Our family went for an adventure again!
Baby1 and Baby2’s Childcare Centre was closed for 2.5 days for Staff Training and what-nots, so Dear1 and Dear2 took leave to take care of them. Since we have to take leave, we might as well go on a holiday right? And so happened that Club Med was offering “Kids go Free” sometime back, so we quickly planned our leave and made the booking!
Day 1 (Wed)
We woke up at 6 am as per our usual weekday morning, and set off from home by 7.30 am. Took PIE and Second Link customs which were slightly jammed (would have been smoother if we can reach Customs by 7.15 am). Toilet break at Singapore Customs, and it was a 2.5 hour drive to Segamat Bak Kut Teh for lunch (reached at 12 noon exactly). The eatery was clean and pretty empty, and the food was okayish and not too salty, sedap~
Taking our lunch break at Yeo’s Bak Kut Teh at Segamat after a long morning drive.
The kids KO’ed immediately which gave us some peace and quiet during the 3 hour drive to Club Med Cherating. Except for some hiccups with the GPS not being to find the exact destination to Club Med, phew, we finally reached at 4 pm exactly. And we only used up half a tank of petrol.
Did Check In. Or rather, Check In was already done and we just had to listen to some briefings by the GO and off we went to our rooms. Club Med only offers twin-sharing, max 3-sharing rooms, so we had 2 connecting rooms. Considered very expensive for us since Baby2 sleeps with us anyway. But we didn’t had a choice. Well, at least the kids had fun running from room to room and we had plenty of space to leave our things lying around.
Check in to our room 2 connecting rooms
Swim -> bath -> dinner -> (Egyptian) Show Time
Relaxed and had a fun time with the kids waddling in the kids pool.
Dinner was at the Mutiara (main) restaurant since we couldn’t have possibly made reservations at the Rembulan Restaurant on our first day. 2 GOs came to dine with us and we learnt more about the Club Med culture from them.
Our first show at Club Med – Egyptian theme
The Show was put up by the GOs, who apparently have their roles in the day time, and become performers by night. Baby1 had fun joining in the crazy signs dances at the end of the Show, and we had to pull her out from joining the human train to the Foam Party by the pool where the party continues and the music boomed until late night. Luckily our room was far enough and the booming was only slightly irritating.
Day 2 (Thur)
After breakfast, Baby1 joined the Mini Club for flying trapeze at 9.15am. At 11 am, a GO led us to the Turtle Sanctuary right outside the gates of Club Med, a 15 min walk away from the Main Area. We arranged with the uncle to go back for baby turtle release this evening at 6.30 pm, and returned to Club Med for lunch. But there would be no lunch and no food of any kind any where in Club Med until 12.15 pm! Unimaginable but true.
Baby1 joining Mini Club Med for their trapeze activity on days 2 and 3
Nap -> Mini Club (Boat Making) -> dinner (at Noodle Bar) -> back to beach at Turtle Sanctuary -> bath -> Mini Club Movie under the Stars -> Show Time (Lip Sync Competition)
Baby1 only had 1 hour nap, and we woke her up for the Mini Club Family Event at 4 pm while Baby2 continues her beauty nap in the room with Papa. The kids at Mini Club lethargically made their boats using plastic bottles, and went to the pool for the competition. It’s amazing that these kids (4 to 7 yo) can have a whole day’s of play with no nap and under the scorching sun (pool games at 11 am!?) and continues to have play with Mini Club for the whole day.
Releasing baby turtles into the sea
By 5pm, Baby2 was awake and had finished her milk. We decided to have an early dinner at the Noodle Bar since Mutiara’s food was un-interesting anyway. Interestingly, ‘Ramen’ at Noodle Bar is a choice of ‘yellow noodles, rice vermicelli, luk choo ban and kway teow’. Same goes for any of the other noodles that you get to order here.
At the beach, we donated RM 50 to release fifteen 10-day old turtles into the sea. After that, the kids had fun making footprints and drawing with their fingers in the sand.
Mini Club watched movie under the stars in the sea breeze on a straw mat.
Movies under the stars at Mini Club Med
Day 3 (Fri)
Morning swim -> breakfast -> made reservations at Rembulan -> Mini Club Circus -> Mini Club (soccer) -> Karaoke -> lunch
Baby1 playing street soccer at Mini Club Med
We didn’t ask why Rembulan (beach restaurant) was not opened yesterday, but with only 3 dinners at Club Med, this was the only chance that we get to dine there. And by 8.45 am (reservations start at 8.30 am), we were not able to get our preferred dining time. The GO ‘kindly’ squeezed in a table for us because we ordered a lobster for dinner.
At Circus, Bungee Bounce was closing in 5 min’s time so Baby1 couldn’t get a go on it.
At Archery, we were told that “Family Archery” was only for kids 6 years and above.
At least Karaoke Room was vacant and we booked an hour’s session where the kids had their first karaoke experience.
Taking the shuttle train to Pantai Beach
Mini Club -> Beach -> Dinner at Rembulan -> bath -> Show Time (Halloween)
Woke Baby1 up to go costume-making at Mini Club at 4 pm. The kids will be modeling the costumes on the stage at 8 pm tonight, but no way will we forsake our only evening to dine at Rembulan, leaving a very disappointed Baby1. Luckily Baby1 and Baby2 had great fun collecting seashells with mummy on the beach.
The fine dining was fine, but just only so-so. To sum up, all the food at Club Med was nice, only because the fruits and seafood were fresh. Full stop.
We had our “Gala” dinner at Rembulan restaurant at Pantai Beach
Our self-proclaimed “Gala” dinner at Rembulan restaurant
Fri night’s Show was Halloween-theme, and the second event was a quiet Live Band. Again, to sum up the Shows, kudos to the GOs for multi-tasking, but I’ll very much prefer more professional and better quality shows, thank you.
Day 4 (Sat)
After breakfast, we checked out and left Club Med at exactly 10 am for the 8 hour drive back. The Roti Canai shop at Segamat was not opened, but we had a yummy lunch at the noodle shop besides it.
Great fragrant kopi at Segamat on our way home
In total, this 4D3N trip costs $1622.78. Not cheap, and over-rated I would say.
Why do people like to go out under the scorching sun?
With kids in tow, we couldn’t do any of the sailing, rock climbing, archery, zen pool.
Why do people want to have free flow beer, wine, cocktails, soft drinks all day round?
Food and drinks were not 24 hours.
Not that we eat a lot, but by second day lunch, Mutiara and Noodle Bar were looking very boring indeed.
I wouldn’t dare leave my 5 yo with Mini Club the whole day. Running under the hot sun at 10 am, swimming at 11 am, there was another pool activity at 3 pm. It’s a wonder that the kids don’t get heat stroke.
And for Petit Club (paid), I imagine that the activities would be largely outdoor too. A bit of sun is good, but under such intense UV??
The shows were very entertaining, and you get to hear the MCs introduce in English, Mandarin, Malay, Japanese, Korean, French. For such a small audience, it was a chore to sit through all these introductions. But the worse part is on the head scratching after almost all the nightly performances – catch no ball leh.
We’ve had a fun 4D3N with Club Med. I’ll say, we are sooooooo looking forward to our next Royal Caribbean Cruise trip.
– Dear2
Dear1 Dear2 