reception staff are friendly and helpful. the cabanas are decent but expensive at S$150 a night with almost zero amenities. bring an umbrella, as the cabanas are in outdoors and there is no phone to call the reception for assistance. Breakfast is sumptuous but is a 10min walk away, to the next Nirwana resort, likewise with most facilities such as swimming pool and restaurants etc. Nirwana beach club is good only if you like the peacefulness and tranquility, there are only 25 semi-detached cabanas, well spaced out.

I tried booking MayangSari and Nirwana Resort hotel, both were full over the Good Friday weeked. The only choice i had was "Nirwana Beach Club". Looked pretty good from the photos and the reviews sounded quite good and balanced too. I wasnt expecting the best of places so i was prepared for it.
I reached the ferry terminal and was quickly transported to the hotel where i was promptly assigned a room. I realised that i might need hot water so i requested for an electric kettle.
The room was basic with a queen size bed, a settee, split airconditioning (with remote), small TV (without remote) and a small refregirator (empty with nothing inside). Two bottles of water and two glasses were also provided.
Since we reached in the night we noticed about 7-8 lizards romaing around the front door (since it had a light above it) so we were careful with closing the door quickly. The bathroom was basic with a shower heard which wouldnt stay where its meant to be, so i had to tie it with a rope to poition it above my head. The bathroom also had a lot of ants roaming
around, but it was expected. On a pleasant note, there were no mosqitos as i had initially feared.
I could manage to catch a wifi signal but then i relaised i didnt have the password, so i walked back to the lounge to get one. Ofocurse here is when you feel the need for a telephone to atleast speak to the reception. But i guess one way of reducing room calls is to not have the room. It works fantastically!!!
The wifi signal was very weak and couldnt do much. The laptop barely opened pages and the mobile refused to use the signal (too weak). So if you intend to use the Internet and have a need to remain connected....be careful!!
I wanted to watch TV but it was quite difficult considering the TV was very small (15 inches) and had no remote. So gave up on that!! Somehow i felt that a bigger CRT tv (which is cheap these days) with a remote wouldnt have been tough for them, but i guess they dont want you to watch TV here.....u're here to relax!!
The facilities are good and i enjoyed the beach, swimming pool and activities. But the fact that lesser mortals have to use the buses to move around and the higher mortals are ferried in electric buggies is where you feel that it might be worth going for a more expensive room. For those who dont mind walking, please bear in mind that when it is really sunny and hot, walking doesnt remain a pleasure!!
The restaurants served good food and the morning complimentary breakfast was extremely good. 5 stars for that.
I checkout and went to settle the bill, to realise that the charges for the room were higher than what i was provided in the web booking, so i wanted to check the email (which i foolishly hadnt printed). I tried connecting my mobile to network, it didnt. I requested if i could use the internet in their PC and they sheepishly admitted there was no signal (at least they admitted this in spite of my protests earlier)....so i went to the main resort lounge to connect...ofcourse it did...and i fetched the emaila nd showed them. They agreed they had made a mistake and changed the invoice and billed me the correct amount. So pls carry your original booking receipt to avoid being overcharged. Most of the one doesnt even notice a 100$ escalation, unless you are very observant. Also, the wifi works well in the more expensive Mayang Sari and Resort hotel accomodations. So u know why......

Moral of the story: Unless you are on a strict budget or arent able to find any other rooms, please pay up a bit more and choose to stay in the Resort Hotel or Mayang Sari. That way your entire experience will be enjoyable and not just bits and pieces.

I loved the property and the facilities, but its just that these small irritants take away the pleasure of the vacation which you so eagerly look forward to.

Some Tips:
1. When staying at beach Club, request for Lotus Pond facing cabana, it has a better view. Add a little more to get a cabana with a deck which lets you sit outside as well.
2. Dont take any food (like vegetarian or baby food) with you if it needs to be heated, there's no way you can do that unless you carry your own heater.
3. Buy the "All in One" activity pass at abt 40$/ person which is quite good.
4. It better to pay in local currency. they mention charges you in S$, convert it to local currency and then charge to your credit card. Example: They convert 1s$ to abt 7400 rupiah and charge that to your card. Your card converts it from rupiah to s$ at 7200. So if you spend 20$ they charge 148000 rupiah and your credit card charge you 21S$. Not too much but consider that if you took you own currency, then u'd buy 7600 rupiah for every s$ and effectively pay 19.5$. Its cumbersome but spending less on this helps you spend more on others and you can derive more from the trip in a tight budget.
5. No tea/coffee in rooms so carry your teabags, sugar sachets, creamers, coffee, cups and spoons. Water kettle as i mentioned can be requested.

This was second time we stayed at this hotel so not many surprises. It is maybe not a super quality hotel, but for kids aged 8 and up, it has a wide range of activities which makes the stay more than just poolside relaxation. (but be aware that all activities come at a singapore price).
Staff are friendly and rooms are okay. Bathrooms however only average. There is an excellent lobby bar/restaurant where service great and food really good. We ate twice at the poolside restaurant with two different experiences. The buffet dinner with dance show was quite good, but the a-la-carte dinner did not work out well as last food came when two people already finished eating and with incomplete side dishes despite menu promising same (the taste of the korean food was however good).
In general dont think Bintan is a fantastic place so Important that the hotel has activities for kids. 2 nights feels however enough.

Cabana rooms look smaller in real-life, very simple and a bit on the old side. bedsheets dont look very clean, and are furring. Toilet is very basic. service is average, should have told us that the whole of Nirwana is walking distance, instead of making us wait for the bus that comes every 30mins! a lot of time wasted on waiting..