Originally Posted by
scottandtracy
just wanted to give an update (for those who had some similar questions to mine prior to a Bali trip).
we just got back last week from a wonderful 11 days in Bali/Java. Cathay F was amazing from SFO and we even scored the F seats on the 747 from HKG to DPS. Great suites, makes flying that far a blast!
As far as hotels go, we were really impressed with the FS Sayan. Beautiful layout and scenery and wonderful people and service. Amankila was nice, but I really expected more from all the hype it has received. definitely a great experience ... but Amanjiwo was the true highlight of our trip!! everything (and I mean everything) was perfect at Amanjiwo. great excursions, wonderful food, caring personnel and seamless customer service -- a perfect stay!
we flew Garuda from DPS -- JOG and then JOG -- Jakarta. I thought the Garuda experience was very nice. planes on time and service good. I'm all for having them in Skyteam next year -- would be a great use of Delta miles in the future!
Found this thread too late. I would have encouraged you to do FS Sayan, then amankila, then amanjiwo, so apparently my advice was not needed. That sequence saves a trip to/from DPS and shortens overall transfer times. Depending on whether it's a first trip to Bali, I might schedule 4 days for FS Sayan and 3 for amankila, since you'll be out touring from Sayan more, as it's that much more convenient as a starting place. In any case, those three are three of my absolute most favorite resorts in the world, so it's hard to go wrong. I too found Garuda nice enough and reliable for our trips BKK-CGK-JOG and JOG-DPS. We departed JOG in the morning, which might have helped avoid delays.
I'm also looking forward to GA joining SkyTeam, as it will open up another way into Bali on SkyTeam, with morning departures from ICN and NRT and redeyes back northward on the A330. Connections aren't perfect to US-bound flights, but can be done.
For our upcoming Christmas-New Year's trip, Mr. Megatop and I will be doing a variation on this itinerary, with the off-Bali part in the middle. Despite the hassle of four transfers in/out of DPS, I decided it was worth it because it avoided having an international connection at DPS on the same day as the trip to or from Moyo Island. So this year, it will be 3 days FS Sayan, then 4 days amanwana on Moyo Island, then 4 days at amankila. Sure, it will be a bunch of time making inter-resort transfers, but we'll see how it goes.
I'm hoping traffic won't be too bad in and out of DPS. If construction on the Dewa Ruci underpass (at Bali Galleria) progresses fast enough to open some stages of the project by December, that would be great. But it's unlikely since the project isn't supposed to be done until May 2013. So anyone doing these transfers should expect delays until the project is completed some time next year.