Overall I was happy with the tour. Nevertheless, I think that there is some room for improvement. There are three things that stand out in my mind.
1. The tour starts on a Sunday, with Monday being a day to tour Jakarta. In fact it was not a full day and some people said it was a pity that museums are closed on Mondays. I know that the operator suggest visiting museums on arrival day but that is not always possible when airline schedules are considered. If there is no overwhelming reason to start on a Sunday, why not change to another day?
2. Most of the hotels were acceptable to good. Even Seloliman, which was simple and basic, was quite nice. In contrast, Bromo was simply awful. There are dozens, possibly hundreds, of accommodation options in Bromo and I doubt that any of them are worse. Moreover, the Grand Whiz must be one of the furthest from Mt Bromo, the target of the activity. The other hotel that was not entirely satisfactory was the Yello starting hotel. We were supposed to have an introductory briefing there but no suitable room appeared to be available. Instead we were herded into a private room in a restaurant and expected to have dinner there whether we liked it or not. I have travelled on many group tours and have never experienced a starting hotel that failed to provide a meeting room.
3. The optional activities offered by the hotel in Pemuteran were over-priced. I didn't go on the National Park walk but I heard from those that did that it was poor value for money at 750,000 IDR plus 10% tax. I did go on a snorkelling tour, identical to the one that the hotel was offering, also for 750,000 IDR plus tax. By shopping around, I got the same tour for 500,000 IDR including tax. Similarly, their laundry service was three times the price that we had been charged in Jogykarta.
Oki, our tour leader, was pleasant, friendly and knowledgeable. She did make a serious mistake in Jakarta, underestimating the time to get to the train station, so only five of the group caught the train. Thereafter she over-compensated, sometimes arriving at the station with more than an hour to spare. My only other criticism is that she sometimes made announcements when not all of the group were present or with hearing distance.
I have one final comment that applies only to me and my wife. The operator agreed to complementary transfers at the beginning and end of the tour. The transfer at the beginning was fine. For the transfer at the end, the operator did not provide a transfer because we were going to other accommodation in Ubud rather than to Denpasar airport. The airport was 36 km away. Our new accommodation was just over 1 km away. I thought it was pretty small-minded to refuse us a short trip when you would have provided 36 km one at no charge. It only cost us a few dollars; was it worth annoying us for such a trivial amount?
