2D1N Batam Extravanga – 3 & 4 May 2014

Hi Members,
We are thinking of organising a 2D1N Batam trip leaving Singapore on 3 May and return back from Batam on 4 May 2014 – This is a very exclusive tour package that we managed to secure and hope that some of you are keen to join us for this holi.  FYI – we just back from 1 Day Batam tour with the same tour agent and their service was really fanatastic.  Not only the tour guide is experienced, attentive and caring, tour itinerary was even more interesting….

Our tentative schedule for these 2 days program is as below subjected to change if any.

Day One
Take the 8.45am ferry to Batam from Singapore Harbour Centre to Batam Sekupang Terminal.
Upon arrival Batam Terminal, our dedicated Batam Tour Guide will collect passport and guide us thru Express Check In without any hassle or waiting time at custom.

City tour which inclusive of kueh lapis home maker and birds nest shop, dry goods market, shopping mall at Batam City Square and not forgetting to try their roadside rojak stalls (an eye opener).  They might even extend further should time permits to Polo Ralph Lauren shop, Batik shop and others.

Lunch at Sari Bumbu buffet Indonesia Food or Sundanese Food

Check in hotel near city

Followed by Dinner at Shangrilla Chinese Restaurant

DAY TWO
Breakfast at Hotel and Check out followed by last minute shopping at wet market

Lunch at Kingsway Chinese Seafood Restaurant and if time permits, will stop at Nagoya Hill Shopping Mall before our return to catch the 4.00pm ferry to Singapore.  Here again, the tour guide will help to do express check out with us without any hassle or rush with others.

Tour fare is $160/pax not including tips for both guide and driver. This itnerary is only for 12paxs and it will be based on first paid members only…

Kindly make payment to our POSB Saving A/C# xxxxxxxxxxx soonest possible.

Interested members, please indicate here
1) Dolly Lim – EO (Paid)
2) Rosalind Lee – EO (Paid)
3) Caroline Gee (Paid)
4) Sockie (Paid)
5) Kristy (Paid)
6) Lily Lim (Paid)
7) Alice Yap (Paid)
8) Jeffrey Gan (Paid)
9) Edwin Tan (Paid)
10) Eyvonne Chew (Paid)

Author: Dolly Lim

ACTIVE 2005 / UPDATED - 31.03.2021_SF

31 thoughts on “2D1N Batam Extravanga – 3 & 4 May 2014”

  2. For members’ enlightenment nia.

    I have been on a few trips to Batam – wholeday type and stay overnite type via those deal.com offers. They advertised for as low as S$38 per pax, excluding ferry terminal tax and some other tax. The offer sounds good of course as it includes lunch and considering a 2 way ferry ticket to Batam costs S$40, it will appeal to many who will see this as a good offer.

    On this kind of trips, we can choose the day we want to go but no guarantee and an alternative day must be selected. We have no choice on the time of ferry we want to take. Upon arrival at Batam’s ferry terminal, we had to join the long queue especially on weekends. Most of these deals use Batam Ferry Terminal, the most crowded terminals in Batam. We had to wait for more than one and a half hours lining up in the queue on our return to Singapore. Aiyoh! Can die ah!

    The tour guide took us to FIXED tourist stops the moment we board the van in Batam. There were so many stops crammed into the day. Regardless of whether we want to go or not, it is a must for us to alight and join the group. The tour guide earns commissions from these tourist stops. One or two stops we can request to wait in the van but the tour guide didn’t look happy.

    For lunch we were given poor quality food. They advertised seafood lah and we got to a restaurant by the sea but the menu only had ONE kind of seafood – baby squids. The rest were dishes like ice lettuce, fried chicken that were overcooked and in small pieces, toufu and a diluted soup that had questionable ingredients floating in it. The worst kind of ‘seafood’ fare I’ve ever tasted and I think roadside stalls offer tastier food. But again, we had no choice. We were so hungry from the various stops and aside from eating snacks we had to conform to the itinerary.

    For the overnight trip we were only brought to our hotel after another cheapo dinner. Check-in time was around 6 plus and we had to check out the next morning at 8.30 am. The hotel was so-so and the breakfast not so bad in my personal opinion as it had bread and butter and coffee.

    After we checked out we were brought to another round of tourist stops and then send to the ferry for our return trip home. Our tour guide ceased his services once we reached the ferry terminal.

    For this trip posted by Dolly, there are reasons why I feel it is worth the price we have to pay.

    1) Private van just for our group – no outsiders;
    2) Tour guide and driver at our service for Day 1 and 2 – no changes of tour
    guide or driver;
    3) Except for a few tourist stops that will interest us we can request from
    tour guide to skip the other stops and take us elsewhere;
    4) Tour guide is multi-lingual (speaks Mandarin, English, Bahasa Indonesia and
    Hokien) and he is able to give us lots of info abt Batam if and when we
    ask;
    5) The meals we’ll be having are quality food – tasty and more than enough to
    eat;
    6) The hotel arranged is a new hotel so no bed bugs or strange noises from
    next door rooms;
    7) We will be accorded VIP treatment at the immigration points in Batam.
    No queue-ing and special arrangements are made whereby our passports
    are held by the tour agency and duly chopped two ways.

    We will have tons of fun and lots of time to indulge In doing what is the ultimate
    purpose of going to Batam. Shopping, massage and eating! NO fixed itinerary and being herded like sheep from one tourist stop to another!

    Register now ok?

    Cheers
    Ros

  6. Hi All,
    As much as i wanted this tour package to be organized solely for SHC members but I could only say if we are unable to gather the required headcount for this, I am tempting to change this event from EO to EC event.

    I know that many members had felt that this tour pacakge is on the high end price as compared to those on groupon deal as well as what the current travel industries had offered so far. But I always think that it is always good to enjoy at least certain luxuries in our lifetime as long as we still can afford it. tio bo?

    Nevertheless, I am still hopeful that there will be more members to come forward to join this fun group with good makan, nice hotel and never-ending shopping and not forgetting the rojak street that currently no other tour agents is organising for.

    BTW, I had included my POSB Saving Acct in the post itself for the signed members to make payment – Hope to receive your payments soon, yea?

    Cheers.. Dolly

  9. Wow Alice, I like your style. Very gung-ho leh… welcome welcome and look forward to see u soon….

    Any more to register????

    Best regards, Dolly

    PS: I had deleted your mobile contact as we do not encourage this as the website is also accessible to the public.

  14. Hi Dolly, Is this event for ladies only. If not , can I join in with you ladies?
    Will transfer fund the moment green lights given.
    Thanks ! I will pay for a full room.

  17. Jeff,
    Wow haha, another gung-ho member, this time, a guy signed up. Not sure what is the cost for is single room but will check and get back to you ok.

    Hello hello Ros, cheo kang hor, pls check with the travel agent on his request, ai sai bo?

    Regards,
    Dolly

  19. Wow 2 guys coming for this tour…. Jeff and Edwin – Looking foward to seeing you soon…

    Todate, we hv 9 members signing. with another 3 members to sign up.. and it will solely be a SHC EO event.. Keeping my fingers and toes xxxx hor…

    Nevertheless, we are still waiting for the replies from the Batam travel agent on this short-fall in headcount and hopefully he will agree to take us for this exclusive Batam tour…

    Cheers.. Dolly

  20. Dear members,

    Please tt payment to Dolly asap hor to confirm your place for this trip.

    Dolly, can put dateline in the original post as 31 March 2014 bo?
    Thereafter we will liase with the members who are confirmed going via
    email or whatssap group chat.

    Cheers
    Ros

  23. Yes yes, Eyvonne, you are in liao…

    Hi Pat, thank you and wish that Linda and you could join us on our next vacation lor…

    Hi All registered members, this tour is confrmed liao as told by Ros after liaising with the tour agent to stay on the same pricing eventhough we are unable to reach the MRH… Thanks for the hard work, Ros.

    Nevertheless, we will still continue to accept up till 12paxs till end of March 2014 before we closed the registration for this.

    For those already signed up and/or paid, kindly note that no cancelation and no refund will be allowed. However, you can make arrangement for another member to take over your place but please keep us informed here as we also need abide the travel agent’s requirement. But I sincerely do not wish to see this happening lor.. Both Ros and me looking forward to a seow seow short holi trip at Batam with all of you hor…

    Best regards,
    Dolly

  24. Hi All,
    Kindly refer to your emails for the partculars needed by the travel agent for preparation of this trip….

    Yipeee….. cheers.. Dolly

  25. Hi Dolly/Ros
    Here are the particulars that the agent want.
    Lim Lily
    Passport No. Xxxxxxxxxx
    Date of issue. Xxxxxxxxxxx
    Date of expiry. Xxxxxxxxxxxx
    Date of birth. Xxxxxxxxxx

  26. Hi LilyL,
    I had deleted all necessary details posted here as soon as I hv taken down as we don’t encourage personal particulars to be listed here since this website is accessible to public reading.

    Kindly email me at dlgummy@hotmail.com for your mobile contact.

    Cheers… Dolly

  27. A big thank you for those who signed up and confirmed for this trip. We will close our registration after today.

    All signed up members had already make payments to me, hence, I will be deleting my bank acct#.

    All further correspondences, we will rely on watapps to follow – All of you hv watapps installed in your mobile#, please let me know if you dont so that we can explore on other means of communication – Your update on this is very important to both of us, ie, Ros and Dolly. Hope to hear from you soon..

    Cheers… Ros and Dolly

  28. Hi Two EO

    Thanks for the trip . I believed everyone enjoyed it .

    Lots of shopping time and the real fun at the K’OK with Edwin singing his Tamil song .

    The Young Tour Guide cant even “Tahan” the bunch of young kids !!!! hahaha

    karen

  29. Agree with you Karen. Thank you Ros and Dolly.
    Everything was a breeze. Laughed and ate so much. Value for money! We were very well taken care of. The kueh lapis very sedap. And I am missing the rojak already!
    Carly

  31. Both Ros and me will like to say a big thank you for everyone here who signed for the trip and at least all of you were really enjoyed this trip with much laughter and fun…

    Of course, we also know that there would be some hiccups in any kind of arrangement/programs where we will seek your kind understanding…

    I knew that most of them were very disappointed with the so-called seafood lunch whereby most of the dishes were really over-cooked.. I totally agreed in this aspect… Whatever feedback given to us will definitely fell into our hearing ear that help us to improve this further in the event should we will to arrange another outing again…

    Hopefully another outing in the pipeline will materialize soon….

    Cheers… Rosalind and Dolly

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