One Way Trip: The Ritz-Carlton, Bali The Ritz-Carlton Suite Review

Today, I would like to share with you another property that I stayed in Bali. This is the 8th different hotel that I have tried here. The hotel actually closes for a year during the pandemic and reopen when things are just picking up right now. The Ritz-Carlton is one of the best hotels and resorts in Bali and within the 300 – 500 SGD price range, rates are increasing nowadays since travelling is getting better again. I wanted to check it out after hearing so much about it. It is also an all suites and villa property and even the lowest category starts with an awesome 99 Sqm. The resort is located in the southeast of Bali in Nusa Dua, an area popular with resorts.

Booking Process & Pre Arrival 

I wanted to try The Ritz-Carlton Bali and decided to splurge for a stay during my time there and there is no better time to do so given how the rates are at an all-time low from pre-covid times. I look up the flexible rates on which Virtuoso is based and got one of the cheapest days to stay at. I paid a total of 363 SGD for a one night stay and this includes a 100 USD credit to spend at the hotel. The credit basically cuts down my room rate in half. By booking a Virtuoso Rate, by paying the same as the flexible or best available rate, you will also enjoy other benefits such as an upgrade upon availability, credit, early check in / late check out upon availability, a one-way airport transfer as well as a departure gift. You can choose it either for pick up or drop off. The hotel will email you ahead to ask for your preference. You can also do a transfer to elsewhere in Bali, depending on the area, some places might require a top-up.

The airport transfer is worth 316,000 IDR and you can top up the difference. A slight tip is to always top up for transfers if you are coming from another hotel and resort. For airport transfers, just book it from Klook, the rates there are ridiculous. As a matter of fact, an airport transfer booked from there will only cost around 5-6 SGD or 60,000 IDR. It is a no brainer and the value is always maximised by doing a one night stay since the additional benefits are per stay. This rate will be unthinkable in pre-covid times. You will also earn any applicable points or nights with Marriott Bonvoy. Before my stay, I can see that I have been upgraded to the Sawangan Junior Suite with Pool Access. The Ritz-Carlton Bali is an all suites and villas property with the smallest category here measuring a mighty 99 Sqm. It features 267 suites and villa spread across 11 categories.

Rooms	Bathtub	Room Size	No. of Rooms
Sawangan Junior Suite	Yes	99 Sqm	148
Sawangan Junior Suite with Pool Access	Yes	99 Sqm	46
The Ritz-Carlton Suite	Yes	145 Sqm	32
The Ritz-Carlton Suite with Pool Access	Yes	145 Sqm	7
Pavillon Villa with Pool Access	Yes	120 Sqm	18
Garden Villa with Private Pool	Yes	359 Sqm	4
One Bedroom Sky Villa with Private Pool	Yes	159 Sqm	2
Two Bedroom Sky Villa with Private Pool	Yes	258 Sqm	4
Cliff Villa with Private Pool	Yes	281 Sqm	4
Ritz-Carlton Cliff Villa with Private Pool	Yes	630 Sqm	1
Ritz-Carlton Oceanfront Villa with Private Pool	Yes	677 Sqm	1

Checking In

I requested a pick up from the previous hotel that I was staying at in Seminyak and they arrive right on time just as I was checking out of the hotel. The ride was in a Toyota Innova and the drive took around 50 mins although this is very much dependent on the traffic. the driver was courteous and helps me with my bags. Left in the car was some water, wet wipes and masks. That is a nice touch. I arrived at The Ritz-Carlton around 1220. 

The Ritz have a nice entrance and as we pull up to the gantry there was first a security checkpoint where the undercarriage of the car was screened and temperatures was taken. Upon arrival, I was welcomed by the staff and who helped me with my bags and ushered me to the check in desk. It was quite crowded during this time. Check in was prompt and professional with my late check out extended till 2pm, this was further extended till 4pm on the day of check out. After enquiring during check-in, our room was further upgraded to The Ritz-Carlton Suite, the premium suite here. This represents a 2 tier upgrade from the base level suite that I booked. The 100 USD credit was converted to 1,380,000 IDR which is quite close to the daily spot rate. You can stack the Marriott Bonvoy discount when using the credit. There was a short wait for the suite to be ready since we had a switch. This suite would have usually cost close to 700 SGD. Cecilia who is checking me in was a gem. 

Check out the lobby area, it is gorgeous and came with a view of the ocean. Isn’t this postcard-perfect? There are plenty of seating areas around the lobby and guests can even wait in the air-conditioned lounge nearby if it gets too warm. I was surprised that there isn’t a welcome drink, it would be nice if they would offer us a drink while we wait.

The grounds are sprawling and to get to certain areas you will have to get a buggy ride such as the pool and the beach and even some of the rooms. It is easy to get lost here. Thankfully, the property offers 24 hours buggy service. 

The Ritz-Carlton Suite

I was assigned suite 5307 in building 5. The first number represents the building your suite is in and the second number is the floor. The Ritz-Carlton Suite is the full premium suite here and measures 145 Sqm in size. This is the largest room or suite that I have stayed at throughout this trip. You can easily fit 4 to 5 pax here. The suite also comes in a 2 queen bed configuration and that would be nice for 4 people.

The suite is really spacious and looks amazing. I do love the look of the place and how they have decorated it. Although, at the same time it does look a little tired and you don’t get that luxurious feel that I would have expect to from a Ritz. They should have done a refresh or some touch up during the pandemic. Don’t get me wrong. It’s still a lovely room! But perhaps in the near future, it is time for a makeover.

Immediately upon entering, you have the half bath on the left and the walk-in wardrobe on the right, this is an alternate route that takes you to the bathroom and the bedroom too. You know that you are in for a treat when you have a walk in wardrobe. Let me come back to this later on. Being a full suite it comes with a half bath and inside you have a sink as well as a bidet toilet. I appreciate having a half bath in my suite and this makes it great for hosting people over or being an additional toilet for family stay. It sure comes in handy when you are jostling over toilets. The living area is mainly in a rectangular elongated configuration. First, you have a spacious dining table where it can sit 4 people as well as the mini bar area. By the wet bar, you can find bottles of water, packaged tea and a coffee machine. A kettle is also found here. 

The lack of a working desk in the suite meant that the glass dining table is the only place where you can work and it is not comfortable at all. You will surely get a backache soon after a short time. You can also find power outlets by the dining table and the wifi is easy to connect. The speed was good. Left on the table is a small gift from booking a virtuoso rate. The thumb drive is a little stingy in my opinion but to be fair you can also say that the airport transfer is also part of the welcome amenity. 

Another part of the mini bar can be found by the chest under the TV and here you have some glassware and a fully stocked mini-bar with of course Ritz Carlton prices to match. The TV is of good quality and comes with a number of cable TV channels. I do love that they have a guide such that you can find your desired channel easily. 

The living area consists of a sofa set that will seat 4 to 5 people comfortable and a coffee table. 

The suite comes with a huge balcony area that stretches both the living area and the bedroom. It’s huge and super spacious. However, the view wasn’t that great from the suite, it simply faces the surrounding trees. It does make a rather relaxing view but nothing amazing. This suite would be awesome with an ocean view! Do note that all the suites here do not come with an ocean view, if that is what you want, you are better off elsewhere. The cheapest category that comes with an ocean view is their Cliff Villa and that goes for a min of 1200 SGD. You have a spacious couch or daybed in the balcony and a dining table for 2. 

You can find sliding doors flanking both sides of the TV that leads to the bedroom. I always prefer having a door that separates the bedroom area from the suite as this is conducive for watching the TV or getting some work done when your other half or family is resting. 

The bedroom is of a good size. The highlight here has to be the super king size bed in the middle and this is one of the best mattresses that I have had. While the rest of the suite requires some do-over, the bedding is perfect. It’s plush and despite being on the softer side, it still provides great back support. They have also thoughtfully provided plenty of pillows from big to medium and smaller ones. We even got some harder contour pillows which were amazing. I had a great rest. 

Nightstands can be found on both sides of the bed. Power outlets and controls for the lights are installed here. I am glad to see that the blinds and sheers here are electronically controlled. 

The bathroom is located behind a sliding double door and check out how awesome this bathroom is. Bathroom goals going right on right here. Nothing needs to be said further on the size as it is rather apparent. The main feature here has to be the ingot shaped free-standing bathtub in the middle. This tub could fit surely 2 people and I would believe that even 3 would not be an issue here *wink *wink! 

The bathroom comes with a toilet and the shower in separate rooms. You can find a toto bidet toilet which is awesome. The showering room is lovely. Water pressure and temperature control are excellent here on both the rainforest shower head and the handheld one. Toiletries are from “Asprey” as per the norm in Ritz Carlton properties but it does seem that this property has joined the recent Bali Shenanigans too and came up with their own packaging. The only Asprey about these is the purple colour.

You can find his and her sinks and all sorts of amenities are provided from toothbrushes to shavers and cotton buds. They also provided mouthwash. I did find some foul sewage smell coming from the drainage and sinks here which makes it rather meh. 

Connecting the bathroom and the living room area is the walk-in wardrobe and it is such a great place. It is always a delight to have one in the suite and you know that you are in for a treat. It comes with plenty of hangers, a luggage storage area, bath slippers and bathrobes. You can also find an ironing kit and a safe here. Turndown services are provided in the evening.

Fitness Centre 

The gym is open 24 hours and you can use it anytime you want. It is located in the Spa building. The gym is well equipped and looks rather good. All sorts of pieces of equipments can be found and staff are on hand to assist as well. 

Pool

The swimming pool which is located near the beach is open from 7am to 7pm. The pool is gorgeous and has an infinity kind of vibe. I love the location and it allows you to have the feeling of being on the beach while soaking in the pool. You get the best of both worlds this way. The pool is on the smaller side but sufficient given that the hotel has less density than other similar property footprints such as Hilton. 

Here, it’s definitely much quieter even at max occupancy. Furthermore, some rooms have their private pool as well. There were perhaps less than 20 people around the pool and beach area when I was there.

You can find plenty of daybeds and cabanas by the pool and beach. They are well maintained and the attendants go around frequently to clear the towels and tidy the daybeds. The service is excellent. Upon reaching the pool, the staff came over to offer towels and even help to lay them down. Weirdly they do not offer any water by the pool and beach, that seems stingy in my opinion. Yes, if you are staying at a Ritz you should be able to afford bottled water but on the other hand, the argument could be that they are nitpicking and being calculative. Not what I’m expecting for a hotel that is priced around 400 SGD and above a night. I love how warm the water is and it is so comfortable.

I appreciate that they provide various sunscreens with different SPF coverage to suit guests needs. You have direct beach access and Nusa Dua definitely got one of the most beautiful beaches in Bali. It’s clean and pristine here and the beach is very much swimmable. 

Beach Grill

The beach grill restaurant is open for lunch and dinner from noon till 10pm. As the name suggested, it has a beachside location and is great for dining by the waters. Check out this place. 

I had a light lunch here on my first day and got the bento box set lunch as well as a satay campur. We were also brought over an assortment of freshly baked bread and olive oil. I love the onion bread which was great. 

Both dishes were great but I had a preference for the Satay Campur! It comes with chicken, fish and prawn skewers! They were delicious. You can enjoy your Marriott Bonvoy discount here and I also had some credits to spend. 

Bejana Restaurant

For dinner, we went to Bejana Restaurant. They serve up authentic Indonesian food and located in the upper lobby. For time being, they serve a buffet for dinner every Saturday, other than that they serve an ala carte menu. The restaurant actually boasts a great view of the cliff and the Nusa Dua area but you have to be early and we got here too late after a nap. It will be a great place.

I was welcomed in by the staff and the service is very attentive here. We got the set menu which came with an assortment of dishes for us to try. That is awesome since everything looks so good on the menu. The prices are pretty good here too. You can do some slight customization as well depending on your dietary requirements. We changed the tuna starter to a chicken one and the beef to the prawns! The set meal cost 618,000 IDR which is good for 2 people. 

We also got a mocktail and a fresh coconut to go with the meal. The coconut cost 75,000 IDR and the mocktail cost 70,000 IDR. The mocktail consists of fresh coconut, orange juice and lime. A great pairing for drenching those spicy sambals out. 

The staff brought over some local crackers and various homemade sambal pastes. All of them are so good and borderline addictive. I wish I can bring them all back. 

Then the chef brought over the amuse-bouche consisting of some vegetable fritter and a Kecap Manis dipping sauce. 

We were then served the two appetizers! Both of them are so good including the salad with boiled eggs and peanut sauce. It is sort of a take on the gado gado dish. My favourite out of the two got to be the Ayam Bejek chicken salad. It is so flavourful and one of the highlight of the meal. I am thinking about it right now. The shredded chicken goes so well with the cracker and the shallots relish. They also added some chilli to give it a punch. I love it 

Next was the soup! I have never had this before. I was expecting it to be rather heavy but it is surprising very refreshing with a hint of lime. I was surprised that coconut shells can be used to make soup. Excellent!

Then we have the main course which consists of rice of our choice and an assortment of dishes. We went for the yellow rice to try something more local! Everything was delicious and great. I shall let the picture do more of the talking. We love everything and some of the memorable items are the ayam goreng, the prawns and grilled fish. We love the marinate! The clams were a little lacklustre! All the sauce and dips go so well with rice! 

Dessert was a fruit plate which is frankly the most normal part of the meal. We were awfully stuffed at this point already. The food and service are excellent here, in fact, the best that we encountered in the entire hotel. Prices are very fair as well. We were well looked after by the staff and even the chef came out constantly to check on us and ask us for feedback. We spent about 900,000 IDR together with drinks and taxes.

As the staff bid us goodbye, they even brought over some local Bali batik pouches as farewell gifts which was a nice touch and unexpected. I would come back just to dine here again or make the journey over if we are staying in some other resorts in the area. 

Breakfast at Senses

Breakfast is served in Senses Restaurant from 7am to 10am. This is one of the main complaints I have here. 10 am is way too early for a resort in my opinion. It is even a stretch in a business hotel, furthermore a resort where people are here to relax and sleep in? It is either stingy or bad planning. The restaurant is located one level below the lounge area and you can request for a buggy to bring you here. The restaurant has both an indoor area and an outdoor one that comes with a view of the pool and the beach in the far distance. I was there around 9am and it was super crowded. The entire restaurant was full. I was ushered to a table and drinks orders were taken. Breakfast was good and there is a huge selection of food on offer with multiple live stations. I would actually appreciate if they label the table rather than the staff just informing you verbally. This is easy to forget. Breakfast is served buffet style but assisted by the staff where you inform them what you want and they will help you with it. 

The coffee drinks are great here! I appreciated that they are made by a barista behind the bar from an actual espresso machine. The iced drinks are excellent in this weather. You can also order fresh OJ from the staff. 

There is a huge selection of food and probably anything that you can imagine. I will let the pictures do the rest of the speaking. Everything is delicious and the items are fresh and the staff service is great. Some of the items worthy of a mention include the nasi goreng and the mee goreng live station. I love all the local food. The Nasi Lemak is really good too. 

At the end of the breakfast service, the chef also came by to get feedback and ask how the food is.

Conclusion

Decent for value given the rate I paid and the soft product is really good. You can’t go too far wrong at a Ritz. I am glad to try it out. But at times I do feel a little disappointed with the room and product. There are bits of cleanliness issues at times such as the still water in the glass door and the foul smell in the bathrooms. At this price point in Bali, I am expecting a lot more. I would also wish that they could do some revisions to their breakfast timing. 10am is unacceptable in a resort environment. I had one of the best meals in Bali at Berjana and would recommend all of you to dine here. It is fantastic, from the meal to the service. There is nothing you can fault about there! This was my first Ritz-Carlton stay in a long time.