Well just thought I would post a JBR whilst having toast and coffee.
We got back yesterday morning on the red eye.........
We arrived at Febris on the 3rd October at about lunchtime. Put our bags into the store room as you cant check in until about 2. We had asked for a ground floor room as I have hurt my back but unfortunately they didnt have any. What room are we in I ask? third floor is the reply, sorry we cant do anything - fully booked.
oh no!! The boss goes over to the Dynasty to check out availability and prices. Yes they have room but this will be $121US per night, and we need 2 rooms.
Holy crap! we have already paid a substantial deposit at Febris, we arent sure what to do - there is no way I can walk up 2 flights of stairs several times a day. They must sense our worry as they say maybe tomorrow we can shift you to first floor room. I say thank you very much that would be much better.
Our third floor rooms arent adjoining either and are on either side of the stair well. Rooms are nice but there is only one bedside table. Aircon in each room is practically non existant. We ring for maintenance and obviously the gas has run out so the man is trying to do something with the gas thingy outside the room.
Lights are very dim so its hard to read (even in the bathroom) - I read in several reviews that the beds are rock hard - yes they are a little hard but I like it like that its better for my back. There is no shampoo or conditioner - only handsoap. This doesnt bother me in the least as I always use my own. 2 bottles of water each day in the fridge which isnt full of the usual bar stuff - excellent. The fridge is bigger than a bar fridge but smaller than a standard fridge. Perfect we can fit everything in easily and the ice freezes which it doesnt always do in Bali fridges!
Rooms are clean and plenty big enough. If you are the kind of person who needs total blockout curtains this is not the place for you. They have the lights on outside all night and there is a window above the door which isnt covered with a curtain. Rooms are very light all through the night. This doesnt bother us at all in fact makes it easier to move around through the night.
TV has about 60 channels! Its a couchaholics dream..... OMG they have a turbo channel which is all about cars/bikes etc and hotrods, racing and everything else a revhead would love. The boss is in heaven he thinks all his christmases have come at once. He never watches tv at home and rarely in Bali either. I think I will never get him out of the room but thankfully a lot of the shows are run every day so a lot are reruns and he isnt too bothered. Plenty of cartoons for the kids and I find a cooking channel which is right up my alley - love to cook and always looking to learn.
Next day we pack all our stuff up again to move rooms. OMG they have given us ground floor adjoining rooms. Thank god. These rooms are fantastic, aircon works like a charm, our window above the doors have curtains on them and we have 2 bedside tables. We also have a kingsize bed plus a smaller bed in one room so there is plenty bed space. The rooms are far enough from the pool to be nice and quiet but close enough to walk in only a minute to the pool.
They have these buzzers by the pool you ring for service. The only come about half the time but we didnt care. We ended up drinking our own bintangs by the pool if they didnt answer the buzzer.
Food at the hotel was good, about 45-55,000 for a meal (which seemed to be the norm at most restaurants) I had an avocado caeser salad that was really lovely, crunchy lettuce and homemade dressing - yummmm
I had also read in several reviews that Febris is a bit of a concrete jungle. Not so in my opinion. Plenty of bouganvilleas, frangipanis, trees, and other plants. No it doesnt have the big garden areas like the Jayakarta but for a small hotel the garden areas were lovely.
The pool was good, with a small wall separating the kiddy pool from the other wall. We got a fright one day when a little kid about 2 climbed over the wall and his dad had his back to him. He went straight into the shallow end of the big pool which is still well over a kids head. The boss was about to jump in when the dad realised the child had gone under. It was soundless and all that you could see was his little red hat floating above where he had sunk.
Pool surrounds were good. Plenty of lounges although there were none in complete shade as they were all under frangipanis with filtered light. No pool hogs at all except once we came back from lunch and all the lounges had towels on them. I saw 4 in a row that had towels on them but no people. only 2 people in the pool I ask them if these are their seats. Nope they say, they have been empty for hours. I pick up a towel off one and put it on a seat nearby. Then I see a few other people searching for empty lounges so I grab the other 3 towels and move them as well. Pretty soon all 4 lounges are full.
Only problem with the lounges was at 4pm they would come around and take off all the matresses. Usually hardly anybody at the pool at that time but more people after that with no mattresses to sit on. I think they would have been better off taking them off about 9pm as the pool closes at 10.
We got a free 1 hour reflexology and lower leg massage with our booking. This was nice but an hour is too long I think.
Brekky was good, toast, waffles, pancakes, eggs any style, hash browns, noodles, rice, fruit, baked beans, fried tomatoes, sauteed vegetables, cold cordials (cant really call them juice) and a coffee maker. I really enjoyed the brekkys, the food was replaced regularly and didnt really get a chance to go cold and yukky.
Would I stay here again? with kids absolutely this hotel was fantastic.
Sorry this has been a bit long but when I am reading reviews I always like as much info as possible. If anybody has any questions please ask.
More to come later