming, but for those too impatient to wait for more of my reports, you can find more on the globetrekka blog.
Of course you have to pay for the tolls on the way to the airport, but again the cost is very very low for visitors.
On my way into the airport, I got to see these three birds – SQ, EK and QR. The Singapore Airlines plane looks like a B777 which was the prior flight (let me know if I am wrong).
You will need Gate 1 for Singapore Airlines
As soon as you get through the entrance you will need to go through an initial security screen.
Here they check your ticket and scan your luggage. This was nice and quick, but I can imagine if it were a week day and there were a lot more people, that this would definitely become a choke point and lead to massive queues.
And when you are through you make your way to the left hand side to where the Singapore Airlines check in desks are situated. Interestingly (for geeks), there are some “normal” desks with a conveyor for checked in luggage and to the far left there are SQ desks but without conveyors — yes geeky but I thought it weird that SQ would put up with that, when there were more desks available which had conveyors, being a premium airline and all.
When I got to the desk it turned out that the incoming flight was running pretty late so they were still trying to check in people for that flight.
Then, rather annoyingly immigration is at the other end of the airport. So you have to make a bit of trip to get all the way over. Fortunately when I got there, there wasn’t a huge queue and actually no one at the APEC lane, including a immigration officer. The officer was standing in another booth and came over as soon as he saw me join the queue. Unfortunately I think he had just come on duty and hadn’t brought any of his stamps and needed to go the office. As he walked past me I looked behind and saw a queue now forming at the APEC line. Ironic that I think the normal immigration queues were much faster!!! Anyway, once he got back it was a matter of a few quick chops of the stamp and I was on my way and on my way to find some small souvenirs from the shops.
Speaking of shops. There are quite a number of shops but they are basically all variations on a theme. Really really poor offering.
I still had my lounge access from my Citibank card — Priority Pass. But did I want to use it up here? I decided that I would reserve it for my flights later this year. As I didn’t have lounge access, I made my way to the gate after going to the shops and saw the Esplanade Lounge that is used by SQ at Jakarta airport.
Since I didn’t have lounge access and I’m not a good blagger, I didn’t try to get in and take photos.
After taking this and having people staring at this weirdo taking a photo and then not going in, I made my way to the gate – which was D2.
Bear in mind that the gate doesn’t necessarily mean that you need to follow the signs quite closely. There is a travelator on the right hand side but that will take you beyond D2! Fortunately I worked that out before I stepped on, as I saw a family who got on and then have to walk all the way back round.
There is a security check at this stage, but there were a number of xray machines (if I remember correctly) and it only took a minute or two.
Also for information there are no shops to speak of once you go through this xray so do your shopping beforehand. What limited shopping there is!
The actual waiting lounges are actually two the left once you make it through security, jutting out, almost like little islands for each gate.
Sorry the picture isn’t very clear. Sometimes panoramas come out blurry, maybe it’s the speed I am taking it. Any suggestions?
The advantage of having these island like promontories meant you can get a decent view of the tarmac. Right next door was an Emirates (I’m assuming a 777 but please feel free to correct me)
Unfortunately I couldn’t get a full body shot of the a350 like one can do at most Changi gates. Here the jet bridge really got in the way. How annoying. And when I got to Singapore it was too dark to take a photo. Darn!
Here is the nose and back end of the A350, but I did manage to get a good picture of the winglet. I am astounded that such a simple piece of technology is able to save them so much — apparently reducing fuel burn by up to 4%!
What is interesting is that I mentioned in my outbound trip report that I was very excited about the A350 ULR, and it appears that "SIA To Expand US Operations With Non-Stop San Francisco Flights And Second Daily Los Angeles Service" using the A350-900.
I won't be going for that trip for sure, but awaiting the 2018 ULR!!!
The rest of the report is coming, but for those too impatient to wait for more of my reports, you can find more on the globetrekka blog.
Jun 16, 2016, 10:36 am
#24
Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: CGK
Programs: FlyingBlue | Krisflyer | SPG | HHonors
Posts: 1,563
Try staying at the new Fairmont Jakarta next time which is along the same stretch of road as the Mulia. While the Mulia is nice, there has been a lot of new entrants in the luxury hotel market in Jakarta which offers much better location IMO.
And last I stayed in a Fairmont, they loaned out gym attire for free, including shoes, shirt and shorts. They even included a sock which I could keep.
And last I stayed in a Fairmont, they loaned out gym attire for free, including shoes, shirt and shorts. They even included a sock which I could keep.
Jun 20, 2016, 5:33 am
#25
Original Poster
Join Date: Dec 2012
Posts: 1,674
Try staying at the new Fairmont Jakarta next time which is along the same stretch of road as the Mulia. While the Mulia is nice, there has been a lot of new entrants in the luxury hotel market in Jakarta which offers much better location IMO.
And last I stayed in a Fairmont, they loaned out gym attire for free, including shoes, shirt and shorts. They even included a sock which I could keep.
And last I stayed in a Fairmont, they loaned out gym attire for free, including shoes, shirt and shorts. They even included a sock which I could keep.
I'll look at the Fairmont next time!
Compared with the Mulia, the Fairmont's offering of loaning free gym attire seems far more reasonable.
Jun 22, 2016, 5:32 am
#26
Original Poster
Join Date: Dec 2012
Posts: 1,674
SQ963 CGK-SIN
May 2016
A350-900
Class: Economy
Estimated duration: 1hr 50mins
Scheduled Departure: 18:05
Actual Departure: 18:23
Scheduled Arrival: 20:55
Actual Arrival: 20:47
Plane registration: 9V-SMB
Delivered in April 2016.
So the plane on this leg was also the Airbus A350-900, compared with the B777 for my outbound journey. For those of you that didn’t read/don’t want to read, the summary is that I am very excited about introduction about the A350-900 ULR and really want to get on the inaugural flight …. in 2018! HAHA!!!
I took quite a number of photos of the new business class, but I thought that this one photo really show it well. Really, really elegant. I liked the older style business class (the ones that are with the A380) but they are good for size. As they say size doesn’t matter, and in this case they have really made good use of the space. I also the like the colours. Although I was a big fan of the A380 business class colour scheme, the light colours seem to show age more easily as they can stain and so on.
There were actually people in Premium Economy so I decided not to take too many photos. Here is the one photo that shows the space reasonably well.
I don’t do this for a living so I can only afford economy class travel … yes awwww I hear you say.
Unfortunately the seat photo was really blurred so I’m glad at least one of these photos came out reasonably well. I really like the new layout. The tv is really clear and the control very convenient in the seat back — much easier to deal with than when travelling on the older planes. Also you can tell this is made for the e-generation — lots and lots of ports!!! Love it!
And as usual I ordered a special meal. For this leg of the journey I pre-ordered a hindu non-vegetarian meal – for the unintiated what this actually means is spicy meal with no possibility of serving beef. As you will already know, I don’t really eat beef so this is a good option for me.
Once again, the irony of leaving after the scheduled departure time, and arriving before the scheduled arrival time.
What is there to say about Changi? Quick and efficient. I was out and in a cab within 30mins of landing with a couple of cans of Guinness from duty free….
Thanks SQ for a great flight!!!!
You can find the full trip report at this link
May 2016
A350-900
Class: Economy
Estimated duration: 1hr 50mins
Scheduled Departure: 18:05
Actual Departure: 18:23
Scheduled Arrival: 20:55
Actual Arrival: 20:47
Plane registration: 9V-SMB
Delivered in April 2016.
So the plane on this leg was also the Airbus A350-900, compared with the B777 for my outbound journey. For those of you that didn’t read/don’t want to read, the summary is that I am very excited about introduction about the A350-900 ULR and really want to get on the inaugural flight …. in 2018! HAHA!!!
I took quite a number of photos of the new business class, but I thought that this one photo really show it well. Really, really elegant. I liked the older style business class (the ones that are with the A380) but they are good for size. As they say size doesn’t matter, and in this case they have really made good use of the space. I also the like the colours. Although I was a big fan of the A380 business class colour scheme, the light colours seem to show age more easily as they can stain and so on.
There were actually people in Premium Economy so I decided not to take too many photos. Here is the one photo that shows the space reasonably well.
I don’t do this for a living so I can only afford economy class travel … yes awwww I hear you say.
Unfortunately the seat photo was really blurred so I’m glad at least one of these photos came out reasonably well. I really like the new layout. The tv is really clear and the control very convenient in the seat back — much easier to deal with than when travelling on the older planes. Also you can tell this is made for the e-generation — lots and lots of ports!!! Love it!
And as usual I ordered a special meal. For this leg of the journey I pre-ordered a hindu non-vegetarian meal – for the unintiated what this actually means is spicy meal with no possibility of serving beef. As you will already know, I don’t really eat beef so this is a good option for me.
Once again, the irony of leaving after the scheduled departure time, and arriving before the scheduled arrival time.
What is there to say about Changi? Quick and efficient. I was out and in a cab within 30mins of landing with a couple of cans of Guinness from duty free….
Thanks SQ for a great flight!!!!
You can find the full trip report at this link
Jun 22, 2016, 7:40 am
#27
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Germany
Programs: Some
Posts: 11,503
And as usual I ordered a special meal. For this leg of the journey I pre-ordered a hindu non-vegetarian meal – for the unintiated what this actually means is spicy meal with no possibility of serving beef. As you will already know, I don’t really eat beef so this is a good option for me.
Jun 25, 2016, 1:32 am
#28
Original Poster
Join Date: Dec 2012
Posts: 1,674
Jul 1, 2016, 10:25 pm
#30
Join Date: Jun 2016
Location: Jakarta, Indonesia
Programs: GarudaMiles, KrisFlyer, FlyingBlue
Posts: 163
amazing report, sir... being in SQ's A350 is one of my dream...
but at least I've tried the premium economy seats during their exhibition in Senayan City, around 2 months ago...
but at least I've tried the premium economy seats during their exhibition in Senayan City, around 2 months ago...
