In a nutshell - great service at Nirwana Gardens Resort, but our Banyu Biru villa (Suria 6) was quite old and run-down. It lacked many items that you would expect in a self-contained unit (eg., no washing machine or dryer or even clothes lines; no coffee maker; no rice cooker; the fridge was missing several shelves; there was only one small rubbish bin). But our a family of 5 adults and 3 young kids had a great time, partly due to the low occupancy rate mid-week and partly due to the good service provided.

We got an NTUC birthday deal to stay for 6 nights in one of the four Banyu Biru villas that NTUC owns (~SGD250 per night for a 3-BR villa). These villas are like two-storey townhouses. There seems to be about 15-20 of them and they are next to the main Nirwana Hotel so you can walk to the Hotel restaurants and facilties and use the same beach.

Actually, you don't need to walk very far at all, since it only takes one phone call to the Nirwana reception to summon a "buggy" to your villa. The buggies are like golf buggies and are a lot of fun (particularly for kids). We found the drivers were friendly and would always check that everyone was safely on the padded seat and holding onto the side rails; they would take us anywhere on the Nirwana Gardens complex. (This was how we discovered the mini zoo that's to the side of the main entrance into Nirwana. Our kids wanted to feed the deers, look at the crocodiles, snakes and eagles every day!)

Very few of the villas have an oceanview, but most are near an attractive system of ponds. In fact, the outlook in every direction from our villa was quite appealing.

Most appealing were the two good-sized swimming pools (the children's pool had a slide) that are only one or two minutes' walk from most of the villas. On weekdays, we had the pool mostly to ourselves and the pool attendant was quite liberal in allowing us to stay on after official closing time (6pm).

We found it very convenient to make phone calls to reception or housekeeping with any questions or requests. On our arrival and discovey of the missing items, they were quick to bring us the items (alas, no washing machine or dryer, though!). We also got extra towels every day (initially there were only 2 or 3 towels in the 3-BR villa!) Even more important for us, the housekeeping staff readily agreed to our request to clean the villa late morning (when were always out swimming) rather than in the afternoon when our kids were asleep.

So, what's wrong with the amenities? Old, run-down, cheap. The beds were very hard mattresses on wooden slats. The matress on one of the double beds almost fell through to the floor and we realised that the slats were out of alignment and some were broken. The maintenance people were quick to come and repair it when we rang. However, given the reasonable-sized bedrooms, we were amazed that the beds were small and uninspiring (when did you last sleep on an original "double bed" where your feet touch the end of the bed, rather than a Queen-sized bed or bigger)?

If the Management would just spend some money on decent beds, then we'd gladly recommend these villas. But if sleep is important to you, go elsewhere in Nirwana Gardens (or elsewhere in Bintan for that matter).