Some points to note when you travel to Bintan, Indonesia:
1) Bintan is an hour behind of Singapore. If it is 12pm noon time now, Bintan is at 11am in the morning.
2) Singaporeans and Malaysians are not required to fill up white card when entering Indonesia.
3) According to Bank of Indonesia's regulations from September 2014 onwards, Bintan only accepts Indonesia Rupiah (IDR). **extracted from The Canopi Resort based on their check-in instructions**
**~Day One : Singapore - Bintan~**
Our breakfast at Killiney Cafe, the only eatery place at Tanah Merah Ferry Terminal. Do reach earlier as the queue is pretty long. After you queued up for food, you would still need to queue up to collect your boarding pass at Bintan Resort Ferries counter. Then you continue to queue up to check in at the Custom. If you are only bringing a small luggage, don't bother to check in your luggage as it saves more time than waiting to collect them later.
Our excitement written all over our faces while waiting to board the ferry.
Once we reached Bandar Bentan Telani Ferry Terminal, we looked out for the "Canopi" sign. There were many signs for other resorts, so just make sure that you do not board the wrong shuttle bus. Check-in time is at 3pm and I had requested for The Canopi to arrange a Kelong lunch for us. To get to the Kelong, we had to travel 5 minutes by road and another 5 minutes by boat.
If you go for the Mangrove Tour, you will have your dinner at Kampoeng Kelong Seafood Restaurant @ Mangrove River. As we went there for lunch, most of the items on the menu had already sold out. That was quite disappointing and the prawns were not fresh as well. You could probably check out other Kelong restaurants around the area.
Total damage for a steamed fish, salted egg prawns, two plates of vegetables, a claypot beancurd and some fruit juices plus soft drinks = SGD134.00 with the current rate of SGD1.00 is to IDR10,480.00.
The Canopi Bintan used to be under the same owner as Treasure Bay. However, Marriott bought over The Canopi starting from February 2019 and the resort had since been renamed to The Canopi Bintan, A Tribute Portfolio Resort. Therefore, please forget whatever you had experienced previously during your stay with The Canopi.
Everything had changed. You are no longer able to charge all your activities on the wristband provided upon check-in and settle the bill when checking out. No one would be whats-apping you when your room is ready to be check-in while you are enjoying your massage or playing with water activities at Treasure Bay. You don't get to go through a different lane when you reach the BBT Ferry Terminal. Your passports would not be held by anyone like it used to be for Canopi guests. So rest assured.
There are five types of rooms available, namely the Garden Tent and Safari Tent with garden view. Lagoon View Tent and Lagoon View Tent Deluxe have a crystal lagoon pool view. The latter comes with an outdoor whirlpool tub but it is only filled with cold water. The most luxurious of all is the Glamping Deluxe Tent suitable for honeymoon couples. The indoor whirlpool is part of the shower area so you get cold and hot water.
The Glamping Deluxe Tent costs SGD300.00 per night as we stayed during the school holidays. The entire room is so huge and spacious and the jacuzzi bathtub fits two adults lying down flat. We had so much fun with the bubble bath and jet whirlpool option. Totally loved our room and no regrets staying there. Look out for my forever cheeky boy who likes to photo-bomb my pictures.
Since it was quite late in the evening around 5pm, most of the activities had been closed. We ended up building sandcastles and played water guns at the crystal lagoon. All activities at Treasure Bay starts from 9am to 5:30pm Indonesian time.
While waiting for our buggy to Treasure Bay, we played at a nearby swing. Check out the super big and round moon!
Dinner at Hook On Fusion Grill Bar & Seafood located inside Treasure Bay. Each time you enter Treasure Bay, there is an entrance fee even if you do not play with the activities. For Canopi's guests, a wristband is provided so the fee is waived off.
Total damage for three crabs of 200grams each with different cooking styles, garlic fried chicken, stir-fry kailan, onion egg, otak-otak, some beer and fruit juices = SGD130.00 with the current rate of SGD1.00 is to IDR10,480.00.
Bintan Resort Ferries
BRF HelpDesk (Singapore)
+65 6542 4369 | helpdesk@brf.com.sg | https://www.brf.com.sg
Tanah Merah Ferry Terminal
50 Tanah Merah Ferry Road #01-21 Singapore 498833 | +65 6542 4369
Bandar Bentan Telani Ferry Terminal
Jalan Raja Haji Teluk Sebong, Lagoi Bintan Utara, Indonesia | +62 770 691935
The Canopi Bintan, A Tribute Portfolio Resort
Jalan Raya Haji KM 01 Kawasan Pariwisata, Teluk Sebong Lagoi, Bintan Island 29152 Indonesia | +62 770 692252
https://www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/tnjtx-the-canopi-bintan-a-tribute-portfolio-resort/
**~Day Two : Treasure Bay~**
Rise and Shine and we had our buffet breakfast at The Patio Restaurant and Bar. Apart from the beautiful crystal lagoon's backdrop, the food here is nothing as compared to the ones which we had at Montigo Resort at Nongsa, Batam.
The first thing you would need to do is to get a Treasure Bay wristband at activities centre. You could top up the monies using cash or pay by card (be it in SGD or IDR) over at each activity's counter before you start. Since we exchanged tons of cash, we decided to get the wristband and topped up before heading off. Note that the rate stated for each activity is before 21% of GST and Service Charge.
The most worthwhile activity of all would be the Slip and Slide of IDR50,000.00 (about SGD5.80 after 21% charge) per pax for an unlimited time throughout the day. To be honest, I'm afraid of heights and could not swim as well. But, I still tried out thrice for the Slip & Slide to overcome my fear again and again. For those of you who are more adventurous, you could try out the red slide. My limit only stays with the most safest one which is yellow slide. Lol..
Up next is one of the most popular water sports - tube wake boarding. One ride of 15 minutes costs IDR150,000.00K per pax which is about SGD17.00 (after 21% tax). But I tell you the 15 minutes lasted like forever and I was hanging on to my dear life trying not to fall off into the water. I fell off twice anyway. Both my arms sore like mad and I thought the veins were cut off and my arms being dislocated after that. It was real fun though and no regrets.
We had our lunch at the roadside stalls just outside of activities centre. Once you ordered your food and drinks, go and pay the bills at this counter next to activities centre. This is also where you top up your wristband for activities. The foods would be served to you at your table.
Total damage for six coconuts, one hotdog bun, beef soto, indomie goreng, two plates of fried noodles, stir-fry vegetables, ayam penyet rice and goreng pisang with cheese = SGD50.00.
The ATV Off Road Trail and UTV Off Road Trail are pretty popular activities. The former is a four wheeler motorbike for single rider while the latter is a 2-seater car. ATV costs at IDR350,000.00 for 40 minutes and UTV at IDR450,000.00 for 40 minutes. The price is about SGD52.00 after 21% tax for UTV.
Be prepared to be covered with sand and dust. Do wear a pair of sunglasses and you would be given a face mask before the actual ride. The entire journey started from a flat sandy surface to normal road and later continued with up slope and down slope circling inside a forest. Our whole body and face were all covered with sand once we completed our UTV. Faints!
We had our BBQ Tent Dinner for 4 paxes and the foods were too large of a portion. Should have ordered for 2 paxes only. It was truly enjoyable BBQ-ing in front of our "tent" on a lovely full moon night.
**~Day Three : Treasure Bay - Singapore~**
Canopi Spa has ceased until further notice since the new management took over. We went to Nibbana at Treasure Bay for an hour of traditional massage at SGD280,000.00 nett which is SGD28.00 an hour. Very worth the price and we all slept throughout the entire session. I did not want to leave, seriously. Do book in advance and there is a discount given if I remembered correctly.
Thanks to my Papa who was not interested in massage who looked after Ethan while he played at the indoor playground. There is certainly something for everyone from young to old. Indoor playground rate at 3 hours IDR100,000.00 or unlimited per day at IDR150,000.00. Remember to bring along a pair of socks or simply buy it at IDR30,000.00. In total, we paid IDR130,000.00 including socks of SGD15.00 after 21% tax.
Our ferry departs at 1:35pm, and needs to be at the ferry terminal by 12:30pm. Canopi would be collecting the boarding passes on our behalf to cut the time of queuing up again. Once you passed by the custom, do drop by this push cart stall selling kuih lapis (a must buy when you travel to Indonesia - different parts have different brands). Get this Mama B brand which costs IDR230,000.00 = SGD 22.00 per box. It could lasts up till 7 days chilled and 3 days non-chilled.
One last pic before we leave and till next time Bintan!
