This page is mainly about the Bintan ferry, which you will need to know about before going to Bintan because there’s no other way to get there. You’ll read Bintan Island is “just” an hour away from Singapore and technically it is, but that doesn’t take into consideration getting to the Bintan ferry and waiting for the Bintan ferry. If you’re flying into Singapore you’ll need to time that to coincide with a Bintan ferry crossing, and they don’t go that often, particularly on weekdays, so if your flight is late, you could be waiting around for hours for the next ferry if you miss your planned one. We flew into Singapore from Hong Kong and the flight was on time, arriving about 2 hours before the scheduled ferry. With my APEC card we flew through immigration and had no worries, the Bintan Ferry Terminal is only about 10-15 minutes from the airport.
They recommend you checking in at least 1.5 hrs prior to your sailing but that’s not necessary and will only mean you have to wait longer in what is a bit of a shit waiting area. By the time we got to the Bintan ferry terminal, we were probably about 1 hr before the sailing, and that was too early. The bonus is there are less people there. At the check-in counter, I was told I had to check my suitcase in, and go to the check in luggage counter, who then proceeded to tell me no need to check it in. If you can, don’t check your luggage in, you’ll just wait longer to get it back when you arrive in Bintan. Note they only have 1 or 2 guys on the immigration, so when it gets busy, I can imagine waiting a long, long time getting through immigration.
When it gets busy, I can also see it being an absolute shit-show in there with hundreds of people rushing to be the first one on the boat. Luckily, there weren’t that many people when we get on and getting a seat was easy. Again, I can see it’d be a completely different story during a holiday. The actual ferry ride on the way over is fine, nothing special and nothing to see. They have some small snacks available but nothing substantial so bring something to eat if you think you might get hungry. I had a hot dog and that was pretty rank, not bad enough not to eat, but you definitely won’t be mowing down 2 or 3 of them.
You can book tickets in advance, which is a must-do during holidays. Check out the Bintan ferry info here. That link has a link to brf.com where you can actually book the tickets online. Not sure what happens if you miss your booked sailing, I presume if the next one is booked, you’re shit out of luck. Once you’re in Bintan, you can easily get a taxi to your hotel. We booked a hotel car because it’s still pretty cheap but really no need, you can get a taxi and you’ll be fine.
On the way back, the Banyan Tree gave us the boarding pass so no need to do that, and they got use there about an hour before the sailing, still way too much time. The gates and immigration don’t even open until about 45 minutes before the sailing so it’s absolutely pointless arriving any earlier. On the way back the ferry was much busier and I can imagine it’d turn into a bit of a nightmare on long public holidays and around weekends when the ferries get full.
When you get off the boat in Singapore, don’t be the last ones off like we were because the immigration line was massive and we would have spent about an hour getting through had in not been for my APEC Card. There was this bloody kiwi (New Zealander) sitting next to us who just sat in his seat until everybody got off, what a knob! He had two kids and they would have been over an hour getting through. We were pretty much last off, stormed through about 50 people on the way to immigration, then busted to the front of the line with my APEC. Waited about 20 minutes for a taxi so take that into consideration too.
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