In Reply to: Good Ubud Restaurants posted by phantom on Friday, 10. February 2012 at 12:43 Bali Time:
I have experience with this.
My parents also cruised into Bali last year. They were supposed to pull into Benoa as per the scheduled itinery but got re-routed to Padang Bai at the eleventh hour.
I also had arranged for a driver to pick them up and take them to Ubud for the day.
Fortunately they managed to get word to me about the re-routing and I informed my driver, so no problem there as he simply made the long trip to Padang Bai.
I wouldn't at all be surprised if the same happened to your couple as this re-routing seems to be a regular occurence.
On top of that, not only will they waste time getting off the boat with port clearances and other delays etc.etc, but your driver won't be able to get within cooee of the dock/terminal as they fence it off for security reasons. Your driver will have to wait at least half a mile away outside the perimeter so your elderly ladies are going to have to find him. It's like looking for a needle in a haystack with 2000 other passengers all doing the same thing.
There are drivers everywhere.
Their only chance of connecting is if they're prepared to make the long hot walk to the perimeter fence (hope they're not too old) and get your driver to hold up a big sign with their names on it, like they do at the airport.
By the time they get off the boat and manage to connect with the driver they may have wasted a good two hours if not more. I'm certain they won't want to cut it too fine getting back to the boat either in case there's a mishap along the way with the driver, (accident, flat tyre, etc.etc). They won't want to risk missing the boat I'm sure so their 8 hours will realistically/probably be cut in half.
This will give them only enough time to have a nice lunch and maybe a quick whip around the markets.
Don't bother with an excursion. The trip to Ubud from Padang Bai is the best part of an hour, so they'll see plenty of the scenic countryside en route.
In saying all that, and they do the tour, I can recommend Bridges (if they're cashed up) as a beautiful restaurant overlooking the ravine of the Oos River in western Ubud. Fabulous food in a fabulous setting. Check out their website www.bridgesbali.com
Hope this makes sense and is of help.