MegatopLover

FWIW, I went ahead and booked the service. They've told me they'll meet us upon disembarkation from the aircraft. Although the cost is not great, I'm not one to just throw away forty clams per person, so I hope the service delivers some value. Since it's our first time passing through CGK, I suspect it will at a minimum help us get sorted.

paul2

There's still some confusion as to whether Amanresorts has been sold.
Here's the latest twist from Gallivanters on Twitter :

http://twitter.com/#!/Gallivanters/s...10518500642816

Kagehitokiri

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/th...latter/886037/
http://www.thephuketnews.com/news-bu...cord-27942.php
suggests record sale on phuket is ~$8mm at sri panwa (not amanpuri/trisara?)
subject is top villa at cape yamu, not sure if optional hotel management or not

http://www.thephuketnews.com/news-lo...ated-27911.php
surin (no longer ghm but next to amanpuri) runs into zoning trouble

MegatopLover

Here's my report on how things went:

We were slightly delayed leaving Bangkok for some reason, the door closed and everything ready to roll but we went nowhere for a good 20 minutes. That started to make things feel tight in terms of making our connection. We landed at CGK and taxied to a remote parking stand. Upon disembarkation down a flight of airstairs, we were taken into a GA van for Executive Class pax and driven a good distance across the field to a door that led into the International Arrivals pier. From there, we walked down a hall and were met by the Aman Concierge Service. The entire hall was stark empty-- no pax at all at Visa on Arrival, regular Immigration desks, nothing. The Concierge whisked us this way and that, and took my passport and $25 in cash US dollars for the visa on arrival, as well as Mr. Megatop's passport to get the regular stamp. We were shown down a side area (not that it mattered) and past the regular immigration desks. The Concierge caught up to us and waited with us at the baggage carousel.

GA delivered the bags very quickly. I noticed baggage boys pulling the Exec Class bags off the belt and taking them to a small waiting area, where I gather we could have waited. Once we retreived our bags, the Concierge took the cart and led us to the Customs check. Hand-carry baggage only was put through the x-ray. Then the Concierge took us to the GA transit desk, where he left our bags in GA's hands for sending back outside (they were through-checked in BKK for JOG but we had to retreive at CGK, similar to the procedure in the US). He showed us upstairs to the departures hall and walked us straight to our seats in the GA lounge, which was pretty comfortable, all things considered.

After thinking our connection was tightening up, I was pleasantly surprised to get a good 30 minutes in the lounge to chill out and have a light bite. At departure time, we walked out to the GA domestic departure piers, clearing security on the way. The small departure lounge held a couple of flights. When ours to JOG was ready, a crush for the door began, no priority call (in English anyway) or lane. Once through the gate's doorway, we went down a flight of stairs. Another van was there waiting for Executive Class pax, though you had to know to identify yourself/ask for it. The van took us back to the remote stands, the plane adjacent to the one we arrived from BKK on.

At JOG, another van took us for a very short drive (we could have walked easily) from the airstairs to the Executive lounge, then dark and pretty much closed. The amanjiwo staff asked us to wait there, not really explaining why or what was going on, offered us drinks and asked for the baggage-claim tags (a clue!). We waited about 10 or 15 minutes after disembarking, then were told that our bags had been claimed and we were all set to go. When shown to the amanjiwo car, our bags were already loaded in the back, and we climbed in. We drove out of JOG at the stroke of 9:30 pm, and we pulled into amanjiwo right at 10:30. Though less scenic, the drive was much smoother and faster than the longer winding road from SOC.

For our departure, we left from amanjiwo at 5:45 am and made it to JOG at 6:45 am, though morning traffic was starting to choke up in Yogyakarta. When we return to amanjiwo, we will definitely route through JOG again and would recommend it to anyone.

Kagehitokiri

very detailed, thanks ^

MegatopLover

Does anyone have recent comments on amanwana?

Groombridge's report on aging facilities is a bit concerning (very detailed TR, much appreciated). That said, people have complained that amandari needed a refresh, but we found it perfectly agreeable. paul2, whose opinions/reviews I know and trust, had quite favorable things to say about amanwana, so I'm very interested in recent reviews-- particularly whether any of the facilities concerns by Groombridge have been addressed.

BTW: Greetings from Suite 27 at amankila!

Kagehitokiri

in Groombridge's 2010 thread >

amandari closed for renovations from oct 26 2008 > jan 22 2009

feb 4 2009
feb 5 2009
oct 3 2010
apr 27 2011
jul 6 2011
dec 27 2011

damaxer91

Anyone have an idea as to when Hotel Bora Bora will re-open?

ridefar

Good news: Monty (from Amanusa) is the GM, so it looks like the project is actually moving ahead.

Bad news: Rumors I have heard is that it is at least a 2013 opening.

Kagehitokiri

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/17423090-post28.html
page 186 has not good looking financials?
DLF acquired aman at the end of 2007
announcement was after bear stearns (mar 2008) but before lehman brothers (sep 2008)
cyclone oli (feb 2010) may have done damage
all we can do is hope someone good buys aman from DLF

paul2

Thank you Megatoplover! Glad to hear your trip is going well. Enjoy Amankila. I really like Amanwana as I do Amanjiwo. They are probably my two favourite Amans. Are you thinking of going on from Amankila to Amanwana shortly? If you are, I think you should talk to the GM at 'kila as the GM's visit each other fairly regularly in Indonesia.
We spent a few Christmas/New Years there and loved it (as well as other times). Actually, I have never faulted the place. If you haven't been before, do go, it's a special place IMHO.

MegatopLover

I'm looking ahead to next year and figuring out what we're going to do for Christmas. This time last year, we already had amanjiwo-amankila booked.

I am going to talk to Tracy today about amanwana to get her take.

Two additional questions:

1. If we do amankila-amanwana next year instead of amandari-amanwana, will we be bored with the quietness/remoteness aspects of both places?

I'm a bit worried that the solitude of amankila, followed by the remoteness of amanwana will leave us stir crazy. I'm also thinking that as much as we love amankila (it's probably our singular favorite resort in the world), we might get a little more cultural immersion at amandari, being closer to Ubud and with much better access to Balinese aritsan and craftsman workshops for shopping.

2. amanwana used to publish two transfer options from DPS to amanwana: Air Travira floatplanes directly into amanwana, and Trans Nusa prop planes to Sumbawa Airport, followed by a boat transfer to the resort. It seems that recently a higher-speed boat has gone into service at amanwana. Yet the website no longer lists TransNusa as an option. From the web, it looks like Trans Nusa is still operating that route. Any ideas why the option is no longer listed? Besides the dramatic arrival experience on the float plane, which has been thoroughly covered on FT, any comments on the alternatives?

The float plane runs $400 nett PER PERSON EACH WAY. For two pax, that's $1600 in transfer costs roundtrip. If we stay four nights, that adds $400 per night to the expense, nearly 50% of the room rate. By comparison, TransNusa is shown as $150 nett per person each way. For two pax, that's a savings of $1000. Re my comments up-thread about not throwing away forty clams, it goes twenty-five fold when we're talking about a thousand samoleans.

Also, the float plane has a strict baggage limitation of 15 kg per pax. I'm not exactly known for traveling light, so this could be a serious problem.

FlyerEC

Well, the flights are seasonal .
If you're the only ones on the float plane - the " amount " of luggage won't be a problem
The new boat is good to ensure your baggage situation is taken care of but you can expect flight delays, etc.
I won't be bored with this combination.
CHRISTmas at Amankila will be quite lovely from what I gather from Tracy .
You can always do day trips to Ubud, etc. I even had dinner at Seminyak one evening - the ride at night is quite fast as there's less traffic & like none after dinner!
Have a good chat with Tracy , looking forward to seeing her next month

MegatopLover

Apparently amanresorts are no longer recommending Trans Nusa flights, which make a 20-minute stop in Lombok on the way to Sumbawa, because the service has been found unreliable. Flights would get delayed or cancelled with little explanation or recourse, and guests wound up missing international connections at DPS. (Perhaps this is what FlyerEC was alluding to.) It is still an option, though.

I suppose one could book the floatplane when connections are important and the Trans Nusa routing when they're not as important. As long as one could deal with the baggage limitation o/w, of course.

behuman

Great service from Aman as CGK is not really the place you want to transit and GA is even less the airline you want to fly.

Routing through JOG you are missing the very nice drive from SOC (Solo City) to Amanijwo. There are two routes, one over the mountains (spectacular volcanoes) and another via a fantastic Khmer style temple.

Also flying through SIN with MI is a breeze and their Saturday flight is at a convenient time. The Tuesday and Thursday flights are a little bit early.