Originally Posted by
DC777Fan
Got the same email in May and they 100% took care of us upon arrival, so YMMV...
We used points for 6 nights at SR Bali May '13 and I don't regret it a bit. Had enough miles to fly there in F (and SPU in F in August '13 and MLE in F Jan '14 and SEZ in F Aug '14, etc), and I'd rather pay points than pay money if they're both options. I also prefer to take vacation halfway across the world because:
1) I get to fly exotic F products which is part of the vacation for me
2) I have zero chance of getting a business call to disrupt my day. If somebody needs me urgently, I'm happy to wake up at 3am, deal with a situation and then go back to sleep, but I know that when the sun is shining, I'm 100% free to enjoy my day.
Yours is the same reason I can't stand vacations in Europe (I'm NYC based). Relaxing mornings, but afternoons and evenings are complete hell. I much prefer a healthy twelve time zones between me and the office.
As for points, I still can't bring myself to redeem for hotels given the monumental opportunity cost. Even with a healthy mileage balance, I can't wrap my head around the poor redemption level. Can you tell that I'm in finance?
Glad you enjoyed it. Very impressive property. We stayed in lagoon villa 826 which worked well with kids due we were at the very far end of the lagoon so didn't bug anybody.
Safe travels, and other ideas welcome. We are doing the north west (Pemuteran?) and north easy of Bali (a villa with a pool slide is all I can remember) next summer. Ironically, last year's vacation WAS disrupted by work, so 2014 is a do-over.
Best, Jamie