No Bali Shore Excursions

Had a look at my cruise planner on Celebrity's website and while there are ship shore tours for every port, there are none for Bali. I heard the ships may not be stopping there due to corruption? Anyone know anything? If we don't go to Bali, are we likely to go somewhere else? Anyone been to Bali on a ship recently (or not)? If so, what line?

Azamara Quest is due to disembark and embark in Bali on Feb. 17, 2015 so I am sure hoping there is not a problem. We leave Feb. 7 so just 18 days and no word of anything changing. There was a problem with a larger ship (maybe tender problem coming in?) a few weeks ago. Maybe Bonnie on the Azamara board could get some answers for you. Hope you get to see Bali. Looking forward to 10 days in Bali and Yogyakarta before the cruise.

Had a look at my cruise planner on Celebrity's website and while there are ship shore tours for every port, there are none for Bali. I heard the ships may not be stopping there due to corruption? Anyone know anything? If we don't go to Bali, are we likely to go somewhere else? Anyone been to Bali on a ship recently (or not)? If so, what line?

We were on Sapphire Princess and in Bali on New Year's Day, we anchored and tendered into the Port of Benoa. They would not let Bluebird Taxis into the port (they are the ones that have the meters) but this was the only thing I noticed that was a bit weird!

Had a look at my cruise planner on Celebrity's website and while there are ship shore tours for every port, there are none for Bali. I heard the ships may not be stopping there due to corruption? Anyone know anything? If we don't go to Bali, are we likely to go somewhere else? Anyone been to Bali on a ship recently (or not)? If so, what line?

Hi,

We were in Bali (Benoa) on Diamond Princess in Nov 2014, and we had no problems.

Diamond is scheduled to return there twice, on in March, and again in April.

I am sure you will be fine.

Enjoy your time there.

Nicki

We are on the Quest departing Feb 3 have not been told anything and as most people have departing flights out of Bali they would need to know this.

Celebrity's January 4th sailing on the Millenium stopped in Bali for the scheduled 2.5 days.

The most important characteristic of a tour guide is not knowing where all of the tourist hot spots are, but to be able to put together a day that meets the interests of his clients. Dean of http://baliwithdean.blogspot.com meets that need perfectly. I am usually very cautious in choosing drivers, especially on day trips from cruises, because not only do I insist that our interests are met, but getting back to the boat on time- without getting back too early, is imperative.

I contacted numerous companies from the web for our trip to Bali on a cruise. Our requirements were to visit beautiful scenes off the beaten track, exposure to real people, and as much as possible for an 8 hour tour, feel like we at least glimpsed the “real” Bali. Dean was perfect!! He had a very neat and clean car with good a/c, and we definitely were off the beaten track. The highlight for me was visiting a Hindu temple preparing for a celebration. We were able to wander around the temple, and watched the women make exquisite offerings to be used at the celebration. My husband took some phenomenal photos, that he admits that Dean pointed out. We wandered through rice paddies, down dirt roads, and really felt like we saw the real Bali. We did visit a few “touristy” sites including Tanah Lot Temple. If you are going to spend the money and put forth the effort to travel to Bali exploring Bali with Dean is the way to experience Bali to the fullest.

The most important characteristic of a tour guide is not knowing where all of the tourist hot spots are, but to be able to put together a day that meets the interests of his clients. Dean of http://baliwithdean.blogspot.com meets that need perfectly. I am usually very cautious in choosing drivers, especially on day trips from cruises, because not only do I insist that our interests are met, but getting back to the boat on time- without getting back too early, is imperative.

I contacted numerous companies from the web for our trip to Bali on a cruise. Our requirements were to visit beautiful scenes off the beaten track, exposure to real people, and as much as possible for an 8 hour tour, feel like we at least glimpsed the “real” Bali. Dean was perfect!! He had a very neat and clean car with good a/c, and we definitely were off the beaten track. The highlight for me was visiting a Hindu temple preparing for a celebration. We were able to wander around the temple, and watched the women make exquisite offerings to be used at the celebration. My husband took some phenomenal photos, that he admits that Dean pointed out. We wandered through rice paddies, down dirt roads, and really felt like we saw the real Bali. We did visit a few “touristy” sites including Tanah Lot Temple. If you are going to spend the money and put forth the effort to travel to Bali exploring Bali with Dean is the way to experience Bali to the fullest.

Oh you have made my day!! We will spend 3 days with Dean of Bali starting on Feb 15, 2015 -- we leave in 2 days!! I, too, had seen his beautiful photos and think that my hubby in particular will enjoy taking pictures with him. Dean has been great in the planning stages of this trip (booked him well over 8 months ago start point) and now we will also see Bali with Dean. I will show him this comment.

I was in Bali for three days beginning January 15. I loved it! The people were nice, we had a great driver on two separate days. We spent one night in the mountains (volcano), one night at a hotel on the beach and one night on our cruise ship. I would go back anytime and stay there as long as I could.

I was there on Bali for 2,5 days with the Millennium from Celibrity cruise from 15 days started at Singapore on 17 January 2015. I book online private driver FreDy driver with a good car a save driver and speaking very Well english. And that all for a nice price.

Look on his FB page;

Bali Distinction Fredy

And on Vimeo for his video for a idea of Bali things to see

There is a cartel operating in Indonesia, expect to pay twice as much for your taxis. This should never be allowed.

Benoa, Bali

1/1/2015

I anticipated this port as a place that would be best seen from a private tour, so I canceled the ship tour expecting to get off the ship and grab a cab "in the moment". A CC friend who had been to Bali with her mom gave me the name of a great driver called Gypsy Nur. I emailed him the day before and he responded within minutes of my contact at 5 in the morning! I promptly hired him to take the four of us around the island, we had a good idea of where we wanted to go and he charged us a flat rate of $100 for the whole day! He was such a character, he really enhanced our experience and we all adored him and his wacky efficient driving. Since it was New Years day there was a ton of traffic and Gypsy knew all the shortcuts and tricks to get around some massive traffic jams. He was fantastic!

He promptly picked us up at the port at 8 am, we were able to get off the ship on the first tender and zipped out of the port before the crowds and bus loads of passengers were there, we also passed a convoy of Princess buses being escorted by Police, something I have never seen before. Gypsy played oldies on his CD player so we all sang and loved the multi sensory experience. Gypsy himself was extremely knowledgeable about Bali and added some suggestions to our agenda.

First stop was an old traditional Balinese home where multiple generations of a family lived, we visited their private temple, kitchen, and several living rooms as we were guided by Gypsy who described life In this household, as well as the lush flora which surrounded the home. It had started to rain and Gypsy provided us umbrellas to keep dry.

Next we visited a Batik artisan store where we got to learn of the process and watch it being made then of course we visited the store which had reasonably priced items and we all bought things there. I got a beautiful purse, a blouse, a dress, and four fans, all beautifully made by hand and all for we,l under $100. Others in our group bought handmade pictures on cotton or silk, a child's dress and a mans shirt.

Back in the car we continued on towards our farthest point of Ubud, stopping on the way at another artisan wood cutting place, again great prices, and a beautiful temple. After a donation of a few bucks, we all were wrapped in skirts and off we went into the complex. It was lovely, we all enjoyed seeing our men in skirts! Got some good pictures.

Now we headed to the fantastic Monkey forest, a beautiful placed filled with many monkeys who were not afraid of people and got to interact, or rather watch them close up and that was a highlight for me. We were warned not to bring food or glasses in, but we saw several people wearing glasses so don't leave them behind unless they are sunglasses so you can see and photograph them close up. We saw mothers with babies hanging from their bellies, teens wrestling playfully, and older monkeys reclining and showing off their private parts! It was a riot, we laughed at the old ones sitting with the legs spread wide, and named one El Grosso! This was a must see experience, I was so glad we stopped here and Gypsy was waiting for us as we exited. We zipped away and decided to grab lunch at a local place.

Lunch was good, not as yummy as we had in Ko Samui but good nonetheless. We were right over rice paddies and it was quite scenic. We also stopped at a very scenic overlook of beautiful tiered rice paddys where we snapped pictures and did a little shopping. Gypsy insisted on bargaining for the items I bought getting me 4 magnets for $5, much Chelsea than they were asking. That was awesome, he continued to help us bargain for shopping as we stopped I. Some local lookouts.

We also visited an organic coffee farm where we went on a guided tour which ended in a beautiful lookout rest spot where we were offered multiple glasses of teas, coffees, and chocolate drinks, all made from plants grown on the farm. They had the famous poop coffee here, taken from the Civets who eat coffee beans, do not digest them, and instead poop them out. This is supposed to be delicious coffee but none of us would try it, although it did smell good, at least the final product did. They cut up a fresh coconut for me to munch on, and offered us cookies and chips made of some local fruit or veggie, I don't remember what. We sat looking over a beautiful valley of rice paddies and private homes with gardens. When we were done, I stopped in the gift shop and bought an incredible Ginger tea which was delicious.

We had to go back to the port early, anticipating massive traffic which we had, but Gypsy expertly drove us around many cars and buses in somewhat of a hair raising drive which was so memorable and just added to the feeling of the whole experience. Although we were 20 minutes late to the port, we beat 11 bus loads of Princess as well as other folks on private tours because of Gypsys skilled driving! I highly recommend Gypsy as a tour guide and driver! He totally made our day in Bali memorable.

Tour info: we used a private driver named Gypsy, he was an amazing man very adept at getting around a crowded port filled with traffic. We saw a lot and the drive itself was quite thrilling!

Gypsy Nur

bali_vespafinder@yahoo.co.id

We were on the Quest and used balitourmagic from TA. We had a man named Moose and it was the best tour we have had in all our years of travel. He tailored it to what we wanted and changed things up as he saw our interest peek with certain things. Very clean modern van and he came back the next morning very early for us to go to the airport.

Had a look at my cruise planner on Celebrity's website and while there are ship shore tours for every port, there are none for Bali. I heard the ships may not be stopping there due to corruption? Anyone know anything? If we don't go to Bali, are we likely to go somewhere else? Anyone been to Bali on a ship recently (or not)? If so, what line?

Hello there,

First of all, I just want to point out that we disembarked a 28-day cruise with HAL about 2 weeks ago in Singapore. I organized about 6 tours on CC and never have taken a cruise ship tour as we are not interested in travelling in a bus with too many people.

From Singapore, we headed to Perth to visit a friend for 1 week. We were "obliged" to take a bus tour to Margaret River as there were no other alternatives. We both didn't like the experience...

Now, we are in Bali. We had the driver of our hotel (Ubud) picked us up from the airport. His name is Dewa. He was very professional, spoke great english and was very knowledgable about everything: life, history, customs... He has dealt with different personalities over the last 3 years working for the hotel and he is very patient and knows how to "deliver". We loved him so much that we booked an 8-hour tour (yesterday). Well, it was better than I could have imagined. I don't want to write too much details but we travel like "Rick Steves" and love the off-the-beaten-track experiences. His bubbly personality contributed a lot to our experience. Give him a try as he has a young family and both parties would benefit from the experience.

His name is Dewa. Email: dgrock1140 at yahoo dot com Phone: 085238493089

If you have any question, please post your e-mail :D

I just returned from an extended stay in Bali. I was picked up at the airport by my prearranged driver Putu Supartana who was excellent and his price much lower than most of the others. I used him for 5 days as I found him to be awesome. His English was excellent, his knowledge of Bali and the local culture and religion was extensive, his van was nice and it had great A/C. He was flexible and worked with me both before I left home, and after I arrived, to make sure my itinerary was the best possible. We often spent 10 hours a day exploring all areas in Bali and he made suggestions about additional things to see or hotels I might like. He was very friendly and is a good family man. I went to Lombok for a while but made sure I could have him again as my driver when I returned again to Bali. We have actually become friends and I will use him when I make a return visit to Bali and he has offered to do anything for me that I might need, both while at home and when I return to Bali. He always had an umbrella available, and a sarong and sash in order for me to visit the temples. Sometimes he would be arranging my sarong and sash outside the van, before I went in the temple, while local women supervised. :) I was able to see all of Bali and its temples, amazingly beautiful rice terraces, lakes, mountains, beaches, cities and towns. I would not have been able to see as much without having Putu as my driver. He was always great to respond promptly to my emails.

If you need a good driver his contact info is: http://www.putudriverinbali.wordpress.com

call/sms: +62 81 805 671 005

putu.supartana@yahoo.com

He can take you from the airport to your hotel, or to the ship, or combine some sightseeing with either or arrange to take you for full day trips.

Marilyn