Batam (Holiday Inn Resort) F&E Day 2

Morning view from our balcony

Good morning!

We woke up at around 8 plus as we had a late night watching the World Cup semi finals the day before. Yawns. At first we were worried that there might be lesser food left at the buffet since it is ramadan period and muslims might tend to eat earlier. But we are really happy with Holiday Inn Resort service as they keep replenishing the food up till the time when its almost the end of the buffet time.

Buffet breakfast @ Terrace Cafe Holiday Inn

We told the staff our room number, then we can just proceed to find a seat that we like and start our first meal of the day. It is an international buffet breakfast and the variety of food is good!

Sauteed Cube potatoes

Chicken Sausage/Beef Chipolata

The sausage taste a little too rubbery. Not to our liking though.

chicken bacon

baked beans

self served noodles area

Just take the ingredients you want and the gravy and prepare your own noodles soup :)

cooked noodles!

Sauteed mushroom

Dim sum: Siew Mai & steamed pau

We saw a few of the waitresses and waiters who were serving us at Dragon Inn Chinese Restaurant here. Looks like their staff does not have a designated place, and is on rotating shifts. We guess the siew mai here might be from the same supplier as of Dragon inn chinese and did not try as we do not really like the siew mai here.

congee area - with free flow toppings of your choice

congee with your own toppings!

yellow rice / fried breaded fish

bee hoon

salad bar

cut fruits

banana

They have plenty of fruits like orange, banana, apple, honey dew, pineapple, watermelon.. The whole fruits are replenished according to their ready stocks - sometimes it is banana, sometimes it is mangosteen or apples.

Pastries

more pastries

muffins and croissant

doughnuts

bread & toast

wide range of jam variety to go with your toast

cereals ~

There are many kind of cereals available. You name it they have it. It is placed near the drinks area where they have 2 nespresso machines for your daily coffee craving. There are cold beverage available too.

outdoor seating @ terrace cafe

eggs counter

There are chefs whipping up sunny side up eggs. Otherwise, you can have omelette too!

Omelette

We had a hearty breakfast and the buffet spread is good :) We are all satisfied!

We left Terrace cafe at around 10am and went to explore around holiday Inn Resort since we have until 1pm to check out. The supposed check out time is 12pm, however the maximum they allow is till 1 pm at no charge. We did request to check out at 2pm however they do not allow for that.

Due to personal reasons, we did not visit the award winning spa for a spa treatment. For all IHG members, you will be given a free sea salt bath treatment there too. The voucher will be given upon check in. So we decided to just see where's the spa place is located at since we have plenty of free time.

Tea Tree spa @ Holiday Inn Resort Batam

entrance of the Tea Tree spa

Only spa visitors can enter beyond this point so oh well, photos of the spa place will stop here. We saw on various blogs before departure that many Singaporeans love to return to this place for spa treatment. So I guess, their massage did really live up to their name!

Moving on, we went to explore the first and second levels of the main lobby.

Minimart @ level 1

There is a mini mart at level 1, just outside the toilet. The food there are very expensive and choices are limited. When we enter, there were only 2 shopkeepers and no other customers there.

Sports Lounge

There is a sports Lounge, Games Room, Karaoke room at level 2. During the world cup season, it holds live screening of the world cup match there. Alternatively, you can view it at your own comfort in your hotel room.

Games Room

What's in the games room?

As we were there in the morning, it feels like we book the whole room as there wasn't anyone except for occasional guests who came in and take a look. We had a lot of fun in the games room since there's alot of games suitable for group of friends and family!

There are computer station, Foosball (Table football), Pool table, Air Hockey, Darts. We had a whale of time there playing since its quite seldom we get to enjoy all these for free in Singapore. 

view from the corridor of our room

If you are interested in just a relaxing stay in Holiday Inn and do not even want to step out of your room except for the spa treatment. Here's the In Room Dining menu and price.

In room Dining - pg 1

In room dining - pg 2

All prices are in IDR and in terms of thousands. They also have In room  breakfast at an additional cost.

In room breakfast menu

We check out at 1pm as agreed upon with the hotel's rules.

We really love our stay here as the suite is really spacious and the environment here really feels like you are on a vacation - it is just simply so relaxing~ Their staffs are also very friendly and they provide shuttle bus services!! Though the price is on the high side as compared to other hotels in Batam such as Harmoni One and Nagoya One Hotels, however occasional indulgence will definitely bring us back to stay with Holiday Inn Resort Batam :)

our final invoice

Payment of room is only done upon check out. Payment to be either done by credit card or cash in IDR. We pay in IDR and the price quoted to us is IDR 1,720,500. While earlier on in the email correspondence, we were quoted SGD $186. So yeah, its subjected to exchange rate fluctuations!

We were aware that there will be land transfer from Holiday Inn to Sekupang Ferry terminal. During check out, we told the counter about that, and they asked about our ferry timing. We were told by the staff that since our ferry is due at 3.50pm, their policy is that they will only arrange for departure 1 hour in advance. As we wanted to go to the pacific ferry lounge and also to the souvenir shops at the ferry terminal to see, we requested for an earlier slot like 2.30pm. However the staff told me its subject to availability and will inform us at 2.30pm then. 

We waited at the lobby. There are sofas there and we saw quite a couple of people waiting for the shuttle bus too. At around 1.30pm, there is a staff shouting for waterfront terminal. And a few people board the van. And around 1.45pm we heard a staff shouting sekupang terminal, and we went ahead to clarify. It appears that they have "fixed timings" for departure. So we can just board the van to sekupang terminal. At this point of time, it appears clear to us that there is no such thing as 1 hour before your ferry timing, but rather they have like fixed time of departure. In that case, we are puzzled as to why didn't the hotel staff inform us about it so we can make arrangements to our schedule.

Inside the holiday inn van to Sekupang Terminal

There was a total of 2 vans that departed from Holiday Inn to Sekupang. We left at around 2pm and reach the terminal at 2.25pm.

Sekupang ferry terminal - Departure

Holiday Inn private cars and vans!!

Level 1 of the terminal

Level 1 is for arrival while level 2 is departure.

Departure gantry

We will be taking Pacific Ferry 3.50pm ferry. The gate will open at 3.10pm. For all pacific ferry customers, there will be free F&B at the lounge which is only available after you have pass the gantry.

Pacific ferry lounge

The food provided includes green bean soup, beverages and some pastries. Overall not bad considering the cheap fares they provide and yet they still provide free food! Departure and arrival is punctual too. But one downside is that they generally provide to sekupang terminal only and not Batam centre.

Side-Note:
We generally notice that departure ferries from Sekupang Terminal to Harbourfront allows boarding earlier than from Harbourfront to Sekupang. We were able to board as early at 3.20pm. Do pay an attention to people shouting 'Pacific ferry". Most of the people were in the lounge and were not aware of it.