Firstly thanks to all for the abundance of info I have printed off/memorised and used for our 2nd wonderful trip to Bali, last time being Sept 08.
Last time we went with another family & stayed Hard Rock Kuta and Villa 8 Seminyak. This time was just the 4 of us, so myself, Hubbie and 16yr old Miss and 13 yr old Master. Stayed 5 nights MBR- Legian and 4 nights Emerald Villas Seminyak.
Flew Melb-Perth then 3 nights in Perth with family then flew Air Asia to Bali on the 5.40pm flight, left early, arrived early, all thru customs etc in 1 hr, very happy with that as had checked flight stats website & thought it would be super busy, hubby refused to pay for express VOA, course he was right which is annoying LOL!
Save a small fortune going via Perth, $99 Perth to Bali, you WA people are so lucky.
Arrived MBR about 10.30pm, course they had ignored my 2 email requests to be ground floor and had us down for a twin room on 2nd floor. Once explained we had 2 kids in tow (as emailed to them), they quickly moved us to ground floor, king size bed and 2 twins in front - we had cottage suite down near restaurant, great spot. Yes, this resort is tired, the grounds are lovely, but that is about it. I guess you get what you pay for but we paid $120 US a night with breakie. Room spacious, beds were fine, rooms cleaned everyday but bathroom very in need of a refurbish and shower was awful. We didn't spend a lot of time in room anyway. Breakie was OK, egg station was great but out of 5 days bacon only appeared twice much to Miss 16's disgust, pancakes only 1 day, cereal very limited. Tea and coffee disgusting.
The pool was hopeless to get a lounge unless you were out early putting the towel on it or late afternoon, my kids were not happy as they preferred the deeper main pool, I loved the smaller one around side, could sit under trees at one end, always got a sunbed and could order our lunch/drinks easily. Would we return, no....a lot of other options to choose from and we do like to try somewhere different each time anyway.
In saying this, position is perfect and easily wandered out to restaurants/shopping. We did use the spa for pedi/mani on first day, it was lovely and convenient. Kids kept comparing it to Hard Rock with the sensational pool and great buffet breakies, but we we prefer the Legian area!
More to come on shopping/restaurants and Sanur!