Cruise ship makes waves as the latest holiday hotspot

Cruise ship makes waves as the latest holiday hotspot

Text by T. Sima Gunawan and photos by Arief Hidayat

JAKARTA (JP): "Welcome aboard," a woman in a smart, freshly-
pressed white uniform greeted the passengers as they stepped onto
the cruise ship.

It was Monday evening. The sun had long-since disappeared
beneath the horizon but it was still hot at the Tanjung Priok
harbor in North Jakarta. Entering the ship's reception hall,
travelers soon felt at ease, enjoying the man-made cool
temperature.

The Awani Dream vessel left the port at 9 p.m. Heading west,
its first destination was the Panjang seaport in Lampung
province, located on the southern tip of Sumatra. It would later
go around the Krakatau volcano and then dock at Bidadari Island,
one of the Thousand Islands. The trip would last three days and
two nights.

Those who had never been on a ship had little to worry about
being seasick. Awani director Julius Slamet said high waves would
not rock the cruiser.

"The ship weighs 12,000 tons. If the waves are not higher than
10 meters, it will not be affected," he said.

It was a smooth voyage. The waves, as Julius had predicted,
were not forceful enough to shake the ship. Of course now and
then passengers could feel the vessel quiver a little bit. But
there were lots of things to do on board, which could make
passengers forget that they were on a ship, sailing in the middle
of the sea.

They could watch movies, sing, dance, watch the performances
of talented artists and magicians, or just relax on the deck.

Singers Amanda Ryan, Stephen Aarington, the magic duet of the
Cingalees, and the Fabulous Ray Cornell Dancers were there to
entertain the guests with their amusing performances.

The ship anchored at Lampung's Panjang harbor at 7 a.m.
Travelers could take a city tour, which cost Rp 20,000 (US$8.7),
or visit the elephant training center in Way Kambas for Rp 50,000
($21.8).

The Awani, which can accommodate 550 passengers, carried about
250 guests. Many of them were middle-aged women. Most of the
passengers took the city tour to see the provincial capital of
Bandar Lampung, a town with a population of around 600,000. They
saw the process of making kain tapis, the traditional cloths
embroidered with gold thread, and then went shopping.

"Surprisingly, we were also taken to a hotel to see a fashion
show, which was targeting young professionals," one passenger
said.

The tour to the elephant training center was fun. On the way
to Way Kambas, the group stopped at an oil palm and rubber
plantation. The tour guide took a knife from her pocket and cut
the bark of a rubber tree. Thick, white, sticky liquid oozed out
and trickled down to a cup tied up onto the base of the tree.

It was raining when the group arrived at Way Kambas. It was
too bad that they could not ride the tame elephants to go and see
wild elephants in the jungle. The curious among the tourists
would not have minded waiting until the rain stopped, but time
was a constraint. The Awani would not wait.

Anyway, a 30-minute show took place at the elephant training
center. In the rain, about 15 elephants entertained the
spectators with their amusing antics, ranging from dancing to
playing a version of elephantine soccer.

At 11:30 a.m. the buses left Way Kambas, taking the tourists
back to the port.

From Lampung, the Awani headed south. It was late in the
afternoon, when the still-active Krakatau volcano, which is
located on the Sunda Strait, was seen in the distance.

Krakatau erupted in 1883 with the biggest bang ever recorded
on Earth. With its cataclysmic explosion, it sent up a column of
ash a record 80 kilometers high and threw into the air nearly 20
cubic kilometers of rock. Ash fell on Singapore, 840 kilometers
to the north, and on ships 6,000 kilometers away. A giant tidal
wave more than 40 meters high swept over the nearby shores of
Java and Sumatra, destroying 165 villages and killing 36,000
people.

Since then, Krakatau has exploded several times but the
eruptions have never been as powerful as in 1883. Because of the
danger, people are not allowed to go near the volcano, let alone
actually step on it. In 1992, it erupted and killed an American
tourist and injured five others who could not resist the
temptation to land on the volcano.

The Awani dropped anchor about 300 meters from the volcano,
which was spewing black smoke into the air. Black sand covered
the conical feature. There was nothing but sand on the ground.
There are no trees or animals hardy enough to live in the
vicinity of the volcano.

The cruiser went around the volcano slowly for about an hour.
As the sun set, people could also watch the spectacular natural
postcards being painted in the sky.

The Awani docked at Bidadari Island in the Thousand Islands
the following morning. Passengers had the choice of going to
Birah Island to play golf, or do water sports on Putri Island.

Putri Island is a World Wildlife Funded Reserve and has a vast
collection of coral and marine life. Visitors could see the open-
air aquarium of turtles and tropical fish. In the restaurant,
there were enormous aquariums, home to a myriad of tropical fish
and coral marine life. Visitors could also walk through the
tunnel aquarium to see further marine life and beautiful corals.

The fish and corals were splendid. Unfortunately, there was no
information about them.

"At least, they should put up a sign to tell us the names of
the fish," a fellow visitor remarked.

The entrance fee to Putri Island is Rp 15,000 ($6.5). The
water sports were more expensive. A jet-ski was available for
US$40 (Rp 92,000) per 15 minutes, and a banana boat for $10 (Rp
23,000), also for 15 minutes. Those who wanted to dive had to pay
$60 each.

The Awani charges each passenger $75 (Rp172,500) a night,
which includes breakfast, lunch and dinner. There is no
additional charge for the entertainment.

Sixty of the passengers who joined the trip late last month
were residents of Garut, West Java. In addition to the cruise
fare, they spent another Rp 100,000 ($43.5) for the Garut-Jakarta
round trip.

"I wanted to know what it is like being on a cruise ship," a
woman in her 60s said.

She is a widow with 15 grandchildren and traveled with one of
her daughters-in-law.

Asked why she did not bring her grandchildren along, she said
that she had to make sure first that it was worth traveling on a
cruise ship.

"But I'm not sure if my grandchildren would like the small,
cramped rooms on board," she said.

Her cabin was 2.70 m by 4.87 m with two single beds, a toilet,
a wardrobe and a dressing table.

The biggest room in the Awani -- the presidential suit --
measures 4.90 m by 5.12 m.

The seven-story Awani has 270 rooms with various facilities,
including a lounge with a stage, a theater, a karaoke bar, two
mini swimming pools, a pool bar, a gymnastics room, a games room,
a drug store, a beauty parlor and a health clinic.

It used to have a casino. But the Modern Group, which bought
the ship from a Greek firm last year for $20 million, changed the
casino into a games room because gambling is illegal under
Indonesian law.

It is no secret, though, that many Indonesians like to gamble
on cruise ships.

"Even though we don't have a casino, I am sure that we can
compete with other liners because we are family-oriented," Slamet
said.

The Awani first dropped anchor at the Tanjung Priok sea port
on Nov. 15 with a foreign crew of 60, mostly Greeks. Today, there
are 220 crew members, including 30 foreigners.

Slamet said that the Awani plans to replace all foreigners,
including the captain, with Indonesians by the end of the year.

The Awani offers a two-night package tour to Lampung, Krakatau
and the Thousand Islands, and a one night cruise to the Thousand
Islands. Starting from June it will offer three-night cruises to
Bangka, Belitung, and the Thousands Islands; and to Semarang and
Karimun Jawa Island.

On weekends, the Awani takes between 400 and 450 passengers,
or about 90 percent of its capacity, according to Slamet. But on
weekdays, there are only about 250 passengers. Eighty percent of
them are Indonesians, the rest come mostly from other Asian
countries, especially Singapore, Hong Kong and Japan.