Luxury Escapes: In the lap of luxury in Bali, on a cheap package in Nusa Dua

It’s 11am on a steamy summer’s day in Bali and I’m in the middle of a swimming pool, desperately trying to work out how to do the correct feet and arm movements to Psy’s 2012 hit song, Gangnam Style.

There’s much giggling from fellow participants, while on the sidelines, someone is probably using their phone to upload footage of the spectacle to their socials.

It’s just another morning of free water aerobics at the Sofitel Bali Nusa Dua Beach Resort, where my husband and I are spending seven relaxing (and mostly humid but not humiliating) nights as part of a Luxury Escapes package.

I avoided visiting Bali like the plague until 2016 when a friend convinced me a resort in Nusa Dua would have the amenities of a high-end cruise ship without the motion sickness.

Having visited temples, rice paddies, cool cafes, top restaurants, clifftop beach clubs and much more in that first trip, and a subsequent week in Seminyak in 2017, I thought I was done with Bali.

But I was wrong. Last year I was lured back by my first all-inclusive Luxury Escapes holiday, staying at the Grand Hyatt Bali in Nusa Dua.

I had ostensibly been browsing the Luxury Escapes app for hotels in Singapore, a place I love exploring. Yet when presented with a range of five-star Bali hotels that included all meals, assorted VIP bonuses, and a shorter flying time, the temptation was too great. It was time to stop favouriting deals and book one.

What ensued was a therapeutic week of eating, swimming, relaxing, and trying to track down the elusive free daily coconut drink, carved with the hotel’s logo, and imbued with the flavour of a warm swamp.

The same friend who convinced me to give Bali a go in 2016 urged me to this time splurge on a Sofitel pool access room.

As I swim out towards L’OH pool bar – one of the locations that accepts our free daily cocktail/mocktail vouchers – I wonder how many bridges and palm trees I need to memorise so I can find my way back? Helpfully, all rooms also have their numbers on the poolside wall.

This Luxury Escapes package (about $3200 for two people) includes daily breakfast, lunch, dinner, cocktail/mocktail and bottle of wine. During the stay we also each get one yoga session, one 60-minute massage at SoSPA Gazebo by the beach, a cooking class, and a 50 per cent off voucher for additional spa treatments.

To make it as seamless as possible, we also opt to pay the extra for the round-trip transfers, about $100. They’re clean, air-conditioned and on time, although the included water wasn’t offered this time.

Meals operate on a voucher system and after our evening arrival, we hand our first voucher over at Kwee Zeen – a sprawling international buffet at the centre of the hotel’s ground floor, complete with self-contained rooms for noodles and desserts.

On our first morning, we are slightly confused by the handful of vouchers because there are none for breakfast, which makes sense when we realise it is the only restaurant offering breakfast.

The lunch and dinner vouchers divided between Kwee Zeen, Toya Beach Bar and Grill and upmarket Italian restaurant Cucina are dated for the week of our stay, while the drink vouchers have individual dates on them. Due to the way they’re stapled, I somehow manage to hand an out-of-date drink voucher over most days, but it is never an issue.

Expecting the vouchers to be for two-course meals, as was the case at the Grand Hyatt, we are surprised to find at Sofitel, three courses are included.

So, the biggest decisions each day are, at which of the pools do we base ourselves (and can we get there early enough to nab a gazebo), and where do we want to eat?

A few days in we become strategic to avoid eating at the same restaurant for lunch and dinner and opt for Indonesian food where possible. We also finally work out Kwee Zeen offers excellent a la carte selections for lunch, a welcome change from the breakfast and dinner buffets.

Our favourite dishes and ones we order again are Cucina’s magically thin beef carpaccio, Toya’s spicy beef rendang pastels (like a curry puff) and Kwee Zeen’s dadar gulung (pandan and coconut pancakes).

We discuss limiting ourselves to just two courses a meal not three, but mostly fail. To work off all the food, I take photos of the well-equipped gym but never actually use it. A better option is a long, sweaty beach walk past the mostly upmarket neighbouring resorts; also a good way to research where to stay next.

As the end of our holiday looms, I’m back on the Luxury Escapes app, checking out the new deals. Back to Bali? Maybe Hong Kong? Vietnam looks tempting.

Watch this space.

Fact File

+ Many Luxury Escapes packages and tours can be secured with an initial deposit. While I paid only 20 per cent, offers are subject to change. Luxury Escapes is currently offering a 50 per cent deposit on certain Limited Time Lux Exclusives.

+ Luxury Escapes offers a seven-day change of mind guarantee for Limited Time Lux Exclusive packages. You can also make self-service date changes. This is helpful if like me, you take too long deciding on flights, and they become too expensive for the hotel dates booked. You can also book a package and decide on dates later, subject to availability.

+ There is the option to bundle flights.

+ Many of the packages allow one or two children child under 11 to stay in existing bedding and eat for free or at a discount.

+ If you book transfers, Luxury Escapes sends a form for you to fill in your flight details. They then send you confirmation of transfers and what time to be ready for your return transfer to the airport.

+ Luxury Escapes promotes its packages as offering discounts of up to 70 per cent. The best way to determine the value of a deal is to do your homework. Research the cost per night on a hotel’s own website or on another travel booking site such as Expedia or Booking.com.

+ Our package was about $3200 for two and based on menu prices/what we ate in seven days, I estimate we consumed/used about $2000 worth of food, non-alcoholic beverages and bonuses. At the time of our stay, the rack room rate was about $300-400 per night. No girl math required – our pool access room was a bargain.

+ Read a mix of reviews – sometimes the package deals that sound too good to be true may be for resorts in outlying areas.

+ You can earn Velocity Points on bookings.

+ luxuryespcapes.com – or download the app for iPhone and Android.