Weekend Getaway: JPO + Grand Bluewave Hotel, JB

Finally, the weekend for our getaway to USS! Kononnya Zara's belated birthday + my advance birthday vacation. Masa beli package holiday kat MATTA Fair, ingatkan nak ber-honeymoon. Tiba-tiba macam dah jadi family day pulak with my parent, sister & brother in law, cousins and aunt join sekali. Not that I mind, memang lagi seronok pergi ramai-ramai pun. :D

Zara malam tadi, dah standby dengan beg dia.

Malam sebelum gerak, aku siap message kat group Whatsapp family, esok nak gerak by 9am sebab petang nak relax dalam hotel. Tapi malam tu Zara pulak tidur pukul 4am! Sudahnya lepas Subuh tidur balik, 8.30am baru bangun and 10am++ baru gerak dari Bangi. Singgah 'brunch' kat Restoran Jejantas Ayer Keroh, Bebi baru sedar dia tertinggal passport so kena patah balik. Nasib baik la Redza tu jenis relax je tak marah. Kalau aku la yang tertinggal, I don't even want to imagine. :p

Singgah JPO dulu before check in hotel. Last time aku pergi JPO (some time around August last year), macam tak best sangat pun. Barang tak banyak. Ni macam dah best la pulak. Clarks outlet dulu ada a few designs je. Sekarang dah banyak, even rak dalam kedai tu pun dah bertambah. Dah la kali ni masa memang limited sebab nak check in hotel so sempat masuk certain kedai yang memang target nak beli je.

Zara having late lunch at JPO.

Checked in kat hotel dah almost 7pm, pukul 8.30pm nak keluar makan balik. Tak sempat nak rehat sangat pun. Mandi, solat, and belek-belek barang yang beli kat JPO tadi. Kitorang duduk kat Grand Bluewave Hotel, JB. Satu malam RM230 untuk Studio Room book kat MATTA Fair. Semalam aku tolong book the same room for Bebi & Redza through Agoda RM203 per night and they got upgraded to Executive Studio. Pftt! No more MATTA Fair for me.

I like the room. Spacious with carpeted floor, jadi anak aku nak main lari sana sini takde la risau sangat. The carpet pun seems clean enough. Kalau ada extra guest nak tidur atas lantai pun selesa lagi, banyak space. View menghadap laut | Singapore but biasa-biasa je. Serabut and sesak pun ada, tengok luar ada construction (at the moment) and laut yang seciput between Malaysia and Singapore. Tapi view dari suite Mak Abah menghadap tambak Johor and the better side of the city so cantik la sikit.

I'm also happy with the bathroom even though takde bathtub, shower dia best and luas with pretty tiles. I would say I like the Studio Room punya bathroom compared to the Suite Mak Abah was staying. Jubin kat Studio Room lagi cantik (color dark grey jenis kesat) while kat Suite (color maroon jenis licin). I feel that the Suite's bathroom is too big, making me feel rather uncomfortable. The shower and bathtub were together and I don't fancy having my shower in a bathtub. But rasanya unlike me, ramai yang kisah sangat kot hal shower/bathtub ni?

For my Studio Room, masa masuk bilik we realize ada dia bagi satu je towel so HB call mintak hantar satu lagi and they sent it straight away. The downside was probably the TV which was quite small. Channel pulak tak banyak and channel yang ada pun semua siaran tak berapa jelas. All in all, I'd stay again at this hotel.

Lighting in the room was rather dim.

Imran nak bawak kitorang pergi makan dalam 9pm so kitorang ke rumah nenek dulu, tunggu dia kat sana. Tunggu punya tunggu, pukul 10pm baru dia sampai. Kitorang bawak nenek keluar makan kat Restoran Singgah Selalu. Kat situ, nak bercakap dengan orang kena shout at the top of your voice sebab ada live band and speaker dia kuat giler. Seronok but kesian kat Zara tengah tidur. Environment dia buat rasa macam orang muda pulak lepas sini malam-malam. Kahkah.

Sampai hotel nak masuk bilik ada problem dengan card so HB kena turun ke reception and activatekan balik card tu. It was already after midnight and HB terus tertidur, penat sangat. Aku pulak melayan si kecik tu main pukul 2am baru tidur. Phew.

Beli pakej USS kat MATTA Fair.

Untuk birthday Zara tahun ni kitorang plan nak celebrate special sikit. Mula-mula nak buat birthday party but then many questions came up and we couldn't come to a decision. Nak buat kat mana, rumah kitorang, rumah Atuk & Opah Zara or kat luar? How far should we extend the invitation, just family, or ajak kawan-kawan rapat, jiran, kawan office? Menu apa, nak masak (as if), ambik catering, upah orang masak, take outs?

So in the end kitorang decide nak go and celebrate somewhere just the three of us. Gabungkan sekali celebration birthday Zara & Mama, HB nak belanja pergi USS. YEAY!

Last weekend kitorang pergi MATTA Fair. Banyak jugak package USS. Ada yang RM168 + free SGD10 meal voucher + SGD5 retail voucher. Pakej Hotel Sentral JB RM280/person untuk 1 night stay, return transfer to USS and entrance tickets.

HB beli pakej USS dengan Grand BlueWave Hotel berharga RM600 nett for 1 night stay at the hotel, 2 entrance ticket and hotel-USS return transfer. Breakfast tak termasuk dalam pakej so for breakfast tambah RM15/person. Bas bertolak 8am so takut tak sempat pun nak breakfast. Tapi HB kata because dia tau aku suka makan kat hotel so tambah jela. Hihihi

Murah ke tak pakej ni? I would say actually sama je pun if you beli bukan kat MATTA Fair. Because entrance ticket paling murah aku pernah jumpa RM165/person. Harga biasa rasanya RM185/person. Return transfer to USS usually RM30/person. Grand Bluewave Hotel aku check kat booking.com boleh dapat dalam RM205/night including breakfast! Tapi tu check in Friday la. Kalau check in Saturday at least RM250/night. The advantage of this package is takde surcharge on weekends and public holidays. So kira-kira balik if beli hotel, ticket & bus asing-asing harga dia sama je kan if not higher. Tapi kalau nak lagi jimat boleh je duduk budget hotel tak pun duduk Tune Hotel pun ok. Bus ke USS pun ada dari Tune Hotel tu.

So bottom line is kalau nak cari pakej jimat untuk ke USS during MATTA Fair ni, baik tak payah la. Tapi kalau malas nak fikir, nak mudah and terus book 'all in' package banyak la kat situ. But mind you, there're not exactly at the lowest price. Aku ni ada jugak terfikir rugi je beli pakej tu, kalau ambik hotel budget boleh jimat cost. Nak sedapkan hati --> takpe la kan, cos its a special ocassion. Huhu.

Ok now aku kena survey pulak tips what to do or not to do kat USS. Come to think of it, banyak ke rides untuk budak 2 years old macam Zara ek? Then if aku nak naik rides yang Zara takleh naik macam mana? T_T