3 Days 2 Nights Tioman Trip

Day 1: At the Jetty

Finally after much discussion, we have decided to travel to Tioman during the June holidays. It is never easy to arrange an oversea trip for the whole family due to our various work commitment.  I remembered the last time we travelled together as a family was during my Primary school days which was more than 18 to 19 years ago. Ever since I started working, I always travel with my mum and in recent years, my brothers travelled with my Dad.  Tioman is a long awaited family trip, 5 of us together with the new additions to our family ( ZH, T and my aunt ) , we booked a total of 3 rooms for 8 of us.

The Tioman Treasures Package includes coach, ferry, land transfer, accommodation, daily breakfast , snorkeling trip at Renggis island and 1 buffet dinner.  Each pax paid $297 including room surcharge.

Our long journey started on a Saturday morning, we gathered at Golden Mile Complex at 6am, collected the vouchers and set off at 6.15am. The custom clearing at Malaysia and Singapore went smoothly. We had our breakfast at JB ( 30 minutes break ) then continued the journey to Mersing.  We reached Tanjung Gemok Jetty at around 10.45am, supposed to take the 11am ferry. According to the negative feedback on trip advisor, Tioman jetty is never punctual.  Luckily we were mentally prepared, waited for about 40 minutes for the ferry. I was told ( by the agency ) that ferry will take about 1 hour but we spent 2 hours in the cramped and uncomfortable ferry.  After the long and tiring journey, we started to worry about the returning journey, pray that history will not repeat.

Our connecting rooms upstairs

By the time we took the resort shuttle to Tioman Berjaya, checked in, settled down, its about 3.30pm. All of us were starving, we had a late lunch and spent the rest of the day swimming. The dinner buffet was quite good ( original cost 70 RM) , wide variety of food but just a little crowded.

Tioman Berjaya is a 4 stars resort. I fully agreed with the trip advisor's comments on the poor resort service. To give a few examples, the staff in charge of the resort shuttle did not bother to get the visitors to line up, by the times we placed our luggages at the back, all the seats were taken by others. They were very disorganized and appeared to be unhelpful. 2nd example, the staff at the front desk put on a grumpy face. They were impatient when we asked them questions. There were so many visitors at the lobby ( to tap the wireless network ), weather was hot and the place was stuffy, yet they only switched on 1 to 2 fans. Another example, we had to call the housekeeping staff a few times to remind them to give us extra bed, mineral water , towels etc. Only the lady at the activity counter was nice and friendly.

Day 1: Father and Daughter having a good time

Day 2 : Swimming lesson at the sea

Day 2: A ride on buggy

Renggis Island : from far it looks like broccoli

2 minutes boat ride to Renggis Island

Day 3: All ready for snorkeling 

Glad that I brought my waterproof camera along

Day 3 : At the floating platform

Tioman is a great place for sea sport. Though it's a little hazy, the sea view is stunning and the water is super clear.  We went snorkeling on the last day. Renggis island is fantastic,  it looks like a giant broccoli , one can see the fishes just by sitting on the platform. The corals are beautiful, how I wish we can spend more time there .

Unfortunately return journey was much worse. Ferry was delayed for 1hr 45 minutes. We were kept waiting in a departure hall with poor ventilation. Not much information was given , announcement was made in Malay and we can’t really catch what they were trying to say. Our coach was supposed to pick us up at 3.30pm and we were scheduled to reach Singapore at 7pm.  All thanks to the ferry rubber timing,  our coach left at 5pm and we reached Singapore at around 8.30pm. Fortunately the custom clearing was smooth. The ferry rubber timing was a nightmare !

On the whole, its an enjoyable family trip !( exclude the horrible ferry trips )