Travelling with Kids - Canopi Bintan Day 01

This year's June holidays I didn't really had enough time to plan for a vacation or family outing. The boys were coped up at home for more than a month. I felt kind of bad at not spending time with them and so I asked them where would they want to go on a short holiday over a weekend. Jules wanted very much to visit LEGOLAND but the last I checked, it was about $500 singapore dollars per night to stay over in Legoland! The nearest to Singapore was either Sentosa, Batam or Bintan.

And from another mum's blog, I found out about Canopi Bintan! I was so intrigued about the whole glamping experience!!! and especially so when my 2 boys love to play tent at home, I thought it would be a wonderful idea to bring the kids to stay outdoors in a real tent but with all the luxury at a very affordable price! The tent is fully air-conditioned, tv, WIFI and a very lovely outdoor shower that comes with hot water.

So I quickly made a booking online for 3D2N. Did Jade's passport and just 5 days before we embarked on our little vacay, I booked the ferry tickets to Bintan and here we are!!!

I never regretted this hasty decision! The night that I booked when the kids were asleep, the next day I was so excited to tell the boys about our little getaway plans. When I told them that they were going on a holiday, Jules was like "mummy!! we are going on an aeroplane?" ...And i told him that we are going to stay in a tent. And he was so shocked and asked me "mummy, is there a toilet??? How is this a holiday??"

wakakaka....

Anyway, everything was very quite last minute. So my ferry tickets were quite expensive so if you have ample planning, do booked your tickets early so that you get a good rate. I bought the late morning tickets, arrived at Tanah Merah Ferry Terminal, checked in my 2 small luggages and had a cup of coffee at Kiliney while the kids had their soft boiled eggs.

Soon it was departure time and gosh, were we excited!!

 So So happy to be able to bring my 3 kids with me!

 here's Jade playing hide and seek with her dad, who is sitting behind her

The ferry ride was about 50mins and soon we arrived at the terminal. For Canopi Bintan guests, there is a complimentary land transfer from the terminal to the hotel itself. You can email them about your ferry schedule once you have booked your ferry tickets. They usually reply within the next working day. Super efficient.

The down side of the land transfer is that things could get really messy. Although we were all queuing (mind you I was third in line), however when the coach arrived, everyone just cut queue to the front and took attendance with the bus lady and hopped onto the bus!! And because we were attending to 3 children and luggages, hubs had his hands full and couldn't really squeeze and get to the front.

End up, we had to wait another 10 mins for the next land transfer. So Canopi Bintan, I'm quite disappointed in your service, especially for families like us with young children.

 Quick tip: The check in time at Canopi Bintan is strictly at 3pm. So we had a lot of waiting time since we arrived about 12noon. We left our luggage at the concierge, had lunch at their restaurant, walked around the man-made pool, took plenty of photos...and waited some more until it was 230pm, where the kids were really restless and kept on complaining to check in, we asked to check in...but still had to wait another 10 more mins.

so. Moral of the story is, have your lunch first and probably take a 1pm-ish ferry to Bintan.

We ordered a Hawaiian pizza, carbonara and french fries to share. Prices are in the photos above.

Generally on the high side but it is a restaurant in a hotel setting, so it wouldn't be cheap.

it was pretty crowded, the food took awhile before it came. I brought the kids along the pool for a walk and some photo taking.

finally our food is here! The Hawaiian was nothing great, in fact Pizza Hut back home does a better job. The carbonara was not fantastic either.  Hmm...maybe we were too bored and not hungry to enjoy the food. All we wanted to do was to check in.

the boys in matching outfits...cute tees bought from Bangkok. Our family trip in March this year.

Jules, James and Jade...

The azure blue man-made lagoon.

OMG...finally we can check in and we were so delighted with our tent! The boys jumped up and down on our bed even though they each had a single bed to themselves.

Check out their outdoor shower! It was very pretty too and everything still looks quite new and clean.

stay tuned for what we did after we checked in!