Genting Dream Cruise to Surabaya/Bali: Mermaids, Babi Guling & a Zipline over the Sea

[yflyer]

After a night of sailing from Surabaya, early the next morning, we dropped anchor off the northern coast of Bali.

By contrast to the industrial port of Surabaya, Bali was a green island paradise...



This was North Bali, far from the bustle of the main tourist areas of Denpasar, and Kuta Beach, 100km to the south of the island. North Bali was much more natural and untouched, mainly fishing and agriculture with rolling green hills and seaside beach villages and a small but thriving tourist industry.



Somewhere beyond these hills was Mt Agung, which was threatening to erupt in the weeks before the cruise, but thankfully did not. Mt Agung itself was about 100km away to the East, not visible from where the ship was docked...



The sun was finally up, and the hills and greenery of the island looked spectacularly inviting...

[yflyer]

This was a tender port, meaning were were not docked by a pier, but instead were anchored some distance from shore, and had to take small vessels to shore.

The small tenders used were very comfortable, with open upper decks where the view could be enjoyed...



In the late morning, we boarded a tender to head to the island of Bali...





We boarded and headed to the upper deck...



It was a short boat ride to the pier, and the ride itself could be considering something of a joy ride...

[yflyer]

A small welcome tent...





A musical welcome...



Very clear waters off the pier...



Were those sea urchins in the water? Those were delicious! Visions of Japanese uni sushi and sashimi filled my head...no easy way to get down to the water and pick them up, though...wonder if there is a business opportunity here...



We had no planned agenda for our stop in Bali. In fact, one possible plan of action was simply to take a stroll around the pier, and then head back to the ship.

However, there seemed to be quite a few adhoc tour activities that one could arrange directly with the local tour guides and transport providers...



Our older girl, Miss yflyer no.1 decided that she wanted to try snorkelling, and so we hired a van to bring a few of our extended party to Lovina beach, where the kids and I would go snorkelling, whereas Mrs yflyer would head to a waterfall with some older/elderly members of our party, and then pick us up later.

This was all very impromptu. We had just our clothes on us, no swimwear, wetsuits or snorkels/masks. The boatman would have snorkels, our local organiser assured us. As for swimwear, well, we would make do with what we had and wing it...the free and easy Bali spirit was quite infectious...

[yflyer]

And so we piled into the van and headed through the island coastal roads towards Lovina beach...



This was a school day for the locals...and many were headed to school...



Rice padis...



"Hey, those are grapevines!"...I pointed to the vines along the road...they grew grapes here too...



We also saw durians on sale.

We finally got to Lovina beach, a quiet, rural beach, dotted with small beach hotels and villas...



The small boat taking us out snorkelling was named "Smiley and Sandra"...



...we took off their footwear, and gingerly waded into the clear waters to climb onto the boat...



...and Smiley, our boatman, took us quickly out to sea to a nearby reef...



The water near the reef was about 3m deep. There was another boat nearby...possibly with guests from the Genting Dream too...



Smiley passed out the masks, snorkels and lifejackets...there was nothing left to do but jump over the side...



The waters were clear and warm, with colourful tropical fish, some fairly large, swimming around...

"The fish are so colourful!"



"Were there sharks in the water?" I asked? Smiley didn't answer, and just smiled...

[yflyer]

The water was warm and clear...a great place to snorkel...



This was the first time the girls had ever snorkeled, let alone in the open sea...and it was an amazing experience for them, one of the highlights of the cruise...



My original plan was simply to stay onboard the boat and take pictures, but the water just looked too inviting...I stripped off my T-shirt, and put on a snorkel...

I passed my camera to Smiley..."please take a few pictures!" I asked, then jumped in sans-life jacket...



This was wonderful...

After we had our fill of snorkelling, we climbed back into the boat and headed back to shore, but not before taking a few jump shots...



We arrived back on the beach just as rain clouds began to obscure the hills in the distance.

"It is raining at the waterfalls now", Smiley said. I wondered how Mrs yflyer was doing in the hills.



Back on shore we showered at the beachside showers and waited for Mrs yflyer to return from her trip to view the waterfalls in the hills.

As we waited, one of the locals came by with a recent catch from nearby waters...a large platter of barracudas.



The girls looked in horror at the sleek, sharp-toothed barracudas that were common in the waters which they had just snorkelled in...

Not long after, Mrs yflyer returned with the van. The outing to the waterfalls was interesting, although some parts of the trail and steps were too slippery and treacherous for the older folks in our party, so not everyone made it to the waterfalls.

The scenery was quite beautiful, though.



This was one of the lesser waterfalls they saw...there were more awe-inspiring waterfalls in North Bali as well, but those were too far away to visit in the time they had.



We had just one more activity on our checklist before heading back to the ship: sample the local delicacy: Babi Guling.

[yflyer]

There were many street-side Babi Guling restaurants in North Bali. Our friendly and helpful van driver, Bambang, drove us to one of the popular ones...



...and helped us with our order...



The modus operandi of these restaurants was to have a large whole roasted animal on display.

Our host took our order, then used her hands, as well as a knife, to peel and slice off chunks of skin and meat...





You could either eat in...





...or take away, which is what we opted to do...



With enough Babi Guling in wrapped paper to feed our party, we headed back to the pier.

[yflyer]

That was a great excursion, well worth the time and expense.

And speaking of expenses, the cost of the van, and the snorkelling trip, arranged directly with the local guides and operators, was significantly less than if we had opted for the packaged "official" excursions offered by the cruise line for North Bali. There are pro's and con's to doing this, of course. Safety, honesty and accountability are always good reasons to stick with the official cruise excursions, but on the other hand, often the added costs of the "official" excursions are just overheads. If enough care and due diligence is done, I think it makes sense, like we did in North Bali, just to cut out the middleman and work out a plan directly with the local guides. We found our driver and guides to be friendly, reliable and honest, and I would have no problem recommending going direct to the guides, as long as you do it with your eyes open and use your intuition. Of course, North Bali is more rural, and has not turned into a tourist trap like many popular destinations -- I would exercise MUCH more caution in overcrowded touristy places.

At the pier, we were handed refreshing cold towels...



Before the tender ride back to the Genting Dream...





I was quite fascinated by how tender docking operations were carried out...with retractable platforms and steps extended out of the doorway in the side of the ship...







Mixed fruit punch for thirsty guests upon arrival back onboard...

[yflyer]

Back onboard, we unwrapped the spoils of our excursion, and the fragrant smell of roast meat and spices soon filled our cabin...



Crisp roasted pork skin, as well as chunks of both lean and fat pork, on rice, accompanied by spiced, curried, long beans, otak and chitlins.



What a simple, but sumptuous lunch...



We gobbled up every morsel...I think sampling this dish is a must for all lovers of good roast pork.

[yflyer]

While anchored off North Bali, the crew of the Genting Dream also took the opportunity to take the onboard submersibles out for a test spin...



This ship is equipped with two mini submarines, that could be used to take guests on an underwater joy ride. These were not offered on our cruise, but on previous cruises, where the sea and underwater sights were suitable, they did offer guests rides in these submersibles.

[yflyer]

Guests were out in force by the pool in the late afternoon, basking in the cool weather as they used the pool, slides and other facilities...





The views of the Bali coastline were quite stunning as the sun set...





My younger girl Miss yflyer no.2 and I headed to the viewing deck as the Genting Dream departed North Bali...







As we stood by the railings on the port side of the ship, as the ship sailed, she asked..."Dad, what are those things on the water?"...

Far below, close to sea level, there were splashes of water, followed by small black objects streaking low over the water...

They appeared at first to look like birds, or even drones, flying rapidly in straight lines just above the waterline, moving away from the side of the ship...

But upon taking a closer look, I was amazed...

"They are flying fish! Wow!"....

We were too high up to take close-up photos, but we saw dozens of flying fish launching themselves out of the water, and flying at least 10-20m each time diagonally away from the ship, before splashing into the water again...an amazing sight...

In the photos below, a black speck can be seen, which is one of the flying fish...





I suspect the fish were in the path of the vessel as we were sailing out, and were leaping out of the way...for several minutes these flying fish could be seen streaking over the water away from the vessel.

[yflyer]

Earlier that day, before we headed ashore in North Bali, I checked out the gym and sauna in the Dream Palace section of the ship. This is a small gym and sauna only open to Dream Palace guests.

The gym...





Changing room with steam room and sauna.



The sauna in this section of the ship had a unique feature...



...views of the sea and scenery through full length windows...



...a very different experience from your usual enclosed saunas!

[Snapper]

How would this compare to royal carribean’s mariner of the seas? Which is better?

For family orientated (less of casino interest), Royal Caribbean will be good..
Reason - Casino is much smaller than Genting Dream. depending on which Caribbean ship you travelling with, they have surfing, free sky diving experience, more amusement games, etc....

For casino + family (balanced) Genting Dream is the one.. casino is bigger but lesser family entertainment than Royal Caribbean ships...

Royal Caribbean tender currency onboard is USD..
Genting Dream tender currency onboard is SGD..

[Snapper]

Although an SQ A380 makes a brief cameo appearance in this TR, this report covers a cruise, not a flight. Now that we have that inconvenient little detail out of the way, I did find that the format, and conventions, of a TR lent itself quite well to a voyage on a cruise ship. I also found many intriguing parallels and points of comparison between the inflight experience and that onboard a cruise ship (Although you can argue that this linkage between ships and planes has existed since the time of the Pan Am Clipper Flying Boats…).

Last December, Mrs yflyer, the kids and I went on a cruise on the Genting Dream, the first ship in the Dream Cruises fleet. Dream Cruises is the premium/luxury cruise arm of Genting Group, who also owns Star Cruises, Crystal Cruises and Resorts World Sentosa. The Genting Dream is a very new vessel, built and launched in late 2016 by the Meyer Werft shipyard in Germany. As of late 2017, the vessel's home port is Singapore, where it operates cruises to Asian destinations such as Penang, KL (Port Klang), Phuket, Surabaya and North Bali.



Our five day cruise was to Surabaya and North Bali. On this cruise, our cabin was a Suite in the Dream Palace section of the vessel, which had its own lounge, restaurant and facilities: essentially this was almost a “Ship within a Ship”, quite similar in concept to staying in the Club Level of a hotel.

This cruise in December was also the Genting Dream’s inaugural port visit to Surabaya, and on arrival we were treated to a water cannon salute (Not unlike those given to inaugural flights…), and onshore festivities. While in Surabaya, rather than spend my time on a tour of the sights, or shopping, I headed out on foot for a run through the city. In North Bali, we indulged in a local speciality: Babi Guling, or roast whole piglet.

Onboard the ship itself, there was a wide range of activities, running the gamut of casinos, clubs, shows/performances and special events. Although the vessel catered to both young and old, there were many facilities geared towards youths and the active set, including a rock climbing wall, several vertiginous waterslides, and a zipline over the sea, which, depending on your point of view, was either exhilarating or terrifying.

There is a whole genre and subculture of cruise ship enthusiasts who pore over, and discuss, ships, cabins and itineraries the way we over here discuss the latest SQ aircraft deliveries, seat layouts, and cabin service (And the occasional 3D map...). But rather than post this report on one of these cruise forums, I am posting it here because, at best, cruises are an occasional indulgence for me – I don’t see myself becoming as fascinated with cruise liners as I am with air travel. Aviation is as much about engineering as it is about luxury: How to provide comfort onboard while surmounting the technical challenge of getting (and remaining) safely airborne. That element of trying to get the most out of limited resources is present to a much greater degree in aviation than other modes of transport, whether it is the engineering challenge of flying ultra-long haul sectors like SIN-NYC, or more mundane problems like how to cook a good steak at cruising altitude…

I will say one thing: this cruise experience did trigger a re-evaluation of how much I would be willing to pay for a few hours of luxury on a plane. Sitting in the comparative luxury of First or Business Class onboard a plane for 8 or 13 hours is one thing…but on a ship, you have lots more space, crew, and material, not to mention time, to deliver an all encompassing luxury experience. The smallest inner cabin on the Genting Dream has more space than any F / Suite cabin on any aircraft for example, and the suite we checked into onboard was the size of some hotel rooms. Let’s not even compare the kind of F&B possible onboard a ship vs a plane.

“Not the same thing!” you say…of course it isn’t. A plane gets you from A to B really quickly! A ship takes its own sweet time. On the other hand, if the journey is the reward, and you want to spend some time relaxing and indulging in a bit of luxury, a cruise is not a bad way to do it.

And you do get somewhere too…eventually. I think there is some merit in exploring nearby regional destinations by cruise ship. These days short LCC getaways to nearby destinations are very popular, but I think cruises offer a decent alternative as well, as long as you take the trouble to get off the boat and maximize the hours you have onshore to explore each port of call.

Interested? Read on!

Hi, yflyer.

Were you on the Genting Dream from 24 Dec to 29 Dec?
I was on the cruise with my family from 24-29 Dec.
The 17th floor dining at Dream Palace is always fully booked as informed by my butler.. the Japanese restaurant too.. ended up i only utilized three out of the five complimentary dinners.. the beef at the western restaurant (cannot recall the restaurant name) was
was told that the passenger load was near 100% of the max 4300 pax..
upon returning to Singapore, supposed that Dream Palace guests will collect our luggage first.. but ended up waiting for 2 hours due to some reasons which the staff don't even know
Had my drinks mostly at the Johnny Walker Bar.. I left my bottle there and i am allowed to keep my bottle for a period of 3 months..

Overall experience i will give it 7/10..
if not for the luggage delay and the always fully booked restaurants (wonder if my butler has the "no heck care" attitude or otherwise... i booked two of my complimentary dinners on my own and managed to get to dine even though my butler told me it was fully booked... i would like to mention that i gave my butler a $50 tip on the first day when he came to my room to introduce himself.. in case some bros in here think that i did not tip my butler )

Hope my next trip with Genting Dream will be a better one..

[yflyer]

For family orientated (less of casino interest), Royal Caribbean will be good..
Reason - Casino is much smaller than Genting Dream. depending on which Caribbean ship you travelling with, they have surfing, free sky diving experience, more amusement games, etc....

For casino + family (balanced) Genting Dream is the one.. casino is bigger but lesser family entertainment than Royal Caribbean ships...

Royal Caribbean tender currency onboard is USD..
Genting Dream tender currency onboard is SGD..

Thanks for the advice, Snapper! I would tend to agree that the casino is more visible on the Genting Dream than on other cruise lines. That said, our party spent the whole cruise without setting foot in the casino area, or playing any games of chance, so it is quite feasible to have a good cruise on the Genting Dream if you are not into casinos.

I agree the recreational facilities on the Royal Caribbean ships look pretty impressive. The indoor sky diving is something I would definitely want to try!

[yflyer]

Hi, yflyer.

Were you on the Genting Dream from 24 Dec to 29 Dec?
I was on the cruise with my family from 24-29 Dec.

No, ours was an earlier one, 10-14 December.

Had my drinks mostly at the Johnny Walker Bar.. I left my bottle there and i am allowed to keep my bottle for a period of 3 months.

Didn't know they had this service! They must have many repeat customers!

wonder if my butler has the "no heck care" attitude or otherwise...

Planning to share some thoughts on the level of customer service on this cruise at the conclusion of this TR...

Hope my next trip with Genting Dream will be a better one..

Wow...already planning your next one!