I want to alert other travellers to the problem of fast boats overbooking & the fact that you might not even get onto the boat even though you have confirmed tickets booked months before,
Here's our experience with Eka Jaya.....
I booked & paid online direct with Eka Jaya fast boat nearly 2 months before my husband & I were travelling. I sent confirmation emails & received replies from EJ the week before both rides from/to Bali. In fact their online service was excellent.
The boat trip from Bali to Gili was fine. We were due to return from Lombok to Bali 2w later. There is no signage at Teluk Kodek where Eka Jaya tells you to go to get the boat, Fortunately we had a helpful taxi driver, so we found the place eventually.
When the boat arrived an hour late it was obvious we were not all going to fit on esp as there was a lot of luggage - there were about 12 of us on the beach waiting since around 10am. It was also obvious the EJ staff didn't know what to do about it - they kept checking our tickets. It seemed like 2 latecomer's had dodgey tickets (last minute?) - but they had a local (& vocal) guy with them & eventually were allowed on before any of us - they got the last 2 seats - nice one! I got the impression the EJ guys knew it wasn't the right thing to do, but just gave up. Eventually, amost 1.5hrs after the boat was supposed to leave, they told us to get on. One family had to stay behind (I don't know what they were going to do). The luggage was loaded in the aisle between the seats - noone could get out of their seats unless they walked on top of the luggage. 4 of us had to sit on the back steps, at the entrance to the aisle, It was extremely uncomfortable never mind unsafe. We had to sit like this for over 1.5hrs. I wasn't very happy about getting on the boat as I was concerned it was overloaded - but no other option was given to us (ie another boat will come later) & we didn't know how else we'd get back to Bali. Fortunately, we did make it back to Bali safely (with sore backs, behinds & ankles). It was a really unpleasant experience - fortunately we sat (if you can call it that) with a really nice English couple (on honeymoon) & kept ourselves distracted by getting to know each other, It was their first visit to Asia - not a good experience for novice Asia travellers.
I was very angry & emailed EJ to complain & said I would post a comment on Trip Advisor to warn other people. I think overbooking & overcrowding might be a problem with other fast boats to Gili, esp in high season. Can anyone recommend a reliable fast boat to Gili?? We won't use Eka Jaya again, My advice is - don't bother booking in advance, it doesn't guarantee anything. And non-swimmers - don't go by boat!





