Club Med Bintan – Post Covid

[This is a late post]

Trip happened back in 08-11 Oct 2022.

Finally, Covid restrictions in most countries have been lifted! It’s been more than 2 years since the world seem to have stopped due to the pandemic but we are glad that most countries have opened up and things seem to return back to how it was.

A lot of firsts for our boy in this trip: first overseas travel, first boat ride and first beach hotel experience. So we are really excited. This is also to check how our son will react if he is forced to sit in a en enclosed space for a certain period and whether we can handle him if he starts to get uneasy.

First off, the price. We got this really good deal from Club Med when we booked the trip last May 2022 for a July 2022 trip. Total cost is $1800 inclusive of ferry ride to Bintan. We topped up an extra $80 per pax ($240 total) to be upgrade to business class for a 1 way trip.

We decided to upgrade to business class to have bigger seats and fuss free immigration clearance. More on that in a while.

The boat ride was relatively pleasant until our boy got uneasy after 20 minutes and he started walking around. I’m normally good with boat rides but this time round, I got really nauseous. Probably from chasing our son around the deck. We finally docked at Batam after an hour and I’m just glad to be back on land.

At the start, we were a bit anxious on how things are post Covid. Is the immigration going to be different? Are they going to check for vaccination status? Will people still wear mask, etc.? But in the end, travel was no different as how it was pre-pandemic and it surely gave us confidence to plan our travels next year.

But this is where the business class upgrade comes in handy. Basically, you hand over your passport and health declaration to an immigration officer upon disembarking on Batam terminal and you will be led to a lounge where you wait for your passport to get stamped. Fuss free, no queueing, sip your coffee and wait. After that, we were escorted by Club Med staff who collected our luggage, checked-in for us and handed us a key card bracelet. Then, on to the bus and off we go to the resort.

Check in was relatively quick. Our room was ready and blasting with a/c. Only complaint I would have is that the pillows smell a bit musty but other than that, it’s all good!

Club Med Bintan as always is amazing. Great food, great guest relations, great beach, great sunset, great sky, fresh sea breeze…. It’s perfect.

Activities have resumed. I guess the only difference between pre and post Covid is that guest relation officers don’t dine with guests anymore but they still roam around and mingle. Overall, it was a great experience! Our boy surely loved the beach, the sand, the food!