I will be going to Tioman Island from Singapore for 3 days. Any suggestions? Which route is the best?
Reply to this Kuala Lumpur take a coach to mersing than take a boat to tioman. Here are some story regarding tioman.
From: Lonely planet
This is just a bit of a "warning" about taking to bus into Mersing to go to Tioman island. Two weeks, ago, my husband and I took a bus from Melaka to Mersing, to go to Tioman. We were open as far as places to stay and only had our LP. WHen the bus arrived in Mersing, a "travel agant" boarded and herded us to her office. Whileshe did not rip is off, she made it seem (to me) like there were only a few places to stay on each part of the island. We ended up booking five cheap nights with her in Air Batang (MR35). When we got to Tioman, it was apparent that (1) we could have gotten at least as good of a deal, if not better, at a dozen chalets in ABC and (2) there was no need to buy our RT ferry tickets from her. Other people were getting them for MR35 diirectly from the vendor while we paid MR45 each way. ALso, she told us that there were only two places to stay in Juara, one for MR60 and one for MR120, which was simply untrue. We hiked over to Juara and stayed at Paradise Point (in LP) for MR25 a night and it was LOVELY. I know, niave, niave, but I wanted to post this in case someone else was about to get sucked into this business. My advice for Air Batang or Juara is to somply go there, walk around (there is only one road) with your LP and find a good deal.
One more thing happened that I did not find upsetting because we had plenty of time, but I know others did. We got "stranded" on Tioman for an extra 5 days. I know, rough. BUT, this would be a concern if plane tickets, etc. were booked within that time or plans were tight. If you go during the full moon and around the monsoon, be weary, this could happen. If you ask the ferry operators they WILL LIE and say that the ferry is going tomorrow (if you are in Mersing, I heard they lied to people for 5 days) or that it is never delayed this long. The lack of operation is legitimate--our boat scraped the bottom as it came into the harbour after being delayed for 5 days and we heard that it did not go the next day.
Reply to this Yes, you can get stranded when the tides are extreme, i.e. during spring tide. The way to resolve this is by booking your tickets in advance. You can reserve your ferry tickets on www.tiomanferry.com.
Once you have your tickets, your chances of getting on the ferry during the mad low tide rush are much much better because the crew gives priority to those passengers that already have tickets.
By the way, please note that there used to be speedboats that charged RM45 per leg. These speedboats were faster and so you had to pay more.
Incidentally, the speedboats have since been discontinued.
In addition, on some mornings, the ferry departs at 5am. The cost for these early-bird ferries is also RM45.
So having to pay RM45 doesn't necessarily mean you over-paid.
Reply to this Hye the next if you are going, you can book ur tickets online and take a Transnasional <snip> at any sub location. From there, you may get a ferry which will take you straight to pulau tioman and it doesnt cost you that much. Only Rm40++.
[Edited: 2012 Nov 09 03:02 - Rat on the Road:23681 - URL removed]
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