Myself, hubby, 4yr old daughter & 11month old son all first timers and sister in law, brother in law and teenage son and daughter 4th timers arrived Sat 2.40 pm on skywest flight from Port Hedland. One look at the massive line and I was cursing not booking VIP VOA but amazingly we were at our hotel just over an hour after touchdown. I'll break our trip down into the most memorable/ informative bits starting with hotel and eats.
HOTEL
Very impressed with the Dynasty- beautiful hotel, was apprehensive about rooms as we'd had to book interconnecting superior as nothing else available when booking but they were actually great and ground floor.
IMO this is a great hotel for all ages- kids club for the young ones, great pool and pool bar and heaps of dining options within the resort.
MONEY EXCHANGE
Kodak shop just out the front of Dynasty to the left- rate 8200- 8350 during our stay. Ran out of cash during 2nd week and used ATM near Waterbom which was ok and easy to use with our ANZ card but would just take more cash next time.
RESTAURANTS
Gracie Kelly's at the Dynasty- had friends rave about this so ate here 1st night and another night when didn't feel like going out but thought it pretty damn average. Great atmosphere and staff but food poor though the hubby said his rib and leg combo was great!
Golden Lotus at Dynasty- had the DIM SUM buffet lunch which was not to my liking but hubby and sister in law loved it
Also had dinner here and it was awesome! highly recommend the saigon beef king tu and pork ribs. Staff were great too- playing with the kids etc.
Jesens Bar & Restaurant on JL Singosari 45- LOVE this place. Had a friend ask to meet him there for dinner as he'd made friends here on his previous trip so we all went 2nd night in Bali. Beautiful food- I had tastiest Nasi Goreng for 40k, sister in law had bbq fish with sambal for 70k guys had seafood platters which were expensive but apparently awesome at 200k. As for the staff- unreal! Bub was commandeered for cuddles straight away and then when dinner came I was giving him a bottle so the girl(sorry can't remember her name now!) came and took him, finished giving him the bottle then rocked him to sleep whilst I ate dinner. Great service! Made also makes really good cocktails and Arak shooters. Wasn't walking too straight when we left there I think!!! We went back again later in our trip and it was just as good the 2nd time- 935k for 5 with all drinks.
King Thai? across road from Dynasty- had a really good tasty lunch here one day so went back for dinner but the dinner was average! Toilets are definately worth a look! Bet the guys are tempted to pee in the pond!
Febris- had lunch here and wouldn't bother again terrible service and food below average- pizza was the only good meal out of 5.
Kunyit- very friendly staff and food good.
Minis Seafood- had a great meal here- seafood specials for 3 of us- 120k for big bowl of mixed seafood in choice of sauce- garlic butter for me chilli for others- had Lobster(tiny) mud crab peices, clams, fish and squid and was Very tasty! Hubby had steak as he was delicate from BB- more on that later- great but small meal. Good cocktails here and tried banana pancakes for desert- something that was on my to do list and wasn't dissapointed!
Tropical cafe at the Dynasty- had heaps of lunches here and was always good- also a theme night dinner- wild west- which was great
Room service- was used a bit whilst hubby had bali belly and didn't want to go out and couldn't fault the food though of course it was more expensive than outside the resort.
BALI BELLY?
Hmmm- I have a theory about this- during our last week my sister in law, brother in law and my hubby all got sick with some kind of BB.Ende up calling in the doc- visit and medicines for 65US-cheaper than at home! All the kids were ok and I was ok. we'd all been eating at mostly the same places. Difference between me and the other adults? I was drinking copious amounts of cocktails and they were drinking copious amounts of bintang. I have decided it is Bintang Belly- funnily the babysitter and a few other locals said much the same- too much bintang! Just a theory but I've never been happier to be a non beer drinker!
Ok enough for now but will add our shopping, babysitter and activities info- safari park, tubing etc in part two.