[REVIEW] THE CANOPI RESORT, BINTAN INDONESIA: The Glammed-Up Camping Experience!
12:57 AM
One of the things
I never fail to look forward to whenever I’m having my doze of Harry Potter movie-marathon
are the scenes where I see those unbelievable tents. You know what I'm saying?
I'm talking about their magical tents, which look like your run-of-the-mill
tents outside but lo and behold an unexpectedly big and fully furnished
interior. Whenever I watch HP movies, I can't help but always imagine how
thrilling and amazing it would be to really stay in one of those in real life.
It would be awesome! Imagine my exuberance when my hubby showed me for the
first time the website of The Canopi Resort.
The Canopi, for me, opens the gate to the world of glamping. Glamping? Ah-huh. Simply put glamorous getaway and normal camping together and boom! You get GLAMPING. Their website stated that the inspiration of The Canopi's luxurious safari themed tents was drawn from the 18th century colonial experience. Now, I won't pretend I'm familiar with it (coz I suck at history, big time), but whatever the 18th century colonial experience looks like, the people responsible for the design of the resort did a great job in creating a setting as distinctive and as cool as The Canopi.
We initially
wanted to book a stay at The Canopi for our 6th wedding anniv but sudden
changes of plans happened and so it didn't push through. We then decided to go
for it on my birthday. We booked their Glam Deluxe Tent but only for 2 days and
1 night, just enough to fit my hubby's 2days off. Since we didn't have much
time to spend there, we didn't bother booking for any of their activities.
Speaking of, they actually have a lot to offer. It'll just be up to you whether
you want to engage in water activities or explore their land attractions more. If
you go to their website and click on the ATTRACTIONS menu, you’ll see three
different categories namely: WATER EXPERIENCE, LAND EXPERIENCE and OTHER
EXPERIENCE. I won’t go in full details but just to give you an overview, here
are the list of activities available for each category based on their website:
WATER EXPERIENCE:
-
Solar
Boat Ride | Jetovator (with coaching) | Water Sports Park
-
Water
Tricycle | Sea Scooter | Water ZOVB
-
Bumper
Boat | Mangrove Kayaking Tour | Aquaglide Sailboat
-
Inflatable
Kayak | Bintan Wake Park | Stand Up Paddle
-
Mangrove
Pontoon Cruise | Slip and Slide | Mangrove Firefly Pontoon Tour (Night Only)
LAND EXPERIENCE:
-
Classic
Car Fun Ride | Mini Electric ATV | 2-Wheeler Personal Transportation
-
Electric
Scooter | ATV Off-Road Trail | UTV Off-Road Trail (2-seater)
-
Airsoft
Gun | Wishing Sky Lantern | Rodeo Bull | Bon Fire (night only)
OTHER EXPERIENCE:
-
SPA
Massage | Little Village – Pujasera | Dinner at Kampoeng Kelong
-
Bintan
Island Tour | Golf at Ria Bintan Golf Club | BBQ
If we had friends
with us and if we stayed there for a longer period of time we're sure to sign
up for at least 2 of their attractions/activities. We did enjoy our free electric
scooter, though, and had we only gotten more time, we could have also tried their ATV Off-Road!
Anyway, let’s go
back to our tent! It comes with Four Poster King-Sized Bed, Day Bed, Air-Conditioning,
Standing Fan, LCD Television, Mini Fridge, Tea and Coffee Making Facilities, Private
Bathroom with Shower, En-suite Whirlpool, Hairdryer, Towels, Private Patio with
Outdoor Setting, WiFi Connection and Safe Deposit Box.
The amount we paid
for also includes:
i)
Complimentary
2-way transfer service between Bandar Bentan Telani Ferry Terminal and The
Canopi Resort
ii)
Complimentary
breakfast for 2 pax
iii)
Complimentary
entry to Chill Cove @ Treasure Bay Bintan
OUR EXPERIENCE
Nothing's
extraordinary with their reception area, though. I also didn't like their
welcome drinks. I can't describe how it tasted but I just remember that I didn't
like it enough to finish it.
We were brought to
our tent by one of their staffs thru their buggy. We were given GD91. Before we
arrived to our tent we passed by the others' and just the view of it, I was
already super excited to see ours.
Without a doubt, I
love the concept of The Canopi. It's a design idea I would like to work on if I
were still an Architecture student. Upon seeing how our tent looks like from
outside (which actually looks exactly the
same as the rest of them haha), I was instantly thrilled. I specifically
liked the table and chairs outside our tent covered by an arched trellis which
looks like one of those I usually see in weddings. I also love the swing, which
I planned to sit on, but totally forgot to do, LOL.
When we entered our
tent for the very first time, it gave me the HP feels. I love it. Although, I
think it's more of the fact that I've been waiting for such a long time to
experience something like this and finally did than of pure amazement of the
tent, you know what I’m saying? It was more like goose bumps for a
wish-come-true kind of thing, if you catch my drift. To our relief, the tent
looks the same as what was shown on their website.
The bathroom was
nice. Imagine a tent for camping that offers a fully glammed-up bathroom
equipped with an epic Jacuzzi, wouldn't you also be astonished?
I personally
like the choices of accessories for the bathroom like the choice of lighting bulbs,
which I think, was customized exclusively for them as well as the handles for
the faucets and showers. I can honestly say that it was well thought-out of.
That said, we didn't appreciate the lack of partition for the toilet bowl. It's okay for the Jacuzzi and the shower area to be in that open concept design but we didn't expect the same for the toilet bowl.
That said, we didn't appreciate the lack of partition for the toilet bowl. It's okay for the Jacuzzi and the shower area to be in that open concept design but we didn't expect the same for the toilet bowl.
MY THOUGHTS/FEEDBACK
- We
arrived there on my birthday (July 11th). I didn't know my hubby requested for
a birthday cake to be ready in our tent before we checked-in. He told me that
they assured him it would be ready before we get to our tent but when we
arrived there and my hubby checked with them if the cake was already in the
room, they answered "what cake?" So he had to remind them about it
and when they remembered, that's the only time they acted on it. So we got to
finally check in to our tent about 15-20 minutes later than expected.
- There's
some dirt on the outer part of the toilet bowl. I don’t know exactly how to
describe it so just see the photo below. I had to clean it first before using
it. It was kinda disgusting. I didn't trouble them for it because I didn't want
to wait and I needed to use it already. Ugh.
-
Just
an observation: There were not enough shower areas despite the size of the
lagoon. It also looked so weird that the shower area was just at one side of
the lagoon. Or probably we just didn't see the others? I really hope I'm wrong
about this.
-
Some
of the tents were situated quite far from the restaurants and when it rains, it
was kind of a hassle to go out to eat but they don't do room service. If you
want to eat in your tents, you gotta go to the restaurants and order some
takeaways. That's the only way you can eat their food in your tents.
- When
we're having dinner at our table right outside our tent, there were of course
some mosquitoes lurking around so my hubby decided to bring out the electric
fan. Unfortunately the socket was kinda loose and so the electric fan didn't
want to stay plugged in. He called reception (2001#) to request for extension
cord and they said they'd bring one. After about 15-20 minutes, there was no
sign of them so I decided to call them to follow up. When I called, it's like
that was the first time they've been told about it and the guy wasn't even sure
he understood what we're requesting. He said, he'll check with their
"engineering department." After about 5 minutes, I got a callback
verifying what we we're requesting. I was starting to get a bit irritated at
that point so I told him to just send someone at that instant because we need
the assistance since about half an hour ago and we still have not received any
help from them. Their staff arrived within 10 minutes and when the guy saw the
situation, he immediately understood what we’re asking for and knew exactly
what he needed to do. Whew!
-
Our
ferry was scheduled at 2:25PM and their standard checkout time is 11:30AM. I
called if we could extend until 1PM coz that's what we normally request for
when we're in other hotels in Bintan. The lady who answered my call immediately
informed me that we can only extend until 12PM and anything beyond that time is
chargeable. Wow. Really? On a weekday? I didn't insist. Yes I was expecting
they'll be as accommodating and considerate as the other hotels/resorts we've
visited in Bintan especially because we booked our stay on weekdays, but nope.
I am plain disappointed.
-
The
"hot" water only works at random. Most of the time it doesn't heat up
at all. We don't really mind if the weather's hot but it was raining and the
design of their bathroom allows air from outside to freely flow inside making
it all the more difficult to take a bath because the water's cold.
-
When
I asked the staff who fetched us during our checkout if they have lots of
guests, he said "not so much." Then I asked him why we couldn’t
extend until 1PM. He immediately said that there are already customers waiting
for our tent. Hmmm... Okay.
FINAL WORDS
If you want to
take a break but you're tired of the normal hotel accommodations and you want
to try something new, this glammed-up camping experience could be the right
getaway choice for you. The camping vibe is legit plus they offer lots of fun
activities for those of you, active people out there! And even if you're
looking for some peace and quiet, it is still an option because you can just
stay in your tent, get cozy with a book or watch movies on their provided TV.
You can also do BBQ! We didn't have enough time to do that, though.
Overall, it's a
place we might want to visit again because we really adore the idea of camping
and there were really lots of fun things we wanted to try if only we had more
time. That said, we feel like it's overrated. Yes, the idea is cool but there
were some mishaps with the site development plan of the resort and there were
many areas, we believe, they need to improve on. Moreover, with the kind of customer
service we received, it might really take us a while to consider going back.
***
Have you been to
The Canopi or have tried any other venues that offered Glamping? Please share
your experience in the comment section below.
The Canopi Resort
The Canopi Resort
Address :
Jln. Raya Haji KM 01 Kawasan
Pariwisata, Teluk Sebong Lagoi,
Bintan, Kepulauan Riau 29152
Indonesia.
Phone :
(+62) 770 - 69 - 2252 / 2253
(+65) 315 - 28 - 010 (SG Toll Free)
Email:
reservation@thecanopi.com
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