Cruising from Bali to Irian Jaya and down to Cairns

[RooFlyer]

In a week's time I set off for my final trip of the year, A Ponant cruise from Bali, east along the Indonesian archipelago, touching on a couple of places in Irian Jaya / Western New Guinea then south to Cape York, Lizard Island and Cairns.

https://au.ponant.com/asia-tropical-odyssey-between-indonesia-and-north-east-australia-so051225-10

I assure you that I'm not paying those current prices!



Flights:



When I was looking for flights to DPS, I naturally started with Qantas, but my travel agent reported that they had not released any of the lower fare bucket business fares after Dec 1. I wasn't going to pay over the odds, so I simply booked an Aeroplan award flight in SQ business up to Singapore and back down to Denpasar. SImples!

Two A350-9s and SQ catering Vs B737 and Neil's leaves. What's not to like?

On the way back, QF business (crediting to QR), a couple of days in Brisbane seeing family then back in Hobart on the 23rd, to start Christmas shopping.

In Bali, staying at the airport Novotel on arrival then shifting over to the Sofitel Nusa Dua on the recommendation of @Daver6 .

15 nights on Le Soléal - 264 max guests, 164 crew. I have 200 euro ship-board credit courtesy of my travel agent and Virtuoso.



The weather may be a bit stormy but hopefully not too bad.

Hoping this trip will be totally relaxing. No time zone change to speak of, no 'add on' travel for me, no history to explore every inch of ... I have a large book to read which I will be reviewing for a journal so that will hopefully enforce some downtime.

 

[drron]

Just make sure they don't leave you at Lizard Island.

 

[bPeteb]

You get around don't you

You might come across The World while you're up there RF. She's on a West Papua expedition at the moment

 

[RooFlyer]

HBA-MEL today on Virgin, 1C. A nice flight preceded by the usual carp at Hobart terminal.

They are expanding the terminal (or at least the commercial outlet footprint ) and we have 3 new security points with the latest whizz-bang. But as others have mentioned, whiz-bang doesn't necessarily equate to faster.

One of the longest security queues I've ever experienced at HBA:



To be fair, the delays seemed to be down to the punters as much as the machines. Pax would be pointed forward to the next machine and there they would just stand, not knowing what to do. I went over to one setup, went around the couple just gaping and was the only one actually putting stuff in the tubs. But of course the delay is on the other side. The operators still not experienced enough and look forever at the images and send many to secondary. I could see the guy looking at mine. 3D image, he was flipping it around, flipping it around, again etc. I was tempted to call out "I'll open it up - it'll be quicker!". Many bags going to secondary.

Terminal packed, as usual.



Boarding called and was moderately orderly at the gate. Wheelchair pax collected and goes out. Five mins later Biz let through, only to discover that the wheelchair pax and party were waiting at the bottom of the boarding ramp, so we were stopped at the end of the cattle-run.



Boarding, with the queue behind.



Lunch was a pasta with ham and pretty nice.



Overnight at the airport Parkroyal. Really good early check-in; guy saw my room request and hunted around for one available that met it and off I went.

 

[Quickstatus]

How far ahead did you book Ponant?

 

[RooFlyer]

How far ahead did you book Ponant?

October last year for this one.

It’s about usual for me these days, although I do have one in June 2027, that I booked a couple of months ago. . Even on that one there were only a few cabins left on the deck ( price) I wanted.

 

[RooFlyer]

Stay at the ParkRoyal was okay, except for the checkout. When I checked in., I said I wanted to use my 17 Discovery dollars. For some reason he couldn’t process that there so he said the manager would do it and I would get an email invoice if I didn’t use the checkout on departure.

I got an invoice slipped down on the door overnight and of course it didn’t have the discount. So I asked for it again on departure and the guy there is oh sorry there’s only 6 there and we need a minimum of 10. I left it with him but I think we can all guess where this is going.

Across to the airport, easy check-in, security okay-ish, quick immigration, TRS refund for the very first time and I’m in the Silver Kris lounge 30 minutes after I left my room.

Coffee using long life milk. In Melbourne.

 

[kookaburra75]

On board with you for the trip. And post photos of the volcanoes that you'll be passing, I'm sure they will be of interest to you too.

 

[RooFlyer]

On board with you for the trip. And post photos of the volcanoes that you'll be passing, I'm sure they will be of interest to you too.

I’m hoping Lewotobi might put on a show as we pass by.

 

[RooFlyer]

SQ248 dep MEL 7:00 on time arr SIN 11:30am local, 10m early. It was a nice flight and I especially enjoyed the seat on the A350-900 compared to the horrid old 'fold-over' bed and angled foot-hole.





Good set of controls, albeit with no USB-C port and the IFE had a substantial lag via the controller.

Nasi goreng to served soon after departure ('refreshment', not breakfast) which I only picked at, then a bit later, prawn salad for lunch entrée followed by lamb neck.





Asked for some dressing to go with the prawns and only offered olive oil. Lamb was nice but again, I didn't make much of an impact. It was served at abt 11:00am Melbourne time, 8am Singapore time.



Rest of the flight was pleasant. I watch 'The Last, Finale, Downton Abbey' and I really enjoyed it.

Arrived T2 and went to the SilverKris lounge there. Not great. Did some computer work then up-stakes and went over to T3. I had a 4 hour layover so lots of time time to kill. Got in a lot of steps walking back and forth.

 

[RooFlyer]

I went to the gate a bit earlier than I usually do, but may as well sit there as anywhere else. An amusing (maybe?) incident at the gate security check.

Couple in front of me at the conveyor were UK 'seniors' and, well, they were having issues getting all their stuff out and onto the belt. We regularly see pax who 'haven't a clue' but I had to wonder how they got this far. I don't know how many tubs they filled but it was a fair few. Meanwhile the agents were telling them to put this in, that in and 'she' was getting ropable. 'I have never been spoken to in that way ....' 'How dare they .... ' 'Never had to do this before ...' Two attempts at the person scanner, with more fury.

On the other side 'I'm never going to fly Singapore Airlines again! ...' etc etc. Hubby I think taking a well trodden path of not saying anything.

Sat near the gate and they sat opposite me. She's still going off!!

Later, on the plane, I was doing some stretches near the loos. It looks like I'm waiting for the loo, so I just waive other people forward to use them. Not her. She just swanned past with neither a thought nor care whether I was waiting or not.

Anyway .... here's the bird



SQ944 dep SIN 4:21pm (1 min late) arr DPS 7:02pm (3 min early).

I had exactly the same seat as on the last flight. Menus for this one







'Funny' meal service. Some pax around me got their meals brought out as soon as the meals were ready (maybe an hour after departure). Maybe Book the Cook? Then there were a number of runs of trays to the back of the cabin (?those in the mini cabin there?). Then they started the trolley service with the rest of the meals and drinks.

The tray



Three nice scallops but no dressing, certainly not 'spicy'. Of course by this time they had moved on behind me so it was a bit of a wait to ask for some dressing. Only olive oil offered.




And then I waited. OK, soon became obvious that it was my turn to be forgotten. No biggie. Strange thing was, in the next 10 minutes or so, two of them passed me by, looked down and I thought - ah, they'll bring it now. But no. Eventually flagged someone down and the main was brought, peeling the foil off as it was put down.



Over-steamed and soggy.

I've made the comment my past few trips with SQ that they have def lost their edge. If it wasn't for their plentiful reward seats bookable by Virgin or Aeroplan points (as these flights were), I wouldn't bother with them.

Approaching DPS from the east.

 

[RooFlyer]

Arrival at DPS. My second only and the arrival procedures have changed since that first trip.

Visa - used smart gates, no problem. Arrivals hall virtually deserted, but a few people from an earlier flight doing the customs declaration beyond the gates.

Customs Declaration. Reading the threads on the subject and following @Flyfrequently's lead, I got the required detailed GP letter re my medications, and I declared temazepam on the declaration, and the A$9.80 it cost.

First guy zapped the QR code and I passed. That's interesting, I thought, maybe not a thing? But then, next guy asked if I had medicines to declare? Yes ... go this way. All bags through x-ray and on the other side, approached again and asked if I had declared a prescription. Yes - over to this counter. Asked for my passport and the box - compared name between the two.

Then asked if I had the prescription. At this point I had a minor 'Oh, cough' moment. My temazepam is a one-off script, so I hadn't retained a copy (all my other scripts scanned onto my phone). Had, I ...? Had I ....? yes! I had found an old script somehow and had scanned that in before I left. Whew! He peered closely at it and was satisfied and said I could go. All done in a nice friendly but methodical manner. Don't know what would have happened if I didn't have the prescription - probably would have confiscated it.

Tourist Tax- I had paid it and had the QR code at the ready but no evidence of it being needed to be shown. SQ didn't ask about it on check-in.

 

[RooFlyer]

400m from the exit of the duty free area to the Novotel and a bit of a circuitous route.

I hadn't received a 'expecting your arrival at the Novotel, what time arrival and anything else we can do for you' e-mail, so I e-mailed them advising flight, and asking for directions to the hotel. No reply. Sent again. Sent back a link for directions, totally useless. It was actually a link to 7 OneDrive videos, covering domestic arrivals, some other stuff and intl arrivals, via a very brief and unusable video.

At check-in, advised of upgrade to Executive room. Hang on ... I had booked an Exec room. Oh, sorry, can't upgrade you to a suite as we are full.

All in all, pretty poor. Chalk and cheese compared to the late lamented BKK Novotel.

Room is good. Aircon works well, light switches don't need a PhD to figure out; top floor well soundproofed from aircraft noise.







I thought they had forgotten the welcome amenity:



Ah. Check the fridge.



Time to check out the exec lounge for a strawberry smoothie. A great spread! Wish I was there earlier and was hungrier.







Breakfast spread was also excellent. Better than many 5* places I've been in. Pics from outside - the airport terminal to the side, and the hotel.





Outside the room this morning

 

[Flyfrequently]

On board with you for the trip. And post photos of the volcanoes that you'll be passing, I'm sure they will be of interest to you too.

Another on board with you @RooFlyer