FAQ

Absolutely! We are set up for children (of all ages!) and have them on the island all the time. We have cots and high-chairs as well as spare beds for the bigger ones and children’s life jackets.

Our cooks are used to producing less spicy (or even non-spicy) food for children. We have two dining tables in the Main House. Some families seat the kids separately. Others organise an earlier sitting for the kids.

Yes.

Six. They come complete with mosquito nets.

We have a number of female staff who will volunteer to baby-sit. We charge S$30 per child which goes directly to the babysitter. You are also welcome to bring your maid. We charge $100 per night for maids.

Infants (less than 3 years old) are free of charge. Children (3 to 12 years old) attract the children’s rate and anyone older than 12 is charged as an adult.

Yes.

Yes.

We normally serve Western and Indonesian-style dishes. These include grilled or barbequed fish, squid, prawns, beef and chicken as well as curries of all description. There are side dishes which include fresh garden salads, pasta salads, boiled/steamed leafy greens and grilled aubergine/egg plant (an island favourite). Prawn and tofu kebabs appear from time-to-time as do satay sticks. Our home-made salad dressing is much appreciated as is our freshly-baked bread. We serve fresh fruit, mango sticky rice and sometimes sago as well as home-made cakes for dessert (the almond cake has now been perfected). Everyone is uniformly complimentary about the food.

You are quite welcome to cook for yourselves if that is what you want to do, but our cooks are pretty good, so you might as well sit back and enjoy the sunsets ! We welcome visits to the kitchen by people with food allergies or guests who would like to teach our cook a new recipe. Try us with requests but it would help if you speak Indonesian otherwise you’ll have to work through one of our translators.

Yes. Our cooks are all Muslims.

Three meals are included in the daily rate. They can be any three meals (for example dinner, breakfast, lunch OR lunch, dinner, breakfast). You can eat as much as you want and when you want. If you arrive before lunch on the first day and leave after lunch on the last day you will have had one more than three meals per day. For this there is a nominal charge.

You can effectively raid the kitchen whenever you want. Banana fritters, rice cakes, prawn crackers, spring rolls and other fantastic snacks will often appear at the pool or the main house in the afternoon. There is usually a large jar of cashews or almonds at the Main House. If you’re after the healthy option ask for fruit. Just let our staff know if you’re hungry and when and where you’d like your snacks and they’ll do their best. There are no extra charges.

Absolutely. Give us some advance notice and we promise to delight.

Yes of course. If you’re planning on bringing a French Camembert to go with your Waterford Crackers, then you are most welcome to store it in our industrial-strength fridge.

We have had adults and children with nut allergies on the island before and they survived. This being Indonesia (a country famed for the use of peanut sauces), the best way to ensure that there are no nut derivatives in the food, is to work with our cook. You're welcome to go right into the kitchen (in fact we suggest this before the preparation of each meal begins) and see what they're preparing. You’ll have to take our English-speaking Customer Service Manager with you as our cook does not speak any English. Our staff are very good and will try their best but with the language difficulties we suggest you remind them before every meal and double check on everything.

We have a reasonably-priced wine collection but we will waive corkage charge one bottle per adult. Please note that Indonesia customs are only allowing only one bottle (up to 1 liter per adult) to be brought individually. No outside beer or soft drinks are allowed to the island.

There is no need to worry about the beer running out! We stock plenty on island as it is available locally. For wine, champagne, and/or spirits please ask for our list with stock level. Pre-orders can be arranged with few weeks notice.

We stock soda water, tonic water, ginger ale, pineapple juice, orange juice and tomato juice. They tend to be local or regional brands (eg Schweppes tonic water).

No. We stock most of the major soft-drinks including diet colas. Soft drinks cost IDR 25k ++ per can and beer IDR 40k ++ (Bintang, Tiger, Heineken & Carlsberg).

We serve strong plunger-style Indonesian coffee. Everyone seems to like it. We do serve tea, however if you’re a tea snob our selection is limited and you may want to bring your own.

We offer complimentary drinking water produced in Indonesia.

We do usually carry soy milk.

Yes. If in doubt bring what you need. We don’t usually carry soy milk.

There is an excellent well-staffed hospital in Kijang (the southern port on Bintan). Our speedboat can reach Kijang in about 20 minutes if necessary. Our staff members on Pangkil and Bintan have mobile phones (and two-way radios) and will arrange for the hospital staff to be ready to receive the injured guest. We have been extremely fortunate to date that the only serious injury requiring a visit to the hospital was a boy who cut his foot requiring stiches.

Absolutely. Open-water swimming is encouraged off the beach near the Main House. Naturally common-sense suggests that parents supervise their kids, that no one should swim after having consumed alcohol and that swimming at night is not advisable. If in any doubt, have your friends (or our staff) follow you in the kayaks or a speedboat. Stone Fish are found all the way from Australia up to the South-China Sea. We suggest you do not step on the coral or rocks and stick to walking on the sand to get to open sea. At certain times of the year there are jelly fish. The seasons are short and we have jelly fish ‘wipes’ in our first-aid kit. We have never had a serious injury from the jelly fish. We recommend that you always use reef-shoes to walk on the reef.

Guests swim out to the swimming pontoon all the time. A few have swum around the entire island before and some extremely fit guests have swim to Pulau Pangkil Besar (‘Big Pangkil’) about 2 km away. We don’t advise either of the latter-two options, but if you insist, please alert our staff and have them follow you in one of the speedboats.

Our male staff members patrol the island at night. We have a purpose-built light tower with an intense quartz-halogen light used to illuminate our boats and the main beach throughout the night. This has worked well to date warding off curious fishermen.

Rest assured, we are on top of security arrangements. The whole of the area to the south and west of Bintan is quiet and there have been no disturbances or any hint of unpleasantness. We are known to the Indonesian Navy (which has a base at Kijang) as well as the Chief of Police. Our General Manager is Indonesian and was born in Bintan and hence has his ear to the ground (or should that be water) with regards to maritime security in the area. If there was the remotest possibility of harm to any of our guests at any time we would immediately advise you not to travel.
There certainly is ‘marine thievery’ in the Riaus (for example the Philips Channel to the west of Batam), but this is a long way from Pangkil. Violent attacks on ship are rare and many of those reported in the media happen many hundreds of kilometres from Pangkil. Increased cooperation between the governments and navies of Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia as well as some recent victories by the Indonesian forces in capturing ‘pirates’ will lead to improvements in the safety of the entire region.
We have prudently developed contingency plans in the highly unlikely event that there are attacks at the ferry terminals, on land en-route to a ferry terminal, on our launch at sea, or if there is civil unrest in Bintan while guests are on the island. We do not expect to ever have to activate these plans as the area really is very safe.

There is no malaria on the island. We are fortunately also free of sand flies. There are a few non-malarial mosquitoes, but we provide mosquito coils and insect spray in the driftwood palaces as well as mosquito nets. We also regularly ‘fog’ to keep the mosquito population under control. We do however suggest that you bring your own preferred brand of insect repellent.

If there are no other guests checking out the same day, you may check-in early. Please contact our reservations team.

Certainly. Some nationalities need visas in advance from an Indonesian Embassy. The bureaucrats sometimes demand a letter from us. Let us know your Full Name; Passport Number; Nationality; Group Organizer’s Name & Trip Dates and we’ll send you either an email or a Word document composed by us. Print this out and take it to the Indonesian Embassy and it will keep them happy. It does not have to be signed by us.

We are proud of the fact that we do not have a fixed-line telephone and a fax. We do not have a radio and certainly no daily newspapers. Mobile phones do however work provided you and your carrier have roaming agreements for Indonesia. We have a mobile phone booster on top of the kitchen and you may need to be at this end of the island to initiate or receive a call. Sadly we bowed to pressure and installed a 32" LCD television screen and satellite TV in May 2010.

No.

The power is 240 volts from UK/Singapore 3-prong power sockets.

Last minute additions are fine. In this case, if she is planning on being on the same ferry as the rest of you, you can let us know on the Friday. If she needs an extra transfer (because she is on a different ferry to everyone else), you will have to let us know on the Thursday at the latest as it takes time to reorganise our land and launch schedules. If she is vacillating between a late Friday and early Saturday ferry, you can sort this out on Friday on the island.

One of our English-speaking "Meet & Greet" staff members or our Customer Service Manager will meet you at the entrance of the ferry terminal. That is the designated pickup point as we are not allowed to go further in.

We don’t sell anything on the island except cigarette. There is no duty free shop in Bintan.

The ferry to Bintan has a selection of food and drinks. Don’t get your expectations up though. The good news is that the food on Pangkil is outstanding. We will provide a hot meal even if you arrive at midnight, so try not to spoil your appetite for your first Pangkil meal. We usually provide complimentary water on the launch. We will often also do this on the bus.

No. The launch travels through sheltered water for much of the trip and the water is rarely rough. At all times land is visible. Our intrepid boat crew sometimes fail to appreciate that large swell (which is rare) can frighten guests and so they may forget to hand out the life jackets. Please ask for them if you feel you need them.

How you sort out the costs amongst your group is up to you. It really is swings and roundabouts. The Tree House, the Main House, the Big House & #1 are different in size and style to #2 to #5, however they all have their own unique charm. If you want to make minor adjustments in how you charge each person, couple or family, it is entirely up to you.

The final bill will be presented to the Group Organizer an hour or so before your departure.

Not really. We have an honesty system. You and your group may help themselves to soft-drinks, beer, wine and spirits at any time, day or night. At the end of your stay we count the number of cans and bottles consumed and measure the number of centimetres of spirits consumed (in their bottles). We don’t have bar people as such mixing or dispensing drinks. How you divide the drinks bill is up to you. Our staff will help you draw up a paper-based ‘tick’ system for the individuals, families or Palaces, but these systems rarely work exactly and the Group Organizer may have to do a little ‘horse trading’ with her group to reconcile the individual consumption patterns with the total. You may choose to have all alcohol and drinks removed from the bar areas and placed in the kitchen (where we have staff around the clock). The staff could then serve the drinks upon request. To date no one has ever done this as it would, in our opinion, detract from the simplicity of Pangkil.

It is mandatory to pay the balance of your accommodation charges one week before you leave Singapore. We also suggest you transfer a 'kitty' to cover drinks. This will show up as a credit on the island. It minimizes the need to carry SGD cash to the island.

3 hours before your ferry departure time. It can be earlier if you have huge group or with lots of kids. During weekends boarding pass collection and luggage check-in queue can be long unless you are buying emerald class ferry.

Provided there is no one staying after you that week, then yes you can (with about 24 hours notice) decide to stay longer on the island.

No. So if you want marshmallows or chocolate to go with your coffee around the fire you’re going to have to bring such items yourself.

Yes, we can arrange live music at extra cost. Please contact our reservations team.

Some guests have managed to work out how to plug MP3 players (including iPods) into our sound systems. We do have a microphone but do not have a karaoke system.

We provide towels and there should be liquid soap/shower gel in the bathrooms, but we recommend you bring your own toiletries.

Even for large groups there will usually be more staff on the island than guests. They are there entirely for the benefit of your group and will follow you in the speedboat if you go kayaking, take you on picnics to other islands, clean the driftwood palaces each day, prepare and serve you meals and work behind the scenes to keep the electricity working and the island stocked with fresh water. They are however trained to be discrete and will not disturb you unless you have asked for specific help. Remember - you have hired the whole island and what you say goes!

All the accommodation is above ground and requires the navigation of ten or so steps. The steps are however wide with sold hand rails. Our staff can if necessary help carry your colleague to his Palace. The only vehicle on the island is a small tractor which tows a small cart. While not designed to carry guests with limited mobility, our staff would be more than happy to improvise by strapping a solid chair on to the cart for trips from the Main House to the pool area.

Far enough apart to be very private!

We are usually able to procure fireworks. Packages range from S$150 onwards with advance notice.

We do have a blender. Please ask the staff if it is not out on the bar.

Yes, it is bought from local restaurant.

Yes. All laundry is done on Bintan so we ask that you use no more than one beach towel per day.

Usually. At certain times of the year a combination of high tides and sand patterns mean that there is nowhere suitable for a fire. This happens rarely.

Yes, most music devices may plug it into our sound system by audio jack cable. We do have adaptor if your device does not have audio jack.

No. Unfortunately we aren't set up to invoice guests after a stay. We require your company pays the full accommodation amount before the trip and that one of your group then settles (and expenses) the final amount.

No.

No. Unfortunately we aren't set up to invoice guests after a stay. We accept SGD cash or a single SGD cheque on the island. We suggest your company pays the full accommodation amount before the trip and that one of your group then settles (and expenses) the final amount.

We suggest that you knock up a program schedule for your stay to suit your needs, including preferred meal and coffee-break times and include any special requests. Our staff will fit in with your program.