May 19, 2023

Last night we had another dinner in Toscana celebrating our anniversary since they forgot the cake on our real anniversary. This time we got a delicious chocolate cake with ice cream. We gave all but the two pieces we ate back to the staff to enjoy. We even got serenaded by the staff.

On Friday, May 19 we arrived in Bintan, Indonesia, a place we have never visited or even heard of before. We didn’t know what to expect and we ended up having a delightful day. Our sail in was beautiful. And, in a surprise, the chef on the ship cut my Singapore mango for me at breakfast! Certainly better than the hack job I usually do.

We were anchored so had to take the tender to shore.

Before we arrived, I read about the island. Singapore is only a 45-50 minute trip by motorized catamaran. Indonesia is promoting Bintan as the next best tourist destination after Bali. The island’s land area is only 453 square miles and it has many beaches with beach front hotels. It is certainly much less crowded! Our cruise ship anchored on the left of the map above and we arrived to quite the welcome. The beach area we were headed for is at the top of the map. It seems that everywhere we visit in Indonesia, the people are always smiling and so friendly.

We took a short bus ride to the most prominent of the beaches, the Bintan Resort which is set over an area of 740 acres of tropical environment. It was almost deserted. I wish I had known to wear my swim suit because the water was so calm and warm. We didn’t actually know where the shuttle was taking us. But there was time for a nice beach walk and shell gathering and then a walk around the whole resort and part of the lake walk. Norm stayed on the beach while Ellen and I took the walk. Well, maybe he had to make a phone call!

The landscaping was beautiful and they left a lot of trees along the beach for shade.

I will have some additional pictures when Ellen shares the ones she took.

It was a short day in port today as we needed to be back on the ship by 1:30, so we said goodbye and went back for lunch. There wasn’t much open at the resort since it is past the high season.

Our entertainer at night was Josh Henderson in a tribute to Queen. He certainly had the place rocking and we enjoyed it. Tomorrow (May 20) is a sea day on the way to Brunei.