2016 Grand World Voyage Reaches Indonesia

Cruise Specialists hosts Steve and Wendy Bodenheimer are continuing to share their journey with us from aboard the 2016 Holland America World Cruise. Previously they shared the experience of navigating the Panama Canal,sailing the Pacific in to French Polynesia, the Cook Islands, New Zealand, Australia and now they journey to Indonesia.

The atmosphere is charged with excitement, as we approach our first Indonesian port. We’re told about 500 crew family members have been cleared to come on board in Bali.

If you have never been on a Holland America ship, it’s hard to describe the relationship the Guests have with their Indonesian and Filipino crew. These young men and women have gone through special training in both service and language to be able to work for HAL and most are very grateful for the opportunities they are given. They spend many months away from their families (6-10 months), work extremely long hours without almost no time off, but retain their smiles and true desire to help the Guests. We all love our Indonesian cabin stewards who take care of us daily – they quickly learn all our individual idiosyncrasies and go to great lengths to satisfy any request. There is an old joke about a Guest who got up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom and when he returned, his bed was made up!!! Most of us wish we could take our guys home with us – they’re that friendly and good.

A truly amazing phenomenon has sprung up around the ship. Signs are appearing on many cabin doors that say some version of “No Service while we are in Indonesia. Please enjoy your families!” It has been an almost universal message that we love and support our crew and can easily go without our beds being made so they can see their kids for a while longer.

BALI
The port is actually a small fishing village called Benoa, where they have built a cruise ship terminal and not much else. The local “approved” taxi association has hijacked the market here so that the small independent drivers are not allowed near the terminal – or else. They have also made sure that we must use their services and there is no shuttle permitted here. So if you are not on an organized tour, you must take a taxi or private car to get anywhere. And they are unrelenting in their pursuit of customers – following anyone who tries to say “no thank you”.

There are many wonderful religious and historic sites on the island: Besakih, the mother temple of Bali – set high on a volcanic slope; the artistic villages of Ubud and Mas – where wonderful artwork is created; the walled mountain village of Tenganan; the Monkey Forest – home to those cheeky macaque monkeys. There were shore excursions going to all these places, but they were all 8-9 hours long and we simply weren’t up to that kind of tour today. Next visit, we’ll hit the mountains which we hear are beautiful – if you can fight the traffic to get there and back on time. Several of the tours were delayed more than an hour on their return because of a combination of torrential downpours and horrible traffic – more about traffic later.When we returned to the ship in early afternoon, many crew families were still around. It was refreshing to see so many young children, if only for a little while.

Island of Java
Semarang is our first city in Java and this time we are getting out of town. We were on a Holland America shore excursion going to the famous Temple of Borobudur. We’re told it is the most visited attraction in Indonesia – and it is spectacular. It is a Buddhist temple of unique design that was hidden in a dense jungle for 1,000 years. Steep staircases lead to the top, with spectacular views to the surrounding valleys.The real entertainment for the day was the ride there and back. Traffic in all of Indonesia is famously horrible. Cars, trucks, and millions of scooters make it a challenge to get anywhere. With limited time in port and a 2-plus hour trip each way, it was critical that we make it back on time. So our buses went in convoy with a tourist police escort front and back. Their job is to intimidate the oncoming traffic by driving in the middle of the road and forcing the other cars to move over. We made it both ways, on time and without incident! The drivers are amazing and rival New York City cab drivers. And the tourist police were friendly young men in beautiful uniforms, which they were clearly proud of. They loved posing for pictures!

Jakarta
Welcome to Jakarta! We were warned that venturing anywhere here required careful time planning. Since we were pretty tired from the long day at Borobudur, we decided to simply take the shuttle provided at the port and see where that took us. It was a huge modern mall in a relatively upscale neighborhood with rows of huge high rises all around. This was pretty uninteresting to us, so we decided to head out from there on foot and see what we found with our friends Konnie and Del, it was an amazing local experience.First and foremost was the traffic. Crossing the street on foot where there is a crosswalk but no light is truly an act of faith as you simply step into the street, put your hand up, and hope they will stop. Sometimes you’re standing in the middle of the road until someone lets you go. We tried to follow some locals – they barely look – they just walk like they own the road. It is scary!!! Then there are the big intersections with lights but no crosswalks. Picture 500 or so scooters revving their engines waiting for the light to change. In the intersection are cars and trucks determined to make it through, even after the light turns red. It’s a game of endurance – who will flinch first. And there we were, trying to cross. We had a little help from some traffic police a few times, but it was not fun.The fun part was getting to the local neighborhoods. We found a narrow street that ran for several miles beside the river. It was lined with small businesses where the families either lived upstairs or behind. Everything from groceries to scooter repair shops were represented here. These places were not well maintained; they looked dark, dirty, and dingy from the outside; and the streets were strewn with litter. But the people were amazingly friendly. We were obviously tourists and almost everyone said “hello”. We stopped by the river to watch a group of city workers cleaning the garbage out of the water. They were happy to pose for pictures and seemed proud of what they were doing. It was huge job as the garbage was thick all along the banks. Then we came across a a group of kids being driven in an open little train vehicle, like you might find at a zoo or amusement park. We think it was their local school bus and shuttle. There was music playing and we started dancing to it which the kids thought was so funny. So we entertained each other as we walked along side them for several blocks.We thought ours was a much better way to experience Indonesia than at the mall. When we returned to the ship, hundreds of the 700 crew relatives were still on board, getting tours, having lunch, and just visiting.

So that was our Indonesian experience. We now have 4 days at sea on the way to Hong Kong. That will be the half way point of this voyage and a major passenger transition point. About 200 will be getting off there, but only about 80 getting on. We’re looking forward to some cooler weather!

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