Centara Grand Beach Resort and Villas Krabi

PLAN THE TRIP

It was the time for a visit to Dad’s hometown again. This was a yearly trip and the most awaited one for Rak and Rome. Since we could plan ahead for a definite trip like this, we have booked our tickets from a low cost airline, Air Asia, and paid THB4,000 in total for the round trip tickets to Krabi for the 4 of us.

The hotel reservation was made by using free vouchers got from being Centara Gold Card Member and Thai Airways Royal Orchid Plus Member. That means we could save THB8,000 a night for the lowest range of the resort’s available accommodation and had to spend others, such as VAT, service charge and all meals by ourselves.

Let’s see how much we end up after our 2-night stay at the Centara Grand Beach Resort and Villas Krabi.

ARRIVAL AT THE RESORT

Our flight was delayed. We had a private pick-up from the airport to the pier at Nopparattara beach by Grands. We could make a quick stop at Seven Eleven to buy some milk and snacks for Rak and Rome. We had sandwiches in car as our lunch and arrived the pier only 5 minutes before the resort’s speedboat departed.

From the pier to the resort, it took only 15 minutes. The kids had fun with the splashing water from the sea. At the lobby, we were served with welcome drinks. They used a golf cart to send us to the room. It was a very long way up to our room, unless we stayed in a beach villa.

BIG SPACE

There are 13 room types in total, categorized by the view, Jacuzzi, and rooms’ sizes. Our room comprises 72 square metres, which is quite big for the smallest type. We had the family friendly double bed. Nevertheless, Rome fell down once during the second night.

A small working corner was for Mum to do her translation work while the three musketeers were sleeping.

A spacious bathroom includes bathtub and rain shower. A separate toilet is too small and narrow until the word Sukha in Thai cannot be used in this case.

GARDEN VIEW

There are 2 big balcony for a breath of fresh air from the garden.

The first one, which is just behind the room’s door, serves as a living and dining balcony. From this balcony, we could see another balcony of a room in the adjacent building. This balcony has electrical blinds that can be easily raised up and pulled down by pressing a switch.

The second one, facing the green trees, has 2 sunbeds with sunshine in the afternoon. From this balcony, we could hardly see the beach, which can be seen from the upper rooms. The highest rooms also has jJacuzzi at their balconies.

RESORT’S OUTLETS

This is a big resort with 3 restaurants (International, Thai and Japanese), one beach bar and a night cocktail bar.

There is a small library but it is too dark to really read any kind of books. Spa and fitness are also available but we did not use these services, even though the resort can provide a baby-sitter.

Rak and Rome enjoyed playing in the Kids Club, which is very big and empty. Other kids were on the beach with their parents.

RELAXNG HOURS

After walking around, we found out that most of the guests here were foreigners. The resort staff told us that there were Thai guests around 10 rooms among the total 192 rooms, and all rooms were occupied during our stay.

We were not surprised at all why we did not see even one Thai guest among those European guests. There were only white people who wanted to be tanned on the beach and at the swimming pool.

Rak and Rome had a great time at the kids pool as usual. There were 2 hammocks on the beach too. It was their first time to sit and swing on it.

ON THE ROCKS

Due to the late opening time of other restaurants, Lotus Court, Rim Saai and Hagi, we had to have our dinner at On The Rocks beach bar. Actually, it was the best place with the fantastic location to dine out in the resort.

There were only a few tables occupied apart from us. They came with their kids. The others, without kids, had more choices than us without kids.

Rak and Rome enjoyed their pizza and chicken wing s with chips.

Having dinner while contemplating the sunset on the beach with family is a real memorable moment.

DINING OUT

It was obvious that food at the resort was not prepared for Thai guests, We ordered Thai food for every meal and it was so tasteless, incomparable with that of Dusit Resort.

Buffet breakfast rate was at THB750++ per person with quite limited selection of food comparing to the price.

Chicken green curry, seafood fried rice and mixed seafood with basil costs THB350++ per dish.

We could survive because of fish sauce and chilli served with our orders.

HALF-DAY TOUR

The hotel provided one day trip to PP Island and other islands at the rate of THB1,200 per person. We could not joined that kind of group boat trip because Rome needed to have a nap during the day.

Then, we went for a half-day trip on a private long-tail boat , which costs THB3,000. Unfortunately, the sky was not clear.

At first, Rak was a little bit nervous about taking a small boat like this. Once the water splashed on their face, Rak and Rome started to smile and laugh.

They really liked Talay Waek and wanted to play in the sea here but were asked to wait until we arrived at Por –Da Island.

FEEDING THE FISH

Behind Kai Island, it is a place where tourists snorkel. There are many tiger fish waiting for people to feed them with bread. Once our boat stopped, they swam through us. Yes, we had bread for them. The boat driver gave us one big bag of bread. Rak and Rome were very joyful.

Rome was already naked since he did not listen to what we asked at Talay Waek. He sat down in the sea and most probably saying to himself “I don’t care”. Well , he made the right decision because he was so sleepy when we arrived at Por-Da Island. Rak and Rome could only play sand on the beach for 5-10 minutes before Rome started to cry and fell asleep.

LAST DAY AT THE RESORT

During our stay, we had experienced a double standard service twice. Once at the guest relations desk and another at On The Rocks beach bar, where the resort staff intended to ignore us and only took care of foreign guests. We wrote to the General Manager and he swiftly responded to our comments on the same day, sending his apologies and requesting more details.

Finally, we spent THB8,000 in total, not including tips for receptionists, bellboys, waiters, housekeepers and the boat driver. Our Centara Gold Card could saved us 50% on food only.

VISITING KRAI BY CAR

After 2 nights at Centara Grand Beach Resort and Villas, we moved to Grans’ home and stayed there for 4 nights.

Rak only wanted to stay home, playing with his cousins. He did not want to go anywhere. However, this was a chance for their cousins who live in Krabi, to really have a sight-seeing to interesting places in Krabi.

Besides Klong Haeng, we went to Tharnbokkorranee National Park and 75 Million years fossil seashells. These places have a lot of trees, which allowed us to visit with kids during the day, when it was very hot.

RAK’S WRITING

Rak’s another attempt; he took very long time to finish it.

During writing, he needed compliments, encouragement, enticement and etc.

He said, “I am so tired. It takes too long. I am very sleepy. I cannot stand anymore. I am sleeping now”.

Dad and Mum could only smile at the end.