visa run to Macau

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Joachim

visa run to Macau

Post by Joachim »

The idea was to stay overnight, see "Dancing water show" and go back. I am indifferent to gambling. I asked travel agent to reserve VIP ticket for the show, reserve a hotel within a walking distance of the show venue and a business class airfare. The result was: Sheraton Central (not recommended),
Air Macau (not recommended).

Show is visibly stunning and recommended. Sheraton is indeed within the walking distance, has spacious rooms, several swimming pools and all expected services. However, it has 4000 rooms , casino inside and huge amount of customers (mostly mainland Chinese), so that check in took more than an hour. Would strongly prefer a quieter place. People with certain memberships have a separate check in desk though.

Business class in Air Macau was a joke and two hour flights were substantially delayed in both directions. They do not give priority lane voucher on the way back and hence I had a little problem trying to use priority lane upon return. The advantages are: local Macau airport is on Cotai strip and just minutes of easy taxi drive from major venues.

Immigration in Macau is a breeze with no immigration forms to fill and no stamps in passport (admission for 30 days with US passport). Also, Air Macau lounge in local airport is nice and spacious. The airport itself is basic. Perhaps a better arrangement would be to fly to Macau and on return take a ferry to HK and Thai Airways flight from there.

The show has all expected attributes:air gymnasts, daredevil bikers, excellent cinematic effects, water divers from the arena rooftop and, yes, a lot of dancing waters and various water related effects with emerging and submerging constructions...The show is so technically complicated that cannot be moved to any other location.

Other than that Macau is casinos, endless shopping arcades, excellent restaurants and literally millions of visitors (mostly from mainland and almost no Caucasians or Arabs).
fountainhall

Re: visa run to Macau

Post by fountainhall »

I think your basic problem was seeking a hotel within walking distance. The Cotai Strip is basically a gambling mecca packed with mega hotels. To find smaller, less chain-oriented hotels, you have to look a bit further afield. If you go again, you might wish to consider the gay-friendly 28-room Pousada de Coloane on the beach at the south of that little island.

http://www.hotelpcoloane.com.mo/about

The only alternative to Air Macau with non-stop flights is Air Asia. If I had 2 nights I would be tempted to take Emirates daily A380 to Hong Kong and jetfoil either from the airport to Macau or from one of the in-city piers. The one problem is this flight does not arrive until 6:00pm and so you would miss the excellent Dancing Water show. On the other hand, the return flight departs around 9:30pm giving a full day in Macau and/or Hong Kong. But if just going on a visa run, I expect that can just be done in Hong Kong. Emirates round-trip business class to HKG is around Bt.15,300
Joachim

Re: visa run to Macau

Post by Joachim »

fountainhall wrote:I think your basic problem was seeking a hotel within walking distance. The Cotai Strip is basically a gambling mecca packed with mega hotels. To find smaller, less chain-oriented hotels, you have to look a bit further afield. If you go again, you might wish to consider the gay-friendly 28-room Pousada de Coloane on the beach at the south of that little island.

http://www.hotelpcoloane.com.mo/about

The only alternative to Air Macau with non-stop flights is Air Asia. If I had 2 nights I would be tempted to take Emirates daily A380 to Hong Kong and jetfoil either from the airport to Macau or from one of the in-city piers. The one problem is this flight does not arrive until 6:00pm and so you would miss the excellent Dancing Water show. On the other hand, the return flight departs around 9:30pm giving a full day in Macau and/or Hong Kong. But if just going on a visa run, I expect that can just be done in Hong Kong. Emirates round-trip business class to HKG is around Bt.15,300
I usually go to HK or Singapore for visa runs. This time I wanted something slightly different. Air Asia does not have business class (according my travel agent) but has flights from Utapao. The show times are 5 pm and 8pm (but not every day). I took 11:35 flight from BKK. So I had plenty of time upon arrival for my 8pm show and, indeed, could stay in a quieter hotel away from Cotai strip. Use of Hornet, showed several cute guys (two of them Thais (!)) but Blued probably more pertinent. The return flight was scheduled at 7 pm next day but I definitely had plenty of time to take ferry to HK airport and fly from there.
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